At least i dont give a fupp about the showbags... though i understand why some people do....

Personally id settle for a second best scarf but the best most inovative club....

The other way around doesnt arouse me too much im afraid.....

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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.

yeah we have an apathetic genoma in our dna.....according to the board\\
it goes with my lazy eye

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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.

I see it more a matter of a mind-set that shouts, "Whatever we do at the CFC, we'll do it better than anyone else"

That goes for every aspect of the operation. You cannot be selective as you won't have everyone on the same page and yes, that goes for the scarf and beanie also.
The quality and design aspects should be of a standard that everyone is happy to wear. Make us walking billboards if you like and believe it or not, it doesn't have to cost the CFC any more to produce.

You set the right message at the top and show that you're serious and the flow on effect will filter through to the bottom end of the operation.
It takes a lot of work so the only question remaining is: Are we up to it?

So much focus on the clubs executive functions as being the key to reconnecting with the supporter base. First question was there ever a time when the club really connected with its supporter base in the manor that its currently attempting to do? The purpose of the question is not to mount a defense of the current admin, to the contrary. I suspect (without adequate data to back my assumption) that its the supporter base setting proximity, in accordance with the unspoken relational dynamic created by the club (previously & deliberately). I'm guessing a good portion of supporters (again no direct data to back up assumption) connect with the club because of the clubs elitist and outward declaration of rejection of the doctrine of empathy, yet now we expect the supporter base to connect on a somewhat different level? to be be empathetic rather than apathetic during sustained periods of non success? The relationship between club and supporter base is playing out logically. For so long theres been a detached, we know best persona at policy (presidential) level, a change in relational dynamic wont come from the efforts of the executive function alone. The most instantly recallable cultural influences in the mind of a typical current supporters head are, the Elliot reign, further reinforced by the short lived Pratt reign, both symbols of dominance, not needing of empathy, or contribution, isn't this the very same culture that a large portion of supporters were attracted to in the first place?
I accept that the executive function is working hard to connect with supporters in a way that it never has before but regardless of the efforts being made, the missing piece is a leader at policy (presidential) level that is capable of symbolizing and communicating that the clubs unique somewhat elitist culture doesn't contradict the level of shared engagement, commitment and empathy that club is now attempting to create , i reckon when that happens the club will turn things around quickly at every level.

I have seen us decrease membership after premiership years (pretty sure the fell in 1988 and were stagnant in 1996) - I have seen our membership grow after a wooden spoon in 2003.

All I know is if our board is counting on a improved onfield result to grow our membership numbers we are in real trouble.

The board needs to address issues of supporters connectedness with the club and they need to do it quickly, I am prepared to give the new members of the board some time but they need to seize this opportunity and they need to do it quickly.

Happy New Year Everyone

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Happy New Year Agro
But you are reading this wrong the club needs several years of winning more than it is losing to grow its membership
No one thinks a flag will solve the issue but from 2002 to recent we have been shit and no one wants to follow shit

Win more often than you lose and your membership will grow

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

Too many of our kids are going for Brisbane, Hawthorn and Geelong because they copped shit at primary school for going for Carlton.
The fathers and grandfathers went for Carlton because they used to cop shit for going for St Kilda and Melbourne and so it goes.

That's the way of things, despite our best efforts and there is no fun in being a member if your kid isn't interested in going along.

Plus Hawthorn has a great marketing machine AND they have been the most successful team of the modern era.

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

So is this thread about what a visionary you are or about a dysfunctional board

More often than not it's you and Synbad complaining. But it's 2013. You've got to know what you're complaining about to get anywhere. So far we have...

1. Mathieson and Pratt family over-reliance.

It doesn't sit entirely well with me either. That's no secret. But you know what? It's part of the business model. There comes a time and a place where you have to build a bridge and get over it. It's out of your control. On the one hand, we should be thankful that Bruce Mathieson didn't walk away from the place altogether. Without him, we're in a far worse position.

As for the Pratt's - I've agreed with you for a while. It's not necessary to have two of them on the board. I'm not sure what Jeannie brings to the table. Ruffy going behind everyone's back to 'put himself out there' wouldn't have endeared him to many...But the number will go to 9 soon enough. The addition of Trainor, Sayers and Fahour is really very good. I mean really good.

2. Kernahan as President.

I think I had all I had to say on this in the Sticks - The Grand Illusion thread ...viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31763#p1277049

....but he'll be gone at years' end. So certainly less room for complaints now. Or is it complaining for the sake of complaining? There are changes afoot...they're in the works. You can wait to see it or you can embrace it and see it for yourself. It requires a tiny bit of work on your behalf though.

Other than we the members storming the Bastille I don't think we have an awful lot of choice other than to wait and see what these new Board Members are going to bring to the table, but I am prepared to give them a go, but I don't think the club has too many chances left.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Undoubtedly. So the big fish they must deliver is to get Carlton to the MCG for season 2015. No matter if the money is better from the AFL (read Etihad Stadium) or the promise from a gold-toothed CEO promising to turn Etihad into an 80,000 venue by 2021. But that also requires Carlton people getting behind the club. This year.

Otherwise, we storm the Bastille*

*On the proviso we skip the few years Reign of Terror that follows the storming of the Bastille and just go straight to the part where Napoleon Bonaparte sweeps into power.

Yep ! good to see someone get it...............like you "Big S",trinkets dont interest me one little bit even if they were gold plaited.Dont often comment on commitee stuff but surely we have more to worry about than stuff you could get in a showbag.

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All my dangerous friends

The AFL won't have the guts to sit on Etihad Stadium and redevelop/enlarge it when the ownership of the property reverts to it in 2025 - they wont be able to sell it of quick enough.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

So tell us about the thirty pieces of silver that has you doing somesaults

... thats all im interested in knowing from u....

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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.

nah i just k now were average.... and were average at everything.... and there is nothing not avarage about us except wat happe ned 2 decades ago..... and the fact we have won 3 wooden spoons in a decade.. thats not average..... but apart from an average president.. an average board... average connection with membeers... average sponsorships.. were avarage.. except we have a couple of non avarage benefactors.. that give us enough to make it to the upper layer of the average.....

we have an a verage blueprint.. its to "win 20 by 2020"... with no substance as to how...on the "back of 3 in 5" from 2 years ago.. from our substandard president...

and we have sub avarage supporters cos according to the board .. its an apathetic lot of supporters .....

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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.

I dont complain for the sake of complaining.
AndI dont appreciate the sarcasm in the last sentence
The over reliance on these two families is wrong and I wont be totally satisfied until it stops.

I can see why you have been a consultant

Any Doc went to the Burrumbeet Races and it was an awesome day
Must have been all those changes you suggested

How do you suggest it stops?

Do we ask those families to walk away from CFC and take their cheque book with them?
Do we say.........Thanks but we don't want your monetary assistance any more?
Do we say.........Thanks but we don't want the other wealthy supporters and networking that you bring to the Club.

Okay it is not an ideal situation to be in at the moment.....................but perhaps those two families actually love and enjoy giving what they do to the club because they love the club as much as many supporters do. If that is the case, who is anyone to tell them to stop doing what they love. No-one is holding those two families to ransom, making them support the Club.

If 3 other wealthy supporters stepped out of the woods and said to Sticks........'Hi, here's a $1,000,000, do with it what you like'. Would you say thanks but no thanks?

Regards Cazzesman

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Ricky Gervais - “Everyone has the right to hold whatever beliefs they want. And everyone else has the right to find those beliefs f***ing ridiculous.”

I'm not sure what you're alluding to Synbad.

But you're right - we have been average...everyone acknowledges that. That's why you fire a coach and a Communications Manager. Yes it happened 5 years too late - but every now and then you have to move on....start a clean slate and support what they are trying to do. If you're unhappy - then come up with reasons as to why you're unhappy and communicate them to the appropriate employees at the club. It's a two way street and for the first time in a long time - the door is open, the email address is provided, the phone is but metres away. Collect your thoughts, gather your composure and deliver your unsatisfaction.....

....but it has to be more than on this forum or over a few reds and a meal. This forum is a great place to vent...and staff and board members alike do read it - but it's not designed as a correspondence tool. Never will be.

Doc... ill just wait n see... just cos we fire people doesnt mean we know how to fix things... just means we fired people after we hired people...
Proof is in the pudding...

Whne i see this club has a handle on things ... ill accept it.. but there is no way from whats been going on that anyone can actually say this club has a handle on things.

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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.

Cazz

Our strength in the 80s is now our achilles heel. Times change and we havent gone with that change fully.

its looking at the long term picture not the short term easy fix.

Look its great that Bruce and Jeanie put their hands in their pockets to help the club out

But we rely too much on it.

The club need to find new ways to make revenue. To look at the game long term. There is a huge opportunity to grow the game overseas. Asia is close with a huge population base and 3 hours behind us in world time.

That is where the game will develop the most in the next 30 years. The board needs to look at this. To my knowledge the board havent seriously looked at it at all.

And having family members on the board is an obvious no no.