Hoops great Al Green sacked as Woodville Warriors coach after ‘personality clash’ with club president

SA BASKETBALL great Al Green is considering legal action against Woodville Warriors’ president after being sacked as coach for what he calls a “personality clash”.

SA BASKETBALL great Al Green is considering legal action against Woodville Warriors’ president after being sacked as coach for what he calls a “personality clash”.

Green, a former Adelaide 36ers and West Adelaide star, was dumped a fortnight ago after leading the Warriors to a 5-2 start to the men’s state league season.

He said he did not get along with Woodville president Benn McDonald and that led McDonald to remove him from the job.

“It’s not the Woodville family, it’s basically me and one guy ... a personality clash,” said Green, also the Warriors’ vice-president.

McDonald said he could not comment for legal and confidentiality reasons.

Green said he was hopeful the matter could be resolved through a mediator and he could be returned as coach.

If not, Green said, he would consider suing McDonald for unfair dismissal and defamation.

“(Legal action) is sitting in the rafters and we’ll see what happens (with the mediation),” he said.

“The mediator is trying to get both sides to agree on a solution to fix the problem.

“I just want to coach my team – and win.

“It’s not right what they did. Why mess with something that’s working?”

Green said a petition with more than 150 signatures was circulating around the club to force a special general meeting.

The meeting, which could happen in about a month, would give Woodville members the chance to vote on a committee to lead the club forward.

“If we won the vote, I’d automatically become coach again and they (the current committee) would be out,” Green said.

“But let’s hope we can resolve this peacefully without going to a general meeting.”