(Daniel Eade is BPL's basketball contributor)

After 22 years of service to the Melbourne Tigers as a player and assistant coach, Warrick Giddey has been told that his services on the sidelines will no longer be required.

The Tigers have described Giddey's new position as a "community role".

The decision immediately drew an angry reaction from another Tigers legend, Nigel Purchase, who said the person who made the call to move Giddey on clearly had ''no interest in respecting the history of the Melbourne Tigers and what this man has done for the Melbourne Tigers.''

Giddey joins Al Westover (26 years) and Darryl McDonald (7 years), highly respected club legends, who have been taken off the Tigers bench within the last four months.

Giddey was informed last week by new head coach Trevor Gleeson that the team will be bringing in a new staff to sit on the sidelines. Gleeson hiring Rohan Short, his former assistant at the Townsville Crocodiles, to be his right hand man.

Beginning his NBL career with the Illawarra Hawks in 1987, Giddey came to the Tigers in 1989 and played 14 seasons; winning NBL championships in 1993 and 1997.

Giddey played 406 games with the Tigers (449 overall) and is third on the All-Time games played list at Melbourne behind only the legendary duo of Andrew Gaze (612) and Lanard Copeland (448).

Retiring in 2002, Giddey moved to the sidelines where he served as an assistant coach for the Tigers under Lindsay Gaze and Al Westover, being a part of two more championship winning teams in 2006 and 2008.

Writing on www.gaze.com.au, Purchase slammed the decision by Gleeson and the Tigers to remove Giddey from the bench.

Describing Giddey as "irreplaceable", Purchase said he was "shocked" at the move.

Purchase wrote: "Whoever made this decision to not include in some way shape or form, Warrick Giddey as part of the coaching staff has no interest in respecting the history of the Melbourne Tigers and what this man has done for the Melbourne Tigers."

Purchase also went on to say: "If it is Gleeson's decision to not have him involved with the team, then it is a very poor decision by him, if it is the clubs decision to insult him by rewriting his job description to that of a ‘community role' then this is a sickening insult to one of the greatest people that have been involved in the Tigers.

"The Tigers organisation have made a very poor decision to the most popular person at the club and winning games will not cover up this disappointing decision by the club. The management is chipping away at the clubs history and today they announced that the claw hammer has been replaced by a wrecking ball."

It's another huge public relations blow for the Melbourne Tigers, who appear completely out of touch with their loyal fan base.

Giddey's No.6 singlet will still hang from the rafters, along with Andrew Gaze's #10 (as pictured above), Lanard Copeland's #21, Ray Gordon's #8 and Dave Simmons #25, but it just won't be the same without the man himself there.