Quite literally, Melbourne will not be the same without him. Eddie McGuire will depart his home town to start his new life in Sydney on Monday.
Melbourne has seen the exodus over many decades of scores of big sporting, entertainment and business names. In McGuire, it loses one who has not only conquered all three but who has shaped the city's popular culture like no other.
Not only has McGuire taken over and reshaped Australia's biggest football club - where he has committed to remain as president for at least this season - but he has reshaped football as well. Channel Nine's The Footy Show, launched 13 years ago, was the game's first theatrical production and it turned players into celebrities.
o have been somebody who started basically on the factory floor and to be appointed the CEO today is an amazing journey for me and one I'm very proud of," McGuire told his own network last night.
But while the man known as "Eddie Everywhere" will remain president of his beloved Collingwood Football Club, his career as host of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and The AFL Footy Show is over.
What he was able to do at Collingwood was turn around a club that was going absolutely nowhere at 100 miles an hour and he turned it around very quickly and he turned it around with imagination, with negotiating skills with an eye for a deal, and with the ability to draw people to his club that were going to turn it round with him. hey probably were turning over $14 million, $15 million in 1999 when Eddie took over. They are now a $40, $45 million business.
Eddie McGuire's last attempt to run a company probably doesn't feature on his resume. He set up an Internet business with Steve Vizard based on selling the online rights of five Melbourne football clubs. It was wound up last year after racking up losses of around $250,000 over five years.
Melbourne has seen the exodus over many decades of scores of big sporting, entertainment and business names. In McGuire, it loses one who has not only conquered all three but who has shaped the city's popular culture like no other.
Not only has McGuire taken over and reshaped Australia's biggest football club - where he has committed to remain as president for at least this season - but he has reshaped football as well. Channel Nine's The Footy Show, launched 13 years ago, was the game's first theatrical production and it turned players into celebrities.
o have been somebody who started basically on the factory floor and to be appointed the CEO today is an amazing journey for me and one I'm very proud of," McGuire told his own network last night.
But while the man known as "Eddie Everywhere" will remain president of his beloved Collingwood Football Club, his career as host of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and The AFL Footy Show is over.
What he was able to do at Collingwood was turn around a club that was going absolutely nowhere at 100 miles an hour and he turned it around very quickly and he turned it around with imagination, with negotiating skills with an eye for a deal, and with the ability to draw people to his club that were going to turn it round with him. hey probably were turning over $14 million, $15 million in 1999 when Eddie took over. They are now a $40, $45 million business.
Eddie McGuire's last attempt to run a company probably doesn't feature on his resume. He set up an Internet business with Steve Vizard based on selling the online rights of five Melbourne football clubs. It was wound up last year after racking up losses of around $250,000 over five years.
posted by Susanna Duffy @ 6:35 AM
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