if that cigar box is $40 and worth $10 on ebay its bloody good value to me compared to a membership

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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.

Well to be fair to them, it was an absolutely stunning cigar box.

right!i wanna suddenly help them.. where can i get this thing....???

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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.

Reading all of this I need to say I feel the same. I am 52 years old and Carlton has been a major part of my life for as long as I can remember. When I've felt down it's been my Carlton connection (life-force) that has gotten me up. I'm afraid that that doesn't exist anymore. In fact it is my Carlton blood that gets me down now.
I've been becoming more and more numb and it was no more apparent than during and after our recent game against Port Adelaide. I turned the radio on and we were just up but fading....here we go…..I turned it on again and we were leaking goals....I thought that’s what I expected. I turned it on again and things were worse...that's also what I expected. For the first time in my life I wasn't angry...my wife asked me why. She was used to me going nuts when we lose, and I mean nuts! I explained that my club was a shadow of its former self and there was no joy in it for me any longer. Our list is crap and there is little light at the end of the tunnel. The club has been going "off" for many years and I should have had the right to expect pleasure and excitement by now, a decade or more after our penalties. I now have zero expectation any more so what’s to get angry about.
The day before the game I had discussed our current list and how I felt that they were extremely soft and did not play for the jumper and lacked skill and urgency. I said that none of the players on our list deserve the money they are on. Not one Carlton player is in the top 50 AFL ranked best players yet they demand huge coin. Chris Judd has never really been convincing for me (despite the photo's on my study wall), Mark Murphy is not an AFL captain and Bryce Gibbs after earning big coin looks like exiting through the front door. Many of the other players appear to be just going through the motions. I said I couldn't blame anyone for taking an interest in the Gold Coast or another young team. (We have supported Geelong through their final campaigns and admire them as a team and a club. They always fight and fight....they are the anti-Carlton.)
I am at a loss and I feel lost. It has been coming and coming and it is here. I don’t expect my team to win anymore. We are now at one with the clubs that we have all made fun of over the years. I apologize to the supporters of those clubs as I now know it feels like crap!
I now read the Carlton boards with fading hope and expectation...looking for some positive news which doesn't look capable of coming.
On a single positive note thank Christ for Kade Simpson....our true captain! If only we could clone him! I think the AFL might find that as dishonest as peptides though….or are they legal…I still don’t understand that!
As a famous man once said….” And that’s all I’ve got to say about that”. (In a southern accent).

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"The Ox is Slow but the Earth is Patient" and don't forget it!

It'll be full on Thurs, nite I reckon.
If we lose, might be a rapid decline from there.

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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.”

Wonderful post Moaty. I agree re Kade, but not sure it would matter right now.
This forum is my strongest connection to the club.

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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.”

It's quite evident that the club is losing the supporter base at a rate of knots... do they even care?

With a little hope and good leadership, we could have 60-70k members within 2-3 years... we're still a big club. But most supporters just don't trust the club and don't get sucked in (unlike me) by short term fixes ie Judd, Malthouse etc. I've been a member for two decades and I have, like others sat through the demoralizing spoon years because we were promised a re-birth and a bright future. I'm not angry that we stuffed that rebuild up more so that we have no clear direction as to the next rebuild. I no longer hurt after a Carlton loss and have learned that leaving before the final siren has it's benefits.

I fear where this club will be in 10 years time... In this digital age, no longer can we hide and in a way, force our kids to stay true blue during the bleak times, like the tigers managed to do. Where will our new fans come from if we can't appeal to them in some way? Would we be able to re-attract the older disenfranchised, desensitized fans that no longer attend? I know life priorities change but most of the people I used to go to games with 10 years ago are quite happy to spend their membership money on foxtel.

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“I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” ― Richard Feynman

People pay large amounts of money to be members and are powerless to address the poor decisions and wasted millions over the last decade.
No wonder there's frustration.

my thinking is this... its their club .. they dont wanna include us... they can fund it.. ill go and watch the odd game with the mcc members..when i dont... ill blow my cash buying some cigars and rum and watch it on telly... am i a bad supporter? or are they bad skippers of the club?
yes... i know what theyre thinking... theyre better off without me and my sort ... theyre gunna go replace me with others...they dont need me or supporters like me.
my answer to that is...... where are they all???...

what they havent thought about is... lets keep synbad and the other idiots ... and lets find new ones too.
now here is a hint to you blokes....
its not about losing one and gaining one... thats just remaining the same...
its about keeping them all and adding to them... thats what you call growing the thing..
surrey are u listening to this???... its growing something.. its not keeping it the same or getting 33,000 through the doors so u can make a few extra thousand as u lose more and more people...
its about how can you turn 45,000 plus 5,000 paper Visy mache members into first a fair dinkum 50,000... then 60,000 then 70,000 then 80,000 an then smash through 100,000
now i know if we have 100,000 members.. it will get a bit tight at visy stadium surrey...but we can get those japanese train station blokes to help push everyone in a bit tighter... you with me on this?
can you see what growing the club means??... follow?

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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.

This is the most depressing thread ever, and I feel exactly the same as everyone else.

Sunday night, I got angry in the second quarter, then simply accepted the inevitable. My passion for this great club and football in general is waning by the year.

In football it's all about having the right people in the right places. I don't believe we have one key position within the club filled with what I would consider the right person for the job. As previously stated, the fish rots at the head. This is sticks' last year at the helm, and whilst I acknowledge he has tried his hardest, he was never the right man for the job. He just happened to be there at the time when there was no-one else. With him moving on, now is the time to put in someone who can bring the club up to scratch. Unfortunately, I am convinced that it will just be more of the same. The right person in the president's chair can start to get the right people in the right places and eventually on-field will start taking care of itself. We are at the same point Collingwood was circa 1998. It took McGuire 12 years to realise the ultimate success, but preceding it was years of getting the off field right. He has held on too long now and his ego has gotten in the way of what he was trying to achieve, but his work prior to the premiership cannot be denied. Right people in the key positions of a club = success.

That is what is required at the Carlton Football Club. WHat we will get will be another boys club appointment.

And just on people talking of the club being a hard sell to kids. My eldest son who is 7 is Carlton through and through. I got him into it from very young through the OK years of 2008 - 2011. He loved Juddy to the point where I rang the home phone pretending to be Juddy to get him to eat his vegetables (but that's a whole different story). I think I've got him for good, but he seems far less interested in the Blues than he was a couple of years ago. I can see his interest in the Blues slowly fading, almost mirroring my own interest.

My youngest who has just turned 5 on the other hand is a much more independent thinker, and try as I might, he is lost to the Bulldogs. His rationale for supporting the Bulldog is "because they're Hot Dogs". Hard to argue with that, but I thought I'd take him to the Bulldogs game last year. My planning was that we'd belt the dogs and then I'd be able to convince him to get on Carlton. Of course we put up one of our all too familiar insipid performances and we were on the end of a belting. His favourite player is Griffin. He loves the Bulldog mascot. Quite simple, I've lost him. He aint coming back.

I will always love this club. It has been a part of who I am for my whole life. Everyone who knows me, associates me with Carlton. And that has put a target on my back for many years. The problem is I no longer respond to the barbs, or try to defend the club. I simply can't bothered any more. The malaise that is affecting all and sundry in this thread has got me too. The club needs someone to inspire the supporter base out of it. Sticks is going. Please find this inspirational leader who can resuscitate this once great club.

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Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

Not much mention of the players.
Lots said about the admin, coaches, president.

Didn't see Sticks and co on the field against port, giving up two leads of three or four goals, to finally go down by a shirt load at the end.
The admin and coaches got a team out on the field capable of building a good lead twice in the game, but it was a team without the heart or apparent desire to go on with it.
I have no faith in the high draft picks so lauded by the faithful on this site. Robbo might be frustrating at times, but he at least has a go, in spite of his limitations. When will we see some of the "big names" give a corresponding effort when the crunch is on?

Well that's my rant for the year. Don't think it made me feel any better either. Pretty deflating all round at this stage.

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It's the jumper

I think this has all been reasonably foreseeable since 2012 / early 2013.

Our overconfidence in the list in 2010/2011 saw us relaxed at the trade table; we didn't seek out new talent and didn't clear out cloggers earlier enough. Instead we only allowed minimal trades, and sometimes kept only 3 picks. Relying on Rookies!!!! Low probability strategy.

So this is the mediocrity that came from poor list management at that time.

And then going into 2014 we seem relaxed again - the spruiking of Thomas as some form of marketing upside is just a bit odd to me.

Its a long hard road back from this.

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Formerly: Ackland the Wonderkid / Army the Wonderkid / quivering mess / molsey / Tony Lynn Fan Club

How do you think he would've gone though if you hadn't done the work to get him into Carlton? If he were a kid whose parents didn't follow football, and he had a blank slate, do you think Carlton would be an attractive choice for him?

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WADA medical director Dr Alan Vernec describes Essendon* FC drug case as biggest scandal in team sport the world of sport has seen. #WC2WB

#GUILTY

you mean u wanna see what would happen if he called and pretended its Lucas or Watson on the phone.. calling to make sure you eat your veggies kid!!!

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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.

Spot on.
My contribution to the club is less than 1% of what it was 10 years ago. What would you do if you had a client who utilised your services at less than 1% of what it was previously? I'd be on the phone and making enquiries. Are we not satisfying your requirement? What can we do to readdress the situation.
But as we've previously discussed, our club is too arrogant to do that.
They think someone else will step up. The well run clubs want the new members/sponsors as well as servicing the existing.

Arrogant morons. And lets not kid ourselves. We've treated our supporters this way for an eternity, as have most of the other clubs.
The difference is the other clubs have woken up.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

I have a similar story Blue Vain before the Pratts came in I provided valuable services to the club for a number of years on a pro bono basis because frankly (no pun intended) the club was on its knees financially and I was afraid the club would fold.
I got involved purely of my own bat by approaching Collo and he Smorgon and Malouf were very thankful for the help
Since the Pratt takeover haven't heard from Club -dumb because I would have continued to do it for nothing and secondly in my view were deficient in the area I was providing services
I didn't want accolades but couldn't believe when I was providing them with services for nothing they didn't contact me
People have asked me over the years why I don't go to training anymore and provide training reports like I used to a number of years ago well this and the reasons articulated in my first posts are the reasons why

Same here Frank D, I would go to the club a few times a week, watch training, catch up with some of the die hard supporters. I loved the club, offered my services during the Smorgon days. I've lost faith, people that know me knew how passion I was for the club. I'd take loss to heart but still front up the next day. Have been a member of the Bullants as well since the alignment. From a $900 membership I have downgraded to $600 and at this rate I can see the basic membership for next year. For me it's simple, the hope has slowly disappeared. I haven't worried about things like the quality of our membership caps, away jumpers or the actual color of our navy blue. All I have wanted is hope, young players with talent and a desire to make a difference. I'm no expert however some of the recruitment decisions has caused me to lose hope. I actually enjoy watching some of the developing teams and the quality of their youngsters eg Port, Dogs

I love the club but just not as passion as I used to be. In fact the other day I was introduced to a few people and we started to talk about the footy, normally I would go on about my love for footy and the CFC, this time I just mentioned that I follow Carlton but I'm really not in to footy.

I had more hope in the dark days, after all we are Carlton and we will automatically return to the top, maybe I had the same view as our leaders. From the leaders in the VFL to a very average club in the AFL.

Sometimes when you're down, you're not out.

[youtube]eMQJJsD1z_g[/youtube]

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THEY LIKE TO SEND UP!!!!!!!!

Until each team plays each other the same number of times, the AFL, as a fair dinkum competition, cannot be taken seriously.

He (Mr Swann) said the honour and pride associated with the club's traditional navy blue jumper was priceless.

In the end the frustration for many is that after black Friday we made a bad job of rebuilding the team - crucially drafting wise and trading wise. Not at least getting to a prelim by last year but instead a downward trend for 2 years has probably been too much for many. I do however think ppl are overreacting. We have drafted better the last 2 years - and we need to continue that. We still have a reasonable team which with luck on the injury side can play finals. We must however recognize that the premiership window is most likely shut and manage the list accordingly. The slitting the wrist / nuke the club and start from scratch stuff is just so over the top.

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TC suffers from the social media illness - the death of respect and constructive discourse by keyboard.

how do u know we have drafted better the last 2 years.... only one guy played and he was sub.
of the last 3 years two blokes played and one is much maligned... and his co draftees have been axed

you wont be able to tell how the last 2 years drafting went for another 2 years...by that time it might be 5 years of poor drafting.

dunno how you think we have addressed stuff.. and how were overreacting...
its not one game... everybody has seen all those traits countless times before... its a continuation.. it can be put into some kind of context.
youre isolating it... it being a pattern .. a method.. ... which is ridiculous

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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.