SA Blue wrote:
Synbad wrote:
SA Blue wrote:
It is funny, all people do on this site is bitch and moan about the negativity and how the club doesn't say anything positive. Now they do and all people do is bitch and moan.
Strange people.
You can listen to Churchill speeches till the cows come home but if you see nothing.. then it doesnt matter does it???
Cos right now.. you tell me what you SEE!!!
There are a lot of people including yourself who go on ad nauseum about selling the club and the importance of being positive in the press. Now we are and we burn them for it.
The board at the moment is competent but not much more. The biggest issue for me is the sneaky leaker and lack of unity in the board. I don't think Smorgon is anywhere near as bad as people make out and I respect him for putting his hand up in our darkest times and trying. It is a lot more than any other ticket. This is what irks me about the so called silent backers. Where were they before?
Brown at the moment has not offered anything viable in alternative and until I see from him (a plan), what you demand of the board, I will ignore him and his destabilising efforts. If, however, he puts up a good plan and a viable alternative, then all power to him.
SA Blue? What is there to be positive about in that article.
Paragraph by paragraph analysis:
1) Welcome to the luncheon
2) Thanks to the sponsors of the event
3 & 4) Welcome to the special guests
Pretty standard opening.
5, 6 & 7) West Coast and Sydney are good, Carlton are not.
Wouldn't have included these paragraphs myself, didn't add anything to his message.
8 & 9) He's going to be honest in his remarks.
As a director of the club he has a fiduciary duty to be open and honest.
10) Last few years are difficult
No shit!
11) He wishes he could fix it now
So do we. These last two statements go nowhere toward either making a new statement or clarify an issue
12) Board working hard to resolve the problems
The majority of the board has been in power 4 years, and we have very little to show for it.
13) Clusb is challenged.
No shit
14 & 15) Media giving us a flogging, we deserve it.
Wrong. Yes we do have to cop it. We ONLY deserve it because we are not communicating a consistent, coherent and positive plan.
16) That's how those outside the club see it.
See above point
17, 18 and 19) Draw a line in the sand. Move forward and develop plans for the future.
Excellent. Should have opened with this, but it's still not outlining where we are going.
20 & 21) Wrong in the past about the time to turn it around.
WRONG! He's just moved from saying we won't look back and then talked about events in the past. Should have moved to the future.
22) Going to be hard.
Repetitive and redundant. We know this, if it was easy we'd have done it already
23, 24 & 25) Good people needed, etc
Good tone, but again doesn't say anything
26) Pagan is great.
Sould not have gone here. We tried to get rid of him a few weeks back. It sounds insincere and quick frankly pathetic here. Increasing coaching panel is ok, but not outstanding, basically throwing more money at the footy dept.
27) "We have a plan"
Excellent! best bit so far. Now follow through and outline it.
28) Draft picks are good and we'll invest in youth.
This is ok, but basically all it is saying is that we are going to do the same as the other 15 clubs. Top 3 in 20 section is okay, but could have been more positive.
29) It's hard work.
So! We know it, you've already said it. This isn't part of "The plan" so DON'T say it.
30) We will make mistakes.
Off message, don't say it.
31) We have the club in our best interests.
Yup, fiduciary duty again. Don't doubt it either, he's obviously a blues supporter, but still doesn't gell with "the plan" which should be the only message.
32) We might make mistakes + footy analogy
CRAP! repetive and unnecessary.
33) I want to make this work.
I sure hope you do!
34) It's hard work
Broken record
35) Keep the faith.
I can live with this
36) Some re-signs
ok. good stuff, but part of regular operation, hardly a plan for the future
37) Bret Thornton is loyal and we will keep him.
Just responding to media speculation. A better way to deal with it would have been to ignore it, or tackle it in a different way.
38) A quote from Big Nick
Ok. Not sure what this achieves in the plan.
39) Have a nice day.
Thanks, you too.
Smorgon promises us a plan in the middle of that statement and he doesn't deliver. The positives as I see them:
- Drawing a line in the sand
- Using draft picks - great, but this should be regular business now
- Have 3 Top 20 picks - great, but only because we were so shit that we got the PP handout
- Player re-signings - regular business.
My take on this talk is that it is some postive statements which result from our poor on field performance and regular operation, and which is no different to any other club. Dissecting this speech, there is NO hint of a plan.
And before anyone pot shots me as negative. I'll post something that I will knock up now, without any references, just using my knowledge based on Carlton announcements.