Speaking to a few Ex-Carlton members the other day - I'm starting to understand their reasoning as to why they haven't signed up again! NOT SAYING ITS WHAT I WOULD DO, but i understand.......

They are not happy with a few things at the club (IE - Denis, Board Members, loss of sponsership (especially back in 2004) president (collins)coaching tatics (ie Flooding, Bombing long to nothing, etc, etc).
But mainly, just the promise that things will get better - when in truth NOTHING has happend. We are in the same posistion we were in 2002.

How is that possible when...................
We have a better Coach (some would say)
A better list
4 first round draft picks (the club always blames our posistion on missing out on those picks anyway!)
We move away from Optus because we can't afford it - yet we are still in a financial mess!

Michael Malouf & Graham Smorgan came out the other day and said just how important it is to the club to have members renew their membership! Hence EXACTLLY the reason some members have not! It's the only way they're able to voice their opinions to the club that they are not happy with things and that it must change!
It hurts the club - and they're not proud of that! Butit really is the only way they can speak to the club!

Look at it the membership as a TV show................................
If ratings are on the decline, do the producers keep going with the current format? If they did that, they would have been cancelled by now.

I'm still a member - and a frustrated one at that because i've always thought denis was the wrong man for the job and i was PISSED when we signed him up for 3 years on the back of wining the wizard cup! Furious!
And i hated Collins!
And i'm constantly questioning why we keep players such as Prendergast & DeLuca to name just a couple.

And yes, i have other problems with the club................But i will always be a Member! INFACT, i upgraded to Social Club membership the second i found out that the Social Club was in trouble!

But...............................................

I did understand the reasoning behind these few people as to why they wont renew their memberships! The saddest thing of all is that they have been a member for about twice as long as i have!

All i'm saying is that whilst it's great that the club is working hard to get those members to renew - perhaps they should focus their attention as to WHY THEY HAVEN'T!

Peace Out!

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

Good on you for paying up Ryan.

As for the people you mention, no matter how sad it is to be to be a Blues fan, I cannot understand the mentality of trying to make a point by not renewing.

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#DonTheStash

Well ck, I guess when the club is no more they will not have anything to be unhappy about.

Maybe Colin DeLutis was right about that crack about "whiteants".

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Well, it's customer service really! And in a nut shell - the customer isn't happy!
Hence my 'TV Show' Comparison. If the show isn't improved, the viewer will switch chanels.

It's the best way the fans can voice their opinions to the club. So is the club listening??????? Not yet, but i'd say they're starting too!

AGAIN - I'M NOT SAYING I AGREE WITH THIS! Just saying i understand their reasonings.

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

its the "Silent protest" vote.... in 2 ways, I would think:

1) don't like watching the club loose, so can't see the financial value in getting a membership that they'll never use (interesting to know how many people get memberships as a value-for-money situation, and if they don't think they'll go they're not willing to 'waste" their money)

2) are making a silent protest and want the club to know they're unhappy

either way, the problem is communication... communication from the club to its members. they have to give us something to watch for... a plan... a future.... some gusto and, potentially, but probably less importantly, some wins against the odds.

we don't get any of that....

for mine, I'm pretty much jack of watching them... I'll look for excuses not to watch... the only thought that keeps me MAYBE wanting to watch is that I want to witness Murphy's and Kennedy's et.al first few tentative steps toward stardom.... if there were a few more in there I would be more inclined

but I paid my membership and will next season too..... I know I definitely DON'T get value for money for my membership $$, which is pretty much the most expensive one you can get, but I see it mostly as a donation. Then again, I'm a single guy who drinks alot and has no commitments. If I had a family and a mortgage, and didn't think I'd go very much, I might HAVE to be more realistic about my expenses.

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Love Cricket? Love me

Perhaps they should be voicing their opinion to the club on why they're not renewing.

No one at the club can read minds. At the moment these people look like they haven't re-signed because we're not winning games.

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"The ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent." Qui-Gon Jinn 15-05-2005

"there’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the [Western Bulldogs] than there is of any change in the Labor Party." Julia Gillard 18-05-2010

without members re-signing as members we wont have the money to pay the likes of kennedy and murphy and they will go somewhere else.

i guarantee neither of these players will finish their careers in navy blue and we will be lucky to hold onto them as 100 gamers.

who wants to play for a club that never wins, has no money, and even worse, has no fans that are willing to pay to watch them play.

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Back like a raging case of pubic lice

A company that was run well would have a clearer insight, or seek one.

Not only are we a poor squad with poor coaching and a dysfunctional board, we're also one of the worst operating companies in Australia.

EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS CLUB IS ROTTEN, AND EVERYONE IS TREADING WATER BECAUSE THERE IS NO LEADERSHIP OR INSIGHT AT ANY LEVEL

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Love Cricket? Love me

Isn't that what Cammo's petition is trying to do

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

VERY GOOD EXAMPLE, SYDNEY!!!!

most people would prefer to sit on their hands and say "woe is us, membership is down... but everything else is on track"

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Love Cricket? Love me

Whoever thinks they are buying a footy membership as a 'value for money' purchase is looking for the wrong things. Footy memberships are like footy boots. Sure I cant play like Thierry Henry and I'll never curl the ball like David Backham, in fact the ideal footy boots for me are probably the Dunlop ones because they're only $29.99. But when I'm wandering through Rebel Sport, emotion grips me and my wallet and before I know it I've spent enough money to buy me 3 sets of work shoes on some flashy football boots that will get worn once a week and then left to rot slowly, covered in mud in a bag in the laundry. Never use common sense as a substitute for emotion, Mrs 2nd certainly doesnt!!

Jump off if you want to, but anyone that's ever done any investing will tell you that sentiment always goes too far on a correction. People always overestimate a bull market and underestimate a bear one. The smart money waits and exploits this whilst the emotional types jump off and on. We're down but we're not out. It's not all doom and gloom. We have already bottomed and, despite the end result this year, and a few more spankings no doubt on the way, we are on the way back up. Note this post down in years to come because I reckon we've already turned the corner. (waits for AFL/Banks to close us down!! )

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"Who discovered we could get milk from cows, and what did he think he was doing at the time?" Billy Connolly

We may have bottomed out but how many of us expected to have it continually grazing against the rough tarmac of our team, bleeding everywhere as we go, especially as we were allowed back into drafts and trading and stealing players from other Clubs?

Is a little improvement too much to ask for?

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Formerly: Ackland the Wonderkid / Army the Wonderkid / quivering mess / molsey / Tony Lynn Fan Club

IF OUR MEMBERSHIP HIT'S 30K THIS YEAR CONSIDER IT AS BLOODY GREAT EFFORT.THE WAY WE ARE PLAYING WE SHOULD NOT EVEN HAVE 15K MEMBERS!~~!

In all honesty I think that's a good point achilles. It worries me that 6k people didn't sign, but on another level you look at it & think, 28k, that's actually a fair effort.

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#DonTheStash

Yes let's all drop our memberships to enforce our board to move on... brilliant plan.

Exactly. I for one congratulate our members and I am proud of every single one of them who renewed again. Once again the supporters have shown what they are worth ... nearly 30K again and yet our club is STILL WHINGING about it's supporters.

Its not my go to bag fellow TCer's irrespective of what they post.
But i gotta say folks,i have never read so much complete and utter frogshit.
Mate,it is simple as this...................
The Carlton Football Cub.............is family
and when family is in trouble,you stick.No matter what.No iff,buts,or maybees.

Amen.

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All my dangerous friends

good post mickstar and to all those ppl who jump on board in 5 years time when we are a power again u really dont deserve to enjoy the good times because u werent der to help us out in da hard times

When we become a force again I can guarantee that we will have an excess of 40K members!!!!!!