This is the second extract.
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Somewhat surprisingly, David Parkin was entirely sure he wanted to pursue a coaching career the second time around in late 1980 “because I was really hurt and offended” by what had transpired at Hawthorn.
And in the wake of the Carlton team’s straight sets finals losses to Richmond and Collingwood under the then coach Peter Jones, the President Ian Rice and his cohorts knew exactly what they were getting, as the club’s long-serving administrator Shane O’Sullivan, explained.
O’Sullivan is of the view that Jones was elevated to the position in early 1980 to counter the loss of the hugely popular Alex Jesaulenko, for whom the bell tolled on that sweltering February evening at Festival Hall. He reminded that Perc was a genuine favourite amongst the Carlton rank and file supporters, who were also more than content with Mike Fitzpatrick as the on-field front man.
“But we weren’t going too flash, and when ‘Parko’ [David Parkin] got the chop from Hawthorn, the club got on the front foot,” O’Sullivan said.
“In terms of those responsible at committee level for the decision to tap Perc on the shoulder, no-one was ducking, but the thing had to be done delicately”.
Still, O’Sullivan is in no doubt that Jones took it hard, “because he always referred to David as ‘the Hawthorn bloke’, and he always said that if he had [Peter] Bosustow and [Ken] Hunter he would have got the team over the line.”
How well O’Sullivan remembers filing into the office of the ousted President George Harris together with Ian Rice and the then General Manager Jim Allison, to place the momentous phonecall to Parkin, by now a free agent.
“I can’t recall exactly who made the call, but I can remember the two faces in the room,” O’Sullivan said. “Ian Rice and Jim Allison, were in there, and we rang ‘Parko’ up to see if we could meet and have a chat,” O’Sullivan said.
“I must admit I’ve never spoken to David about what happened at Hawthorn. I’ve always just assumed that he might have run his course, having been around them a long time, but you’d have to ask him.
“I wasn’t privy to everything. All I know is that they [the Carlton committeemen] were keen on David, because they felt that they needed a coach to really educate the players that they had - players like [Wayne] Harmes and [Jim] Buckley who were still young men.”
History records that this was one of the great decisions.
O’Sullivan said that after David expressed an interest, a meeting was arranged at Rice’s office at the top of the old Nauru House building in Exhibition Street in the city, “and I reckon Wes Lofts was there and so too Jimmy Allison”.
“I can remember waiting outside and actually wondering why I was there, but I think it was to more or less show that I’d be working closely with him on the footy side of things if he needed any help,” O’Sullivan said.
“When David coached the state team, must have been 1980, they trained at Carlton, and after training we got talking about footy for about an hour and a half, so I for one certainly hoped that he got the job . . . and a few days later he did, and we were up and running.”
On the morning of Friday September 26, 1980, the following article, penned by the seasoned sport journalist Michael Davis, appeared beneath the headline “Parkin for Blues” in The Sun.
DAVID PARKIN, Hawthorn’s 1980 coach, has replaced Peter Jones as coach of Carlton.
Carlton president Ian Rice made the announcement at the Blues’ social club last night after a lengthy committee meeting. He said Parkin had been on a short list of three, including Jones and Ron Barassi [who committed to coach Melbourne five days later], for its position.
“Discussions with Ron Barassi were not fruitful,” Mr Rice said last night.
It is believed negotiations with Barassi ended yesterday morning.
Jones, who took over the coaching hotseat after Carlton’s traumatic administration trouble, will be asked to take up a position on the match committee.
Mr Rice said the committee last night discussed the performances of the club in the finals series this year.
“I’ve gone on record as saying what a great job Perc did under very difficult circumstances, but the club was disappointed with its two performances in the finals matches.”
Mr Rice said details of Parkin’s contract were to be finalised.
Jones seemed disappointed about the committee’s decision not to reappoint him, but he was reluctant to comment.
“I’ll hang on for a while until I say something,” he said.
Asked if he would accept the position on the committee, Jones said: “Is that the square-off, is it?”
Parkin well recalled the summit meeting with Rice and Lofts at the top end of town, at which an offer was made “for a couple of years if I recall”. But he was oblivious to the fact that in order to appease his predecessor, Jones had been offered the role of chairman of Selectors.
“We had this fiasco where to get the then coach Peter Jones off the hook they made him chairman of the match committee without my knowing. I said that was unacceptable and that if it wasn’t resolved I’d resign just as fast as I was appointed,” Parkin said.
“I saw Ian Rice and threatened to hand in my resignation immediately because what that was being done over the top of me, so they pulled the pin on Peter Jones because I said I wouldn’t coach under that circumstance.”
Parkin added that Carlton was the only option available to him at that time “but after the back-to-back years Collingwood got into the act and were very keen to employ me because I only had a two-year contract through 1981/82”.
“I met with Ranald Macdonald but I resolved not to work with Collingwood after that meeting, and Carlton came back to me with a new contract, although my contracts were only pretty short - one or two years each time,” he said.
Parkin said he enjoyed a healthy working relationship with Rice and (later) John Elliott, although he does corroborate Vivienne Kerr’s view that Ian Rice was a Presidential puppet for the Carlton powerbroker who was her late husband.
“Laurie Kerr was what you called the godfather, and without ever talking the role he actually controlled the place,” Parkin said. “I had a couple of conversations with Kerr, one-on-one, along the way, which left me in no doubt as to who was running the place and dictating who would be president and not president. He probably put Ian Rice in and got rid of him, and he probably put John Elliott in and tried to get rid of him too . . . but maybe had lost his political capacity to manoeuvre that in the finish.
“Laurie was a bit like Ken Herbert at Hawthorn - a very strong personality, a real autocratic in the truest sense of the word, but a fantastic support -a bit like Richard [Pratt] in some ways. Personally the Kerr family was quite brilliant for me. I can still see the Kerrs picking my father and mother up on a Sunday afternoon after church, and taking them up to their cattle farm and treating them like a king and queen. They didn’t have to do that sort of thing, I had a lot of time for Laurie and Vivienne, both of whom were fantastic . . . and she continues to be the matriarch and a very special lady.”
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