FOR A man proven to be obsessed about a coaching succession plan for his beloved Collingwood Football Club, Eddie McGuire is strangely not as bothered about publicly committing to one for his own role at the Magpies.

If McGuire, into his 14th year as president of Collingwood, is true to the ideology he so vigorously pursued in severing Mick Malthouse as coach in order for Nathan Buckley to take over, then there can't be too much more time with him as No.1.

There will never be another McGuire at Collingwood, or in football itself for that matter. But that doesn't mean there are no candidates capable of continuing to steer the Magpies down the highly successful direction forged by him.

Current board members Paul Leeds and Mark Korda would almost certainly be excellent in the role. Magpies premiership player and trailblazing sports agent Craig Kelly has also been mooted as a possible Pies president. If McGuire was to make it known he had set an exit date, dozens of worthy potential leaders would no doubt emerge.

McGuire doesn't want to leave in the short term. Having overseen the Malthouse exit, he wants to be there as Buckley settles in.

But the emotion with which he attaches all discussions and dealings with Buckley is now looming as dangerous for him and his club.

Exactly why he chose to publicly smash Malthouse on his own radio program on Monday morning defies normal football logic.

Granted, McGuire has often defied football logic with great success, but defying it on this matter was just plain wrong, not least of all for the reason that it was public proof that he was bitter towards the man who delivered him and his club a premiership in 2010.

A clear-thinking McGuire would have known his best play on this issue was to have refrained from getting personal. Playing the man (as he did), while no doubt ego-boosting for a few minutes, was a disaster, and just wrong.

Malthouse's minor-end-of-the-provocative-scale statements about Collingwood could, and should have, been easily addressed by McGuire without the anger.

McGuire feels dudded by Malthouse because of his decision to walk out on a deal that was to have him stay on beneath Buckley.

But he shouldn't take that stance. As he said himself on the July 2009 day he publicly announced the Malthouse-Buckley succession plan, the whole project was a "leap of faith".

And the entire Malthouse-Buckley arrangement was predicated not on what worked best for Malthouse, but on striking a deal which ensured Buckley would be at Collingwood. Remember, at that time in 2009, North Melbourne had told Buckley their coaching job was his if he wanted it. There were other clubs which were also certain to make significant plays for him.

McGuire couldn't cope with the thought, and delicately negotiated with the two men until they agreed to his wishes.

On the day it was announced and for most of the next 24 months, McGuire would hail it as the perfect succession plan, even though many people were convinced it would never play out the way which was intended.

That it wasn't a success should not matter to McGuire now. And it certainly should not affect the way he publicly positions his club through what is looming as a very critical period. But it does and is.

McGuire's time in football has been filled with extraordinary achievement and presence, and when his day comes, he will exit with the thoroughly deserved luxury of the respect of anyone who knows anything about football.

Jeff Kennett gave himself six years only as Hawthorn boss. And then he took off, convinced that those amount of years was the maximum any leader should preside.

McGuire has served a lot more than double that period. For his own and his football club's sake, he needs to make public - very soon - how much longer he intends to stay.

Twitter: @barrettdamian