Welsh, formerly the vice-president to Barham, has called for calm among Bombers members and fans as the club strives to end two decades of on-field mediocrity.
By resigning, Barham has avoided a potential board challenge, paving way for the widely admired Welsh – who played 162 games for the Dons from 2002-2011 – to take over the top job.
In a sign Welsh was being groomed to take over, he recently joined Barham’s dinners with club chief Craig Vozzo and coach Brad Scott.
“To our members, your support is more important than ever right now,” Welsh wrote in a letter to members.
“It’s not lost on any one of us that it has been 25 years since the club has tasted the ultimate success, and every person connected to Essendon is working extremely hard to deliver this to our members and supporters.
“The power of Essendon has always been in our unity. When we stand together as one, as players both past and present, coaches, staff, volunteers, partners, members, supporters, and our Essendon community – we can be formidable again.”
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Barham said he had made tough decisions as Essendon boss.
“I have given my all over the past three and a half years and tackled every challenge with everything that I have. I took my responsibility to fight for and defend our club, its players, coaches and administrators extremely seriously,” Barham wrote in his letter to members.
“I’m proud of what we have achieved in transforming the club and making the hard decisions to set it up for long-term, sustained success. I have no doubt we are now on the right track, and I leave excited about the future.”
Barham attended the Brownlow Medal on Monday night, where Merrett addressed his future for the first time since it was revealed he had met with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell.
Merrett has not requested a trade but has not committed to returning to the Bombers.
“I haven’t worked through my preference yet. There is a lot of stuff to go through in the next few weeks, there will definitely be some conversations, some factors at play,” Merrett said on the Brownlow red carpet.
“But there is a fair bit of uncertainty all around, things will be made clearer in the coming weeks.”
Nine News reported on Sunday night that a board challenge was brewing at the Bombers.
Barham’s pre-emptive move to hand over to Welsh is expected to defuse that situation.
Welsh, who met with Merrett last week, was a tough defender and former vice-captain of the club who has since established a successful career in property development.
He joined the Essendon board when Barham took over the presidency in 2022 as director of football governance.
“Andrew, the board and I have been working collaboratively to put a succession plan in place for some time, and I am delighted that Andrew is now able to take on the role, and he will take over responsibility from today,” Barham said in his letter.
“I have been thinking about this decision for a while, and feel the timing is right.
“I convened a meeting of the board this morning where I informed them of this decision. I will now take steps to fully exit the board in the coming weeks to ensure a smooth transition.”
As president, Barham presided over the sacking of then-coach Ben Rutten and the appointment of Brad Scott ahead of the 2023 season.
Both developments were messy; the then rookie president apologised for leaving Rutten in the dark during a botched pursuit of Alastair Clarkson, before club legend Kevin Sheedy (then a director) publicly revealed he had supported James Hird’s bid to return as coach over Scott.
Barham’s administration presided over the exit of Sheedy from the board, a new CEO in Craig Vozzo (after the short-lived appointment of Andrew Thorburn, who resigned over a conflict with views espoused by his church), and a new list boss in Matt Rosa.
“Since becoming president, I have repeatedly said that sustained, long-term success relies on unity, stability and alignment and this transition to Andrew Welsh ensures that [is] maintained,” Barham said.
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“Andrew will be an outstanding president, and it has been a privilege to work with him. He is driven and will bring fresh energy to the role, an energy we need to continue to build and develop the club and achieve on-field success.
“As we all loved him as a player, Andrew’s uncompromising but compassionate approach, football knowledge and strategic thinking have been brilliant to watch and are great assets to the club.”
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