Lyon admits he has been contacted to try and haul his former side out of the mire.
Former Melbourne Demons great Garry Lyon says he does not have the time to help his former club as it battles through one of the worst starts to a season in its 154-year history
Lyon, who played 226 games with the Demons through 13 seasons, admitted people were coming forward to ask for his guidence for a young roster that is not up to AFL standard at this stage in the season.
With just two games gone, the Demons already have a combined losing margin of 227 points, many of which came at the hands of Essendon last round who mauled their cross-town rivals by 148.
“My phone didn’t stop the whole night during (the game against Essendon) from Melbourne people – former players, supporters saying ‘do something,'” Lyon said.
“Well, it is time for someone else to do something.
“I can’t do it – circumstances don’t allow me to do it professionally.
“And it is not something I am involved or interested in doing.”
Lyon was part of the push to have current coach Mark Neeld appointed to the role, and said people cannot expect results so quickly from the current playing roster.
“He’s (Neeld) under enormous pressure, I can’t sit back and watch what unfolds on the weekend and not question myself or where they are at as a football club,” he said.
“But what I’m not going to do is on the back of a season and two games, go back on the process and all the reasons we appointed Mark and say they’re not right.”
The news could get worse for the Demons with president Don McLardy admitting the club could lose $1 million this season.
The bad publicity from their woeful start combined with the AFL fine for ‘tanking’ in 2009 means the club’s bottom line could take a significant hit after Melbourne posted four straight years of profit following the elimination of a $5 million debt.
While admitting the first performance’s of the season were unacceptable, McLardy said the club would stand by Neeld in the short-term.
AFL boss Andrew Demetriou said he was concerned about the situation currently at Melbourne.
“In a competition where you want every team to be competitive, it’s not where we would like them to be and if you’re a Melbourne supporter that’s most disheartening,” Demetriou said.
“Hopefully there’s people at the club that understand what needs to be done to turn it around, and any support that we can offer we will. We’re only a phone call away. As yet we haven’t been asked for any help.”
McLardy said help from the code would be accepted but rejected the notion an administrator should be sent in to run the club, adding stability in tough times was crucial.
“I say look ahead and what happens if we beat West Coast? People will look silly then,” McLardy said.
“But I understand we will have to look towards the end of the season at what has happened. Clearly, if we are still performing like this, we have got issues to address.
“I have no problem saying that, but (don’t think) we would look at it after round two or round four and say, ‘Holy crap, let’s sack the CEO, let’s sack the coach’. It just won’t happen.
“We will be strong. Stability is critical. We just have to turn around what is happening on the ground.”
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