MICK MALTHOUSE HAS BEEN SACKED BY CARLTON

Decision comes after explosive ‘back me or sack me’ radio interview

Club board called crisis meeting and decided to terminate his contract

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UPDATE: MICK Malthouse has confirmed his legendary coaching career is at an end after he was dumped by Carlton this afternoon.

In a statement released this evening, Malthouse started by thanking the club that terminated his contract this afternoon citing a “loss of trust” after the former head coach went on radio demanding to be backed or sacked.

“I wish to thank the Carlton Football Club for my brief time at the club and I wish the team well for the remainder of the season,” the statement read.

“More generally I want to thank the AFL and the wider football community for allowing me to be part of their game, and for their continued support over the past 40 odd years. I have loved it all, the good and the bad.”

“I wish to thank all the players, coaches, assistants, football staff, presidents, directors, club volunteers, fans and everyone who has helped me and worked with me in my journey in this great game. I particularly thank my most recent team which has had to endure more than necessary in this difficult recent time.

“It has been a varied career which has taken me the breadth of this great country and I believe the game, and I, have matured greatly during the past decades.

“This concludes my coaching journey but I will enjoy viewing the game from afar and its progress.

“I particularly want to thank my family who have been resilient and loyal beyond the call of duty at all times. I look forward to enjoying some of the spare time I now have as a family more than ever before.

“To the media I wish you well - despite our constant battlefield......you might even miss me!

“I bear no grudges and I have no regrets. I have achieved some amazing football highs with some wonderful people and endured tough times with great support.”

Earlier, Carlton officials confirmed Malthouse’s radio interview had led to a “loss of trust” and ultimately the veteran coach’s sacking.

Club CEO Steven Trigg confirmed that Malthouse’s publicly declared ultimatum that the club had to back him or sack him forced the club’s hand.

“The absolute reality over the last couple of days (is) a number of things have popped up that we’re not on the same tram with,” Trigg said.

“One thing in this business is really clear, everyone knows the coach, president, CEO, captain, head of footy have to be (in) lock-step every step of the way and our view was that wasn’t the case.”

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Club president Mark LoGiudice said Malthouse’s “obvious public misalignment” with the club had resulted in a “loss of trust” and he was “disappointed that last night we were aligned and this morning we were not”.

“When we sit in a meeting and we’re all around a table and we agree on a strategy then that’s what we expect,” LoGiudice said.

“Those comments (in Malthouse’s SEN interview) didn’t sit well with the board this morning.”

John Barker, one of Malthouse’s assistants, has been confirmed as interim coach and the club insists 2015 is not a “write off” as a result of the decision to sack the head coach.

“We need to turn over every rock and interview everybody that’s appropriate to try to get the very best person to Carlton,” Trigg said.

“In the last half of the year the charter for John and the guys is to get us back to some competitiveness.

“But we want to try some things, let’s learn some stuff in the last half of the year. And while that’s going on we’ll go about trying to find the very best long-term coach for Carlton.”

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LoGiudice flatly denied the club was in crisis.

“The definition of crisis for me is when you don’t know where you are and you don’t have a plan for where you’re going,” he said.

“We know exactly where we are, and we have for a very long time, and we have a plan, a documented plan, of where we want to go. So we’re certainly nowhere near crisis.”

Malthouse addressed his players for the final time after being summoned to Trigg’s office at the club’s HQ this afternoon and told that his contract had been terminated.

He was given his marching orders after an explosive early-morning interview on SEN.

He left Ikon Park without speaking to the media and returned to his East Melbourne apartment.

The veteran coach had been called out of a match committee meeting, where he was picking the team for Friday night’s match, and summoned to Trigg’s office to hear his fate.

Former captain Chris Judd said the players feel for their sacked coach after a tumultuous day.

“I think the main emotion is just one of sadness for Mick because he’s a wonderful coach and he’s been really put through the wringer throughout this whole process,” Judd said after training this afternoon.

“We’re sad for him but we stick by the club and get behind John Barker now.

“When you’re one and seven there’s enormous challenges facing any footy club but I’m really confident in this playing group sticking together.

“Working hard, getting behind John Barker now and really pushing for growth.”

Dale Thomas was clearly upset on leaving the club.

He refused to comment on the sacking of his mentor Malthouse but with a parking ticket waiting for him he noted it had been a pretty ordinary day.

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All available board directors arrived at Carlton’s HQ this afternoon after a meeting in club president Mark LoGiudice’s Queen St office.

On Monday, the Blues said they would make a call on their senior coach during the bye in Round 11, but Malthouse this morning all but dared the board to sack him, declaring that waiting two weeks to make a decision was pointless and refusing to step down.

Barker and Dean Laidley, both assistants to Malthouse, were the names touted as potential fill-ins, but Barker, 40, has been installed with the Carlton hierarchy impressed with the energy he brings to the club.

Barker, in his second year as backline coach at the Blues, has a good rapport with the players and is regarded as having more potential to be a senior coach.

Malthouse’s dismissal came despite a bizarre intervention from Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who suggested the veteran coach should be given another chance when asked whether Carlton should pull the pin.

“I don’t profess to be an expert on the ins and outs of Aussie rules coaching ... I would be very reluctant to offer an opinion on a coach,” Abbott said.

“All I know is that Mick Malthouse has an extraordinary record. He’s the Wayne Bennett, I guess, of Aussie rules coaching — absolutely extraordinary record.

“Now, occasionally even the best of us in whatever field have downs as well as ups and my instinct is that Mick Malthouse should be given a chance to bring his team back to the success that I’m sure he’s capable of coaching it to.”

MICK’S BLUES: SIX MISTAKES THAT LED TO SACKING

A phone call from Trigg on Saturday morning set the scene for Malthouse’s departure.

Trigg told Malthouse that the Blues board could not tolerate another heavy loss — and they face a red-hot Sydney at the SCG on Friday night.

Malthouse arrived at Ikon Park shortly after 10am and took centre stage in a circle of his players ahead of training before delivering a passionate pep talk with the words “stick together” heard from the grandstand.

Media and supporters were then told to leave the arena as it was a closed training session.

Long-time member Lesley Makaravicius was one of the few allowed to watch the session and she said the coach had the full attention of his troops.

“He seemed to be very much in charge,” she said. “I don’t know whether he was wanting it to be a legacy for the young boys but he seemed to be concentrating a lot on teaching methods.

“He did a lot of work with the young ones. He was doing a lot of midfield coaching.”

media_camera Embattled Carlton coach Mick Malthouse during the closed Carlton training session this morning. Picture: Mike Keating

In the radio interview, Malthouse declared the club would have to make a call to sack him or reappoint him.

“I will not be standing down,” he said on SEN. Asked if that meant he would have to be sacked, he answered: “Either that or they reappoint me”.

But you’re not expecting that are you? “No”.

Despite the club’s insistence that it was waiting until a bye round, Malthouse said he believed the it had already made its decision and results against Sydney and Adelaide are irrelevant.

“If I was the second-year coach you might find two weeks under pressure to find out whether the bloke can handle the pressure (would be worthwhile).

“When you’ve coached for 30 years two weeks is hardly relevant,” he said. “What I’m saying is I don’t see what’s to be gained by it.”

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW IN FULL BELOW (Courtesy: SEN)

In the explosive interview, Malthouse said:

* BLUES CEO Steven Trigg had talked to him about appointing a caretaker coach but no names had been raised.

* TRIGG told him forward Eddie Betts had signed with Adelaide while he was still playing for Carlton. Player manager Ned Guy immediately took to Twitter to declare that was “100 per cent incorrect”. The Herald Sun has asked the AFL if it will investigate the allegation.

* PLAYERS approached him to voice their concerns about the psychological impact of talk the club was rebuilding.

* WHEN former CEO Greg Swann and president Stephen Kernahan left the club and a new administration led by Mark LoGiudice and Trigg took over “I knew it was going to be a difficult position to hold on”.

Malthouse said he had been told he wouldn’t be judged on wins and losses. Asked if the goalposts had shifted this year he said “absolutely, totally”.

“Boards crack under pressure and the first thing that goes is the coach because it relieves a bit of the pressure and they beat their chest because they’ve made a decision,” he said.

“I’ve been a position on the other side for 30 years arguing (sacking a coach mid-season) is damn ridiculous, I still think it’s damn ridiculous, but I don’t run football clubs.

“What do they get out of it, is it an ego trip or is it a pressure release? I don’t know.”

- with Chad Van Estrop

FULL TEXT OF A STATEMENT FROM THE CARLTON PRESIDENT

“The Carlton Football Club Board has today advised Mick Malthouse that his contract as senior coach has been terminated effective immediately.

“As I communicated to Mick and our members yesterday, the decision on our senior coaching role was to be reviewed, considered and delivered in the week of the bye. However, unfortunately Mick’s obvious public misalignment with the football club has resulted in a loss of trust between the Club and coach.

“The Board today considered the situation had deteriorated to such an extent that not making a change now would only exacerbate our current position.

“We must be united in assessing where we presently are and where we want to go. Without unity we simply won’t get there.

“I must stress that we do not accept 2015 as a write off.

“John Barker will serve as our interim senior coach. I am confident that his strong leadership and respectful relationship with the playing group will ensure he steps into this role seamlessly. “He will be aided by the experience of Rob Wiley and Dean Laidley, who will continue to fulfil their current roles, along with our other assistant coaches.

“John will nurture our younger talent and give them a chance to shine, while balancing their skills with the experience of our more senior players.

“This is also an opportunity for our players to demonstrate their commitment and show their passion for our jumper.

“In coming weeks the Club will determine the make-up of an independent selection committee that will begin the process of finding the best equipped individual to coach Carlton in 2016 and beyond. This committee will consider only the best candidates for the role. It will be a genuine and exhaustive process.

“In closing, I would like to acknowledge Mick Malthouse’s contribution to Carlton and the broader football community. He is rightly described as a legend of the game.

“The role of a senior coach is demanding and uncompromising, one that takes true passion and dedication. Carlton is grateful to have been a part of his coaching legacy.

“This decision was not made easily. AFL football is ultimately about people and relationships. “Unfortunately, in this case the relationship regrettably has not worked.

“Now we must look to the future. We have an enormous amount of work ahead of us both on and off the field. It will take some time, but I am confident that we will make Carlton a strong and proud football club once again.”