MEDIA STATEMENT FROM THE AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE

FORMER St Kilda CEO and director Jim Watts has been appointed as a consultant to the AFL with the initial responsibility of working part time with the Carlton Football Club to help Carlton.

Mr Watts, 51, who played a significant role in the turnaround of the St Kilda Football Club as both an off-field and on-field force, will work closely with Carlton President Graham Smorgon and Chief Executive Officer Michael Malouf.

AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou said Mr Watts was an experienced and successful football executive who was respected by the industry for his strategic thinking and hard work.

Between October 2000 until July 2006, Jim held the roles of Director, Vice President or CEO of the St Kilda Football Club. In that time he drove considerable cultural change through the organisation and the club enjoyed a remarkable financial turnaround to become one of the most respected models in AFL Football.

“We are really excited that Jim has taken on this role because we want Carlton to return to a healthy off-field and on-field position as soon as possible,â€

Fantastic.
Perhaps we could get watts to work on the redevelopment and Malouf can concentrate on the day to day stuff.
The more the merrier. (especially if we arent paying for them)

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Very interesting statement.
I wonder if anyone helped Jim out at StKilda? I would say that in 2000 the saints were in a similar position to us, little or no money and under resourced. If Jim did not get help why does Michael need help?

That is very good news.

The Saints haven't done much wrong with their off-field stuff over the last few years.

Now if they could just get a decent coach...

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Do we have to take Fergus as well?

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Talk about a vote of no confidence in the footy club. First of all they have Mike Fitzpatrick to oversee the board, and then they put someone in to help drive the club on the executive side.

I'm actually glad that this has happened, i suppose that shows my lack of confidence in the current setup

If they're paying for all these overseers could we appoint Pagan as an overseer of the coaching department and have them pay for him?

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This is good corporate practice, and I am glad the AFL has taken this move.

No doubt it reflects the lack of capabilities at the club, but that's not a surprise, particularly given the lack of resources available.

Sad that it's come to this, but a good move nonetheless.

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http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&s ... eid=286674

Excellent news. As jackw says, it's sad that it's had to come to this - but having good corporate governance and solid experience at a board and executive management level is the first step required to dig us out of the shit we got ourselves in.

Personally, I'd feel a lot happier tipping money into the club if guys like Fitzpatrick and Watts are having a say as to how it's best spent, than I would have been if the buck stopped with Smorgon, Valmorbida, Diggers, Wilson et al.

Collo has obviously had a word with AD...

Funny, I was wondering if this sort of measure would have ever taken place had Collo still been at the helm.

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wasnt he the architect of Aarons 5 year contract at Stkilda this time around because if you ask him about seems a little hyper-sensitive about it - and you know Aaron is worth it because even if he doesnt get on the park its his off-field stuff thats important like encouraging the young guys to take pay cuts to keep the team together as long as he doesnt take one and encouraging his mate Warnie to help out round the club as a role model
Tell him no long term contracts unless your talking Andrew Walker or Marc Murphy
Stick to the finances Jimmy not the player contracts

Well he's helping us already.

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