Ross Lyon comments come to light amid St Kilda coaching speculation
Amid talk of St Kilda potentially looking to reunite with Ross Lyon after the club sensationally sacked Brett Ratten, the disgruntled former Saints coach has lifted the lid on his controversial 2012 departure.
After protracted contract negotiations broke down at the conclusion of the 2011 season, Lyon stunned the AFL world by walking out on the Saints with a year left to run on his contract to accept a lucrative offer from the Fremantle Dockers.
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Leaks to the media about his contract status at the time proved to be the tipping point, with Lyon saying back in August that he had lost faith with St Kilda powerbrokers after he was labelled 'greedy' for turning down an extension worth roughly $800,000.
Having changed managers prior to the contract debacle, Lyon said the whole saga was kicked off when a hitherto unseen clause in his deal was discovered which would have allowed him to leave at any time provided he give three months notice.
Fremantle came into the picture when that discovery was made public, however Lyon said he rebuffed the Dockers CEO Steve Rosich on more than one occasion, remaining committed to the Saints despite contract negotiations proving difficult.
Lyon says Rosich approached him once again after St Kilda's loss in the 2011 elimination final, but he was still determined to stay at Moorabbin, despite also claiming to have had interest from Melbourne.
“Negotiations with St Kilda were breaking down, they were going nowhere. And Melbourne was in the background and it was coming through Paul Roos and Garry Lyon," he said.
“I had a meeting with Craig Kelly. I asked Craig and he said, “(Melbourne) have got no interest.
“He said, ‘No one has got any interest’, and we knew it wasn’t quite the truth, me and my wife."
A subsequent meeting with then St Kilda CEO Michael Nettlefold marked the beginning of the end according to Lyon.
Sources point to Ross Lyon taking over as saints coach.
There is a bit to play out, officially they haven’t spoken to candidates.
Lyon isn’t commenting.
He clearly fits the bill. In particular ruthless.
Expect talks and even a deal to ramp up next week.— Tom Browne (@TomBrowne7) October 14, 2022
Ross Lyon details how messy 2011 breakup with St Kilda went down
Lyon said he later met with Nettlefold to inform him that he wasn't going to accept any of the extension offers tabled to him at that point, but wanted to see out the final year of his contract in 2012.
“So there was all this noise about Melbourne and I drove down to see (St Kilda CEO) Michael (Nettlefold) and this is the bit not many know and hopefully Michael remembers this," Lyon remarked.
“I said, ‘I am not going to accept what you have put there, I am going to do my 12 months’.
“And he said, ‘Ross, I don’t think we can do that’. I said, ‘What do you mean?’.
“And he said, ‘No’.”
The next day, stories appeared in both The Age and the Herald Sun reporting that Lyon had turned down the extension - resulting in Lyon completely losing faith in the Saints, who he believed were responsible for leaking his decision to reporters.
“I flipped out. And I rang (manager) Craig Kelly in the morning and said, ‘They can’t be trusted, I have had enough, I am out. I would rather dig ditches …’
“So I went to my lawyer and said, ‘I am done here’, and that’s when an offer came in (from St Kilda).
“I said, ‘I have had a gutful, I have been turned on, so in my head I am done’."
The day those stories appeared, Lyon says he got back in touch with Fremantle, who had a fully guaranteed offer ready for him the next morning.
Lyon said it was then that he had his final conversation with Nettlefold, who had emerged from a St Kilda board meeting in which the three-year extension they tabled had been approved.
“They had a board meeting (to approve Lyon’s three-year contract extension). (Nettlefold) said, ‘What’s it about?’" Lyon said.
“I said, ‘It’s not good’. So I walked down, I had a letter, I said I am exercising my option. He said, ‘Can we talk about this’. I said, “I am done”. And I walked out and that was it. That is the full story.”
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