Growing up football was everything for me and I loved the Carlton Football Club. Maybe I didn't know any better, but I idolised all the players and always believed we were going to win. I took it for granted we were the best team and club. We had no trouble attracting star players from interstate or other teams and the best people to our club. We were a club that was innovative, driven for success and not afraid to be ruthless and do what it took to stand out from the other teams. Since the 90's the only success we've had since was based off our last interstate raid before the draft. We've failed to adjust to the draft and modern day football. We've become a club who looks around at others and tries to replicate rather than differentiate. We've poached from Collingwood in an attempt to replicate their success, but we fail to understand or implement their commitment to supporters, our membership tally suffers because of it. I was an AFL Member with Carlton Club Support for 15 years. I came to learn this category of membership wasn't valued a few years ago when I inquired why I hadn't received a membership certificate the year we did that. After the 2012 season I decided I didn't want my money going to the AFL any longer so I cancelled my membership with the intention of purchasing a Carlton membership to the equivalent value. After terminating and paying out our coaches a year after extending them (when it was well known we were going to pursue Mick Malthouse as coach) I decided Carlton didn't need my money either and there would be better ways to spend it. We've become a mediocre club in everything we do. Its difficult to think of anything we do better than the other 17 teams. Our strategy and values aren't clear or defined. Rather than being a leader in our industry we plod along with the impression doing the bare minimum is good enough. An independent review of the club's operations is needed and all board positions opened up to rid the club of the complacency that currently exists.

Good to see some honest thoughts

An independent review of the club's operations is needed and all board positions opened up to rid the club of the complacency that currently exists.

An independent review is fine - but I don't think it gets us anywhere. As for all board positions opened up - what does this mean? Are you changing the constitution? How does it improve the club? What if you end up with more of this complacency that you speak of? This doesn't sound very practical to me. There's a right and wrong way to do things...

...be careful what you wish for.

You're not Ratts are you BBW? I don't like MM but your dislike of the great man puts me in the shade

How did Pagan Set the club back 10 years?

He drove the next generation of leaders out of the club
leaving a leadership vacumm that still hasnt been filled

My dissatisfaction comes from making the same mistake 10 years on
We had an young innovative coach in Brittian who had a side that was crippled with injuries so they tanked and it cost him his job and we brought in Pagan who pig headedly set the club back 10 years
We had the same thing with Ratten we were a kick away from a prelim had the following year crippled with injuries we sacked him and now replaced him with another pig head who will set back theclub years aswell

How we could nake the same idiotic mistake 10 years apart id beyond my thinking
Im convinced if Ratten was still coaching we would be having a tilt right now but instead we are in no mans land

He drove the next generation of leaders out of the club
leaving a leadership vacumm that still hasnt been filled

I just love the way we have progressed under Dr Strangelove.

Go Blues.

Dr Strangelove is a bottler ... no doubt about that.

Who were they?