September 26, 2009: St Kilda, which is aiming to win its first premiership since 1966, plays Geelong in the Grand Final. With the scores level deep in the last quarter, Cats defender Matthew Scarlett toe-pokes the ball to Gary Ablett. The passage of play ends with a goal to Paul Chapman. The Saints lose by 12 points.

October 5, 2009: Midfielder Luke Ball, the No.2 pick in the 2001 NAB AFL Draft, quits St Kilda and announces he wants to join Collingwood. Six weeks later he is selected by the Magpies in the national draft.

October 6, 2009: St Kilda recruits midfielder Andrew Lovett from Essendon. The following month, Lovett is charged with being drunk in a public place. Lovett is then investigated by Victoria Police after an incident on Christmas Eve.

February 15, 2010: Victoria Police charges Lovett with one count of rape. He is sacked by St Kilda the following day. Lovett is acquitted by a County Court jury the following year.

September 25, 2010: St Kilda plays Collingwood in the Grand Final. Deep in the final quarter, with the Magpies leading by a point, Lenny Hayes drives the Saints into attack. If the ball bounces up, small forward Stephen Milne will kick a goal and probably win the game. Instead, it rolls through for a behind. The game ends in a draw. St Kilda loses the replay by 56 points.

December 20, 2010: 17-year-old schoolgirl Kim Duthie releases explicit photos of St Kilda skipper Nick Riewoldt and midfielder Nick Dal Santo on Facebook. It is later revealed that the photos were taken by Saints player Sam Gilbert on an end-of-year trip to the US, and were stolen from his computer.

January 31, 2011: Zac Dawson, Paul Cahill, Rhys Stanley and Jack Steven are suspended for six weeks for misusing prescription drugs, drinking alcohol and breaking curfew while on a training camp in New Zealand.

September 10, 2011: Having finished sixth on the ladder, the Saints are beaten by the Sydney Swans in an elimination final at Etihad Stadium. After the match, senior coach Ross Lyon announces that Michael Gardiner, Robert Eddy, Steven Baker and Andrew McQualter have decided to retire. It later emerges that Gardiner is the only player who agreed to retire. The other three insist they were axed.

September 15, 2011: Lyon shocks the club by quitting as senior coach and accepting a big-money deal to take the reins at Fremantle.

October 15, 2011: Scott Watters is appointed senior coach. Watters edges out Ken Hinkley (then an assistant coach at Gold Coast) and Alan Richardson (then on the coaching staff at Carlton) for the position.

April 20, 2012: St Kilda meets Fremantle in a game billed as being the Saints v Lyon. The Dockers prevail by 13 points.

August 17, 2012: In the lead-up to a must-win clash with Geelong, Watters tells the Herald Sun that, "I won't compromise our performance standards, but I think St Kilda has the capacity in the next three to four years ... it should become a juggernaut."

September 2, 2012: The Saints round out their home and away campaign with a 15-point win over Carlton. They finish ninth on the ladder with a 12-10 record.

April 6, 2013: After starting the season with losses against Gold Coast and Richmond, Watters declares that St Kilda is now in rebuilding mode, much to the dismay of the club's powerbrokers.

August 14, 2013: After five years as a board member, AV Jennings boss Peter Summers replaces Greg Westaway as club president. Westaway had served his maximum term of six years.

September 3, 2013: Midfielder Clint Jones is fined $3,000 for setting a dwarf entertainer on fire during the club's end-of-season celebrations.

September 27, 2013: Michael Nettlefold quits his post as chief executive after four years in the role.

October 10, 2013: As part of strategy to rebuild the club's list, ruckman Ben McEvoy is traded to Hawthorn in exchange for midfielder Shane Savage and the Hawks' first pick in the NAB AFL Draft.

October 16, 2013: The Age reports that Watters came close to losing his job after an internal review into the club's apparently dysfunctional football department. Other reports emerge of disharmony between Watters and the club's head of football Chris Pelchen.

October 25, 2013: The Saints end the Gillette Player Exchange Period on a high, snaring highly-rated ruckman Billy Longer from the Brisbane Lions on the final day. A number of other deals ensure the club has three top-20 picks in the national draft.

 

October 31, 2013: Dean Laidley quits his role as an assistant coach and joins Carlton.

November 1, 2013: Watters is sacked only hours after being interviewed on SEN Radio, during which he says, "I know where I sit. When the president sits and tells you that you have a long-term future as coach, that's good enough for me, and I'll get on with business."