Just two months after he was dumped by Racing Victoria as one of the industry's key strategists, some major Melbourne race clubs have recalled Andrew Catterall to assist in future programs.
Fairfax Media understand Catterall will start work with the Melbourne Racing Club in the next few weeks, despite the state's governing body of racing parting company with Catterall because of his conflicting views on the future of the sport.
In a stunning turn of events, the one-time AFL administrator will return to the Melbourne Racing Club as a consultant with the club hoping he can generate new concepts and ideas.
Catterall left Racing Victoria after a number of board members became disenchanted with his work and concerned his position was not what the racing industry needed. He clashed with one board member in particular in the final months.
However the board was at odds with the upper echelon of executives at Racing Victoria who considered Catterall an asset to the organisation.
Catterall left the AFL after working directly with former chief executive Andrew Demetriou who described RVL's decision as "most unwise" at the time.
Catterall has established his own business and will work as a consultant for the Melbourne Racing Club with the VRC also interested in using his talents.
Catterall was the man given the task of overseeing the $1 billion rights deal that the AFL and Channel Seven currently have.
In February, Demetriou told Fairfax Media: "He [Catterall] had a super mind and, when he was in charge of strategy at the AFL, he worked on every major project.
"He worked on the rights deal and the Adelaide Oval project. He worked day and night.
"I'm absolutely one of his greatest fans. Sure, he might be a bit outspoken, but you can never doubt his ability ... you can never doubt his work ethic."
Catterall had been with Racing Victoria for two years. The industry was quickly impressed with his work after he took over his role as a senior strategist.
However, Fairfax Media understands his relationship with board members began to sour and that there also had been ructions between him and Tabcorp over media rights negotiations.
Catterall admitted he had differing views with Racing Victoria. In a press statement at the time, he said: "I'm proud of what we have achieved in the last two years, the team we have built and the strong position we have now got Racing Victoria into across marketing, wagering, strategy, media rights and digital."
Despite Catterall's departure from Racing Victoria last February the media and vision rights are still not concluded, with the four principal clubs struggling to broker a deal with Sky Channel.
