Collingwood searching for football manager after Graeme Allan quits following 12-month ban

COLLINGWOOD is searching for its fifth football boss in four years after Graeme “Gubby” Allan quit the club in the fallout from the Lachie Whitfield drugs scandal.

Former GWS Giants football manager Graeme Allan.

COLLINGWOOD football boss Graeme “Gubby” Allan has quit the club as fallout from the Lachie Whitfield drugs scandal rocks the AFL.

The league confirmed it was considering stripping Greater Western Sydney of picks at next week’s national draft after announcing suspensions for Whitfield, Allan and Brisbane Lions welfare manager Craig Lambert.

Allan’s departure comes just three months after he was installed above Neil Balme as the Magpies’ top football figure in August.

GIANT BAN: AFL RELEASES DETAILS OF WHITFIELD TEXTS

The Pies are searching for their fifth football boss in four years.

Allan said on Tuesday night: “I accept that I made an error of judgment in the way I dealt with Lachie Whitfield’s personal relationship issues and I have agreed to pay the price for it.

“There was no dark intent or other agenda behind what transpired in 2015. I reject any claim or speculation to the contrary.

“But I do accept that regardless of my good intentions, I should have handled the issues differently and ensured Lachie continued to meet his off-field ‘whereabouts’ obligations at all times.

“I also accept that the club I served then, and the club I serve now, are dealing with the consequences of this matter.

“For this, I am sorry.”

Graeme Allan returned to Collingwood this year after five seasons at GWS.

In its summary of sanctions the AFL said Whitfield had sent text messages to a third party stating that he “took illicit drugs on the evening of May 16, 2015 ... was staying at Lambert’s home to hide from Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency drug testers ... (and) was doing this under the instruction of Lambert and Allan because they feared the possibility that the illicit drugs taken by Whitfield may have been contaminated with performance enhancing drugs”.

The AFL said Whitfield “subsequently denied” the contents of the messages but found that “Allan advised Lambert that Whitfield was to remain absent from the club” and that “Allan and Lambert knew that the club and Whitfield were required to provide accurate whereabouts information”.

However, as part of the heavily negotiated deal with Allan, Whitfield and Lambert the AFL conceded that:

WHITFIELD did not miss any test.

HE had not been found to have consumed a prohibited substance.

HE had not evaded, refused or failed to submit to a sample collection.

Lambert was the Giants’ welfare manager at the time, while Allan headed the expansion club’s football department.

They both accepted 12-month bans.

Whitfield was suspended for just six months, freeing him to return to AFL action in Round 9 next season.

The 2012 No. 1 pick said: “I was going through a difficult period in my life and was not thinking clearly at the time.

“I know I should have behaved differently.”

Lachie Whitfield has been banned for six month. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Allan, 62, was preparing to fight the allegations as recently as last Friday but was swayed to cut a deal by trusted associates.

“The legal fight could have gone on, but that is not in the best interests of the game, the AFL, or my family,” he said.

“Recent history tells us as much.”

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan defended the 15-month investigation and said Whitfield had acted on bad advice when he spent three nights at the Lambert’s home last May.

“I reckon the sanctions are appropriate,” McLachlan said.

“He’s a 19-year-old kid who took advice from his supervisors, or the people who were looking after him. There’s a different allocation of responsibility.”

McLachlan added: “There’s not one piece of evidence or any allegation of anything to do with performance-enhancing drugs.”

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire declined to discuss the ramifications of Allan’s suspension.

“I reckon in about 48 hours you won’t shut me up,” McGuire said.