Mark Thompson was the only truly great thing to happen to Essendon Football Club in 2014 Mark Thompson gave a rousing speech at Essendon's best and fairest dinner. MARK Thompson was the only truly great thing about the Essendon football club this year. Dyson Heppell held up his end and Jake Carlisle put in some worthy cameos but it was weird and wonderful Thompson who kept fans believing. Now he is gone and Essendon has to be diminished because of it. Four years ago the Geelong coach had us believe he just walked into Essendon training one day and said to James Hird: "I am in." As Hird went kicking and screaming from Essendon to serve his 12-month ban, it was Thompson who filled the breach. And what a job he did - captivating the fans and media with his public showings, yet behind the scenes ruling with an iron fist to drag Essendon into the finals. He went hard at all the big names - Watson, Goddard, Carlisle - and they delivered time and again. But if anyone thought he would just go quietly into the night after 12 months as coach, that defies the entire history of this supplements scandal. One by one the key figures in Essendon's 2012 supplements scandal have toppled, all of them at different times and through varying methods of departure. Only James Hird and doctor Bruce Reid remain, and even Hird cannot guarantee his position. Mark Thompson entertains the media as Essendon coach. For all the club's recent claims about Hird's watertight contract, the Essendon board is still reserving its right to decide. If 20 Essendon players are suspended at an anti-doping tribunal the feeling is that it would give the board more than enough grounds to shove Hird aside. The club's fallback plan if Hird did depart was always Thompson, but now new assistant Mark Harvey takes over his role as the club's Break-In-Case-Of-Emergency Saviour. What a messy business this continues to be. Hird is still in court and the anti-doping tribunal is to come but the collateral damage continues. Stephen Dank departed first with Dean "The Weapon" Robinson quickly following, but now with a $1 million settlement courtesy of the club. Chief executive Ian Robson fell on his sword with chairman David Evans forced out through his war with Hird. Footy bosses Paul Hamilton and Danny Corcoran also resigned as the direct result of the scandal, although both pleaded innocence. The AFL will consider Thompson's position at a Commission meeting on November 21-22 - next Thursday and Friday. It might be immaterial now but they cannot just allow Thompson not to pay his $30,000 governance fine and snub his nose at them again. If the Commission has any ticker they will at least force him to pay a larger fine if he does want to return.