Melbourne's problems are not just confined to embattled coach Mark Neeld

THE decision to sack Mark Neeld is a simple one.

Dee-cline starts from the top

THE decision to sack Mark Neeld is a simple one.

But the solution to the complete basket case Melbourne has become isn't as simple as sacking their coach.

You get the impression the only thing saving Neeld at the moment is the fact the club needs a whole new board and football department.

There is not much point sacking a coach when you have no confidence in the people that will be deciding his replacement.

The ugly truth is that Melbourne's board have lost the right to make decisions.

Remember last time it sacked a coach? It was Round 19, 2011, and the Demons had just been belted by 186 points by the Cats.

On that weekend the board decided to sack CEO Cameron Schwab before doing an about face and re-signing him and sacking Dean Bailey.

It was a panicked and ill-considered decision and it has barely made a decent one since. Chris Connolly will return from his ban for orchestrating the Demons' "tanking" debacle straight into a new two-year deal.

Schwab has since been sacked and interim CEO Peter Jackson, an AFL appointment, has a huge task to get this club back on its feet.

Melbourne are out cold, at every level of the organisation, which is why at this week's board meeting, when everyone thought Neeld would be sacked and the ABC even reported that he had been, nothing was done.

Jeff Kennett's emergence as a potential new chairman this week was interesting - Andrew Demetriou's response was fascinating.

So desperate are the AFL for someone to sort out the mess he actually endorsed the idea. How often does the AFL CEO make a comment on the board of a club?

But he is heavily involved because the Demons are dragging the whole competition down. They are about to hit-up the AFL for another bail-out.

Demetriou recently said that he generally held the view any publicity was good publicity. But not this.