ON Monday night, nine of Essendon's 11 directors confirmed to one another that this was to be Kevin Sheedy's last season as coach. Gathered at Windy Hill for a meeting wryly described as routine, they each knew much earlier, of course, but had not come together as one on the issue until then. Not formally.

By the next morning, the count was 10-1 against the legendary coach continuing, and to ensure that he was the first to learn of his fate, and not disrespectfully one of the last, Essendon chairman Ray Horsburgh and managing director Peter Jackson met him in the late afternoon at an up-market city hotel. The rest of the football world was to find out 18 hours later.

For the 11 directors, two considerations were foremost — the argument required to justify a decision of this magnitude and, next, when and how it should be conveyed to Sheedy and then sold to the Essendon community, which was always going to find it hard to say farewell after almost three decades.

The timing became problematic. It seemed as if coaches were disappearing by the week, affording rivals the chance to beat the Dons to the best. Equally, the question of Sheedy's future had started to become an insult to his legend — undignified and sad. By Tuesday morning, with the decision agreed, the need for immediacy was obvious.

Arriving at the decision itself was a far more controlled, even pragmatic, exercise. Some had it in mind that this needed to be Sheedy's last season as long as 12 months ago, and others, as Sheedy would say, have plotted against him for much longer.

And yet, essentially, it boiled down to some rather obvious facts and results.

The Dons have not been in contention since 2001 and still aren't. Only last week the coach said he thought 2010 or thereabouts was realistically the club's next opening. Comparisons made with Port Adelaide and the loathed Collingwood did not flatter or help his cause.

The Magpies contested consecutive grand finals in 2002 and 2003, lost their chance, replenished the list and are now back into contention with a side that has been reinvigorated by youth. Moreover, it is without Nathan Buckley (their James Hird), or senior and influential players such as James Clement and Simon Prestigiacomo.

Port, too, has weakened Sheedy's case with its excellent performances this year. It won a premiership in 2004, four years after Essendon won its last and appeared to be on its way back again. Why is it that others have been able to bounce and return so swiftly? It is a question that Sheedy was unable to answer to the board's satisfaction.

Then there has also been a refusal to be seduced by the romantic notion of a team reborn. Good fortune is no more genuine than bad, and the side's three wins this season by a combined margin of four points, with a fourth by eight, have been enjoyed but not believed in as authentic signs of development.

Paddy Ryder and Alwyn Davey aside, it is apparent that much of what progress has been achieved is down not to youth but experience; the return of captain Matthew Lloyd, the arrival of triple premiership full-back Mal Michael and 14 unexpected games from James Hird.

As Jackson noted during the news conference called to announce Sheedy's end-of-season departure yesterday, the team's most significant players in 2007 — Hird, Lloyd, Dustin Fletcher and Scott Lucas — are all 29 years of age or older.

There was one further consideration. In 2000, the Dons, with some justification, believed themselves to be ahead of the game in many respects. They were the pre-eminent football business in this state, if not the country. Formidable financial resources stood behind a formidable football team.

Many feel now that that sense of leading the competition has been lost, which is not to say that this is Sheedy's fault. What is being said, though, is how difficult it was going to be to create a 21st-century Essendon around a man, however great, who had been there for 27 years.