Guy oversaw the most aggressive list changes at the end of last season to fix a salary cap that had spiralled out of control,and would have left the club over the salary cap without significant remedial action.

He took the decision at the end of last year,with board approval and football department support,to overseemassive changes that resulted in the club moving on Adam Treloar,Jaidyn Stephenson and Tom Phillips for relatively insufficient compensation.

The decision to leave was Guy’s and he was not pressured to go as a consequence of the tumultuous trade period. On the contrary,former football manager Geoff Walsh tried to talk him out of leaving.

Walsh argued Guy had done the hardest part of the job in fixing the salary cap and should remain to build the list under a reshaped cap.

Wright was aware of Guy’s decision when hearrived in the football manager job.

Wright,formerly the list manager at Hawthorn before transitioning to general manager of football jobs,will assume Guy’s role in a caretaker basis until a replacement is found.

Guy arrived at the end of 2017 and inherited a salary cap that had for years back-ended and extended contracts to push problems down the road with large,long-term deals.

He was responsible forbringing Dayne Beams back to the club,which involved not only a high-priced,long-term contract but cost the club two first-round draft picks.

That deal was done on the basis that Beams was a top-10 midfield talent in the league coming into a side that was akick off a premiership,but also with significant pressure from the board to bring the former Magpies premiership player back to the club from Brisbane.

He alsosigned Brodie Grundy to a seven-year deal worth about $925,000 a year amid strong pressure from the board to retain the ruckman and in a climate of a hemorrhaging salary cap where the only way to retain Grundy was to commit to a long-term deal.

A player manager before joining Collingwood as list manager,he is expected to stay in football but is unlikely to return to player management.

He has a young family,which compounded the pressure of hub life and stress last year of trying to manage the bloated salary cap. His wife is pregnant,with the couple expecting their third baby.

Collingwood’s football department has been a revolving door for football heads. Coach Nathan Buckley has had seven football managers in his 12 years coaching the club.

Geoff Walsh was there when Buckley took over before Walsh left for North Melbourne to be replaced by Rodney Eade,who later quit to coach Gold Coast.

Eade was replaced by Neil Balme until Graeme Allan was brought in. Allan was then suspended and Marcus Wagner was briefly made the interim head before Walsh returned. This year Wright arrived to replace Walsh after his retirement.