North Melbourne legend David King has insisted on saving more heads at St Kilda Football Club after manager Brett Ratton’s bomb blast.
On Thursday evening, Ratten was suspended a day after the trading period ended and St Kilda checked the news on Friday morning.
The announcement comes 97 days after Ratten has signed a two-year contract with the club and secured him until the end of the 2024 season.
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“I loved the time I spent at St Kilda Football Club and was very disappointed with the decision,” Raton said in a statement.
The 51-year-old has progressed to the 2020 semi-finals as a Saint Kilda mentor, winning 34 of 68 matches.
There was widespread condemnation of the cruel decision.In particular, a few months ago St Kilda President Andrew Bassat spoke enthusiastically about Ratten’s ability to lead the club in the future.
speaking savory breakfastKing suggested that those who compiled the list for Ratten should consider their future.
“I think Brett is a great footballer. He’s just the guy you want in a football club,” King said on Friday.
“He is honest, he is brave in his own way, and he always empathizes with the player. he didn’t work.
“For 66 games, Brett Ratten has been carrying a knife in a shootout. No doubt about it.
“He was asked to win the game and ultimately make it to the finals with a starless roster. If he judged the roster to be mediocre, he would have won a gold medal every year.
“He made it to the 2020 finals and they won the finals and I thought they had a fraudulent game plan. People moving the ball forward, there is no real control.
“The St Kilda games you’ve seen had no real control or handle on the game at any point in time and they won games that way, but when they lost they lost a lot.
“All these decisions you make in the cool light of the day. They were created by groups of people. Allowing St Kilda to have a cap of 10 or 11 wins each year and those players who don’t really compete with the big players and don’t give their coaches the best chance they can walk with a bit of decency. Today with Brett Ratton.
“They say, ‘We know that some of the failures of this football club are in our department. I am responsible for this’.
“Whether it’s Simon Leslin or James Gallagher, I don’t care who it is. Because this is not one person’s problem. Not like that. You can’t blame Ratten for all of this, who signed him 100 days ago. It’s funny.”
Port Adelaide Premiership player Kane Cornes called it “one of the most brutal decisions the sport has seen.”
“Perhaps an insight into the changing landscape of how AFL football is going and how ruthless some of these clubs will be,” he said.
“We see this often in world sports. Loyalty to the AFL coaches was considerable. He is a coach who renewed his contract in the middle of this year, and he left the next day after the trade period.”
On Friday, Simon Lethlean, CEO of Bassat and St Kilda, admitted that the club didn’t have a coach ready to take on the role.
Initial speculation suggests that contenders for the coaching position include leaving GWS assistant coach Mark McVeigh, highly regarded Melbourne assistant Adam Yze and former St Kilda coach Ross Lyon.
Bassat also defended the club’s decision to offer Ratten a long-term contract extension before a dramatic turnaround this week.
“I think you are talking too late. “I think I was less critical at the time.”
“As we started losing the game, people started to criticize the decision more and more.”
Originally published as North Melbourne legend David King insists that Brett Ratten have to roll his head after being sacked.
