Speaking on Fox Footy's Open Mike on Monday night, Pagan discussed Wayne Carey's reign as captain and said he was never too lenient with the superstar.
“That’s one thing that probably riled me a bit. A lot of people used to say that…I can’t remember any examples.”
Pagan denies Carey had his own set of rules, particularly when it came to drinking after games.
“That’s so far from the truth…they all used to drink a lot. We played a lot of Friday night games and they’d go away for the weekend…Wayne was a good drinker, I could probably name you ten others, they may not like me saying that.
“Have a good weekend, just make sure on the training track you train well and I never had any queries with any of those blokes and more importantly Wayne because he led from the front.
“You go out and have a couple of beers with Wayne now and you wouldn’t want to stay there too long I tell you…you’d find yourself on the floor."
Pagan was reluctant to discuss the circumstances surrounding Carey’s controversial departure from the club, acknowledging he’s caught between a rock and a hard place given his relationship with Carey and Anthony Stevens.
“Did I have anything to do with the situation that exploded?...It’s something you don’t even want to talk about. I don’t think I did, it was one of those things that happened in life, it was terrible. I’m sure if people could change events, they would have…only one or two people could have changed it.
“I couldn’t take sides with it…Anthony was at the club, he was the new captain, we supported him.
“Wayne went into, virtually into hiding, I spoke to him about it. Look, there were things that occurred that shouldn’t…It’s amazing, every time there’s an indiscretion they (the media) always bring that up. It must be terrible for Anthony to see that. I just hope that Anthony’s got on to (with) his life and he’s just proven what a great ambassador and wonderful player he was to lead the Kangaroos the way he did, he was just terrific after those sorts of issues.”
Pagan was also at pains to point out he didn’t walk out on the club at the end of 2002.
"They made me an offer that I had to refuse," Pagan told Mike Sheahan.
"I just thought, it's obvious that they don't want me here."
Pagan revealed he earned $25,000 less in his first season at Carlton than his last at North and said he believed Kangaroos’ officials were concerned about his "autocratic" style of leadership.
"There were people in the football club who thought I had too much control over things, and they were probably right. But we were having a lot of success in those days.”
He claims they used contract-renewal negotiations as a way to "wrest the balance of power back".
"Sometimes autocratic regimes are successful, and if they are successful, why change it?
"They changed it and there hasn't been a lot of success since."
Pagan’s departure was bitter, and it created a rift between him and former CEO Geoff Walsh. One that still exists today.
“I haven’t been around to his place for dinner, he hasn’t been around to mine,” Pagan commented.
A perceived conflict of interest with son Ryan may also have contributed to his downfall after many claimed Pagan was gifting Ryan games. It’s a claim which still angers the former coach.
“Ryan was getting 40 possessions in the reserves at that stage, he deserved a chance. In retrospect, I would have loved Ryan to go somewhere else and that was the start of my demise there at the Kangaroos.
“If anyone was against it, why didn’t they speak up at match committee? Was I that much of a tyrant and wouldn’t allow anyone to talk?”
The now full-time real estate agent is content in life and still loves his footy admitting he still had ambitions to get back into coaching.
“I did there, a couple of years ago, I really wanted to be involved but couldn’t find an opening so went back to school, got my full licence (in real estate)…”
North Melbourne v Carlton
Friday July 13, 7.50pm
Etihad Stadium
