Eddie McGuire has announced he will step down as Collingwood Football Club president at the end of the 2021 season.
Key points:
- McGuire became Collingwood president in 1998
- The Magpies won the 2010 AFL premiership under his watch
- He was re-elected unopposed as Magpies president earlier this year
McGuire announced his intention to move aside next year at a Magpies fan forum this evening.
He was emotional when revealing the decision to the club’s members.
“I’ve given everything I have to this position,” McGuire told the forum.
“Now it is time for me to set the platform for the club going forward.
“In conjunction with the change in direction of my media life and the timing of my son’s schooling ending, the time was right and the future is strong for our club for me to make this call.”
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McGuire, a lifelong Magpies supporter, became president in late 1998.
Under his 22-year watch, the Magpies won the 2010 AFL premiership following a grand final replay against St Kilda, their first flag in 20 years.
They lost in grand finals in 2002, 2003, 2011 and 2018.
McGuire helped turn Collingwood into a financial powerhouse in the AFL and he was responsible for luring Mick Malthouse from West Coast to coach the club ahead of the 2000 season.
Malthouse coached the Magpies to their 2010 flag, before a controversial coaching succession plan, orchestrated by McGuire, saw Nathan Buckley take over as coach in 2012.
McGuire’s time as Magpies president, however, has not been without controversy.
In 2013 the veteran media personality apologised for an on-air radio gaffe in which he suggested Sydney Swans Indigenous star Adam Goodes should be used to promote the musical King Kong.
His comments came only days after Goodes was racially abused by a Collingwood supporter at a match at the MCG.
There were calls for McGuire to resign as Magpies president at the time but he refused to stand down.
Three years later he issued another public apology for making a joke about drowning prominent AFL journalist Caroline Wilson.
His decision to step away from the presidency at the end of next season comes in the wake of the criticism the Magpies received following the recent AFL trade period.
Adam Treloar was among the Magpies players traded to rival clubs, ending up at the Western Bulldogs.
Collingwood is reportedly set to pay $1.5 million of Treloar’s Bulldogs contract over the next five seasons.
McGuire, 56, has faced little competition for the position of Magpies president during his tenure. He was re-elected unopposed for a three-year term last February.
