THE Melbourne Football Club has treated Paul McNamee appallingly. If he was not the appropriate chief executive, he should not have been appointed a matter of four months ago. The institution has failed, no matter who hired him.

To be Melbourne CEO is akin to the position of Richmond coach 15 years ago, which itself was tantamount to being one of Henry VIII's wives. The Demons have employed eight chief executives in a dozen years, counting interims. Essendon has stuck with one. Geelong and West Coast have had the same CEO for about 10 years. Each has won a premiership in that time.

McNamee's dismissal has a similar odour to the sacking of Malcolm Blight by St Kilda in 2001, when the then-cosy tandem of Rod Butterss and Grant Thomas were re-fashioning the club in their own image. Blight might have been the wrong man. Why was he hired on a million dollars, then?

In each instance, the hiring, more than the firing, was the issue. Another iconic sporting figure has been damaged. McNamee's successes in the more sedate worlds of tennis and golf did not translate in the incestuous football jungle. The former Wimbledon doubles champion was not one of the boys at Melbourne, where Stynes, Chris Connolly and Garry Lyon are the key figures in a new establishment of former players. Jimmy and the Boys have energy and ideas, but they will not succeed without an outstanding CEO. They have one chance to get this one right; another stuff-up could mean Melbourne's end, although we've said that before.

Stynes can say, as he did yesterday, that he was not part of the ultimate decision to hire McNamee. That is true, in that it was the previous board that ratified the appointment. Stynes, who was already in the wings as the prospective next chairman, was only part of the initial interviewing process, and he liked Stuart Fox, the second in command at Geelong.

The institution has failed because the factions didn't agree on McNamee. Melbourne ought to have made a bipartisan appointment, supported by the previous board and Stynes.

Even Richmond managed this when it hired Terry Wallace during its most recent internecine board conflict in 2004. The alternative board was given input into the appointment of Danny Frawley's replacement.

This un-Richmond-like peace agreement ensured that Wallace would be supported, no matter who ran the club. Four years later, Richmond is developing something approximating stability and finally has some prospect of becoming a place people are willing to work at.

If the Demon factions could not concur, then they might have filled time with another interim CEO or retained Steve Harris until the handover of power from Paul Gardner to Stynes.

Three current directors — Andrew Leoncelli, Karen Hayes and Peter Spargo — were part of what was said to be a unanimous decision to appoint McNamee. So there is some culpability from the current board.

Unfortunately, getting rid of a chief executive after four months costs Melbourne more than the six-figure sum that will be added to that ominous $5 million debt.

It does not make it easier for the club to attract good people. The current administration can say that they didn't appoint him and so forth, but the only way you establish a reputation for stable, prudent administration is by sticking fat.

Stynes was the right man to lead the Demons, in part because he could bring people with him and inspire the only commodity more precious to Melbourne than dollars — passion. The AFL has been impressed with the Stynes' board and, doubtless, will venture some private opinion on the next CEO. A Cameron Schwab restoration is unlikely, despite his strong connection to Jimmy and the Boys.

Stynes will need all of his considerable Irish charm and persuasive powers to get a gun CEO to take on the Demons in their current predicament. That said, the challenge might appeal to an ambitious suit who fancies he could be Henry's seventh wife.