Got shafted good and proper when we moved from Princes Park. Would have made sure we where the most successful, both off and on the field for the next 100 years if we had stayed.
We lost our soul when we moved or where made to move, take it any which way you want.
The club will never be same again and this is why people are not feeling part of the club now.

Do Collingwood and hawthorn and Essendon* supporters (all of whom had to deal with the loss of their suburban home ground) feel equally as distanced from their clubs?

I doubt it.

Why? Because those clubs have made huge efforts to make their supporters feel a part of it. We've been lazy and a bit stupid in that regard.

I know we were coming from a long way back at the end of the Elliot era, but that was nearly 10 years ago now. no excuses for not having best-practice in any area: onfield or off field.

Vigorous co-sign

Should have been packing 27,000 into Princes park.
That is the club going forward hey Surrey?
Kids going to the toilets splashing over piss n shit to get in and out and waiting on the end of the line for 20 mins.
I can just see corporates clammering over themselves to get the super boxes in the Elliot or Pratt stands and of course lets not forget the Friday night block busters at PP..
Visionary stuff......

As John pointed out.. it hasnt hurt the other big clubs moving away from their own seventies standard shitholes.

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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.

And PS - Doc fully respect your decision, trust the training report contribution to TC is still on the table?

On being a part of it...
As someone who has lived overseas on and off, and not always being a bankers dream, my relationship with the club financially has had some elasticity.
Despite being a cheersquad member in the early 80's and a member now, I can't say I ever felt I was "part of the club" but I'm not sure I ever felt I should be. I mean this in the sense that the club is a corporate entity (probably at least since the 70's) that people work for (many I'm sure with great passion). I view my membership as buying me access to games and am happy that I have some choice as to what I can get for what I am willing to pay.
My love for watching Carlton players play good footy has always been (ridiculously) strong and I feel a part of it in the sense that I have always had that and can share it with anyone else who loves their Blues. In that sense I absolutely feel that "I am Carlton" even if I don't cough up much dough to the club. Geez, I even write TC reports on pre-season training!
Balancing that though is that footy, while really important in our society on many levels, is ultimately a bit banal: dedicating a young man to an almost monastic existence in pursuit of a silver cup...

Overseas July / August eh Doc.......''Start spreadin' the news'' ??

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The problem with Socialism is, you eventually run out of other people's money.

By buying a membership you are supporting your club and have a better chance to go to finals.
I have nearly really felt part of the club when it comes to having an influence on whose on the board.
McKay
Sticks
Ratts all part of the 95 flag have important positions at the club.

Are they the best people for their respective rolls
????????
A member on any level has had no influence on these decisions.
They makes me feel a little less part of it.
I am not a member this year primarly because I cant get to many games(too many night matches)
We have 14 night games. I know this means revenue in terms of the TV dollar but did the people at the club ever consider that having so many of them would inconvience some would be members.

What I am saying is because the landscape has changed members dont feel a part of it as much as they used to. They feel more isolated from the club. That is the way things have gone.
the crux of the problem

the club want you to be a member with the message that your a part of the team
yet buy their own actions it can be argued they dont give a flying @#$%&! what you think

I think a major problem with the arrangements we currently have in place is due to negotiating from a position of weakness (broke and hopeless) rather than strength at the time. We were on the nose as a footy club in the early 2000's when these things were put in place. If there is a criticism of the decison makers at the time shorter term deals should have been put in place until we got on our feet again.
It is impossible to keep every member happy and some put up with it and some don't. I have a young family so night games are very difficult for all of us to attend. I have continued my family membership on the basis that we will probably attend less than 50% of our games. I don't mind, we are getting those games because we are in demand, we are getting those games because we play footy people want to watch. My family would get to see more games if we were crap.

One word ... GEELONG ... visionary.

Firstly I'd like to say is I don't like the docklands and don't know why or how we got there.
Do I agree with that decision, no.
One thing I know is I have always been and always will be a Blues supporter.
I support the jumper and players.
Are we always great, no.
Will I abandone my team for a Collingwood, Hawthorn Essendon*, what do you think ?
Sometimes boards make stupid/selfish decisions.
Our time at the doclands will be limited and our negotiational powers are increasing.
We are getting back to what we were, on and off the field.
Support the club to get there.

Playing in front of 25,000 is visionary? lol
God help us!!!

And paid for by the STATE GOVT because theyre in another city.... with nothing else going on.....

you call that visionary???

why wouldnt you look at the Collingwood model.. or Hawthorn .. or Essendon* when it comes to how clubs perform away from footy INSIDE Melbourne.

When the Cats fall away... 25,000 is about right....

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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.

Synbad, we are always going to disagree on this issue.
I know that some would prefer to have 35K seated members @ PP rather than 45K standard members @ TD/MCG. Also don't forget ground endorsements, sponsers, catering, etc, etc.
Anyway, Geelong and Cookie have no vision. Some-one better go tell them shortly because they must be losing a bucket load ... lucky there stadium is not closer to the city - that's all I've got to say, else it would be embarrasing to us after how good we where in this area.

So you going to watch them play and sit in the Gardiner stand????
And some other guys at the HEatley stand...
super boxes in Elliot stand.

and training on oval 3 out the side there.... right???

Cookie has a vision... its about Geelong in Geelong... its another city..... you need to get through about 20 suburbs and miles of grass and highway.. as well as traffic cameras to get there...

Its not even in the same part of the book on your old Melways... theres a different section dedicated to it.
But yeah... i see your point...
Maybe you should ask Eddie to swap places Collingwood .. or Hawthorn or Essendon* to Kardinia...?????

Is that your glorious point????


You dont understand.. when Geelong have run their race.. 25 k will see them through...

In Geelong


Its called small fish and a small pond...

so what if they make a million dollars... theyre just a 25,000 spectator club

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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.

Forget the Heatley stand and Gardner stand - Why are you even harping on this point?
Replacing and upgrading the stadium, toilets included was the vision. Vision Synbad a word you like to use in your arguments. Then building lights, getting other teams to play interstate teams there as well and utilising the stadium for 22 rounds. Playing other sports, etc there - that's where your start to deliver the future.
But again I'm draw into an argument I don't want to have with you because you never understand the other side.
I know what your going to say next by the way, so I'll do you a favour and say this, we had a contract and the AFL screwed us over which allowed the residents and council to stop circling and dine out on our us.
Hopefully the day will come where CFC can do the same on a few people who deserve the same dining!!!!!

Well we all have our reasons for being or not being. I am a member (well I will be when I pay up) so the club can use my money how they see fit. If they use it on a consultant, put it towards player payments or mow the grass with it, it doesn't phase me because in a strategic sense, all those things are important.
I think Doc's point about buying a membership when we were stuffed is very valid. I convinced a lot of my supporter mates to buy their first memberships back in 2003 because it was obvious that we were going to survive or die on cashflow. The players were always going to come later and they have and we will soon be a constant presence in the finals. I think it is sad if the club is looking to isolate itself from individuals now we have bailed it out in that way but perhaps we see footy as too much of a tribal thing and not enough of a corporate thing in this era.
Maybe I have been in Mexico too long but it pales into insignificance against my dad's 30 straight years living outside Oz but still supporting the club. Maybe I want to be him. I could do worse.
Regardless of how we go about it or what we write here or in other places or whom we criticize or praise, we all have one thing in common and how we go about it is our own choice.
I'll keep donating my membership to the club because I can't do anything else. My stepmother buys me a calendar for Christmas every year so that goes towards it as well and if I'm lucky enough to go to a game or to get to the club shop and buy a tee shirt or a flag or whatever, that does too. I love to go to games but I cant and wont for the foreseeable future. But I feel the need, that tribal need referred to above here by others, to do more than just sit and watch a live stream of the game every week and scour the press and TC for interesting stuff. I'm sure people like Taff, the Dog and others of the foreign legion feel somewhat the same.

The off season is too long. We get bored. Bring on the footy.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten how much the other clubs and their supporters loved playing there. It was working really well.

I just find it ironic that on the PP issue Synbad is in the mainstream and ridiculing the minority viewpoint. Considering that in the 'stuff' threads he is constantly running the 'sheeple' argument against people who don't align to his queered 'civilisation is ending' worldview.

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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'm pretty sure North, Bulldogs & Saints would jump at the chance to play GWS and the GC at Visy, considering the losses they suffer at Etihad.

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Between our dreams and actions lies this world

I reckon you'd be wrong. Part of the reason the AFL forced Carlton out of PP was that there were a handful of clubs which pretty much boycotted PP, even though they knew that playing matches at Docklands would hurt them financially. I doubt whether they'd change their position, especially given the AFL's mandate to maintain a set number of clubs. Their administrations can't lose.

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.