Much like his polarising tenure did, Eddie McGuire's resignation as Collingwood president has divided opinions and drawn a mixed bag of responses from AFL greats and media personalities.
Originally set to stand down from his post at the end of the season, McGuire called time on his presidency early in an emotional press conference on Tuesday after 22 years in the role following internal and external pressure in the wake of the Magpies commissioned Do Better report that found the club guilty of "systemic racism".
Former Collingwood star Dayne Beams, who played 119 games for the club and has been the subject of vicious rumours involving McGuire in recent years, took to social media to defend him in the aftermath of the big announcement.
โLet's hope we can remember the amazing work this bloke has done for the club and football in general,โ Beams wrote on Tuesday.
โIs Ed racist? Absolutely not, has Ed made some mistakes? Absolutely. Have you? Yes you have. This bloke has always cared about me and my welfare and I have nothing but respect for him.
โHe and I have been victim of absolute bullshit rumours like he paid off debts I had etc etc. Well seeing as well all love the truth he's never paid off anything for me however he has been a friend when I needed one and always cared for me and is one of the first to check in.
โFor those that have no idea who he is quit with the negativity and your witch hunt , this bloke is a genuinely good person.
โAlso my time at the Collingwood football club I never felt once that I was involved in a racist club. I can not speak for reports or anyone else's experience but my own I was always comfortable and my observations of all my team mates they were the same.
โQuit with all the hate and negativity it's poisonous. One thing I do know is he acknowledges his mistakes and always looks to better himself as we all should do. Not one person is perfect let's not forget that.โ
Veteran journalist Caroline Wilson, who has had a love-hate relationship working with McGuire for many years, believes his โhubrisโ contributed to his downfall.
โI never thought that I would see this day,โ Wilson said on 3AW's Sportsday on Tuesday.
โI never thought that he would read the play so badly and I never thought it would come to this that his departure would not be of his own choosing.
โThere were so many things over the past week or so that just went from bad to worse for him. Even today, unfortunately, there was just a few signs of the hubris that just brought him down in the end. And I really never thought I'd see that.
โI thought he would try and run his own succession plan. I was never really sure that he was completely convinced it really was all over him at the end of this year โ and I think there was a bit of pushing in that situation as well. There was so many people who turned on him in the end. I mean, it was a collective assault, but I guess in the end of his own making.โ
Wilson praised McGuire for all the good things he has done since taking over as president at the end of 1998.
However, she pointed out that the recent controversy has caused divide within Collingwood's administration, board and staff, with some members of the club unommonly turning against him.
As McGuire himself pointed out during his resignation speech, it was no longer 'fair or tenable' for him to continue in his role.
โWe know the club is, in many ways, in a much better position, certainly geographically, than when Eddie found it. But he came to Collingwood so determined to unite all the factions โฆ and you couldn't say last week that that was what he'd done,โ Wilson said.
โYou'd have to say that last week they were a club savagely divided โ and I think that's sad that it's ended like this for him
โIt sounds to me like, some people I'm talking to today, the one thing that they were all united in, in the end, was that he had to go โ that they couldn't possibly get past this until he did go.
โThe board, the players were leaking against him โฆ the players were filthy, the board was filthy, the staff was filthy โ I mean I've never seen that before. I never thought I would see that in Eddie's time"
Collingwood 1990 premiership captain Tony Shaw reflected on a "sad day" for the club and wider AFL community but agreed that the timing was right for him to step down.
Shaw coached the Magpies during McGuire's first year at the club in 1999 but resigned at the end of their wooden-spoon campaign, with Mick Malthouse replacing him the following season.
โIt's a sad day for the footy club. It's a sad day, I think, for the AFL,โ Shaw toldย Sportsday.
โEddie wasn't just great for Collingwood, but he did a lot of things for a lot of other clubs too.โ
Shaw said McGuire hadn't been credited enough for his off-field community interventions and empathised for him after all the recent backlash.
โPeople just forget. They get the anger and the hatred involved and then they just close-up shop,โ Shaw said. โThey probably wore him down by the end.
โIf anybody's taken any joy out of seeing a man stand up there like he did today โฆ and do that, you probably shouldn't be on this earth, you're not a human being.
โWith this furore that's going on โฆ about the racism report, all the things that they've done as a club for a lot of the Indigenous people โ no one brought that up. You've just got to wear it โฆ you can't win when this sort of stuff comes up.
โI just felt for him and I felt for his family. I've been through it a little bit and I know the impact it has on your kids because other people come at you. I think there would've been a sigh of relief from his family that it finished today.โ
Geelong great and controversial media personality Sam Newman labelled the treatment of McGuire an "absolute disgrace".
Newman was a long-time panelist on The AFL Footy Showย alongside McGuire and believes he was unfairly ousted from his position, claiming his critics are "invested in chaos and division.โ
โIt is an absolute disgrace what is happening to Eddie McGuire,โ Newman told FIVEaa Adelaide on Tuesday.
โEddie McGuire is a great person, a great member of our community here in Melbourne, and in fact, he's a great Australian.
โHe might have erred like everyone might have erred, but he's tried his heart out to rectify what has gone on at that club.
โIt is completely unfair what they're doing to him, and they should be ashamed of themselves.
โWhy would you single him out? He has tried his hardest. He has set up Indigenous foundations at that club.
โThis has nothing to do with racism โฆ he is being condemned absolutely unfairly by all and sundry, because they think it's a great, politically-correct, point-scoring opportunity.
โThey're invested in chaos and division.โ
SEN's Andy Maher has called for people not to identify McGuire as the victim and understand the bigger issue at hand with racism.
โA highly emotional dissertation about his time at the football club, clearly skewing it towards all of the good that the footy club has done from a community perspective and none of that is debatable. That is all fact,โ Maher toldย SEN's Bob and Andy.
โThis is not a time to kick Eddie McGuire, but can I just โ and I'm going to get in trouble here, Eddie's not the victim here.
โEddie's not the victim here. The victim here, the reason this report has come out and the reason Eddie has done what he's done is because of the history and his response and the fact that maybe he didn't get it when he needed to most.
โThe victims are Syd Jackson, Nicky Winmar, Michael Long, Heritier Lumumba, Adam Goodes and others.
โThat's why the report was written. That's why it came out the way it did and that's what has led Eddie to the position he's found himself in today.
โIf everything was as virtuous as Eddie has laid it out to be today, there's no way he stands down today, he sees it out.
โBut this moment in time, he's probably done the right thing. Ed's not the victim here and that's not what the report was about.
โIf you're walking out of this today thinking you're feeling sorry for Eddie McGuire, then you're missing the reason the report was put in the first place.
โI've known Eddie from the moment we started in this caper and all of the stuff he said and a whole lot of other stuff โ tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Leviathan of the game. No question of that.
โBut that's not what this moment is about.โ
