No Emerald City For Eddie

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday February 9, 2008

Caroline Wilson

After a torrid two years in Sydney, Eddie Everywhere is at peace again, writes Caroline Wilson in Dubai.

Eddie McGuire was crying. It was a sad spring evening for Collingwood in September 2006 after another finals campaign had ended early following a loss to the Western Bulldogs. But that wasn't the reason for the Magpies president's tears.

He was standing in the club's dressing rooms at the MCG when the despondent coach Mick Malthouse turned to McGuire and asked him: "What are you doing? Are you staying or what?"

McGuire couldn't speak. He walked to an empty annexe to compose himself and never answered Malthouse's question. The truth was, he believed he had just completed his final season as president of his beloved club. The one year that James Packer gave McGuire to extract himself from the club was drawing to en end. But he still couldn't say the words.

And he never had to. On the eve of his 10th season as Collingwood president and after a whirlwind mission to London and Dublin on secret Magpies business, he spoke for the first time this week in Dubai of how close he came to handing over the Collingwood leadership to concentrate on rebuilding the Nine Network from his new home in Sydney.

"I think I would have regretted it for the rest of my life," he said.

It was McGuire's wife, Carla - the couple celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary in Dubai yesterday before today's NAB Cup pre-season clash with Adelaide - who first convinced him not to quit, at least not prematurely. And then the Channel Nine boss and controlling shareholder Packer, seeing how torn his friend was, gave McGuire his blessing to remain at Collingwood.

"James Packer gave me 12 months to put my Collingwood affairs in order [but then] we were about to start putting together the sale of Channel Nine and he just said to me: 'Don't give it up.' So in a sense I had the two bosses in my life advising me against doing something I was dreading," McGuire said.

"It was particularly unselfish of Carla given all the time I was spending flying to games every weekend from Sydney but she just said to me one day: 'It's the one thing you really love, it's your great passion. Don't give it up, you won't be any better without it."'

McGuire took the advice. But so seriously did he believe his time at Collingwood was finished that after the final siren of their last match in 2006 he walked to the Punt Road end of the ground and solemnly shook hands with the club's most famous barracker, cheer squad leader Joffa. This was a club whose image and business he has overseen, refashioning the Magpies into the strongest of the old VFL teams off the pitch and one of the richest and most innovative clubs in Australia. He thought he was saying goodbye.

Almost 18 months later McGuire has come home to what he describes as a new beginning.

"Melbourne has been tremendously welcoming," he said, not needing to add that Sydney, specifically its media, was not. Even earlier this month, after he was asked to host the launch of Nine's new drama Underbelly, he was pilloried in the Sydney media for attempting to hijack the event by speaking for too long and leaving new Nine CEO David Gyngell a bored audience.

"I was MC for Christ's sake," said McGuire. "They're never going to let up." He believes his short-lived honeymoon period with the Sydney media ended just after he negotiated an exclusive interview with the trapped Tasmanian miners Brant Webb and Todd Russell and still shakes his head at how viciously he believes he was targeted.

"It was good to work out of my comfort zone and we made some wonderful friends," said McGuire of his two years in Sydney, of which he spent 18 months as CEO of the Nine Network. "But Melbourne, I know the place, I know the streets and I know the people. The reason I left Melbourne in the first place was that I didn't want to have lived my greatest experiences by the time I was 30. I was president of Collingwood at 33.

"I was a different person than the 28-year-old man-about-town who started hosting The Footy Show. I was married with two kids and it was time to do something different. I probably should have just gone on holidays."

Still, McGuire's famous optimism dictates that he does not regret taking on such a tough role at such a dismal time for the network, a role that saw him give up many top-rating television hosting roles.

He says he takes no small pride in the programs he helped develop, such as Underbelly and Canal Road, not to mention his role in Nine winning the rights to host the London Olympics and his on-screen devotion to AFL football (he firmly believes Nine will win back the broadcast rights to the game come the end of 2011).

Shortly before Christmas, the family moved back into their Toorak home and last week Joseph and Alexander McGuire started the school term at Melbourne Grammar after two years at Sydney's Cranbrook. The McGuires holidayed at Portsea over the summer where one topic that dominated many conversations was the question of where Eddie Everywhere will go next.

He insists he will no longer live up to that nickname. After the more sour experiences as Nine boss he determined to spend time with his young family while the children were still young. McGuire also said he was becoming more choosy regarding his work.

Having negotiated a staggeringly handsome package from the Nine Network after departing as CEO last June - a five-year agreement reported to be worth close to $5 million annually - McGuire seems quite genuine in planning his next move but also genuinely unsure as to what that might be. He has spoken with both Fairfax and News Ltd regarding a role at one of Melbourne's two major newspapers and he has also met the radio bosses at Melbourne's 3AW, Triple M and SEN. He is also working on some private commercial ventures with Packer.

He plans to return to television and says he has four strong ideas, one of which he is confident could see him back on the screen this year.

And Collingwood. He plans a considerably greater hands-on role at the club - scrutiny not everyone at the Lexus Centre will be relishing.

Certainly the teenaged rookie Sharrod Wellingham received a quick initiation into the world of McGuire's wild west presidential style after he cost the club its $500,000 sponsorship from Victoria's Transport Accident Commission in January after being booked for drink-driving. The president drove from Portsea to deliver his blast, one that lasted a reported 30 minutes and included the promise that Wellingham would be the most closely watched player at Collingwood.

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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