Carlton AGM: Blues defend Stephen Silvagni’s exit as failed candidate lashes election process
Carlton boss Cain Liddle says Stephen Silvagni is still a “legend of the club” despite the former list manager’s acrimonious departure, as a failed candidate for the Blues’ board took a swipe at the club’s election process.
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Carlton has defended its treatment of favourite son Stephen Silvagni at a fiery annual general meeting.
Silvagni was axed as general manager of list management and strategy in December after a fall out with club bosses.
“It was an incredibly tough decision,” Blues chief executive Cain Liddle told club members.
“But he’s a legend of the club and nothing there has changed.”
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Liddle declined to go into specifics about Silvagni’s exit, but at the time the club said it “centred around the increasing complexity of having two sons (Ben and Jack) on the playing list”, a conflict of interest it claimed was affecting other members of the football department.
Blues football director Chris Judd, barrister Chris Townsend and Egon Zehnder partner David Campbell were all re-elected to the Carlton board.
Softball Australia chairman John Hollingsworth and corporate services manager Steve Khatib failed to win seats.
Khatib, a 35-year Blues member, claimed his candidacy had been thwarted by an election process that “discriminates against ordinary Carlton members”.
His name appeared on the ballot sheet but without endorsement from the club’s “independent nominations committee”, which includes LoGiudice.
AFL members who nominated Carlton as their club of choice were also deemed ineligible to vote.
LoGiudice defended the club’s electoral processes but conceded a review into the constitution that has “a lot of grey areas in it” would be conducted this year.
“I don’t think it is undemocratic the way we run the club or the way we have run the election,” LoGiudice said.
The Blues boss declared that the club would be debt-free for the first time since 1996 by the end of next season, having wiped off $3.4 million over the past 12 months.
Club memberships could also hit 75,000 this season, the club said.
Liddle also hinted that the club was ready to explore an exit from the contentious poker machine industry that has bankrolled the club for decades.
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He said the prospect of Carlton playing more of its home games at the MCG was another serious consideration.
The club’s existing arrangement with the AFL-owned Marvel Stadium expires in 2024.
“It’s something we will continue to analyse and you might see us at some point go back and work with the AFL,” Liddle said.
Originally published as Carlton AGM: Blues defend Stephen Silvagni’s exit as failed candidate lashes election process
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