you're not alone Maverick, and the question remains - surely there are other ways of increasing revenue ?

We had a cancer-like socially destructible ex-President who put us into this mess, so probably no.

Collingwood were in a similar position when they finished last in 1999, if Carlton can have a sustained period at the top of the ladder then the debt will be eradicated very quickly.

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You heard it here first!

Ah yeah, but it at least I will be kept employed dealing with the fallout.

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A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty" -Winston Churchill

L.M 35-06

Isn't it funny how we view ourselves.

We cherish our arrogance as the hallmark of the once powerful almighty club we were and yet it is the very thing that is killing our club.

Posters complain that we are reliant on pokies to turn our fortunes around and that it is a cancer of our society and yet this arrogant attitude that we have is a cancer to our club.

Fact is that the top 4 revenue clubs have 2 things in common

1. They have been in a grand final recently or come from a long period of success.

2. They preserve and nurture their family credentials and are inclusive of their members. And nobody does it better than the Pies (must be said as painful as it is to write)


They club has been focussing on fixing the on field performance in belief that the off field support will follow, but again that is an arrogant presumptuous position to take.

Now is the time to nurture the support and be open, honest and inclusive of all it supporters whether they be members or not, but I am afraid that unless they have a major clean-out of the board things will not improve.

One only has to compare our slogan of "No Passengers" to "Side by Side", Hawks "United", bombers "Stand as One" to see which direction we are heading and it isn't up.

Enough of the rant, back on topic

I am not concerned with our debt at the moment as we have a great opportunity to fix our revenue streams that will solve the debt issue.

The Spew may take a pay cut to help us out

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Cheats never prosper (except in the AFL)

In 2007 Pratt held a fundraiser that knocked off a quarter of our debt in one night(8 mil reduced to 6 mil). How the @#$%&! are we back up to 7 mil?

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides

interest

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*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

plus No Pratt...

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"Truth, for the tyrants, is the most terrible and cruel of all bindings; it is like an incandescent iron falling across their chests. And it is even more agonizing than hot iron, for that only burns the flesh, while truth burns its way into the soul"     — Lauro Aguirre

yeah pratt did have a knack of keeping interest rates low

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*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

This debt reads as bad as the GWS scoreline. Almost.

Unfortunately the difference is we were actually in a similar position at that time also but some creative accounting and a Gaddafi like junta leading the club managed to keep it under wraps. The problem is that when our extended period of regular finals came to an end in 2001 we were a financial basket case, and then we were seriously in decline on the field which compounded the problem. The club has never quite understood supporters. We were the last to understand the need to maximise memberships and I suspect we have an ageing demographic supporting us. Collingwood have gone way ahead of us. By the time we realised how far we were behind the rest of the league we had no money and a terrible side. I am not sure Sticks has the smarts to lead us to the promised land. Is there a Frank Costa like figure somewhere who might like to step in? Also the pokie revenue is not guaranteed, is an ugly way to make money and given our last claim to be tying up lots of pubs lets wait and see what happens.

We need a really sharp functional committee with a strong and smart president, and we need to get some strength on the field and we need to have clever strategies for winning hearts and minds. There will be a 5 year old kid somewhere in Melbourne who will be a wiz at business and will build a zillion dollar empire. We want him choosing Carlton now, not Collingwood, and we want 1000s of others doing the same. It won't just happen, we need to make it happen.

Move along, nothing to see here. Every club has debt...

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Premierships: 1869, 1871, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1877, 1887, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1914, 1915, 1938, 1945, 1947, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1995.

"GIBBS."

There was a rumour on BF (yes, i know it is probably crap) a few days ago saying that we are in for some bad press very soon. Financial mis-management was mentioned. I am not sure if our debt was what they were referring to or there is more to come.
Anyone on here heard anything similar?

I wouldn't worry too much about it, we're always in bad press regardless of what the club does.

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Premierships: 1869, 1871, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1877, 1887, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1914, 1915, 1938, 1945, 1947, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1995.

"GIBBS."

As much as I have some small concerns, I have to agree with you on this one. Media can makes mountains as lasge as mole hills where we are concerned, just ad BF to the likes.

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Bring the season on already. The wait is killing me.

Apparently more money is being directed into the general football operations of the club rather than just straight out debt reduction.

Not sure our solvency is our business conncern. If it was we wouldn't be throwing more money in our football department and capital works. What is of great concern to me is our revenue base.Less than half of Collingwood's, $10 mill less than Essendon* and even the Hawk's taking out their Tassie deal derive greater revenue. We are on par with the Richmonds which scares me no ends given their lack of on field success over a more prolonged period.

I may be wrong but how can we as a club with the second highest attendances in the AFL last year, second highest rating games on free to air,a strong followership across the country and an up and coming team are incapable of attracting more sponsors. Can't continue to rely on the Mathieson's and Pratt family to continue to bail us out..

Whose job is it to attract the sponsors? The CEO? Board?

With so many board members you would think we were flush with connections to the business world. Are they set benchmarks for generating revenue opportuniities?

Is our brand still so damaged that the big end of town won't touch us with a ten foot pole.

We have set our coach benchmarks, do we need to do the same off field?


Conundrumm

The Dons base at Windy Hill has been a boost in revenue for them for a long time, and I believe they have a string of real estate investments built of the money generated over time (would be about 15 years if memory serves).

The Pies have a pretty diverse portfolio, but note that neither of these clubs generate significantly healthier profits than us, which tells you they drop a lot of money into maintaining all these fun extras. The Pies have something to show for that; the Dons don't.

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

The three key areas of revenue shortfall the report identified are:

Membership and reserved seating.

Sponsorship.

Non-football revenue.


This is where we've fallen behind Essendon*, Hawthorn, Geelong (and of course a LONG way behind collingwood).

Obviously the pokies deal is designed to address area 3. I'd guess that splitting out home games between the MCG and ShitStadium makes it hard for the club to package attractive premium membership/seating options... so it's no surprise we're falling behind there. The sooner we can somehow negotiate a shift to the MCG, the better. Hopefully work is being done on this at board and executive level.

As for sponsorship, take away the 'from the heart' Visy sponsorship and we're a bit thin there. More work is definitely needed.

But we're coming from a LONG, LONG way back. Elliot left us in such bad shape it's scary. What's clear though is we need less of the "We're Carlton **** the rest" attitude, and a lot more savvy and intelligence, if we're to catch up to Geelong and Essendon*, and even get remotely close to Collingwood who are absolutely creaming us in virtually every respect.

Love to hate them, but they are clearly the benchmark for Victorian clubs and should be respected as such.