Lyon 'acted bizarre'

[bigcarl]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/teams/f ... 6632573755

A NEW book to mark the St Kilda Football Club's 140th anniversary reveals the depth of bitterness at coach Ross Lyon's controversial departure at the end of 2011.


In Strength Through Loyalty, to be launched at a club function on Saturday, St Kilda chief executive Michael Nettlefold talks of Lyon's "bizarre" and "unusual" behaviour late in that season, and says the coach ultimately headed to Fremantle for "purely commercial" reasons.

Nettlefold said he sensed there was a problem because Lyon's "behaviour had been quite unusual" over the final months of the 2011 season, culminating in a "bizarre night" when the Saints lost an elimination final to Sydney.

[bigcarl]

Also details some very interesting stuff re the GT sacking

The book also reveals Thomas was sacked at the end of the 2006 season after a board meeting that went until 3am. The suggestion was Thomas was seeking to take control of the club, not just the football department.

Butterss said that even during the season two directors "wanted to sack (Thomas), even if he won the premiership".

[ausfatcat]

seems to have been pulled from the heraldsun

[bigcarl]

seems to have been pulled from the heraldsun

It was. The link at the top. The book is by Russell Holmesby.

[saintbrat]

still up here -http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/afl ... 6632573755

and link at top working-

but not sure if there is an incorrect date or editing required when they say about kepping Blight till the end of 2011 ( I would think it should be 2001)

[chook23]

Nothing new in that article re lyon......................

[bigred]

Will be an interesting read.

[chook23]

Will be an interesting read.

alot will be re hashed ........... lyon and his dealings discussed in the papers at the time.

[bigcarl]

Nothing new in that article re lyon..

No, but the GT stuff is interesting.

I hadn't heard this, for instance.

Butterss also said he believed Thomas's strong bond with the young playing group "bordered on unhealthy".

[gringo]

A guy who would know told me that Lyon had been doing a deal with Freo way before it is supposed to have. The public version isn't exactly as it happened including sounding out staff required. He certainly looked disinterested in the final game and seemed to be shooting down the playing group. Lost plenty of resect for him because of the way it was handled.

[bobmurray]

A guy who would know told me that Lyon had been doing a deal with Freo way before it is supposed to have. The public version isn't exactly as it happened including sounding out staff required. He certainly looked disinterested in the final game and seemed to be shooting down the playing group. Lost plenty of resect for him because of the way it was handled.

Farrrrrk Lyon................that's my view.
And farrrrrrrrrrrrrrrk him for the state he left the playing list in

[bigred]

A guy who would know told me that Lyon had been doing a deal with Freo way before it is supposed to have. The public version isn't exactly as it happened including sounding out staff required. He certainly looked disinterested in the final game and seemed to be shooting down the playing group. Lost plenty of resect for him because of the way it was handled.

Farrrrrk Lyon................that's my view.
And farrrrrrrrrrrrrrrk him for the state he left the playing list in

I tend to agree.

[SainterK]

culminating in a "bizarre night" when the Saints lost an elimination final to Sydney.

Playing Dempster forward was bizzare...

Oh, do they mean the 'retirements'

[Con Gorozidis]

I feel like Lyon knew hed be leaving at the end of 2011 years in advance - so he left a time bomb behind (in the state of our list) because he knew hed be coaching against us in the future. Yes he definitely wanted to win a flag for us - and he nearly did. But he wanted to make sure we wouldnt challenge his new side once hed left.

[kosifantutti]

I feel like Lyon knew hed be leaving at the end of 2011 years in advance - so he left a time bomb behind (in the state of our list) because he knew hed be coaching against us in the future. Yes he definitely wanted to win a flag for us - and he nearly did. But he wanted to make sure we wouldnt challenge his new side once hed left.

That's one of the more bizarre theories you've come up with Con.

[saintspremiers]

I feel like Lyon knew hed be leaving at the end of 2011 years in advance - so he left a time bomb behind (in the state of our list) because he knew hed be coaching against us in the future. Yes he definitely wanted to win a flag for us - and he nearly did. But he wanted to make sure we wouldnt challenge his new side once hed left.

That's one of the more bizarre theories you've come up with Con.

It's a good one.

But my take us that Lyon is severely flawed as a coach as is incapable of developing a list for the long term.

I hope the arsehole fails at Freo.

[saintly]

I feel like Lyon knew hed be leaving at the end of 2011 years in advance - so he left a time bomb behind (in the state of our list) because he knew hed be coaching against us in the future. Yes he definitely wanted to win a flag for us - and he nearly did. But he wanted to make sure we wouldnt challenge his new side once hed left.

i can't believe that. I dislike the guy for being money hungry, but the above would mean he plotted our downfall inadvance.

[gringo]

To be fair it's probably just that he was going all out for glory. Guys who couldn't come in and offer instant impact were of no interest. Polo, Peake and Gamble all offered instant depth but denied us our future.

Richmond and Geelong have done the same this year.

It works great if you get a bargain but cuts to the bone when they are spuds or don't offer much besides average depth.

I feel sorry for Thommo- he got absolutely s*** canned by the media for usurping Blight but Lyon came in like a Machiavellian assassin and he gets a free run.

Funny how Thommo's greatest critic loved taking the glory for his appointment when he didn't even do it. Wallsy is the ultimate tool. Very happy to let people believe he put Lyon in place with us.

[SaintPav]

I feel like Lyon knew hed be leaving at the end of 2011 years in advance - so he left a time bomb behind (in the state of our list) because he knew hed be coaching against us in the future. Yes he definitely wanted to win a flag for us - and he nearly did. But he wanted to make sure we wouldnt challenge his new side once hed left.

lol.

[Superboot]

This story is really old news but I still don't understand what happened in that final quarter against the Swans. What was Dempster supposed to be doing, for example? The game was there for the taking and we just stopped.

It was weird when we watched it and it's no less weird now.

[Moorabbin Man]

I think everyone is overlooking the indisputable fact that after Lyon had taken us to two Grand Finals at the end of 2010, he still had a clause in his contract that enabled his contract to be terminated with three months (12 weeks) notice. So in effect a coach who had taken us to two successive Grand Finals and was arguably the best coach in the competition, was left on a contract which was in reality and practically, a 12 week contract. Don't any of you think that this was a disgraceful set of circumstances. Sure the circumstances surrounding Lyon's departure were disappointing, however IMO his contract was a disgrace and that responsibility lays at the feet of the Board.

[dragit]

Agree Moorabin man... You can only assume that the board had serious reservations about Lyons ability to regenerate/rebuild the list.

[stinger]

A guy who would know told me that Lyon had been doing a deal with Freo way before it is supposed to have. The public version isn't exactly as it happened including sounding out staff required. He certainly looked disinterested in the final game and seemed to be shooting down the playing group. Lost plenty of resect for him because of the way it was handled.

i believe that he didn't coach to win in either of his last two games against the swans,....i was extremely pissed off with him after both games...

[st_Trav_ofWA]

Moorabin man thats a bit rich to pin that clause on the board ... unless you were part of the contract negotiation process how do you know that it wasnt Ross Lyons side that pushed for that clause in the contract ? considering that the clause benifited Ross in a major way i tend to lean to the side that it was Ross who asked for that clause .. thinking about that clause considering when most coaches get sacked its pretty much with a days notice the three month notice clause would have been a safe guard for ross that if he was to be sacked then he had three months security ...

[st_Trav_ofWA]

i think its funny how in the story about the blues trying to buy us to get Plugger it makes mention of how Plugger lost $100K therefore forcing him to look for a bigger contract at the swans.... spin around to the ross lyon departure its widely suspected that Ross losing a 7 figure ammount in dodgy investments was the reason he chased the cash ....

only at St Kilda would we have people stuffing up with their own money come to bite us ...