THE RETURN of Geoff Walsh to Collingwood as football manager completes one of the more bizarre pre-Christmas periods for any club in recent history.
When Walsh returns next week, just weeks after celebrating his 60th birthday and days after Collingwood's 2010 team gathers to remember that famous premiership, he will become the fourth person to sit in the seat since September.
Neil Balme, Graeme Allan, Marcus Wagner and now Walsh have carried the football manager title in little more than two months.
The importance of his appointment for Magpies coach Nathan Buckley's tenure can't be understated.
With one year left on his contract, and finals his self-declared pass mark for retaining the job, Buckley could not have asked for better support.
The one regret Walsh had when he initially departed in 2013 was leaving fledgling coach Buckley behind as the new coach’s edict for necessary cultural change was occurring.
The timing of his return is impeccable as Collingwood aims to transform from underachiever to the club it can be with the talent now at its disposal.
Walsh goes full circle to become Pies football boss
No matter what the club’s public spin, Collingwood hasn't been the happiest of places in recent times.
Allan's appointment to football manager was made amid a climate of mistrust, which led to Balme declining the offer of coaching director and moving to Richmond as football manager.
Buckley wasn't aware the Allan appointment was happening until it had happened.
Upon Allan's appointment, the club’s recruiting philosophy took a different course.
The Magpies picked up 28-year-old Chris Mayne from Fremantle with the view to adding experience and leadership to the forward line and Daniel Wells (31) to add class around the midfield, both on questionable long-term deals.
That former Brisbane Lions skipper Tom Rockliff—on offer to any taker—was even considered caused friction.
Particularly when the change of direction occurred on the back of what had appeared a carefully considered regeneration of talent since Buckley became coach.
That the club went down this path after Buckley had already admitted in September that 2017 was 'finals or bust' only heaped more pressure on the coach as he enters his sixth year at the helm.
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley is under pressure to guide his side up the ladder. Picture: AFL Photos
His ability to trust those around him in their roles must become the next extension of his coaching career.
It might have been hard with all the changes happening around him but there are no excuses now with Walsh back on board.
The veteran footy administrator has a philosophy of 'letting the baker bake the bread' and it's that approach that Buckley needs to adopt.
Buckley's recent trip to the United States will have helped his understanding that coaches can't do everything and that relationships, while important, can't be forced.
He has also had no luck with injuries during his time, one often understated reason for the Magpies' recent struggles.
But the sense the club was not the happy, united place it needed to be to be successful remained with anyone in reasonable proximity to the club.
The straight-talking Walsh will support those he believes in to the hilt. He's capable of providing honest feedback and loyalty all at the same time.
And, not to be understated, he was there during the final years of the Malthouse era, and the beginnings of Buckley’s.
He knows why that rickety bridge between the recent past and the future was built and where mistakes were made in its construction.
And he understands the battles Buckley has had at times, some of his own doing, some from circumstance, some from the pressure of expectations that could never be met as one successful era fades, and another must be built.
Walsh’s frank, unadorned style might be the glue that brings the club together.
At the very least his appointment will give everyone, both inside and outside Collingwood's football department, a chance to assess Buckley's coaching ability on its merits.
