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Axe still over Demons coach Neeld

Roar Guru
3rd June, 2013
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The axe hasn’t fallen on Melbourne coach Mark Neeld yet, but it remains poised.

The Demons’ marathon Monday board meeting, which had been speculated would be the occasion of Neeld’s sacking, ended with the embattled coach still in his job.

But it also ended with no Melbourne official prepared to make any guarantees about Neeld’s future or give him any sort of endorsement whatsoever.

Instead, Demons president Don McLardy issued a brief statement in which he indicated no one in the football department was safe.

“Our on-field performances have not met expectations this year and everyone in the football department continues to face ongoing assessment in their roles, as do those employed in other areas of the club,” McLardy said.

“The club will make no further comment at this time, in relation to the senior coach position.”

The statement will feed speculation that Neeld will be sacked after next Monday’s traditional Queen’s Birthday clash with Collingwood, if not sooner.

The Magpies clash is followed by Melbourne’s mid-season bye.

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The Demons also announced that chief executive Peter Jackson, who had been appointed on an interim basis, will stay on at least for next season.

Jackson on Monday outlined to the board planned football department structural changes.

Melbourne did not reveal what those changes would be, saying they would occur in the coming weeks and months.

But they are expected to include the appointment of an over-arching football department boss.

Neeld, along with director of sports performance Neil Craig, player development manager Todd Viney and football manager Josh Mahoney, all attended Monday’s meeting at the MCG and presented to the board.

They were there for about 90 minutes before returning to the club’s football department headquarters at AAMI Park.

Neeld later drove off without talking to waiting media.

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The board met for several hours before he arrived and continued their discussions after he left.

The Demons lost by 95 points to Hawthorn on Sunday, their seventh loss by a margin of 60 points or more in the opening 10 rounds.

Neeld has coached just five wins in his 32 games in charge, including just one this season, against bottom-placed Greater Western Sydney.

The Demons’ horror season start has already claimed one casualty.

Chief executive Cameron Schwab was forced to resign after the club’s 148-point belting from Essendon in round two, leading to Jackson’s appointment.

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