KEVIN Sheedy's attempt to rewrite history where Mick Malthouse is concerned and further destabilise his successor Matthew Knights at Essendon have seen him admonished by his new club Greater Western Sydney.

''I don't think it's gracious or dignified for us to be getting involved in other club's business,'' said GWS chief executive Dale Holmes. ''We really need Kevin to be focused on our club.

''He's been fabulous for us in setting up the football club and we need him to be focused on that, not getting involved in a running commentary about other clubs. He gets asked his opinion on everything and he's a paid commentator and we know he likes to be a bit cheeky.

''But the task ahead for us is a challenging exercise and that's where Kevin needs to focus his energy.''

Holmes returned to work yesterday from a short break amid a furore from the AFL industry regarding Sheedy's various attacks in recent days. The CEO confirmed he had left his senior coach a telephone message and planned to ''sit down with Kevin'' for a more meaningful conversation either today or tomorrow.

It is the first time GWS has publicly raised its eyebrows at the man it has employed to sell AFL football into its toughest yet market.

While Knights was deeply offended by Sheedy's criticism of his appointment and some list decisions - penned in a column just 24 hours after the pair had sat together at the Bombers' 2000 premiership reunion - Sheedy showed no signs of backing off yesterday by repeating some of his sentiments on Melbourne radio.

The 27-year Essendon coach questioned again why Essendon did not replace him with one of his proteges, although Knights, who coached under Sheedy for two seasons, could loosely be considered in that category.

The AFL Coaches' Association, over which Sheedy presides, was reportedly furious and embarrassed at Sheedy's attacks upon Knights and Malthouse. Several senior coaches have made their disappointment official and it seems a happy coincidence that Sheedy is tipped to be replaced soon as president, with David Parkin a strong candidate for the job.

In a somewhat theatrical column two days ago - Sheedy also said that Nathan Buckley should still be playing - the GWS coach stated that Malthouse had never built a great list and that his two premierships at the Eagles were largely achieved with players he inherited.

There has been a chorus of disapproval sung in Sheedy's direction in recent days. His former Essendon captain Gary O'Donnell on Sunday said he had been disappointed by Sheedy and that he should stick to worrying about his own club, which is to join the AFL in 2012.

The football boss who worked with Malthouse when he came to the Eagles in 1990, Trevor Nisbett, was blunt in his assessment of Sheedy's snipe at Malthouse, the coach who will in the final round of this season equal Sheedy's AFL coaching record (635 games) and no doubt pass it by the time the finals have been contested.

''Kevin's off the mark,'' Nisbett, now the Eagles' CEO, said last night. ''He's out of line and I think he was out of line where Matthew Knights in concerned too.

''Mick's a wonderful footy coach. He coached our club for 10 years and we were never out of the finals in all that time. He built and he rebuilt, we couldn't have stayed in finals otherwise.

''When he came to the club in 1990 it's true we had a few great players like Guy McKenna and John Worsfold but we had a list of only 35 players, there was no infrastructure and we were broke. We went into that draft and recruited players who became the nucleus of those great teams.''

Nisbett pointed to names including Ashley McIntosh, Brett Heady, Peter Wilson and Tony Evans - all of whom played in the Eagles' first premiership team - as being picked in Malthouse's first two drafts. He also mentioned the club's priority picks - allocated because the Eagles had no zone - in Glen Jakovich, Mitchell White and Jason Ball.

''We get a lot of that in Perth still - that Mick inherited a great list - and it's just wrong. A guy like Peter Wilson had done pretty much nothing at Richmond and under Mick he was terrific - and I think he's coaching even better now,'' Nisbett said.

''He's got two years to win his club a premiership and he's doing everything to ensure that he gives Collingwood their best opportunity to do that.''

According to Sheedy Collingwood can't win the flag this year.

Sheedy was asked on SEN radio yesterday by his old teammate Kevin Bartlett whether he was still resentful of Collingwood's thrashing of Essendon in the 1990 grand final. But Malthouse was not coaching Collingwood then.

Could Sheedy's bitterness - he had a swipe at Richmond some months ago, the club that overlooked him to replace Terry Wallace - have more to do with Malthouse's games' record closing in and potentially even his premiership record? Surely not.