Mate, said it straight to his face the night of Walkers debut. My mates and i were walking from the social club to the great northern after the game and he walks out with his folks trying to gee us on.

We all told him exactly what we thought of him.

He's a fool, and i agree that this is Dick's first mistake since becoming ElPresidente. I hope he doesn't make anymore

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"I will rejoice in their anguish, delight in their failure and revel in our success"

We are Carlton, @#$%&! the rest !!!!!!

Yes Mordan finally someone has interpreted this scenario in its actuality.

I agree with your take on the scenario and understand that its a concern for some. I have never disputed that element of the argument.

I just found it grossly unfair that a sweeping statement such as the one that was made be allowed to go unchallenged.

Lets face it we all know JE will never again hold an official management position within the club and I have been satisfied from the time of the initial announcement that RP and the rest of the Board had a handle on the situation. It was made very clear that he is not an official of the club.

Jacks public credibility on serious issues has wained to the point that he is not taken all that seriously these days anyhow and as a result I am no longer concerned that his views can hurt the club.

Yet despite his lack of credibility in a management sense, his passion for the CFC which can often be described as blind & wreckless cannot be denied and honestly believe it is recognized and admired in childlike sort of way by many in the rest of football world.

Jack wont hurt the club because despite the mistakes he has made in the past its one the few things that he values and truly loves at this point in his life that he has left.

We all make mistakes and I applaud the club for making this move and inviting him back because its shows we are less absorbed with politics and vengeance and more concerned with being a club for all supporters.

Oh please, you're in your own little world aren't you.

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"I will rejoice in their anguish, delight in their failure and revel in our success"

We are Carlton, @#$%&! the rest !!!!!!

Is there any official in the history of the club past or present that your happy with?

Mate no one is perfect.

Mark, you may be right in saying that you think this has been blown out of all proportion but believe you me within this board and others plus carlton supporters who never frequent here their would be a fair majority that despise the actions this man did to the club.

May i also remind you that the highest membership we ever had in Elliotts years was around 27,000. The year after the fightback campaign we reached our highest ever membership of about 33,500, this being on the back of ordinary performances and a wizard cup win.

You're right in saying that we need to move on but don't for one second don't think that bringing back Jack will help to bring everyone back to the club. We as a group of members might not be corporate high flyers or have enough money to be part of coterie groups but i believe we're as one no matter how much money we have.

If you can keep JE in the background and his gob shut from talking to anyone even remotely involved in the media it will definitely help but i will say that i wish you and the board a rather large slice of luck because he just can't help himself.

If you and the rest of the board could somehow get an apology for his actions out of him then i'm sure all would be forgiven quite quickly but i guess there'd be a much better chance of winning Tattslotto.

It's kinda like the good old times having jack officialy back.

I'm sure that Sticks and Pratt will keep him in check, and make sure he brings funds into the club.

Remember we need all the contributions we canget!

Keep it shut Jack, if you really love the club it shouldn't be so hard......

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Circumstance has no value. It is how one relates to a situation that has value. All true meaning resides in the personal relationship to a phenomenon, what it means to you.

Selling the yanks one of our 'not so palatable' beers would have been that difficult - since all their beers are shit...

As far as Jack is concerned, I don't care much for him - and as we are still in the mire that was caused by the board during his presidency I have not forgiven him... but it has to be said that the man bleeds navy blue *and he did help bring us a few flags * - so I'm happy having him help around the club... as long as he stays away from the financials and player contracts...

There is an old saying

"Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer'

It is no secret that I have no love for John and even less in time for his antics, but by bringing him in to the club to run a coterie group, he will less able to shoot his mouth off to the media and he will be were an eye can be kept on him.

That said someone should be standing by with a big roll of gaffer tape to wrap around his mouth if the temptation to gob off overwealms him.

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A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty" -Winston Churchill

L.M 35-06

You can't blame Elliot for membership figures. What was our membership in 2006?

If you also check the % improvement of club membership across all clubs, I would predict that Carlton is ranked near the bottom since Elliot was voted out.

So what does that tell you? Carlton One have done nothing to increase our membership base and have simply been about scare tactics hence the 2 years we had 32k + membership figures. Blame Elliot all you want, Carlton 1 have done nothing in terms of promoting our club, only made it the laughing stock it is.

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Mjonc signing off at 8888

2000: 27,571
2001: 27,725
2002: 26,503
2003: 33,252
2004: 32,445
2005: 33,534
2006: 28,756


Actually it was 3 years above 32,000 and that is at a time when the club was stretched for resources more than just about any other (thanks to the previsou regime) and 3 spoons were 'won' in 5 years.

Bag Carlton One if you want (and they do deserve some criticism) but please be reasonable about it and use some common sense and facts.

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Scare tactics no longer worked, what happened? Approx 5k drop in members. No vision, no hope, no members.

We will watch and see this year how much money Elliot brings into the club and judge him then. I can guarantee it will be more than Smorgon and his board have over the past term in office.

Money talks, bullshit walks.

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Mjonc signing off at 8888

Agree that the scare tactics were used for about 2 years too long, and they should be criticised for that.

But to highlight a drop in one years membership is a bit simple IMO. Maybe 2003-2005 were a bit high and 2006 a bit low?

Look at Elliot's years and you can do the same thing if you want to nitpick.

memberships
1986: 15,279
1987: 11,118

Far bigger drop in memberships in percentage terms than 2005-2006 and on the back of a Grand Final appearance no less. Elliot treated the ordinary members with contempt, instead concentrating on the big end of town. In the last decade or so Essendon* and Collingwood have done everything they could to build up their membership of ordinary every day members. With great success, especially in attracting sponsors eager to tap into a large and active mebership base.

How can you promise that Elliot will bring more in one year than CO did in 4, anyway? How will you possibly know the numbers. That statement just does not make any sense. I think you are laying on the rhetoric a bit thick.

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Time will tell. The measurement will be by how much our debt reduces IMO. Elliot is obviously seen as a critical element in this to entice the donations from the wealthier Carlton supporters.

As for the membership figures, two different eras. I would be interested if anyone had them of membership figures for each club during the 21st century. This would hopefully prove my point I'm trying to make.

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Mjonc signing off at 8888

Don't be crediting elliot with any rise in membership. I'll tell you now, there's few people signing up because of him.

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T E A M

I'm not crediting Elliot with rises in membership. Pratt is responsible for the large increase the past few weeks, purely and simply because people were sick of Carlton 1 and he offers hope a plan and a future, not doom, gloom and disunity.

PS: I just had a friendly neighbour tell me he bought a membership because JE is back along with 4 of his cousins.

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Mjonc signing off at 8888

Well I guess that says a lot about your neighbour.

BUT HOW DOES BULLSHIT WALK, VICTOR?

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Oompa loompa doompety dee
If you are wise you'll listen to me

perhaps his neighbor can see the positive aspect in all people and isn't blinded by vengeance.

If that was the case the neighbour should have had a membership for the last 4 years at least.

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Or even upped the level of their membership as some of us have.