“Do I want to continue? The short answer is yes. Do I want to coach? Yes,” Buckley said.
While he could yet decide to walk away,his fresh response has changed the paradigm,presumably until official discussions begin after the bye in round 14. Put simply,Buckley has handballed what is one of the most momentous decisions in club history well and truly back into the Magpies’ nest.
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Former Magpies recruiter Matt Rendell suggested on SEN afterwards that Buckley had little choice but to deliver the answer he did,and tipped he may have been encouraged to do so to ease the supporter heat on the club,and even to focus his players on the task at hand - defeating the Gold Coast Suns on Saturday.
Football department boss Graham Wright and media communications chief Stephen Reilly were watching on in the room at Magpie headquarters but Buckley did have options. He could have said he had yet to make that call or fudged another response. He has been around the block more than most. However,he opted to declare he wanted to coach the Magpies next season and even did not rule out the possibility of coaching elsewhere should he not be wanted by Collingwood,revealing only those closest to him knew his thoughts.
To the latter,Buckley was only responding to a question about being a “career coach”,but it immediately meant club figures,members and supporters needed to truly ponder what life would be like without one of the most important and prominent figures in the club’s storied history,and how they would feel seeing him in opposition colours. Do the Magpies really have the nerve to let him go? Some may say yes,as was shown inEddie McGuire’s exit.
It was also intriguing that Buckley named the five men who would make the club’s call on his future.
New president Mark Korda,chief executive Mark Anderson,football department chief and former teammate Graham Wright,and board directors Paul Licuria (also a former teammate) and Peter Murphy,the man whose 2017 report into the club’s operations helped lead to Buckley’s reappointment,will all be involved. This may well have been innocent enough by Buckley but by naming names there can now be no doubt as to who fans can vent their anger towards regardless of which call is made.