club29 wrote:
Let us know who wins the bet !
Personally i dont care about Collingwoods membership numbers or the money they make. The football world is made for Collingwood. Edge of town bogans with Swann and Beams style tatts love their Magpies with all their hearts. The hand over the money big time and they love their sponsors and make sure they eat as much Macca's as possible. For the Magpie marketing dept its like shooting fish in a barrel.
Id rather be what some have decided is average than like that filthy tribe.
Unfortunately for Carlton there are only so many intelligent sports lovers in Melbourne so their market is a bit smaller.
Go Blues !
No one is saying we should aspire to be Collingwood, Club. But that doesnt mean we cant learn some lessons from them.
Firstly, they work hard to engage their supporters. Do we work hard to engage our supporters? I dont believe we do.
We remove their voting rights. Did that disenfranchise some supporters? Possibly. Stiff shit, nothing changed.
The Spirit of Carlton debacle. Did that disenfranchise some supporters? Yes and rightly so.
Ratten telling security guards to throw supporters out of training sessions that aren't advertised as closed. Does that disenfranchise supporters? Absolutely.
Do we get on the phone and follow up lapsed supporters? No. too much like hard work.
So next time we want to bag Collingwood, perhaps we should pull our noses out of the air and realise they are not hoping for membership records or waiting for success to achieve it, they're making it happen.
I remember having this debate earlier in the year. Certain posters were telling me we'd hit 50k no worries. When I asked what we were doing to make it happen, I was told it would take care of itself. well, its played out as it should.
Those same posters were saying 'dont worry about the disenfranchised supporters, we'll get new ones to replace them"
Well hows this for a radical idea, lets try and engage new supporters AND retain all of our existing supporters. Perhaps we could ask our current members what is important to them and try delivering it.
Just like Collingwood have. But lets not copy them hey, they're bogans and fools. Top of the ladder bogans with record membership, excellent player development results and a recent premiership.