Don't need to form a ticket of 13.
Don't need a new constitution...needs some minor changes, but on the whole it's fine.

Need a new President. Need some transparency. Need some energy. Drive. Accountability. Some competent board members are already there...getting rid of the dead-wood would be a start.

The present Constitution provides for no more than 13 Directors. . That is why we have Clubs within Clubs. The Carlton Board is bigger than the Board of the Reserve Bank and BHP Billiton from my last check. Allowing Directors 4 terms of 3 years gives 12 years, which promotes dead wood. If A Director cannot force proper meaningful change by 3 to 5 years, they have no idea and they should be moved on. Its not about having money and using the money to influence decisions within the Club. Its about having the best people in the Club making the right decisions. Its also about corporate governance - the Constitution should provide for the actual functions of each Director including Business, Finance, Football, Membership etc, not about making up numbers. Its also about allowing the Members to fully vote Directors on the Board, like Geelong for example, not subject to the invitation from existing Directors to new Directors.

Hands up those who are prepared to move on from the Pratt/Matheson era of control and ownership ?

Waiting for someone who can enunciate a clear vision for the future direction of the club to put up their hand and say they are prepared to do the job.

Waiting for someone who can enunciate a clear vision for the future direction of the club to put up their hand and say they are prepared to do the job.

It's the $6 million question. That's how much debt Greg Swann says we have. Bruce has gifted us some pokie venues in order to pay off the debt and in early 2012, Sticks said the club hoped to have the bulk of the debt paid off within 5 years. Since then, they've paid off around $750,000 a year. So it seems we're just servicing the debt.

So the Football Club's position seems to be that the debt only becomes an issue if servicing the debt puts constraints on other parts of the business. If it is not a constraint to Carlton being able to spend more money on the football department and run at a profit then it is not a problem. Of course to do this, you need to up the revenue coming in to the place every year.

And that's where you and I come into the equation. If last seasons message was 'In order to get to the MCG, we need as many members as possible', it won't be long before we hear 'In order to pay off the debt, we need as many members as possible'...and around we go in a big circle. Again.

The view the club has taken has been rather than pay off debt they've increased spend in the football department. Fair enough, the debt isn't an issue as long as you can service it.

The problem is where they've spent the money. Equipment and facilities are okay, but we spent money on a coaching structure, including a stoppages coach, that didn't work out and this year instead of having a decent coaching structure we had to do it on the cheap while we paid out contracts for the old one.

Lets hope they get their spend right for next season.

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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

I remember the great feeling of people power the night we ousted Elliott. To me, there was a great spirit despite the dramatic circumstances and i thought we were finally going to become a club that valued its members, even become a community club.
We lost our way.

It was a moment of pride for sure, PPW.

It gave the members a real sense of responsibility and ownership.

With all the unelected board appointments that followed, to me that sense of responsibility and ownership was taken away, again.

Members dont need a sense of ownership.... the Oligarchs who might as well own the club need a "circle of trust" to make this club work.....

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

If the rumours that are abounding already during this trade period are anything to go by, this administration is planning some big fish to deflect any undue attention between now and the AGM in December.

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

Winston Churchill

I'm sure Richmond felt the same way. 33 years later.....

Nah, no comparison between the two clubs to be had over a long period of their histories.

If you choose to be negative rather than take the positives that's fine, i believe that with the right people involved and the right decisions being made we will once again be successful.

We have appointed our first decent coach since Parkin's time, we need to sort out the playing list ( which i believe will start to happen during this off season, at least we seem to have a fairly clear idea of what we need ) and the administration of the club ( this probably needed to be done first but still needs addressing).

Like it or not it's probably going to take at least a good 5 - 7 years to get to get this club back up there on all of the required levels.

Whilst the primary focus should firmly be on the task at hand that doesn't mean that you don't pay respect to our great history or celebrate it at the appropriate times.

Nobody can fix the mistakes of the past decade in retrospect, they should not be forgotten but they should not be allowed to stop us from moving forward and doing the right things now and into the future either.

One that's already rotting at the head...or in our case, ankles

The only big fish I want to see is Sticks' exit

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If I want your opinion, I'll give it to you!

October 1 2011

Carlton Football Club Board
Five Year Plan

1. Get Malthouse
2. Use Mick to get Thomas and a few more Pies people over
3. Add a couple of board members to make it look like we're doing something
4. Plan the 150th celebrations
5. Cross fingers, hope for the best

Thomas has been planned from the start. Doubt a bad medical will deter us.

_________________
"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

Wonder if Mike Fitzpatrick is ready for a return to Club footy?
He'd get my vote.

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Bawditawaba

I doubt anyone who knows all the inner workings (and dirty secrets) of the AFL would be welcome in any club role now.

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WADA medical director Dr Alan Vernec describes Essendon* FC drug case as biggest scandal in team sport the world of sport has seen. #WC2WB

#GUILTY

"All this footy club has ever wanted forever has been an equal playing field" - um... err, Sticks, you may wanna walk that one back a little...

I saw that this morning and just giggled. Surely he's trolling the world now.

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The only way for some people to understand is for them to be on the receiving end

Left wing moralists
In self serving denial
They shit me no end

I just shook my head when I read that. Why not just say "we share the concerns that have been expressed by a number of other clubs regarding the Swans and Franklin" or something along those lines, instead he invokes the "level playing field" which given Carlton's not too distant history just invites ridicule.