Craig is Bruce's nephew. Don's son. Craig is 44 and is CEO of The Mathieson Group and non-executive of Funtastic. A few years back he sold his glass business (DMS Glass) to CSR for a fortune. He then got involved with Funtastic (toys) and while they've had some unsettling moments, they did manage to get rid of the dead wood from the board. Craig owns about 30% of the company. Lachlan Murdoch holds about 13%. Funtastic is valued by the market at $133million. They recently signed a three-year licence agreement to manufacture and distribute some Lego products across Australia, Europe, the US and Asia. Some of Funtastic's brands include Ben 10, Power Rangers, Razor Scooters and Leapfrog.

Their shares are 15c, but I wouldn't invest just yet. The company has return on total asset (ROA) of (3.53) % which means that it has lost $3.53 on every $1 spent on asset. This is way below average. Similarly, it shows return on equity (ROE) of (58.88) % meaning that it generated substantial loss on money invested by shareholders. Craig has a banking and commercial background gained while working with the Business Banking division of ANZ Bank and Property Finance division of St George Bank.

we are full of toxins.
we are feeling sick!
we have a bout of the runs. ..we need to chuck it all out from both ends and then we can begin to move forward in a more healthy manner.

sounds harsh but that's what we need to do!

its getting back to Moshe's fishtank with the dirty water analogy.

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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.

Excellent post Doc. Well considered and refreshing to see someone who is able to string a sentence together and knows that a conjunction is not an eye irritation.

Leadership is a critical component of the success of an organisation and to a large degree is what drives an organisation to progress or stagnate. Progress, significant improvement and accountability are difficult to achieve without being driven by an effective leader. Anyone who has been in a large organisation, or even small one run by an ineffective, even if well-intentioned leader, knows the impact they can have.

I would have to agree with Doc that our present setup does not seem conducive to Carlton achieving success in any capacity. People who want to isolate the club to purely on-field performace are ignoring a substanial part of the club that has effects on the on-field performance both in terms of the clubs capacity to enable the on-field component as well as with any run-on effects. They are free to ignore them, but it will not diminish the negative impact that sub-par performance at an administrative/back-end or leadership level will have.

Irrespective of what side of the fence you may come down on, having an throrough examination of the club to ensure it is performing at a high level in all areas should not be problem. Although uncomfortable to have at times (having been involved in such processes myself), they do result in improvements that enable an organisation to meet its outcomes, or be given every chance to. Be that financial success or playing in a Grand Final for the Premiership (and not being Collingwood - hopefully winning).

If you honestly believe that 'Best Practice' is being followed at our club, then I hope you are correct. I however am not so convinced that we have become as professional as required. As mentioned in a previous post, I think we are still a little to 1980's rather than 21st century. It pains me to not be able to believe that we are the best. We are Carlton - we should be. Unfortunately we are not.

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I would like to thank Collingwood for helping me keep faith in my old man. He always told me that 'People are thick'.

I think Sticks briefly mentioned there was an exit/succession plan in place for the Presidency during his interview with Mike Sheahan (Open Mike).
It will be interesting to see if this happens.

Saying to Jeanne Pratt 'Look - if you want it (the Presidency) I'm happy for you to take it'...isn't my idea of an exit strategy.

[youtube]ZklMG8rKKjI[/youtube]

So, to summarise, if we don't get the OFF field right, ultimately there will be no ON field. Yeah?

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

im a huge believer in that.... Doc doesnt really agree with me.

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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.

No. But surely if your off field operations are running well, there is a higher likelihood of success for your on field endeavors.
Just through increased expenditure for personnel, medical and rehabilitation facilities etc.

Why not strive to give ourselves every opportunity to succeeed or is there something wrong with that?

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

In football parlance, you need to put the right people in position to win. Same applies at board level. If you have levels of management that duplicate each other, that's your first clue that things are probably not as efficient as they should be. Presidents/Boards and CEO's need to think about strategy and vision and the people underneath them need to think about execution.

I question the club structure.

Sticks needs to leave.

The board needs re-calibration.

Swann needs to leave football dept matters to McKay and focus on developing innovative revenue streams.

Mckay needs to overhaul the fd.

Don't invest in Funtastic.
I know a thing or two about the industry - its a place for importer/exporter sharks to make killings off containers of cheaply made toys FOB.

It's not an industry for investors in publicly listed companies.

The membership survey did ask: what is your main reason for buying a membership.

Surprisingly none of the multiple choice options involved Sakcing Sticks, or 'Stand by your man'.

there were a few boxes for commenting in though.

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That’s not a political statement — it’s a harsh reality, and we must act,” she said. “He is a clear and present danger to the things that keep us strong and free. I support impeachment.”

This is good reading, makes people think about things.

We need to improve off field. Would be refreshing to get someone new and motivated in charge.

I question how effective Swann has been also, we got him because he was highly rated, I am yet to really see him make an impact.

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Between our dreams and actions lies this world

i have a few concerns regarding the club - apart from our recruiting (we fail in this dept!)

1. In order to grow you need to be innovative. We dont dare to do anything . Pies and bombers go out and get there own TV show on fox. What do we get - a twitter account. F'en amatuers. The league is professional, we should be in the VFA not even the VFL! We have become the 2nd version of the doggies - no key forwards and good to average mids.

2. I look at the clubs leadership and I compare it to the current day federal ALP party. - a shambles and not competent enough to build this club into the biggest sporting club in the country.

3. Other teams have grown and improved and we havent. we are so predictable. 2.5 years ago we said its ok just to get into the finals, last year we said its ok just to win 1 final. how about we shut the f up and go for a flag instead of placing crappy easy to attain goals.

4. Sticks we all love you as a carlton person. now please step aside and let someone else take the reigns. same goes for ratten. i feel like we have danced the dance way too many times. 5 years is ample time. wce did it in 2 years!

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Alexander the Great was born in Greece!

Better yet...why not ask the people who did not take up membership this year, but are on the database as having previously been members, why they didn't get a membership and what can be done to get them back.

Not difficult to set up either.

I thought they did do that didn't they?? I saw a video on the website that showed them getting Juddy, Murph and some of the other players to call up previous members and asking them why they hadnt re-signed as members and trying to convince them to re-sign.

Because we didn't recruit Fev. Do we really need to ask?

We should be doing that every year to some degree at least.
Asking is nice, but replying and then not being heard may just be worse.

they didnt get everyone , their database or management of it is screwed

membership needs a cleanout too

every year there is a mistake with something on my lot

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*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.