[ad_1]
St Kilda president Andrew Bassat has admitted he and CEO Simon Lethlean “blindsided” Brett Ratten with the decision to sack him, just months after signing him to a two-year contract extension.
Ratten’s contract was terminated by the club this week, with the board informed of the decision on Thursday evening following a football review that commenced in July.
Bassat, who became president of the club at the end of 2018, conceded Ratten was not aware until very late in the review process that his position was under threat.
Watch every match of the AFLW Season LIVE on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
NEW PODCAST – Trading Day Deadline Special: Every last-day deal and every club’s moves analysed
“I think this review did create uncertainty and I’m sorry … I think it’s been a brutal process and I’ve spared nothing or no one and Simon has been terrific in dealing with the challenge and working with me to get the right outcome.
“We didn’t know where it would go, there was uncertainty, but I don’t think Brett had any inkling that he was specifically in (our) sights.
“I think to be frank, in sympathy to him, the fact we signed him up to a contract not too long before probably made that harder for him to see coming.”
Bassat also admitted the club had doubts even when re-signing Ratten to his two-year extension three months ago, but wanted to give the 51-year-old confidence about his future.
He said this was a mistake in hindsight and it led to an extraordinary scenario where Ratten, contracted until the end of 2024, suddenly was told to convince the club he should stay on as coach in 2023.
“Simon had a bit of a conversation with Brett on Sunday night as we got to a decision that really subject to Brett being given a genuine opportunity to convince us that we were getting something wrong,” Bassat said.
“Brett, Simon and I had a meeting on Monday and over the course of the week I spent about seven hours with Brett going over the detail and giving him every opportunity … to tell us that we got something wrong in terms of the decision that really came down to feeling that, for this football club to have a genuine chance of contending going forward, we need a different style of leadership and a different voice.”
Bassat also conceded Ratten was not given the best chance to succeed as coach before he was sacked, but insisted even if he had been provided with that, there were still better coaching options.
“I’m going to be frank. Given there’s a bunch of things we need to do better in our program, we can’t look back and say Brett was absolutely set up for success,” he said.
“I can’t say that with honesty. I needed to adjust for that and take that into account and that made this decision even harsher.
“We still felt, taking that into account, that even with a better setup around him, we felt there were coaches potentially with different characteristics that gave us a far better chance of being successful, as well as different voices.”
[ad_2]
Source link
