JUST minutes after Mark Neeld announced the appointment of Jack Trengove and Jack Grimes as Melbourne's co-captains in early 2012, he privately asked the question: "What else could I do?"

The former Demons coach will ponder that simple question for the rest of his life.

That he was having such thoughts was not a reflection on his opinion of the highly-rated young players he had appointed as skippers, but more an indication of a lack of competitiveness he was beginning to see in the senior players he inherited. 

Neeld came into the job with good credentials but he found out that being the No.1 man is tough. 

His brief was to embark on a U-turn in playing style with a team that had seen much change already. 

Look no further than the following to see what a rabble Melbourne has been: since James Frawley was drafted in 2006, he has played under five coaches. Neil Craig will be his sixth in seven years. 

No wonder the courageous defender's progress has been stilted. 

It can be argued that many of Neeld's problems stemmed from the troubled environment he entered. 

Friday's board decision signalled a death of a thousand cuts for Neeld in 2013. 

 

He commented to colleagues his time might be up as he ran back to the coaches' box at three-quarter time in round four against Greater Western Sydney with his team trailing by 19 points.

 

A club record last term of 74 points that led to its only win so far this season saved him.

He then had reason to worry when CEO Peter Jackson called him on the Monday after the club's disastrous 10-goal loss to Gold Coast in round seven and told him the board and the CEO wanted to meet him at 4:30pm that day.

 

He spent the rest of the day in the almost funereal atmosphere of the football department wondering whether it was his last.

 

Jackson however kept his word, telling Neeld – without the board being present – that he had time to prove he could coach only if the team was competitive enough to keep them out of the headlines. Otherwise, said Jackson, a time when action HAD to be taken might arrive.

 

That time arrived on Monday morning after the club's bye and just days after Jackson met the AFL Commission.

 

By then, the team seemed psychologically driven to avoid loss.

 

Its skill level was appalling and many players would struggle to get games for other line-ups.

 

It had been tough coaching in such circumstances.

 

Although the football department spoke about staying in the moment, the prospect of a sacking being one bad performance away can make that hard.

Gallows humour came from Neeld and some insiders thought the seeming inevitable end to the tenure was affecting his performance. 

It would be hard to imagine the constant speculation did not, although Neeld said at his farewell press conference that he was able to coach effectively throughout. 

However the players seemed to have lost faith, not in him as a person, but in the direction the club was heading and the way the season was unfolding. 

From the moment the club's board appointed Neeld to change the club's culture and invest in youth, he went about the job with an unrelenting zeal.

He had Mitch Clark on the club's list in a hit-and-run raid on the former Lion that took the competition by storm. 

He was impressive early but in the end such urgency probably hurt him. 

Insiders say it caused his mouth to go into overdrive at times when assessing players and people and, with many, the hurt could not be undone. 

It appeared from the outside that the caring side that served him so well as an assistant coach was not given full rein because his directive was to shake some trees.  

And when few wins followed, the condemnation of his decisions from the outside was unrelenting. 

Without wins a coach is as dead as a business with no cash flowing through it.

Before the captaincy announcement in February 2012, before he had coached a single game, Neeld knew the job was bigger than anyone anticipated. 

Colin Sylvia had already been suspended for one game for being in an early morning car accident just hours before he was due to train for the International Rules team. 

Jack Watts had turned up in the pre-season less fit than anyone would have dared at Neeld's previous club, Collingwood. 

One senior player had rejected his suggestion to change his body to ensure he could keep up with the way the game was heading. 

A second had been less than impressed when told the best thing he could do for the team was make their best 22. 

A third was been pushed harder in the gym than he had been before and was struggling to cope. 

When asked pre-season what his impression was of the group, Neeld did not answer the question directly. 

He could not criticise the years of drafting that had preceded him just then but it was not hard to guess what he thought of some of the players at his disposal. 

Some players must have picked up on that lack of faith and it would have impacted on their performance and attitude. 

Of course, Neeld knew one way. Find those who he believed in and push ahead. 

He thought there was a core group of young players who could take the club forward such as Grimes, Trengove, Clark, Colin Garland, Nathan Jones, James Frawley and Clint Bartram among them. 

The rest were being assessed. 

The club soon backed a decision straight out of The Art of War: it would "shoot the generals".

The leadership group contained many new, young faces. 

Experienced players such as Brad Green, Brent Moloney, Aaron Davey and Jared Rivers would not only lose their title, but their position within the leadership group. 

Some kept going despite reservations. Others dropped their bundle. 

It was just one of many changes that took place over the off-season. 

The club appointed a new football manager, new doctors, a new sports scientist, physiotherapist, recruiters, a director of coaching and new assistant coaches. 

Few had previously been in the same role at another AFL club. Some, such as football manager Josh Mahoney, flourished. But gelling the off-field component was hard work. 

Craig would later flag at a supporters meeting mid-year that perhaps that was just too much change for one club to handle. 

There was one change that was never made. 

Cameron Schwab, a person whose supporters even admit polarises people, remained as CEO. 

That meant reservoirs of bad blood remained pooled at the edges of a new football department. 

Although the list build had been appalling, Neeld took it on confident he had the backing of the board to plough on with a long-term vision for the club. 

He did not suffer fools. It was never personal from Neeld. He just made changes that he considered necessary.

However not everyone who heard his harsh call was a fool. 

As he said at the press conference, the club was full of good people. 

Sometimes he looked to be lacking good advice. Or he was too determined to do things his way. 

That mix, however, will stand him good stead if he stays in the industry as he hopes to do. 

"Footy is a great game," Neeld said. "We'll wait and see. I've still got a few mates. Someone might give me a job down the track. 

Insiders admit that in hindsight the coach was given too much rein. 

But his only intent was to improve his club and drag it from the bottom of the ladder. 

Into that jumpy environment rode a series of external shocks any coach would have struggled to manage: 

- The beloved former president and player Jim Stynes died

- Liam Jurrah was charged in Alice Springs for alleged assault while on leave to deal with family matters. He was found not guilty

- Neeld was wrongly accused of engaging in racist management practices 

- A sponsor delivered a racist rant on Facebook that led to it being dumped 

- Star midfielder Brent Moloney's agent said he would be looking at offers through free agency 

- A investigation into tanking allegations from 2009 was launched involving key club officials

Suddenly Neeld was overseeing a club that seemed to reel from shock to shock in shock. 

And a team that could not get near a win. 

The media assault was unrelenting, often unfair and at times so personal it made one wonder where our society was heading more than where the coach was heading. 

Soon enough every decision he made was being questioned.  Earlier this year, he was even asked whether his players should grow beards or not. 

The rookie coach slowly began to lose control of the agenda.

He kept fronting up however, honouring his commitment to speak to the club's supporters. 

Often his words were thrown back at him like Molotov cocktails 

"Moneyball" and "the hardest team to play against" became two quotable quotes he could not leave behind. 

The only luck he saw was bad luck too. 

Mitch Clark, the club's prized recruit, was in hot form until he injured his foot and missed the rest of the season. 

Trengove lost form. Davey was out injured. Jurrah left the club. A degenerative knee forced the senior player he could most rely upon, Clint Bartram, into early retirement. 

When 2012 ended with just four wins, there was a collective sigh of relief - and renewed hope from Neeld he could reshape the list in his image. 

He looked to use his three first-round draft picks to maximum effect. 

The club recruited five youngsters Jesse Hogan, Jimmy Toumpas, Dom Barry, Jack Viney (with the father-son) and Dean Kent. 

It traded for Chris Dawes, David Rodan (for pick 88), Shannon Byrnes, Cameron Pedersen and picked up the delisted Tom Gillies. 

Rivers and Moloney left through free agency. Green retired and joined Carlton as an assistant coach. Many previous first-round draft selections were delisted or sold at giveaway prices.  

While the recruiting strategy has been criticised, time will show it to be the best set of decisions made during his time. 

He raised the training standards. Many laughed at this but Mark Thompson claimed to be doing the same thing at Geelong in 2000. Who is laughing at the Cats now?

But Neeld's team failed in 2013 to deliver on expectations he raised at the club's season launch. 

"We understand that it's been nearly 50 years since we saluted on Grand Final day. We are really bullish and excited about our current player group. It's been assembled really well," Neeld said. 

As soon as Port Adelaide defeated the recast team by 79 points in round 1, 2013 the J-curve strategy Neeld undertook became, in much of the public's eye, an S-bend.

The cards were being marked. A week later, after suffering a 148-point loss to Essendon, CEO Schwab was gone. 

Then came revelations the club had been involved with controversial sports scientist Stephen Dank in the off-season and had not exactly come clean to the AFL about the extent of the relationship. 

At a team retreat to Sorrento, television cameras chased Neeld around like he was a dodgy carpet salesman on a cheap current affairs show. 

No respect was being shown and president Don McLardy had used up his capacity to defend the coach after the Schwab backflip earlier in the year. 

The current board deserves condemnation for that. 

Neeld knew he had delivered on what the board asked and he knew he needed more time, but the board wanted competitiveness along the way. 

So did supporters, the most important stakeholders of all. 

They did not deserve the rubbish football Melbourne played at times. It was nowhere near AFL standard for most of Neeld's reign. 

For the past eight weeks the coach appeared worn down and almost resigned to the fact things had gone too far off track. 

"We had a crack," Neeld said. 

In the end even his greatest supporters were struggling to remain engaged. 

That was because everyone's position was under fire. 

The team lost confidence and heart but some showed courage to keep batting on. 

Many aspects of the club are in better shape, bizarrely, than when Neeld arrived. 

It's doubtful that the same can be said for Neeld's mind at this point but he will regroup. 

He can coach people to play football but the fact is he was not able to meet all the requirements of a senior coach.

Few rookies could, given the spotlight that was on Neeld for his entire tenure. 

And to think that he asked that day just 16 months ago, what else could he do? 

"It's been an adventure, no doubt," Neeld said.