Whateley: When did Clarkson become yesterday’s man?

When we parted company yesterday (Wednesday) you were feeling the initial hot flashes of anger typically associated with a coach sacking.

It was immediately obvious this was going to take some explaining.

Well not much was left to the imagination nor left for interpretation in North Melbourne’s decision to sack Alastair Clarkson.

He was greeted as the messiah and jettisoned as yesterday’s man.

The four-time premiership coach is a walk-up Hall of Fame inductee, but when the contemporary questions were asked no one believed in him anymore

He could no longer orchestrate a cutting-edge plan for the modern game.

And when he tried to cover the gaping holes he left his players further confused.

It led to a heightened level of agitation and a lack of cohesion.

He’d lost touch with the modern game.

Clarkson was surprised when the guillotine dropped. Few others were.

North’s leaders couldn’t have been more explicit… they need a modern coach.

President Sonja Hood pulled off a coup when she landed the coveted signature of Clarkson.

She saw off the Giants and Essendon and courted the master coach with an emotional pull of returning to his Arden Street origins.

North needed a win… and this was a win.

Hood did the full lap of honour to rally the faithful, but it went sour before Clarkson even got into the chair.

The ham-fisted Hawthorn Racial Investigation broke him.

The bitterness he felt toward the Hawks, the injustice and the sheer sadness of the circumstances overwhelmed him.

Clarkson himself has said it nearly killed him.

His close ally Todd Viney confirmed it again yesterday… the scars never healed.

North Melbourne never got the best of Alastair Clarkson… that much is undeniable.

He wore himself out and everyone around him.

So the President who hired him to be the saviour was left to fire him.

It partially explains the over justification of a justifiable decision.

Hood is walking the finest of lines claiming she was right to hire him and right to fire rather than this being a failed endeavour that led to another four years underperforming.

Clarkson had said when that day came he’d ride off into the sunset content, but a competitor of this nature was never going to be so sanguine.

He was angry.

He wasted no time closing the chapters of his football life.

He’s done with footy.

Clarkson’s legacy is immense and will be duly celebrated.

It is also complex and those who shared the journey know that.

There’s a lingering question – how does a coach so cutting-edge at inception lose touch with the modern game

When did Clarkson become yesterday’s man?

It’s not a question of age - Chris Fagan is evidence alone of that.

And it’s not years served either - Chris Scott is sharper than he’s ever been in season number 16.

But there is a flaw in the concept of the messiah coach - the figure who takes what made him great and tries to recreate it in a new environment believing absolutely it will work again.

Rather than the coach relentlessly innovating to fine tune and alter and learn.

The dream for North Melbourne was that Clarkson would bring the formula from Hawthorn and create a new dynasty.

That was extinguished unrealised with very little left to the imagination.