United they stand
TweetMUST confess the conspiracy theorists have been out in force since Chris Anstey gave Melbourne United his resignation yesterday.
He was pushed - he had three weeks and jumped before he was shoved – ownership MUST be behind it because it’s only one game, etcetera - has been the drum beat of the past 36 hours.
It really is a damning indictment of society today that we can all be so incredibly and automatically cynical and immediately want to think the worst.
Or think up scenarios that are the worst.
Or float rumors someone started as if they are gold-plated truth.
And the degree of belief in some jaundiced version of events never fails to surprise me.
As a journalist, I won’t claim innocence on cynicism but I will say my job involves digging for the truth and not stopping until it is found.
So here is the truth of what happened as best I can tell it, from information I have gleaned from Chris, United CEO Vince Crivelli, a couple of players and others inside the club.
Chris had been concerned his message wasn’t getting through to his star-studded personnel.
In just his third year as an NBL head coach, he had gone through the teething issues of Year One, built his team into a contender last season – if Stephen Dennis doesn’t go down, that season easily could have concluded differently – and was moving into a new era with Melbourne’s rebranding as United.
Trust this. United ownership had no input into Chris’ decision.
After the preseason, the Blitz and a few other warmup games, he felt the new group wasn’t hearing him.
A 28-point home loss to Cairns on Sunday powerfully reinforced that.
On Sunday evening, Chris offered his resignation and a startled club management asked him to reconsider or at least sleep on it.
Yesterday morning, he had not changed his mind.
Chris Anstey did what he believed and believes was the most honourable thing.
He stepped aside so United would have a better chance under a new leader.
For showing that integrity, all he has experienced away from the club is conspiracy theories and unfounded rumors from those who would love to see United fail.
That’s the whole point, Chris Anstey wants to see United succeed.
If anyone has been trumpeting its necessary evolution, it has been Chris.
“Chris has lived it all, from being a Melbourne Tigers junior to working with Brian Goorjian in other Melbourne teams,” Crivelli said.
“We didn’t want to see him go. We support Chris.”
Anstey today addressed the team in person at practise, something you wouldn’t expect if he had been turfed out or “given the option to resign” as some want you to believe.
It was almost the official hand-over to D-Mac, Darryl MacDonald.
And it should have brought home to those players who think they know more than the coach that now is their time to shut up and show their best.
Even at the Blitz, it was evident some players were about their court-time and significance of their role.
Many of us felt Chris was in for a long season if he couldn’t rein in a couple of rampant egos.
But in the end, he felt it best if the club moved forward without him in that capacity.
He was wrong, dead wrong.
It’s always easier to manage a team with two or three studs and a great group of role players than six or seven studs, especially when a few need to “get theirs”.
Maybe he should just have been tougher on a few people than he ultimately was on himself.
“Chris is not a quitter – he’s a leader,” Crivelli said.
While he will be there at the club’s next home game, being committed, as he is, to Melbourne’s ultimate success, don’t be surprised if the club finds another role for him either.
And when it does, the first thing I am sure social media will say was “that was his pay-off” or something similar.
Sad when integrity can be confused with conspiracy.
TOMORROW: Brisbane-based journo and hoops junkie Brayden Heslehurst joins us with his take on a new NBL team in the Queensland capital and why they should be called "the Bullets".