Collingwood's new president Mark Korda has warned against any coup attempts to oust him from his position and urged members to back their mission to address racism issues at the club, as reports of unrest since Eddie McGuire's resignation continue to surface.
McGuire stepped down from his position after 22 years at the reins amid the damning Do Better report which found the club guilty of systemic racism under his watch. Bringing further scrutiny to the club has been the team's lacklustre performance on the field and mystery over coach Nathan Buckley's future.
As a result, McGuire's replacement, Korda, has faced public criticism from former Channel Nine executive Jeff Browne, as well as Magpies legends Tony Shaw, Craig Kelly and Peter Moore, as this week another board member, Alex Waislitz, resigned and was replaced by former champion cyclist Dr Bridie O'Donnell.
https://twitter.com/CollingwoodFC/status/1394572125252452355Korda has only been at the helm a few weeks but he's already had to hose down explosive reports of Browne orchestrating a coup to overthrow his leadership and denied that the AFL is backing Browne. He also insisted he intends to remain Collingwood president until at least the next board election.
"[A coup is] not in the best interests of the Collingwood Football Club," Korda emphatically told 3AW, as he defended his appointment.
"I represent a transition from the past to the future. The other board members elected me president which I'm very grateful for."
Korda said Browne was not frozen out of a leadership role, explaining that he was not considered ahead of O'Donnell because that process had begun well before Browne's public criticism of the club's leadership. Board member Christine Holgate led recruitment with an executive search firm to find two directors to replace McGuire and Waslitz, and Korda said after interviewing seven shortlisted applicants, the board "unanimously agreed" on Dr O'Donnell and Neil Wilson, chairman of the Victorian Racing Club.
Those two casual vacancies were filled and whether they remain there will be voted on by Collingwood members at the next board election before next season, where a total of three board positions will be decided.
Korda tried to steady the ship, arguing that he and the current board should be trusted to do the job they've been appointed to do, and re-iterated his commitment to addressing the concerning findings of the Do Better report.
Korda said the club have attempted to reach out to former player Héritier Lumumba "at least six or seven times" as part of this commitment.
Lumumba was one of the key figures in the Do Better review and has continued to hold Collingwood to account over their actions.
"That process of reconciliation with Héritier and our past First Nation players continues in earnest as does the implementation of the Do Better report and Jodie Sizer [co-CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers Indigenous Consulting] is running that on behalf of the club," Korda said.
"She is now vice-president of Collingwood to show how important the implementation of the Do Better report is."
Korda told 3AW he had spoken with Browne "broadly about the Collingwood Football Club", but claims "he understands coups aren't in the best interest of football clubs either".
"What will happen is directors are elected every three years. There are three directors up for re-election at the end of the season and if any member who wants to come on the board, they could stand for election. That's the appropriate process and what our constitution allows for," Korda said.
"We had an opportunity to put two new directors in. They come from a background of strong corporate governance, they look after other people's money... I think we did it properly, and I'm very happy with the outcome."
The Magpies president hasn't directly discussed reports of the coup with the man he replaced, however he has been buoyed by McGuire's comments in the media and rejected claims that the media identity is behind the coup reports.
"Why would Eddie want to tear down his own legacy? Eddie has always put Collingwood first. He resigned in February because Collingwood needed clear air," Korda said, confirming the board did not know he was going to step down when he did.
"He said, I think it was on Footy Classified, that there shouldn't be any coups at the football club and get your support behind Mark Korda. I think he's already supported me publicly so I'm happy with that."
Korda said he hadn't yet cleared the air with Shaw, Kelly or Moore over their criticism of the board, and told 3AW that the club was not ignoring Collingwood's poor on-field form.
"We went from loose management issues, followed by the Do Better report, followed by Eddie's resignation, followed by the coaching contract [which] is up, now followed by poor performance - but I can tell you membership is over 80,000, all our sponsors are re-signed, we have $10 million cash in bank, $18 million in our future fund, so we're in really, really good shape," Korda said.
"We're not [winning games]. Graham Wright is doing a full review of the football department, reviewing list management, and we need to plan out for 2022, '23, '24 and '25. And that's the highest priority at the moment and we're in great hands with Graham Wright."
As for Buckley, Korda said Collingwood will decide he fate "in the back half of the season" and that "everyone including Nathan remains committed to that timetable".
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from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/collingwood-president-mark-korda-on-board-unrest-jeff-browne-eddie-mcguire/224d511c-4542-44ab-9f4a-117dfe906d5b
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