Synbad how can you have a go at a board that inherited such a mess, such debt, such poor management and a tarnished brand.....

This club could have easily folded luckily they came in in a time of need cause few more yaers under Jack there would be no Carlton.

Our financial position is slowly changing and they have said all along there working to a 5 year plan to get this club operating to a neutral cashflow position and for me for now thats all i want this club to be debt free and finacially stable.

To make money you need to spend money and we have not got any.

Yeah we could turn to the Pratts, Smorgans and Grollos and they could hand us a get of jail for free card but that just causes more problems cause no one hands over cash for no piee of the pie.

Joe Gutnick came in, they used up his 3 million and bang he was out the door why, cause he wanted things his way i injected 3 mill so im entitled to this. We dont need that

No other club out there has a brand thats been tarnished, we cheated, we did the crime we pay the time...... Collo and the board said punishment for the crime is 5 years, we 3 years into that now

Look noone is denying the job this board had/ has...

The problem is they belong in another era...

They have no clue how to communicate.. to members.. media or corporates...

They have run their race .....

theyre the first leg of the 4x 400 meter relay.

Theyre not capable of going any further.

They have no clue how to conduct a room.
They can give no answers...

Just a stock standard "Trust us!!!"

They dont have faith in the members...

And why wernt you there????

Arent you interested Bull istic??

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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.

BB - up to the AGM I tended to agree with you. But if you had attended (I assume you were not present) - you also might have changed your mind.

There is no doubt the Board inherited an absolute disaster. There is also no doubt the current Board did a great job saving the club from folding.

However, the AGM made it clear to me that the current Board has deficiencies that holds the club back from moving forward. They are now so caught up in cost cutting that they do not understand that you have to also invest in growth to survive.

I was also left very unimpressed by a couple of board members present - seems it is a very small group around Collo (or maybe just Collo) who are capable to run the show.

It is very clear that their ability to communicate with and listening to members is very limited.

The way the meeting was conducted was appalling.

The way Board members just revert to the financial problems inherited when you try to communicate some ideas of how to repair the brand is depressing.

It is clear that any club's AGM after a wooden spoon would be "interesting" but what stuck in my mind and in a way turned me towards Synbads position of that more new blood is needed - now - is the whole "vibe". Everything was so old fashioned. This could have been an AGM from the famous footy movie in the 70's (about the Pies). The whole thing left me with the feeling that real renewal will not come any time soon. It is also indicative when you can see that most of the 200+ members attending are probably less optimistic about the future after the meeting.

The Board can not sell a message and the Board can not put a coherent and clear message together. As somebody remarked - we heard nothing at the AGM which we couldn't have read in the press. The only plan we heard about is a financial plan that brings our cost down to one of the lowest of the AFL - and an indication that this will only change when we start winning on the field. A completely wrong attitude, I think the whole comms and marketing department is 2 people now. How do you create growth from that?

I really fear the Board now has a North Melbourne attitude and the way the brand is loosing value - especially with the kids - we quickly can be down there.
The way the club has neglected members - especially the high end who pays the big money - i.e. Gold Social, Carltonians, Coterie - has led to loss of many of those members (got this confirmed yesterday). This is deadly - it's not just about the number of members - it is also about how much these members pay.

So all in all I am very concerned. The future looks bleak and even improvements on the field (which probably are some time off) will not change this. The club is in a very difficult situation and needs some very smart and innovative people to take us forward - or we will be permanently down in the poor house class with North & Co. and never back in the power house league where we belong.

Synbad,

I don't understand when you became so short term? You have always been looked upon by myself as a visionary, because you've been well aware of the hard slog that's required. Numerous occasions you've said that there are no quick fixes, that we need a steady ship, that we need to rebuild, and that we need to be in for the long haul.
Yet somewhere over this off-season you've thrown in the towell. Now it is all about the quick fix. You want to get rid of Pagan (yet, last eyar you praised his stability), you want to get rid of the board (yet they are making the fiscal steps necessary for recovery - as you've previously said yourself), you want to recruit short-term stop-gap fixes such as Power *when previously it has been about the club).
Look, I was with you that this was a long-haul. It is a ten-year program to rebuild, not something you can do over three seasons. yet somewhere you've jumped off the ship and looked at short-term solutions to long-term problems. You want everything fixed yesterday. I don't think I can jump in your corner on your intellectual pursuits anymore unless you explain why. Why have you decided to abandon the long term at the behest of short term policy and decision-making? I'm curious.

this board have been totally honest...... the previous bored lied to us, made a mockery of us and now we have a board that has painted the picture quite clearly for all us and have said from the begining its going to take us 5 years.

What more do you want, how can any of you question Collo's leadership this guy had open heart surgery last year, is the Boss of another business, 63 years old 6 weeks later he is back at the club.

We have Dan Murphys, Optus, K&S frieghters, suburu, Nike as sponsor i think that is god dam well for a club that has cheated everyone in the AFL and for a club that has finished bottom for 3 years.

all you guys are just frustrated if we were winning games no of you would even be talking about this matter

we voted them in, they said its going to take 5 years..... so lets give them 5 years

we need stabilty and not having a new board every 2 years, that were things go wrong

I 100% support this board, there are some wise heads involved, but you have to remember we not going to be like a Collingwood or Essendon* for another 10 years we are 7 million behind them and the rest.

Wow BB out of the blocks with coherent posting.

I agree with everyone. The board is at the crossroads. Your move fellas.

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

bb while I understand what you are saying, I truly believe that if we were winning games then we would have a successful, unified board so none of the discussion that took place at the AGM would need to be talked about. A successful board = successful club. Of course there is another matter of a young team gaining more & more experience I am aware of that, however this club will not be successful until the board gets it's act together.

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Witty signature required.

Synbad you sound like a broken record.......


why wasnt i there? staters I had meetings with clients, and i have no issue with this board and like the reports indicate it was a waste of time cause there are some happless supporters who ask dumb questions.

they have said what they need to say and im happy with, you wana go on bitching ranting and raving so let me ask you the MIGHTY synbad did you ask any questions????????

i would have just got angry at some who think they know so much about running a club.... They have said it all along 5 year plan, no short term fix. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FOOOOOOL!

are you serious????????? what have they done wrong, is being honest and telling us how it wrong. Painting a bleak picture and making members realise how fickle the situation is. Would that have got us record membership last year NO

Jack Elliot lied threw his arse and look were it got us...... This board have taken on probably the hardest scenario they have been involved in and its not easy we are a tarnished brand....... for a brand that has been damaged we are doing well. We made a 200K profit last year most teams make that that are in the eight and we won only 5 games

So Synbad did you ask the tough questions and bring up the points you make on here??????????

did you?

you there Synbad?

Molly, I understand what yure saying...im still long term... that doesnt mean some things dont have to happen for the long term to materialise in a positive fashion.
Planning starts today for tomorrow not tomorrow for tomorrow.

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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.

did you?

Bullistic...all the points i make were asked.
I even asked a question and made a statement.
It wasnt answered in a satisfactory manner.

Basically what i said is that they have no faith in the members as they wanted to pass a resolution so 25 people can pass resolutions in case you cant find 200 members.

Thats cos we have bricks like you walking around .. and i sprang to your defence.. and said were not that disinterested in our club or dumb...

Now were you there ????

Or did you leave me to defend your intelligence and credibility as a Carlton supporter all on my own.. the saame way as lucablue thinks its up to me to make TC interesting.. and strangers to chew the fat off.. because he is not capable of being interesting himself
Maybe the club is right???

Maybe there are alot of people out there who dont take ownership!!!

Well.. you cant think im one of those now can you BULL istic???

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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.

what did you ask and what was your statement?

BULL- they cant communicate to their members for starters...
They have no sales technique..

So how do you run a club if you can sell a concept???

Answer is .. "YOU CANT!!!" ..

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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.

As far as I remember Synbad did ask a question. CK did too. I had planned to do it but refrained when I discovered that Collo answered all the flower questions about Pokies but none of the the good ones. All questions about brand rebuilding, marketing etc. were just ignored with a "thank you". I knwo a few people gave up asking - it was pointless.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA sales technique.......... Its not sale of the century you foooool!

they just as innovative as you with BULL istic, thats a cracker Synbad you should join the board along with your sales technique, marketing skills and negative attitude i think you belong in the wrong era.

BB - you had to be there to understand why even the ones who until now fully supported the Boards are changing their mind.

It is one thing to stop the bleeding - it is another to rebuild. And thetotal inability to communicate a message other then cost cutting was utterly depressing. Also, some of the tactics used during the meeting to get resolutions through and to silence critics reminded me too much of the JE years.

Example - there were a range of special resolutions. most make common sense. One was problematic as it cut the number of mebers necessary at the AGM from 200 to 25. It was heavily critisized. What does the Board do? It combined all resolutions into one. And when there still was a majority against it in the room they pulled 400 proxies out of the pocket...

Did that resolution get passed?