James Hird's father Allan says there were no signs his son was on a path to ill-health despite accusing AFL and Essendon administrators of pursuing the younger Hird as a scapegoat.
In an interview with 3AW, Allan Hird said AFL officials were "thugs" and "bullies" without a "moral compass" for their treatment of his son in the aftermath of Essendon's supplement scandal.
The former Brownlow medallist and Essendon coach was taken to Cabrini Hospital by ambulance, after an overdose last week.
He has since been transferred to a private facility.
Allan told the radio station that his son was "fine" and that his daughter had been keeping him "regularly informed", and that he would be coming to Melbourne to see him soon.
"I had no inkling. (It came) just out of the blue," he said.
The 43-year-old James Hird, a father of four, has kept a low public profile since he left his job as Essendon coach in August 2015.
His reputation was damaged severely amid investigations into the club's 2012 supplements program that left 34 past and present Bombers banned last season.
But the senior Hird was adamant that his son would bounce back both from a mental health and business perspective.
His wife Tania has requested their family be granted privacy.
Allan Hird said his son was made a scapegoat from when the supplements scandal first broke in February 2013 as a result of a conspiracy between the federal government, the AFL, some Essendon board members and ASADA.
"It was pretty apparent once the deal had been done, the Gillard government had got itself in a hole – remember Jason Clare the (then) justice minister and Kate Lundy the (then) sports minister overblew that crime commission report enormously – and they needed something and they did that for political reasons," he said.
"It was when the minister for Dobell (Craig Thomson) was in that sex scandal using money for prostitutes, two ministers had resigned, they were well behind in the polls, the treasurer had just announced - after saying for four years they were going to have a surplus - they weren't going to have a surplus."
He didn't mince his words when talking about the AFL either, describing them as thugs and bullies without a moral compass.
"Jim was never charged with anything ... Jim didn't break any law or was involved in any infraction, it was just this nebulous charge that he had brought the game into disrepute," he said.
"They wouldn't say what he had done because there was nothing that he had done – put yourself in that circumstance. They can't say what you've done but they'll get you anyway because they need a face, [AFL chairman Mike] Fitzpatrick said to him, 'that's just the way it is'.
"They [AFL] are thugs, they're bullies. I did think they had some dignity and some integrity but they haven't got a moral compass."
Hird senior wants former AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou, former Essendon chairman David Evans, Lundy, Clare and ASADA figures all to testify under oath at a senate inquiry.
He said he believed his son had been let down by people he had trusted and leaks to media from the Essendon board while James was coach worked against him.
"Right from the start, I believed Jim trusted people too much.
"He put too much trust in the club doing the right thing. He put too much trust in the AFL. He put too much trust in our system of government.
"If he had his time again, he would have done it differently."
3AW said the interview, with Tony Jones, was initiated by Allan Hird.
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