Channel 7’s Caroline Wilson has revealed a series of rogue decisions made by former Melbourne CEO Paul Guerra contributed to his shock axing last week.
Guerra was sensationally dumped by the Demons on Tuesday, one year to the day after his appointment as CEO was announced and only seven months after he officially started in the role.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: New details emerge over Paul Guerra sacking
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He immediately flagged legal action against the club, while the Demons quickly moved on and appointed Dan Taylor as Guerra’s replacement.
But the club failed to shed much light on Guerra’s departure with president Steven Smith saying it was a “general lack of confidence” and the decision had full board approval.
While Smith didn’t go into specifics, Wilson revealed on The Agenda Setters that Guerra had acted without board approval more times than once.
One time centred around the Demons’ proposed plan to move their training base to Caulfield.
While negotiations are still ongoing, the club have also looked at a temporary switch to Waverley Park, which was the former home base of Hawthorn.
Wilson reports that Guerra continued to visit Waverley Park and even ordered the seats in the auditorium to be reupholstered despite the board telling him to stop going to the venue for fear of it hampering the Caulfield deal.
“I think there is genuine evidence that there were times when he acted without the board’s consent,” Wilson said on The Agenda Setters.
“One red flag was raised in early March when it was reported that Melbourne were moving to Waverley in the interim before any potential Caulfield deal. Melbourne is not happy about this. They were worried it was going to hamper the Caulfield deal.
“Guerra continued to visit Waverley with AFL bosses, went there many times, and in the end Melbourne told him to stop visiting Waverley because they were really about this hampering the Caulfield deal.
“Melbourne ordered the entire auditorium at Waverley — where Alastair Clarkson and Sam Mitchell used to speak to his players — to remove all the seats and have them reupholstered in red and blue.
“This did not go down well with people. It was unusual that this had happened when the board had told him ‘we’re not hitting out star to Waverley’.”
Guerra did eventually stop going to Waverley, but he also clashed with the board over a potential plan to sell a second home game in the Northern Territory each year.
“Then Tom Morris reported that Melbourne were looking at not one game in the Northern Territory but two,” Wilson continued.
“The board had no idea this story was coming out. It was discussed between the executive and Paul Guerra primarily and the footy department, and they were like ‘we’ve no interest in another game in the Northern Territory, we love our deal with Alice Springs, we want to play more games at our home at the MCG’.
“No one was more shocked than the footy department at something that they thought had been spitballed with their CEO when Tom Morris is reporting it on The Agenda Setters.
Wilson said those “two examples” highlighted the disunity between Guerra and leadership.
There will be more to play out in the fallout with Guerra seeking legal advice.
“It’s been a challenging day. I’m really puzzled by the board’s decision,” Guerra said last week.
“I’m really proud of the team we’ve put together and I’m really proud of the role that I’ve played in the team’s success.
“To everybody that’s sent messages and phoned today — and there’s been a lot — I really appreciate that.
“The matter’s now in the hands of my lawyers, so I can’t say much more than that for now.”
