The prospect of James Hird returning as Essendon coach following his one-year suspension has become more unlikely following explosive allegations by his wife.

The timing of Tania Hird’s TV interview broadside about the way the AFL handled the Essendon supplements scandal was seemingly designed to cause maximum embarrassment to the AFL administration.

However, it could hardly have come at a worse time for the club as it prepared to play its round-one match against North Melbourne on Friday night under the stewardship of interim coach Mark Thompson.

Clearly frustrated, Essendon chairman Paul Little said the club’s board would now meet to discuss its next move regarding Hird, whose ban runs until late August.

“It’s well documented now that we’ve been working incredibly hard, right across all facets of the club for the last six to nine months to turn the club around, focus on the future and move away from the dispute of last year,” Little told Triple M Radio on Friday.

“We’ve had many opportunities to re-engage in the dispute but we’ve obviously not taken them up. So it is disappointing.

“The timing last night is certainly less than helpful.

“… Up until the events of the last 24 hours we believed James was acting and responding to our requests in a positive way.

“The club will need to meet now to determine how we go forward in relation to the James Hird issue and probably the broader group which surrounds James.”

Little has been a strong supporter of Hird since replacing David Evans as Essendon chairman midway through 2013, as shown by the two-year contract extension offered to him.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire predicted that Hird would not coach Essendon again, despite the Bombers club great saying earlier this week he was counting down the days until he returned.

“It’s more about the camp around James Hird and the advice he’s getting,” said McGuire on Triple M.

“Clearly that advice is contrary to the advice that the chairman of the Essendon football club, who appointed James for two years, has been giving and the direction the club wants to go in.”

In a TV interview screened on Thursday night, Tania Hird referred to the explosive allegation that AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou tipped off the Bombers about the crisis.

Demetriou has vehemently denied the claim, first made last July, and did so again on Friday.

Tania Hird alleges Evans told her husband in a telephone conversation not to mention the matter to the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA).

She told the ABC’s 7.30 Report she was listening on speaker phone and took notes.

The Bombers remain under an ASADA investigation over their 2012 supplements program.

“I definitely think James was the scapegoat – in fact we were told that James being the scapegoat was non-negotiable,” she said.

“It wasn’t about the integrity of the game, by any stretch of the imagination.

“It was all about the AFL brand.”

Tania Hird backed up her comments on Friday, saying she felt compelled to stand up for her husband, who is currently studying in Paris.

“People are saying we should move on but every day I read someone saying James was an irresponsible official or James shouldn’t come back and coach because of what he saw, what he did. It’s totally inaccurate,” she told reporters.

“There comes a point that I, as the wife, I’m just sick of the wrong thing being written about my husband.”

Hird’s lawyer Stephen Amendola also repeated his criticisms of how the AFL ran the disciplinary process that led to the suspension.

“They looked to behave like a bunch of cashed-up bogans who thought they could do what they wanted,” Amendola said.

“(It was) just a complete failure of process and it fundamentally arises from the (AFL) Commission structure.”

Demetriou again refuted Tania Hird’s allegation that he had alerted the Bombers that the supplements program was under scrutiny.

“The response is pretty simple – it’s impossible to tip off anyone when I wasn’t privy to the information,” he told Fairfax Radio.

“I didn’t have access to it.”

Demetriou declined to be drawn on whether Hird’s position at Essendon had become untenable.

“That’s a decision for the club, but you can hear in Paul (Little’s) voice there an immense amount of frustration,” he said.

“… the club wants to move forward. They’ve come off a horrendous 2013, they’re working diligently to go forward, they want to start planning for 2014.”