Talking for the first time since he fired general manager Matt Millen, Detroit Lions owner William Clay Ford admitted that Millen probably didn't have the experience to be a successful general manager -- and also said that former head coach Rod Marinelli probably wasn't ready either. Millen didn't have any front office experience before arriving in Detroit and Marinelli was a first-time head coach. "That's a friend of mine and always will be,'' Ford said of Millen. "He has a lot of wonderful qualities, it didn't work out and we parted ways. It's history." On why it didn't work out, Ford said, "You can answer that probably as well as I can. It just wasn't going right.'' Source: Detroit Free Press
QFT.... while I appreciate him coming outta the closet with his Millen blunder, it doesn't mean any of us Lions fans will ever forgive him.........ever
Yeah, it should have taken Ford a year or two, three at the most to realize that Matt Millen shouldn't be an NFL GM.
I understand that he wanted to give Millen a chance and so that is why he got seven years. The fact that he was even thought of as a GM is scary, what did he every do to make anyone go "Hey he could run a whole team."
I am sure he kept saying it can not get any worse. I am not saying he was right to give him seven year after 4 years I think that the Fords were the only ones that did not see it as a bad move. Maybe they were hoping for a Fed to help them out with the team also. That being said giving him seven years is not easier for me to understand than hiring him in the first place.
The icing on the cake with Millen as a Lions fan was after he was fired for such a horrible job (and finally), His punk butt was on the SuperBowl broadcast.........I mean Really???? I was horrified
Fords problem is he is too loyal and hires his friends instead of compitent, qualified people, so when it doesnt work out he lets them hang around long enough for lions fans to contiplate suicide.