{"id":4501,"date":"2026-05-04T10:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T10:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/4501\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T10:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T10:54:14","slug":"caroline-wilson-reveals-more-details-over-melbournes-shock-decision-to-sack-ceo-paul-guerra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/4501\/","title":{"rendered":"Caroline Wilson reveals more details over Melbourne\u2019s shock decision to sack CEO Paul Guerra"},"content":{"rendered":"

Channel 7\u2019s Caroline Wilson has revealed a series of rogue decisions made by former Melbourne<\/a> CEO Paul Guerra contributed to his shock axing last week.<\/p>\n

Guerra was sensationally dumped by the Demons on Tuesday<\/a>, one year to the day after his appointment as CEO was announced and only seven months after he officially started in the role.<\/p>\n

He immediately flagged legal action against the club<\/a>, while the Demons quickly moved on and appointed Dan Taylor as Guerra\u2019s replacement.<\/p>\n

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But the club failed to shed much light on Guerra\u2019s departure with president Steven Smith saying it was a \u201cgeneral lack of confidence\u201d and the decision had full board approval.<\/p>\n

While Smith didn\u2019t go into specifics, Wilson revealed on The Agenda Setters that Guerra had acted without board approval more times than once.<\/p>\n

One time centred around the Demons\u2019 proposed plan to move their training base to Caulfield.<\/p>\n

While negotiations are still ongoing, the club have also looked at a temporary switch to Waverley Park, which was the former home base of Hawthorn.<\/p>\n

Wilson reports that Guerra continued to visit Waverley Park and even ordered the seats in the auditorium to be reupholstered despite the board telling him to stop going to the venue for fear of it hampering the Caulfield deal.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think there is genuine evidence that there were times when he acted without the board\u2019s consent,\u201d Wilson said on The Agenda Setters.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne red flag was raised in early March when it was reported that Melbourne were moving to Waverley in the interim before any potential Caulfield deal. Melbourne is not happy about this. They were worried it was going to hamper the Caulfield deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuerra continued to visit Waverley with AFL bosses, went there many times, and in the end Melbourne told him to stop visiting Waverley because they were really about this hampering the Caulfield deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cMelbourne ordered the entire auditorium at Waverley \u2014 where Alastair Clarkson and Sam Mitchell used to speak to his players \u2014 to remove all the seats and have them reupholstered in red and blue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis did not go down well with people. It was unusual that this had happened when the board had told him \u2018we\u2019re not hitting out star to Waverley\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guerra did eventually stop going to Waverley, but he also clashed with the board over a potential plan to sell a second home game in the Northern Territory each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen Tom Morris reported that Melbourne were looking at not one game in the Northern Territory but two,\u201d Wilson continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe board had no idea this story was coming out. It was discussed between the executive and Paul Guerra primarily and the footy department, and they were like \u2018we\u2019ve no interest in another game in the Northern Territory, we love our deal with Alice Springs, we want to play more games at our home at the MCG\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one was more shocked than the footy department at something that they thought had been spitballed with their CEO when Tom Morris is reporting it on The Agenda Setters.<\/p>\n

Wilson said those \u201ctwo examples\u201d highlighted the disunity between Guerra and leadership.<\/p>\n

There will be more to play out in the fallout with Guerra seeking legal advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a challenging day. I\u2019m really puzzled by the board\u2019s decision,\u201d Guerra said last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of the team we\u2019ve put together and I\u2019m really proud of the role that I\u2019ve played in the team\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo everybody that\u2019s sent messages and phoned today \u2014 and there\u2019s been a lot \u2014 I really appreciate that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe matter\u2019s now in the hands of my lawyers, so I can\u2019t say much more than that for now.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Demons hatched plan to sack CEO \u2018a week or two ago\u2019<\/p>\n

3 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

AFL bombshell as club CEO departs after just seven months<\/p>\n

2 min read<\/p>\n

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