IT must now be obvious to the Essendon Football Club that it has no alternative other than to sack former coach James Hird.
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Hird, who was suspended for a year, is still being paid by the club that made his name and put him on the path to football glory until it all came crashing down.
There is no coming back to Essendon for Hird now.
It has become an unthinkable prospect and certainly the club would struggle to justify reinstating him in any capacity, let alone as its senior coach.
Whether he likes it or not, Hird presided over a leadership regime that injected young players with dubious substances the long-term effects of which are completely unknown.
It was appalling conduct and the punishment must be severe.
Tania Hird's outing on the ABC on Thursday night in which she lambasted the AFL and insisted her husband was innocent must surely be the last straw for the club.
There is a dignity in silence and the Hird camp has failed to recognise this, instead preferring to throw stones despite being treated as fairly as possible by Essendon chairman Paul Little and, to a large extent, the AFL itself.
Tania Hird is proud of her man and undoubtedly a strong, intelligent woman who wants her husband's side of the story to be heard. Unfortunately the timing could not have been worse and her comments have put the club in an untenable position. In truth, the club should have dealt with Hird much sooner.
He acted irresponsibly in the first place, held the club to ransom with a legal threat and then took his salary while on suspension. Now he is on the attack, using his wife as the mouthpiece.
Hird back as coach of Essendon? It's not going to happen.