"It doesn't change anything for me. The landscape and the picture is the same as it was yesterday – no jobs, I'm going to try and set up a role with Essendon going forward," the two-time Geelong premiership coach said. "I don't know what's going to happen today and I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow to be honest. "At the moment there's no jobs, I don't even know why people are talking." Thompson said on Wednesday night that he would be prepared to stay at Essendon next season, but only as senior coach. In an extraordinary speech, Thompson did not reference the looming situation surrounding Hird, nor Hird directly who was not in attendance, but made it clear he would reject any approach from Gold Coast to remain at the Bombers provided he did not have to take a "step back" in his role.

Thompson spoke for nearly 17 minutes, all the while being interrupted by supporters shouting "are you staying?". In the interim, he made jokes and asked certain sections of the gathering to stand up and accept his thanks. As he received rapturous applause from the 1600 guests throughout his lengthy speech, including a sustained "Bomber" chant and standing ovation as he left the stage, Thompson declared his love for the club and stated he did not want to leave. "I loved coaching the boys. It is a good job," he told the gathering. "The thing I'm really struggling with right now is taking a step back," he said.

"That's where it is all coming from. Serious. "The plan was to leave after this year. I don't really want to. "I don't really want to because I genuinely love this football club and I love the players. "But I can't do a job that doesn't actually fill a need. "So I'm just going to have to wait and see how we go over the next couple of days.

"But that's my situation, so I hope you appreciate that and understand it. "You don't go backwards in this world. We don't ever want players to play in the AFL and then go back to the VFL and play and expect that they would enjoy that. "Players hate that, and that's a little bit about how I feel." He constantly used the term "we", in reference to himself and the club, and said he felt the team was capable of "a lot of improvement" in the future. Thompson claimed he had not spoken to Gold Coast, who on Wednesday sacked coach Guy McKenna, amid increasing speculation that the Suns want to poach Thompson, who acted as a stand-in senior coach this season while Hird served a 12-month suspension arising from the supplements saga.

"I haven't talked to Gold Coast," Thompson said. "I said somewhere that the 'third parties' are involved. You know who I was thinking were the third parties? Industry people saying 'they're coming, Gold Coast are coming'. That's all that was." Thompson also revealed that it was the reception he received from supporters at last season's best and fairest that encouraged him to step in for Hird this year, adding "you hold power". He then told supporters that the club had reached the "better end" of the supplements saga saying, "You haven't got long to go". "We don't want any blood... we just want you to hang in there and stay together," the two-time premiership coach said.

"Because if we get through it, there will be nothing that ever holds us back because we will be that resilient as a club. We have a point to prove." Thompson also made several references to 2014 being "a better year than we have had in the past". "Really the club, 12 months ago, was a little bit splintered. There was a lot of disharmony among the departments of the club and I think we've made a conscious effort to try and bring the club together," he said. "And I would have thought that people who were struggling in other departments of the football club would say they have enjoyed the year a little bit more than they have in the past." Thompson said he had made a deliberate effort this season to engage with all departments of the club.

"I said to [former chairman] David Evans when [the supplements saga] started. I said right now is when we can actually build a great club because we knew we were going to get to this point at some stage," he said. "And I think we have started the process of building a club. The footy department is structured up almost the right way with the right people, our recruiting has been really good, we've played the games into the young guys, the ones we've recruited, and nearly all of them look like they can play. "If we do get it right out of this year, we could be a good club again." Thompson also praised the role of chairman Paul Little during the drugs crisis, which drew warm applause from the crowd. "Paul Little has copped a little bit of criticism. I don't think there is a man in this world that could have done more," he said.

Thompson's speech also included pointed comments about rival clubs coached this year by two of his former assistant coaches at Geelong - Brenton Sanderson at Adelaide and Brendan McCartney at the Western Bulldogs. Sanderson was recently sacked by the Crows, while there has been persistent reports of discontent among players at the Dogs. "Some senior players at some of these clubs refuse to change - like Adelaide recently, and the Western Bulldogs," he said. "It seemed to me from the outside, not knowing from the inside, that there was a road-block there by some of the senior players on change. Loading