Matthew Knights tells of 'gory' sacking
FORMER Essendon coach Matthew Knights last night broke his silence about his dramatic sacking.
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FORMER Essendon coach Matthew Knights last night broke his silence about his dramatic sacking, saying he knew in the middle of last season that club chiefs wanted to dismiss him.
Knights conceded his sides did not master the defensive side of the game and said it contributed to his downfall.
The coach of three seasons said in his first public comments that the unity of his first two seasons evaporated in his final season.
He said he would not criticise the club out of respect for the new regime, but said propaganda was being spread about his tenure.
Knights promised to reveal all the "gory details" at some stage, saying he kept extensive notes about his last few months in charge.
His appearance for new employer ABC Radio saw him talk for the first time about his downfall.
"The first two years were exhilarating," he said. "There was such a sense of unity and purpose, and it was an outstanding football club to coach.
"Last season, it was just different. There was a sense that it was different and there was input from outside and the second half of the year wasn't enjoyable to be a coach, when you sensed potentially what was going on behind the scenes.
"There will be a time and place when we cover off everything and go into the gory details of the last two or three months. I kept a lot of documentation in the last two or three months.
"But that time is not now for me or the Essendon footy club, with them on the dawn of the new season."
Knights said everything he did for Essendon was about contributing to its next premiership, and believes the Bombers would have peaked in 2011-14.
The messy nature of his departure saw Knights' wife informed before he was aware he had been sacked.
sHe is determined not to feel ashamed of his coaching record and says he keeps his head high.
"I have three kids, a young one and an 11 and nine-year-old, and the day it happened the media were on the front doorstep and I wasn't home and my wife answered the door and I hadn't been given the news, but there was a throng of media on the door. It was quite confronting for my wife.
"You look back on it and think that could have been handled better."
He said frustration at a job not yet completed was his primary emotion.
"We regenerated all parts of the (team) and to start a program and stick with that, and to know the program was going to come to fruition in 2011-14, and not be able to see it through, there is frustration in starting something you think will be special."