Read the book before you judge.

My interpretation, after reading it, is that he was suggesting he along with most other players back in the 90's were all underpaid compared to todays contracts - especially for new recruits.

His first contract in 1990 was $7800 per year which was under par even for those days. And his 2006 season was minimum wage - just match payments.

Why are so many supporters so quick to slag players for the amount of money they get paid?

On the subject of the book, i've enjoyed the read.

The early photos are funny, eh!

I am reading thru the book now and I am about to embark on Chapter 9 - The Pagan Years.

So far my take has been that Kouta really preferred a greater consultation from his coaches in terms of moving him to this position or that position and to me, it seems that it really had a negative impact on performance him when he wasn't spoken to about these changes.

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“It is a state of mind, a system of belief, a way of seeing the world, a deep faith that, because you are Carlton, you belong to something great.” - Mike Fitzpatrick articulating what Out of the Blue means.

I am currently halfway through reading Kouta's book. So far the most interesting chapter is the one about Pagan. It's made me realise that Pagan was the main reason behind our downfall. He will never coach AFL again.

I strongly recommend reading this book. It's a very simple, yet interesting book. I can't put it down!

Kouta said something about Denis?!?!?!?!????

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

Des he say anything about David Allisons role in our downfall?
Or Elliotts?
Does he question some of the players commitment to the jumper??

That must be in a later chapter....

Let us know...

Cheers...

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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.

He doesnt have a bad word to say about either Allison or Big Jack (which I find annoying). Otherwise, Kouta comes across as a genuine, down to earth bloke in his book. Once you read the part of the book that talks about Pagan, you'll see just how much of a big deal out of nothing the media made of it. There are quite a few possitive things that Kouta writes about Denis as well as the harsh criticisms..

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James Hird and Essendon* FC - #FOREVERDRUGCHEATS

I can't believe nobody has brought up his comments about collo.

With Pagan - at least he said Positive stuff about him to go with the negative. But Collo............ Nope, just plain shit-canned him wherever he could.

Always knew Collo was a prick!

Anyways, i'm almost finished and i actually like the book. His comments on how the media once reported that him and Ang were gay were quite funny. He says, "If i was gay, i wouldn't be with Bloody Ang!"

The 'Brooke' story is quite emotional too. - Funny how we hardly hear about that, but we're constantly hearing about him being underpaid or bagging Pagan.

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

the 'brooke story'?

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Between our dreams and actions lies this world

She was a Young girl who was a big fan of Kouta's. He became friends with her when she was diagnosed with a type of cancer and used to visit her when she was in therapy.

She unfortunatly died a couple of years later and was burried in the #43 jumper that Kouta gave her as a gift.
He was one of the guys who carried her coffin at her funeral.

He wrote the similarities between brooke and our (carltons) moto which was a nice touch.

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

It's an interesting read. Also mentions about how the players didn't like the gameplan but they would discuss among themselves how to adapt to it and try and make it work. Briefly that the players had to shoulder some responsibility for poor performances.

Yeah I noticed that. Collo sure comes across as a total disrespectfull prick, who wouldn't p*ss on the players if they were on fire if he couldnt benefit from it (This explains his self benefitting strong push for the majority of our home games to the Telstra Dome instead of the more fancied MCG.)

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James Hird and Essendon* FC - #FOREVERDRUGCHEATS

Got it for chrissie

Tops!

Chose to start it over Matthew Reilly's new one

Going well so far - a bit of a dark and gloomy start but something as major as the loss of a parent deserves to be brought forward .. Mants writes well! Loving the idea of the pizza as well!

That this didn't even get column inches in Melbourne over the fact that he was bagging people shows that the media will take up and run with any story it wants to, despite facts or stories to the contrary to their campaign!

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[Sam Jacobs] looks like a 7' Lance Whitnall, and [Mitch Robinson] looks like a 4' Lance Whitnall
(The SEN team during the Carlton v Cats 2009 pre-season match)

The Brooke story was heavily reported in the media at the time that it occured and with her subsequent death.

The media focussed on Pagan because he had been sacked only a few month before the book came out - Brooke had passed away several years ago.

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“It is a state of mind, a system of belief, a way of seeing the world, a deep faith that, because you are Carlton, you belong to something great.” - Mike Fitzpatrick articulating what Out of the Blue means.

i also got the book for xmas and finished it a couple of days ago, and while it provided a bit of insight into the man, i was not overly impressed with the book at all.

a bit dull imho.

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Back like a raging case of pubic lice

When you read the book, the hysterics people went into on here about the Pagan comments, in hindsight are hilarious. But then again, those hysterics were brought on by newspaper articles and not actually reading the book.

I liked it.

I would have liked more 'personal' input into some of his highlight games (the 95 GF, 99 prelim, the 18mark game etc).

I did like how he invited others to contribute such as bucks, hird, ang, his mum, david parkin etc.

Overall, as a HUGE Kouta fan, 7.5 out of 10.

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

It is though, rather than a book written by Kouta, edited transcripts of interviews with him.

Just finished reading his book (xmas present). Not a good read and much of it left a sour taste in my mouth. It's a good insight into the kiond of attitudes which brought about the downfall of our great club.

I just get a sense that this is a guy definitely motivated by money. Basically claimed he was screwed by Collo in his first deal but how many 18 year olds back then were on good money. I think he was more than adequately compensated over the journey but he stills feel the need to have a crack at the administration over that (as did his mum in her chapter).

Trying to talk the club into redrafting Christou was also laughable.

Says he has aspirations to coach yet gives no insight to any of his thoughts on tactics, the future of the game, etc.

He manages to gloss over the damage done by Allison and Elliott in bankrupting the club and then he has the audacity to criticise Collins for trying to rein in the costs. We were bankrupt for gods sake - what did he expect the new president to do!

I'm just hopeful that the days of the paperbag contracts and Allison are finally over.

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In WADA we trust

I can confirm that Dirty Dave won't be doing his normal tricks for quite a while.

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Richard Pratt - A Carlton legend.