Why Melbourne coach Mark Neeld should be nervous despite assurances from president Don McLardy

CEO gone two days after Demons say they won't make a knee-jerk decision. Now president says the coach is safe.

TWO years ago Melbourne's players offered no resistance as Geelong embarrassed the AFL's oldest club with a 186-point thumping.

The Demons sacked coach Dean Bailey in a messy 48 hours following the defeat.

Today, three days after an insipid 148-point shellacking at the hands of Essendon, they axed chief executive Cameron Schwab.

Was it a knee-jerk reaction? "No," president Don McLardy said.

Did the board err in re-signing Schwab for three years in August last year?

"We'll be accountable," McLardy said.

Schwab told a packed and hastily-called media conference he knew the pressure was on, but was up for the fight.

That was until McLardy today asked for his resignation, revealed in the boardroom three levels above where Mark Neeld's side became football's laughing stock on Saturday night.

Dees premiership memorabilia adorned the walls as Schwab said he accepted the board's decision on the back of the woeful on-field issues.

Cameron Schwab: The buck stops with me

Former player Russell Robertson watched on from the corner before trudging out, visibly anguished.

McLardy said on Sunday that Schwab was safe. No rash decisions would be made, he said.

Don McLardy

Now Schwab is gone. McLardy was asked today if Neeld was safe.

"Neeld's not on notice at all," he said.

The Dees return to the MCG on Saturday to face West Coast, before an increasingly dangerous Round 4 duel with Greater Western Sydney.

It could now be up to Neeld's players to keep him out of the boardroom.