Collingwood CEO Mark Anderson has defended outgoing list manager Ned Guy after his credentials were attacked by former Magpies employee Matt Rendell.
Rendell claimed Guy "didn't watch much footy" during his time at the club.
โPeople are coming into the club in recruiting and list management โ you have to love watching all footy. I watch AFL, VFL, womenโs, under-18s, and Iโll go to the local clubs and watch them play. Any grade of football Iโll watch,โ Rendell told SENโsย The Captainโs Run.
โI donโt think Ned was that keen on watching a lot of footy. From that point of view I thought it was a really poor appointment by Geoff Walsh from my point of view. And no surprise it has ended up like it has.โ
Guy was the face of the mass exodus at the Magpies during last year's trade period, which saw Adam Treloar, Jayden Stephenson and Tom Phillips all traded out of the club due to a salary cap squeeze.
Collingwood's trade period:
IN:
Pick 14
Pick 65
Pick 70
Future 2ndOUT:
Adam Treloar
Jaidyn Stephenson
Tom Phillips
Atu Bosenavulagi
Pick 26
Pick 33
Pick 39
Pick 42 pic.twitter.com/uf2YRta3vC— 7AFL (@7AFL) November 12, 2020
Guy further fueled the tensions with the Collingwood faithful after a train wreck of an interview on Fox Footy to explain the list decisions made by the Magpies.
Collingwood in the last couple of hours of trade week. pic.twitter.com/4afOYwfyRh
— Dane Swan (@swandane) November 12, 2020
In a statement on Saturday night, Anderson backed Guy and accused Randell of not backing up his statements with facts.
โFor the record, in 2019 Guy attended 137 AFL, SANFL, WAFL, TFL, NEAFL and NAB League matches. He traveled approximately 67,000km to do so. On average he attended five matches a week," Anderson said in the statement and reported by Fox Sports' Ben Waterworth.
โIn 2020, Guy lived outside of Victoria for four months, and away from his wife and young children for two months, to escape the COVID-19 lockdown in place at the time. This enabled him to scout matches in Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland and New South Wales.
โGuy flew approximately 37,000km on behalf of Collingwood in 2020 to attend 49 matches (a COVID-19 reduced figure) and interview potential recruits. Collingwood recruiting manager Derek Hine honoured a similar schedule.
Guy will oversee the mid-season draft before he departs the Magpies.
Randell spent seven years at Collingwood before his part-time role came to an end in 2020 due to COVID-19 restraints on club employees.
