Bombers coach Ben Rutten has been ruthlessly Sacked, with supporters criticizing the club’s treatment: ‘The total contempt displayed is appalling.’
Ben Rutten, the Bombers’ coach, has been fired, effective immediately.
The club has been chastised for its handling of Rutten.
Fans branded the club’s treatment of Rutten “disgraceful” and “disgusting.”
Bombers coach Ben Rutten has been brutally sacked, with the club revealing he would be leaving the club effective immediately after a board meeting on Sunday
Rutten, who guided to club to an unlikely finals campaign last season, was moved to tears by the situation after the Bombers finished their year with a disappointing 66-point thumping at the hands of Richmond.
It comes after a week of turmoil at the club that has included board upheaval and a very public failed attempt to lure former Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson.
Rutten was not made aware of the club’s pursuit of Clarkson, and the Bombers were lashed for their lack of communication and respect towards their head coach.
With the axe looming over his head on Saturday night after the side’s loss, Rutten said that he deserved to be treated better by the club.
‘I probably think I deserve better,’ he said in a post-match press conference.
‘As a club, we need to come together as a whole football club and we need to stick to a plan, put our heads down, bum up and do the work.
There’s no other way. There’s no other way for this football club to get back to where it wants to be,’ said Rutten.
The board did not agree.
President David Barham said in a statement on Sunday afternoon that the club’s board of directors made the decision to part ways with Rutten, effective immediately.
The unfortunate reality is, at various stages this season; we have simply been uncompetitive. And while we acknowledge that we have an emerging playing list, we were compelled to make the decision,’ Barham said in a statement released by the club.
‘Our members and supporters do, and should, expect better from a proud football club. We appreciate this has been a difficult chapter for our Club.
‘But as I said in my President’s address pre-game yesterday, we will be a bold and courageous football club again. We need to return to being a successful football club,’ said Barham.
Rutten is contracted for 2023, with the axing set to cost the club an estimated $600,000.
The former Crows fullback moved into coaching immediately after retiring in 2014.
He was a key architect of the Tigers 2017 premiership victory before moving to Essendon as an assistant coach in 2019 as part of a succession plan with ex-coach John Worsfold.
Fans, players and pundits were up in arms over Essendon’s treatment of Rutten across a week.
One wrote that the ‘utter disrespect show to him (Rutten) this week is disgusting’, while another called the club a ‘circus’.
Many also questioned why Rutten was the only one held responsible held responsible for the Bombers poor results, with list manager Adrian Dodoro’s questionable recruiting called out.
Rutten will finish his head coaching stint at Essendon with 17 wins and 26 losses from 43 games in charge – including an elimination final loss last season.
The Bombers have finished 2022 in 15th, but a combined loss margin of 150 points over the last two games have compounded the disappointing year even more.
Ben Rutten is on the look out for a new job after his brutal axing by the Bombers board
They aren’t exactly good statistics, but the club was firming in rebuild mode when Rutten took the job on and inherited a list that appeared to lack heart and effort on many occasions.
Barham said the club will now take its time on recruiting their next coach.
‘We will thoroughly and diligently consider our next steps and in due course, will communicate the process of our next senior coach appointment,’ Barham said in the statement.
