Mark Neeld Biography

Essendon coach John Worsfold has had to defend his position at the club after denying Mark Neeld has been made a scapegoat for the Bombers' poor start to the season.

Worsfold's tenure has come under scrutiny after his side's 2-6 beginning to the year.

Further heat has come on his role after the sudden departure of game performance manager Mark Neeld, with the Bombers making that position redundant.

"I'm really confident with my communication with the board and [chief executive] Xavier (Campbell) at this footy club that we're not happy with where we're at, but we're on a clear pathway to where we want to get to," Worsfold said.

"We've all got clear roles to play in achieving that, so I see a club that's pretty strongly aligned and focused on doing the hard work to get to where we want to get to."

Essendon assistant coach Mark Neeld has resigned from the club after the Bombers' underwhelming start to the year.

"This was a decision Mark has been reflecting on for some weeks, and following discussions regarding the potential restructure of the coaching department, Mark felt it was the right time to step aside and explore a new chapter in his career," Essendon football manager Dan Richardson said.

Mark Neeld will return to an AFL club after being appointed head of development at Essendon.

"I am very excited about this opportunity at the Essendon Football Club," Neeld said.

"Through my years working in the football industry, I have had a strong passion to assist the development of young footballers and watch them strive to reach their potential.

"From what I can see, the club has a terrific young list and I am looking forward to working closely with the coaching panel to foster the progress of our players, particularly in the early stages of their career."

Former Melbourne coach Mark Neeld has been appointed AFL Victoria's new eastern region Talent Manager.

The position includes managing last year's premiers in Victoria's TAC Cup competition, the Eastern Ranges.

"It's a terrific program and competition, providing a number of players with an opportunity to be part of a high performance environment and to develop before possibly being drafted into the AFL system or go on to VFL or other levels of football," Neeld said.

North Melbourne coach Brad Scott endorses sacked Melbourne coach Mark Neeld's abilities in an assistant's role.

"He's a good coach, Neeldy. I've seen him first-hand as an assistant coach," Scott told SEN Radio.

"Neeldy's had a tough time, but that doesn't take away from his ability.

"I think he's got a lot to offer the AFL industry, and I'm sure he'll still be involved at some club in the future."

After being sacked as coach of the Demons, Mark Neeld says he hopes to return to a role as an assistant coach.

"I loved my time as an assistant coach. It's a really good job and the attachment and relationships you can have with the players and every other member of the football club (is fantastic)," Neeld told radio station K-ROCK.

"And that's certainly something I'm looking forward to getting back into."

As part of the panel that decided to appoint recently sacked coach Mark Neeld in September 2011, Garry Lyon defends the decision that was made at the time.

"Selecting coaches is the toughest job of all. I won't apologise for the decision ever. That is life. Unfortunately it didn't work," Lyon said.

"I'm really disappointed that it hasn't worked. I thought that Mark ticked all the boxes for an untried coach but there is the great unknown when you get on your own and you sit in the chair and sadly for Mark and for the footy club, because the ramifications are dramatic, it hasn't worked."

Following Melbourne coach Mark Neeld's sacking, Michael Voss ponders his own mortality as coach of the struggling Brisbane Lions.

"They're the hazards of the job. You know there's potential around the corner for something like that to happen," Voss said.

"You probably sit back and get a chance to reflect on what your stint's been like.

"When you're the coach and in the moment, you're just trying to see where can get better next week and have you got the right mix and is that the way you want to go forward."

Neil Craig says he will consider applying for Demons coaching job after taking over as interim coach following Mark Neeld's sacking.

"It is a tough job being the senior coach of an AFL club, doesn't matter what club you're in. It is a really tough job," Craig said.

"The headaches as early as yesterday came back, so the stress comes back pretty quickly. There will be 11 weeks to gauge that."

Demons caretaker coach Neil Craig defends sacked coach Mark Neeld's job at the club.

Mark Neeld has done a fantastic job for this football club - he's done some unbelievable groundwork,'' Craig said.

"Sometimes you just have to be able to survive long enough in the industry to be able to see some of the really good work you do.

"We'll never know that, of course. The legacy he's left at this football club is very, very impressive.''

Melbourne sacks Mark Neeld with assistant Neil Craig taking over for the rest of the season.

"The on-field results have been unacceptable; it's not only the fact of one win for the year but the scale of the losses we've had to endure," Melbourne CEO Peter Jackson said.

"There's been public conjecture about players and whether they want to stay beyond this year.

"It's my responsibility as CEO to do everything we can to make sure players see a future at this football club … we need to convince them as a club that this is a place they want to be for the next 10 years of their career."

Asked what went wrong, Neeld replied: "I'm not so sure. I don't know … 18 months into a three-year contract, I would loved to have seen it out but it wasn't the case."

Melbourne captain Jack Grimes insists that embattled coach Mark Neeld has been a positive for the club despite the Demons' horrid year.

"From the start he always said to us that 'the game day results will be the last thing that we will see'," Grimes said.

"We train like I've never trained before in my life. It's just so much more intense, and so much more game-like.

"You can't keep training and preparing the way we do, and keep getting the results that we are. We just have total faith in what we are doing. It will turn for us."

Mark Neeld remains as coach of the Demons following a board meeting by the Melbourne Football Club.

"In coming weeks and months we will seek to change the structure of the football department as well as a number of other aspects of our business," club president Don McLardy said in a statement.

"Our on-field performances have not met expectations this year and everyone in the football department continues to face ongoing assessment in their roles as do those employed in other areas of the club.

"The club will make no further comment at this time, in relation to the senior coach position."

After another drubbing, this time by 95 points to Hawthorn, Mark Neeld remains confident he will keep his job as coach of Melbourne.

"We've got a really clear vision of where we're going, we've got a really clear pathway that we're following, and we haven't hidden that from anybody," Neeld said.

"We believe we're assembling a really good list that will take us forward."

Fox Footy commentator and former Melbourne midfielder Gerard Healy says the Demons midfield is atrocious and that it is only a matter of time before coach Mark Neeld is sacked.

"They were, on show, the worst midfield I have ever seen," Healy said.

"Something has got to give at that club, and if the decision hasn't already been made, the coach has just two games left to get some improvement against Collingwood and/or Hawthorn.

"If not, it will be bye for the players and 'bye-bye' for the coach."

As pressure mounts on Demons coach Mark Neeld, Paul Roos says he has no interest in taking over the job.

"It doesn't interest me, I enjoy what I'm doing so in the here and the now I just can't see myself doing it", Roos said.

"If you do it just for money then I'm the wrong coach."

After an embarrassing 10-goal thrashing at the hands of Gold Coast, embattled coach Demons Mark Neeld vows to keep pressing on.

"Everyone knows in the 18 months that we've been here - you jot down some of the things that have happened at the football club - it's been a life experience for all of us," Neeld said.

"But we're still here. We're up for it, absolutely up for it."

Former Melbourne star David Schwarz has cast doubt on Mark Neeld's future as the coach and says he would return to Demons as the club continues to flounder.

"The footy club is in serious trouble. Our footy department has been a debacle. There hasn't been anything down in the football department that's worked," he said.

"Cameron Schwab is probably the first step of many before this club is actually up and going. It's a proud club. I don't want to see my club go down.

"I actually want to go back and help. (I will do) whatever needs to be done.

"If that means going on the board or if that means I gave up everything to become a coach, well I would do whatever needs to be done so my footy club does survive.

"Because without that footy club, I'm not sitting here."

Read more: http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/david-schwarz-casts-doubt-on-mark-neelds-future-as-coach-and-says-he-would-return-to-his-beloved-club/story-e6frf3e3-1226631880283#ixzz2RzY73Z8w

Melbourne interim chief executive Peter Spargo insists his board trusts Mark Neeld to deliver improved performances after a disastrous start to the season.

"Our support is with Mark Neeld and the football department, we're very confident they can take us to where they need to go," Spargo said.

"In a football sense and a board sense we take things on a weekly and monthly basis, and we don't look to what's happening at the end of the year, we just look to what's happening this week.

"We just want an improved performance, Mark's very clear on that. He's told us that we're going to get that and we believe him and trust him."

Colin Garland, Sam Blease and Mitch Clark pledge support for embattled coach Mark Neeld after the Demons were thumped by Essendon to the tune of 148 points.

"As a group we've really got to stick together and find out who cares about the place," Garland said.

"We're 100 per cent behind Neeldy, we're just in a tough spot at the moment, hopefully we can get out of it," Blease said.

"We want to play for Neeldy, we love having Neeldy here, we're in this together. It's not just Neeldy - Neeldy's not out there on the ground," Clark said.

Melbourne's Jared Rivers has again scoffed at suggestions the players have an issue with new coach Mark Neeld.

"I personally think it is pretty poor journalism. The story has been around eight or nine weeks now and it is just a non-story," Rivers said.

"We are all supportive of Mark (Neeld) and the playing group and the leadership group. We've moved on and we're just trying to help each other out and move this club forward and take it up where it needs to be…could be time for a new story I reckon."

Demons president Don McLardy has appeared on television in support winless coach Mark Neeld.

"We interviewed extensively for the role. Mark (Neeld) clearly had a lot of attributes we were seeking and he has done nothing so far to show us that he is not the man," McLardy said.

"We are very confident of the structure he has put in place, the people around him, his gameplan … he's very convinced about his gameplan. We just need our players to buy into that and start performing."

New Melbourne coach Mark Neeld says he would like for caretaker coach Todd Viney to remain at the club to be part of his team.

"Todd did a great job in his role as interim coach. Yes, he will certainly be a big part of Melbourne moving forward," Neeld said on Channel 7.

"I've spoken to him a couple of times and he's a very passionate Melbourne person. He's fantastic at his job and has a lot to offer."

Collingwood immediately severs ties with Mark Neeld as its assistant coach after Neeld accepts a job as head coach of the Demons.

"We can't have a Melbourne coach sitting on the bench, that would be ludicrous, it doesn't make sense," Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse said.

"It's not a matter of he's going to walk away (at the end of the season) and he can still do this role, his mind is going to be a million miles away and in fairness to him - and the football club - you just can't."

Mark Neeld has been appointed as Melbourne coach for the next three seasons and says he will bring some toughness to the playing group.

"I simply want to coach the team that is the hardest to play against in the AFL," he said.

"That means all over the ground we're going to be the hardest to play against. There will be a number of components that come with that."

Collingwood assistant coach Mark Neeld declares that he "absolutely" wants the Adelaide coaching job.

"I'm doing a role, (but) I believe that I will make a very good senior coach and I'd like to get the opportunity to speak to Adelaide about that," Neeld said.