Galbally calls for ‘parrot’ to quit
COLLINGWOOD’S deepening boardroom crisis has been likened to the lunacy of a Monty Python skit.
It was revealed on Tuesday multiple members of the board had called on president Mark Korda to step down to enable a peaceful transition to challenger Jeff Browne.
Korda is said to have rejected the request and wants to cling on to the Pies’ top job until April, having then served 12 months in the role.
Long-time Collingwood solicitor Francis Galbally, who is backing Browne’s push for the presidency, said the conduct of the club’s board had “descended into farce”.
“It all reminds me of Monty Python’s dead parrot sketch,” Galbally said.
“Korda is the dead parrot and the board is the shopkeeper saying, ‘No, he’s not dead. He’s just asleep’.
“If it is true that members of the Collingwood board called on Mark Korda to step down in order to allow a peaceful transition to Jeffrey Browne – and Korda rejected that – then the board must now do it themselves.
“The whole lot should hang their shame.
“They should all resign. “Can you imagine any public company – and Collingwood is a public company – whose board gives a direction to the chairman and then takes no action when the chairman fails to carry out that directive?
“They either replace the chairman or they all resign.
“No other alternative is available. But here they act as if they are in a Monty Python skit – pretend nothing has happened.
“What a shemozzle.
“It’s pathetic.
“The most ridiculous thing I have ever seen in my life and, trust me, I have seen a lot of ridiculous things.
“It seems to be all about ‘me’ here – but what about the club? Nobody is thinking about the good of the Collingwood Football Club.”
Browne, 66, has been negotiating a peaceful plan to refresh the board and assume the club presidency.
Talks are ongoing but Galbally said he was only prepared to wait another few days before pulling the trigger on a full-blown club election at the annual general meeting on December 16.
The move would give about 12,000 Collingwood members the right to vote on all seven board positions.
Former professional cyclist Bridie O’Donnell quit the board two weeks ago.
And Victoria Racing Club chairman Neil Wilson remains ineligible to be a director because he has not been a voting club member for the required two years.
The chairman of investment bank MA Financial Group, Browne was the AFL’s external lawyer for almost two decades and is a close friend of former Pies president Eddie McGuire.
He was managing director of the Nine network from 2006-13 and is well connected at AFL House.