So much hate for Mick

[MC]

Ok, so i've noticed a fair bit of hate for Mick around here and wondering why that is?

As a Collingwood supporter, I know that Mick polarised the football community. You either love him or hate him. He was in our corner for 12 years, taking us to an amazing 5 H&A grand finals and a winning percentage to rival arguably the best club of the past decade in Geelong...

As I said in a previous post (quoted below) - it's so easy to forget how absolutely terrible we were in the early 90s... Malthouse started at rock bottom with us, recruited well, and it is certain that he got the most out of his players. Our list wasn't great in the early 2000s, still made 2 grand finals though and nearly pinched one of them!

Spot on. What a load of shower - like him or not, MM took us to our 15th flag having started at the absolute rock bottom. Easy to forget the struggle of the 90s after he turned us around and set us up for our current success!
If you're going to blame anyone for Mick leaving to Carlton, turn your gaze towards old Eddie. He's the one who set up the 'succession' which was flowered by us actually winning a flag the year before the supposed 'changing of the guard.'
For the club to be so stubborn and not be flexible enough to make amendments was really disappointing. No way in hell was Mick going to play second fiddle to anyone, particularly not a bloke he coached a few years prior.

Not taking anything away from Buckley and what he's achieved - I love both Mick and Bucks and what they've both contributed to the club over the past decade or two.

For him to have coached his last game for the club in a grand final, it's fair to say that it was a shower decision to force his hand to leave, knowing full well that he wouldn't play second-fiddle to Buckley who was an untried coach. Staying was a lose-lose situation for him. The club plays well and Buckley takes the credit. The club plays terribly and people will question his motivation as the mentor to Buckley... The club made a big mistake setting up the succession plan. It works well with coaches who intend or want to leave (ala Roos at Melbourne) but I wonder how much input Malthouse had into that decision.

We can't fault his success at Collingwood. We can't blame him for going to the arch-enemy who are paying him millions when we basically booted him out of the club in the first place...
So, where does the hate come from?

[ossie85]

Also can't understand the Mick hate.

But you can't criticise the succession plan imo. Bucks was a key part of our 2010 coaching panel. Who knows? We might not have wom the 2010 flag without him. So many ifs and buts, so many ways it could have turned out, but the result was a flag. Maybe that could've been 2, maybe none, but I wouldn't risk it if ww had the time again

[tbagrocks]

Let me ask one question. Who could've done any better wit this list?

[MC]

Good point Tbag - look at what he did with our blokes in the early 2000s. I was actually referring to the hate for Mick from Pies supporters though, not necessarily the general media/public.

[redfield]

I agree with you entirely, MC. He delivered a flag for us and I'll never forget 2002. For that, I love the man.

[MC]

Oh mate, I was there in 2002, we had no chance going in, came away with the loss and I was actually a bit bloody happy! Ridiculous.

[kilbluff1985]

hates a strong word

dislike him yes

i have never liked his game plan  even at Collingwood and he should have adjusted it at Carlton they don't have the list to pull off his game plan his game style is just out dated and to easily beaten by teams that move the ball quick

he may have been a very good coach but couldn't adapt to the way the game is played today

[powersuperkents]

I think people have seen him thrive for so long (almost 3 decades) and a significant amount of people don't support the WBs, WCEs, Collingwood, or Carlton. They have always wanted to criticise him, but just couldn't, even his first year of Carlton he made finals and in his second year they still showed promise. Thus, for all those people who have disliked him over the years (I would say mainly because his success), now is their chance to vent all their frustrations - it's dishonourably but they don't care.

I think Malthouse wasn't the right fit for Carlton, however Dennis Pagan wasn't either so the problem obviously isn't the coaches

[Mailman the 2nd]

Multiple reasons. He has a incredibly abrasive personality/attitude even if the media is stupid at times, compared to most other coaches it felt like he tried to make the team brand revolve around him a bit. Comments he made on his contract and how he acts etc. kinda alienated a lot of newer supporters.

People hate Collingwood with a passion, so him leaving was hardly met with any compassion. Going to Carlton didn't garner any favor either. It felt a lot like he was just there to spite Collingwood rather than actually continue to forge a career and lead Carlton to a flag.

He didn't perform any better than Ratten did (who actually built a contending side), got gifted a finals spot and made very questionable list changes (Betts, Laidler, Thomas etc.) and didn't change anything once it was clear his game plan wasn't going to work at all.

Then he started losing a large portion of Carlton supporters, became incredibly isolated and started to play as the victim and took on this whole "him against the world" attitude which just dug him in a further hole.

He was a succesful coach overall no doubt, but everything he did after the '11 Grand Final was just mistake after mistake