Wheeler-dealer falls on his sword

EDDIE McGuire’s greatest quality — one that built a Collingwood empire and transformed him into one of footy’s most powerful figures — was the belief he could turn even the most dire situation into glorious triumph.

Through sheer force of will that brash 34-year-old media man wheeled and dealt until he made a downtrodden, mediocre football club a premiership force.

On Tuesday, McGuire fell on his sword when even he realised he had bitten off more than he could chew in turning a race-based club crisis into a narrative about Collingwood’s growth as a football club.

There are some things clubs cannot spin.

There are some lessons that can be learned only with a profound apology and a desire to “do better”.

Yet where McGuire and Collingwood failed to read the play was their desire to manage an outcome that this time just could not be managed.

This time it cost him his presidency.

For all their community initiatives and desire to right the wrongs of the past, Collingwood was forced into an independent inquiry about its conduct regarding Heritier Lumumba’s claims because he would not be silenced about the allegations.

When the club received that investigation report preChristmas, it still believed this could be a glorious redemptive story about a club’s desire to be better. Then the report, inevitably, leaked.

To the bitter end, McGuire ducked and weaved instead of conceding. The “proud day” comment was his death knell.

This time he was the man to go, even if those responsible for perpetrating or not calling out the racism against Lumumba are surely more responsible.

McGuire will see the irony in his exit, admitting the pressure on the club’s sponsors had forced him and the Pies to act.

It was McGuire – using his fabulous networking and marketing skills, a feverish work ethic, a contact book from the gods and footy’s most popular TV show – who attracted those sponsors and turned Collingwood into Australia’s biggest sporting club.