Sheahan Ink: Massive pay deal could land Clarko at Carlton
Carlton is not giving up on its bid to sign Alastair Clarkson and is considering a record-breaking offer to recruit the coaching great.
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Carlton is going to throw millions of dollars at Alastair Clarkson in a last-ditch attempt to secure him as their new coach.
Club heavyweights haven’t ruled out Clarkson coaching the Blues next season after revelations that the former Hawthorn coaching legend confided to some he had refused to talk with Carlton with David Teague still in the top job.
President Luke Sayers and his board are desperate for ‘Clarko’ to coach the new look Blues and are willing to offer a deal that could break AFL records.
Board members connected on Tuesday night, with many on the hook-up of the opinion Clarkson was as good as signed, sealed and delivered.
But Hawthorn may be throwing a spanner in the works, not wanting to pay Clarkson his entire severance package and thereby jeopardising the entire Carlton deal.
A well-connected Carlton insider said the club’s heavyweights were expecting an announcement in coming weeks.
The Blues aren’t giving up hope despite a statement from Clarkson’s manager, James Henderson, that his client would be taking a year away from coaching an AFL club.
So desperate to get their man the Blues will roll the dice one more time before they turn to Ross Lyon.
Sayers spoke on Melbourne radio on Friday and was less than convincing about another tilt at the four – time premiership coach.
“I’d love to consider Alastair Clarkson, but from everything I hear and read I think he’s taking a year off overseas,” Sayers told Kane Cornes on SEN.
When pressed on these comments, Sayers refused to elaborate.
The Carlton coaching job is Clarkson’s to lose or Ross Lyon’s to gain.
The Blues are very keen on Lyon but feel one final tilt will allow the club to rest easy in the knowledge they did everything in their power to get the best available.
Clarkson, 53, has been adamant he will not coach next season: “My sincere intention is have a spell away from the game over the next 12 months. I want to travel with my wife and explore the world.”
But Covid may be a defining factor in his decision making process.
If Clarkson knocks back the Blues, he will be favourite to coach the Gold Coast Suns at some stage in 2022.
PENDLES & THE PIES AT ODDS OVER PENNIES
Collingwood champion Scott Pendlebury and the Pies penny pinchers are at an impasse over the star’s new contract.
One of the highest paid players in the game, Pendlebury’s new deal to remain a Pie is currently at a stalemate with the club offering its captain a one year deal believed to be $500,000.
But the Pendlebury camp is refusing to budge, seeking a two year deal.
Pendlebury’s Jerry Maguire like manager Liam Pickering didn’t pick up the phone this week and in light of his client’s quip about moving to another club, it’s no wonder he didn’t answer.
Pendelbury’s throwaway line on Melbourne radio suggesting he was open to offers elsewhere forced the 33-year-old to clarify his comments via his social media and reinforce his commitment to Collingwood.
Watch this space.
HAMILL IN HOSPITAL
The man who was famously jailed for getting in a scrap with Sam Newman over a woman and breaking his nose is now in hospital himself after a serious health scare.
Mick Hamill went into Cabrini hospital last week for a routine shoulder operation but the situation escalated quickly with Melbourne identity reportedly suffering a heart attack during surgery.
Sources told Sheahan Ink Hamill was rushed to the Alfred Hospital where he remains in a serious but stable condition.
Hamill rose to infamy in 1997 when he took offence to then AFL Footy Show host Newman seeing Toorak socialite Melissa Skirton and punching him in the nose.
The assault made national headlines with Newman forced into surgery to repair his face.
“He did apologise some ten years on. I saw him in Clarendon St and he walked up to me and apologised and I said, ‘Don’t worry about it,’” Newman told Sheahan Ink.
“I wish him well and hope he recovers.”
Newman is currently restricted to the couch himself after having his ankle fused.
“It’s physically impossible to do anything when you have one leg out of action. I can’t drive and the only redeeming feature of this is everyone is in the same boat,” Newman said referring to Victoria’s lockdown.
SHEAHAN INK’S SECRET SHORTS
St Kilda’s Graeme ‘Gubby’ Allan and the man who headed up the independent inquiry at Carlton, Geoff Walsh, were spotted enjoying a coffee together outside popular Richmond cafe, Larry Dooley’s on Tuesday.
The high profile football officials, with some 80 years’ experience between them, walk from their Carlton homes to Richmond most days to get their coffee fix.
With Covid crippling the state, footy meetings between influential AFL people are now conducted walking suburb to suburb drinking coffee, discussing the future of the game and life itself.
Congratulations to former AFL administrator Tess McManus who has been appointed to the Saints head of football for the club’s AFLW program.
Tess brings a wealth of experience from her days at AFL headquarters and will be a great acquisition for the girls from Moorabbin.
The saying goes ‘happy wife, happy life’ but for one AFL footballer his preparation for Friday night’s final was far from ideal.
His partner caused the player all sorts of headaches leading up including an order to have the $280,000 Range Rover she was driving repossessed.
The player in question cost his side a few goals with brain fades that could be attributed to his home situation.
Is it time for his club or the Players Association to step in for the sake of the player’s mental health?
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