KEVIN SHEEDY is returning to Tigerland for the first time in almost three decades. The three-time Richmond premiership hero is on the verge of signing a deal with the club that will see him become a face of the club's 2009 membership drive.

President Gary March confirmed late yesterday that preliminary talks with the former Essendon coach had left both parties confident that Sheedy would rejoin the Tigers over the summer and undertake a variety of roles including mentoring young indigenous and international players. The move by Sheedy, 60, would indicate that the four-time Essendon premiership coach, who left the Bombers at the end of 2007 season, has accepted he will not coach again but appears keen to continue his ambassadorial role in football, albeit a more focused one with the club at which he played 251 games.

The move, which has the blessing of Tigers' coach Terry Wallace, will see Sheedy play a significant role in Richmond's soon-to-be developed indigenous learning centre, which has proved a key-funding target for the club's Punt Road facelift.

"We've spoken with Kevin a couple of times now and we are keen to get his signature," said March. "We want to get him involved in as many ways as we can and obviously he would be a terrific asset for our indigenous centre at Punt Road."

Sheedy, famous for his part in the creation of a number of home-and-away blockbusters including Anzac Day, will also help promote another brainchild "Dreamtime at the 'G" between Richmond and Essendon along with the second season of the Eureka game between Richmond and North Melbourne and the Jim Stynes-proposed youth game between the Tigers and Melbourne.

Sheedy could also play a casual role in mentoring Richmond's assistant coaches.

The move to lure back Sheedy in a consulting role after several failed attempts to bring him back in the past as coach is one of a series of moves by March and co to reshape the culture of the club. Long-serving player and former skipper Wayne Campbell has returned as an assistant coach, Tony Free, another former captain, has become a club director and Richmond is about to appoint a new player-welfare manager with ties to the club.

Although international financial pressures have stalled — but not halted — the Tigers' potential new major sponsorship agreement with insurance giant AIG, the club is about to announce a renewed relationship with automobile manufacturer Nissan, which has committed to become the club's new shorts sponsor.