Carlton president Mark LoGiudice said Malthouse had been sacked because there was loss of trust between him and the board.

But insiders said he had goaded the club into axing him immediately with his on-air comments.

Related: Mick Malthouse forced Carlton's hand

Malthouse, 61, was more circumspect in a statement late yesterday, thanking the Blues and wishing them well, as he reminisced about a great career and its messy end.

“I believe the game, and I, have matured greatly during the past decades,” he wrote.

“This concludes my coaching journey but I will enjoy viewing the game from afar and its progress.”

LoGiudice and club chief Steven Trigg believed on Monday Malthouse had accepted their timeline — that a decision would be made in two weeks when the Blues had a bye. They had even talked of a farewell match.

But the damaged relationship collapsed when Malthouse slammed the board and made the extraordinary claim that Trigg, when in charge at Adelaide, had “stitched up” Eddie Betts as a free agent from Carlton 18 months before the star small forward left Princes Park.

“Even though he (Malthouse) got the arse, he did it on his terms,” a club source said last night. “He didn’t want to be there in the end.”

The Blues considered withholding part of Malthouse’s six-figure contract, believing he had breached his contract with yesterday’s explosive radio interview.

But they took a more conciliatory position and committed to pay Malthouse what Trigg called full entitlement — the balance of his estimated $900,000 contract for this season.

LoGiudice said the board’s relationship with Malthouse was so sour a change had to be made.

Malthouse said in the SEN Radio interview that the coach was “the first to go” to relieve some of the pressure on a beleaguered board.

“Good boards stay sound. Boards crack under pressure,” he said.

LoGiudice said Malthouse’s comments did not “sit well” and were the tipping point for his sacking.

He said the comments showed an “public misalignment” of views between the club and Malthouse.

“Unfortunately Mick’s obvious public misalignment with the football club has resulted in a loss of trust between the club and coach,” LoGiudice said.

“Not making a change now would only exacerbate our position. Without unity, we simply won’t get there,

“AFL football is ultimately about people and relationships. In this case, the relationship regrettably did not work.”

Trigg insisted the board had tried to handle the issue in a respectful way, despite twice altering the time frame of when they would make a call on his position.

“You do ask yourself: could we have handled it better?,” Trigg said.

“The decision to bring it forward is one you could question but that was in fairness to a whole range of stakeholders under some crushing pressure, including Mick himself.

“That it hasn’t finished up as both parties would like is disappointing, but we can look ourselves in the mirror.”