To Carmen Policy, the 49ers team president when they were regarded as one of the premier organizations in the NFL during the 80s and 90s, the worst thing a team can be is irrelevant.

Policy was a guest on Bay Area News Group columnist Tim Kawakami’s podcast “The TK Show” Friday and spoke at length about the state of the franchise:

“I fear, I truly fear, that the 49ers are reaching the worst stage a professional franchise can reach, and that is being considered irrelevant,” Policy said. “I’d rather have the fans outraged and yelling and threatening to burn the building down, than have them not care. If we’re not careful, we’re heading toward that God-forbidden environment of people not caring.”

Policy left the 49ers in 1998 after overseeing the team through one of the greatest eras in league history, when Bill Walsh curated a dynasty featuring Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, Steve Young and others.

Policy left the team to join an investment group that brought the Browns back to Cleveland in 1999, after he reportedly thought he’d be fired while Eddie DeBartolo was in the midst of selling the team to his sister, Denise, amid his riverboat gambling license scandal.

Policy knows the NFL is driven by passion after helping create a monster fanbase around the Bay Area by way of five championships.

Passion emanates from the fans and manifests on the field. It’s the thing that makes Sundays interesting, whether a team is competing for a Super Bowl or about to land the first pick in the NFL draft.

While the 49ers current CEO Jed York looks to rebuild his organization with a new general manager and head coach, the passion from the outside world is still there.

The proof lies in fans spending their own money to fly banners above Levi’s Stadium before games calling for York to make drastic changes – which ultimately came to fruition Sunday when GM Trent Baalke was fired with coach Chip Kelly.

Anytime York Tweets, even if it has nothing to do with football, he’s greeted with angry fans telling him to sell the team. The passion exists. The question of, “how much longer?” is one worth monitoring.

If York doesn’t land a general manager and coaching combination that lifts the 49ers from the league’s basement back toward respectability – and later, contention – the fall to irrelevance might come more quickly than expected.

“I think maybe, just maybe, you’re finally at the point where you’ve hit rock bottom and now it’s really time to pool whatever resources and efforts you have together and make sure you get it right,” Policy said. “If you can get it right, get it right now, and show some patience and you learn from your mistakes, now you have a chance to ascend up that ladder and hopefully get back to where you were several years ago.”

There’s been an obvious disconnect between the current regime headed by the Yorks and the era which policy resided over – which included all five of the team’s Super Bowl wins. Steve Young touched on it this week in a radio interview.

Kawakami asked Policy about it and he noted the Yorks’ desire to build their own legacy.

“I do feel that the Yorks have the view that they really want to do things their way. Although they want to respect the grandeur of the past and the achievements of the past, it’s now their team and they want it to become their team. And they don’t want to be viewed as, shall we say, torch bearers for what had occurred decades earlier. “I do not have a relationship with the organization. I basically don’t have a relationship with the family. I am not viewed with any degree of – oh, I don’t exactly how to put it – but any degree of importance or relevance to anything that they’re doing. I think that they’re smart in capitalizing on the fame of the Hall of Famers, including Eddie DeBartolo – in terms of promoting the brand. But I’m just not part of their plan and I’m not part of their view of what they want to hold on to from the past.

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“And you know what? That’s their choice and their decision and I have to respect that. And I’m very happy with the way I’m treated elsewhere in Bay Area. I’m treated with a great deal affection and respect – and I return it. Actually, I just couldn’t ask to be treated any better than I’m treated. I have no complaints. It’s just the way things are. And that’s the way things happen in this business. It’s a very competitive business and it’s a business where people develop viewpoints, attitudes, opinions, ways of doing and conducting business. And it’s just something you have to acknowledge, even if you don’t necessarily respect it.”

You can listen to Kawakami’s interview of Policy in its entirety here.