More than $3 million worth of fines and legal fees have left the building and thousands of angry Bombers fans may follow but Essendon are confident they can put the supplements scandal behind them.
Essendon chairman Paul Little spoke in an optimistic tone on Tuesday night as he outlined the club’s determination to rebuild after the Bombers accepted unprecedented penalties from the AFL Commission.
The Bombers have been dumped from this year’s finals, fined $2 million, stripped of draft picks for the next two years, and senior coach James Hird has been suspended for 12 months until August 25 2014.
Little says the club’s legal costs have risen to seven figures and they’ve come at a very bad time.
“One of my greatest concerns has been the impact on our balance sheet at a time when the club has been funding its new high-performance centre at Melbourne airport,” Little said.
“From a cash-flow point of view it couldn’t have come at a worse time. However we will manage it.
“The cost of this dispute? I would have thought it’s certainly in excess of a million dollars.”
The Essendon faithful will be asked to dip into their pockets over the next 12 months to help the Bombers in their time of need and they’ll also be asked to turn up in numbers on Saturday night for a last-round, dead-rubber clash at the MCG against Richmond.
“This will be an incredibly tough time for all Essendon supporters and Essendon members. I share their pain,” Little said.
“We are terribly sorry for what’s happened. Hopefully we can move on from it.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt there’ll be a lot of very sad, very disappointed and maybe even disenfranchised people out of the Essendon family.
“However we must rebuild and we will rebuild.”
Little scoffed at a suggestion some players might want to pull out of this week’s game because it means nothing.
“I think it will be the opposite. You’ll find on Saturday that Essendon players will be playing for James Hird and the club,” Little said, adding he was confident the Bombers would not lose any players next season.
Assistant coach Simon Goodwin will coach the Bombers against Richmond.
