JAMES Hird deserves to coach Essendon next year.

There, I’ve said it.

And while you might not agree with me, that was the contract the current Essendon board and its chairman Paul Little gifted Hird on the same night that he accepted that one-year (paid, as it turned out) AFL suspension from coaching.

A hell of a lot of water has passed under the sports ­supplements bridge since that night in August 2013, but the one inescapable fact is that the Bombers thought back then he was the best coach for the job, and they need to see that out.

If they don’t, they should fall on their own swords and resign.

Essendon is on the brink of one of its worst seasons in ­recent memory and the 112-point loss to ­Adelaide only compounded it.

The backdrop to the 2015 season has seen an internal review into the football ­department’s operations; an extensive injury list to some of the club’s most important players including captain Jobe Watson; a playing group sapped of confidence and weighed down by the Court of Arbitration for Sport case in November, and an increasing doubt about whether Hird will survive in the role beyond the end of this year.

There were even rumours earlier in the week Hird was gone, which he was forced to deny when asked.

Is it any wonder the coach hasn’t been able to keep his players’ minds on the job?

I want to make it clear I do not condone any sort of injections program at any football club. In fact, I am totally opposed to it, but the fact ­remains that Hird has served his time for being the coach of a club in which Stephen Dank was allowed to implement a program that almost sunk one of the game’s oldest clubs.

Hird has paid a heavy price, as have his players.

James won’t be reading this article, and he won’t hear the endless discussions on radio and television about whether he is safe or about to be sacked.

He lives pretty much in a bubble these days, caught ­between his time at the footy club and with his family.

We caught a glimpse of just what life has been like for the players this week when ­Brendon Goddard — who was not a part of the 2012 supplements program — explained just what a sapping experience this whole affair has been on the group.

Surely no other playing group in the history of the game has had to deal with as much as the Dons players.

Playing good football in that sort of environment would be impossible.

So suggesting that Hird can’t coach because of what has happened this year is far too simplistic.

When you look at Hird’s first three seasons in the role, (2011-13), there was enough to suggest that he could coach, and that the Bombers were on an upward curve.

He had won 54 per cent of his games as coach before this season.

That's James Hird and Essendon CEO Xavier Campbell off to find a quiet room to talk privately @triplemfooty pic.twitter.com/NT9veELTOZ — Jay Clark (@ClarkyHeraldSun) August 15, 2015

Each year the team progressed in terms of win-loss results to the point where it won 14 games in 2013, the year in which the club was thrown out of the finals.

Football is a win-loss business, but not even the greatest coach in history would have been able to prevent the inevitable slide this year that ­occurred as soon as WADA announced it was going to appeal against the decision on the Essendon 34.

The past few months have been tough to watch, and there have been some miserable performances and few highlights. But, seriously, would you have expected any different? We have been waiting for them to crack for three years and it’s clear now that they have.

No coach could get this playing group up for the contest now — they are mentally shot. They simply have lost the appetite for the game because of what has happened off the field.

For me, James Hird’s coaching career shouldn’t just come down to this season, when the chips were against him and the club.

That’s why, pending the results of the WADA appeal, he should be allowed to see out the final year of his contract.

Besides, there’s a potential $1 million-plus payout if Hird is to be sacked.

But cutting him adrift now, after Little and the board had backed him for so long, just makes no sense.

SEVEN THINGS JAMES HIRD MUST DO IF HE STAYS ON

1. Chase intellectual property from Hawthorn by trying to poach a senior assistant coach in Brett Ratten.

2. Make sure everyone in the football department has a clear, defined role, and if there are some who are not on the same page, they should not be there.

3. Anyone who doesn’t want to be at Essendon next year should be allowed to go. If that includes the out-of-contract Jake Carlisle, then let him go, and seek greater access to decent draft picks.

4. Chase an experienced AFL ruckman in the trade period so that the club has a better back-up for Tom Bellchambers next year. Players to consider could include Matthew Leuenberger, Stefan Martin, or maybe even Will Minson (for a year or two).

5. Use your draft picks wisely. After being denied access to elite picks in recent seasons, it is time to strike. The last top-10 national draft pick the Bombers had was Dyson Heppell (pick No. 8 in 2010), and it needs to strike the mark again with a quick midfielder.

6. Allow Jobe Watson to try to enjoy his footy again. If that means him giving up the captaincy to Heppell, then so be it.

7. The coach needs to just concentrate on the footy as much as he can, and forget trying to pick fights with outside organisations.