It starts on the field. We better hope that 2006 is a little more like 2004 and a little less like 2005. If you want an omen, I dont think we won many Wizard cup games in 2004

We open with Melb, Freo, Syd, Hawks, Tiges, Pies, Dons

The first three games are going to be tough, but every team is beatable in the first month of a season. The next four are all winable. We should aim to be 3-3 after six rounds and take things from there. If we an pinch one of the first games then so much the better.

If we go down 0-4 it will be a long season followed by short walk to the fax machine to send the CBF application to the AFL.

I dont know if I should, laugh, cry or throw up... it is probably the latter:

http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=249728










So looks like the PP deal is a goer. Financially probably the best option - and will allow some freedom for somebody to be more innovative.

And BTW at the end of the article Justin Madden confirms why I think he is a nice guy but a dill...

if we are talking fitzroy then the major need of this club is to have the AFL want us.

I see a bloke, 3, 4 times a week, He was one of the central figures (and the man all those shares were supposed to be delivered to that went missing) and he insists the club was financially [REDACTED] for years but the thing that drove the club under was the AFL. It withdrew support and from then on they fought a losing battle.

Has Carlton lost the AFL? If so then we are [REDACTED].

Was Fitzy placed to help garner support for the club? Is he working out the cogs/wheels ect?

Does Collo have a succession plan?

Is there anyone willing to challenge him?

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

Intersting article. The most positive he has been about the Club, ever, and only when we are on our knees and need him. If I was a doubter I'd suggest he's enjoying this.

Elwood the current Board plan was very clear that this was going to happen this way, that they hope to get operating cashflow neutral withiin year 3 of the plan (2008). Of course we all want bigger & better & richer sponsors to help out. I cannot believe that the current Board hasn't tried very hard in this regard, and failed to a point. A key agitation for any change in the elections is to improve this position and the candidates sound likely to be able to assist in this regard - let the members decide. Until that point is determined successfully it is incumbent upon us all to push for members. You can point out how well we did last year, and that the fans have come through, and they have no doubt, but the issue is now not then. If we drop 5000 members this year it will present a huge problem for the Club, $1m off the already low revenue line that may or may not be covered by a new sponsor brought about by any change. If a sponsor is waiting in the wings then fantastic, no worries, but it doesn't seem that way.

Membership is the easiest way people at grass roots can help. I do not want it diminished in importance in any way here, or anywhere. membership levels are representative of all other audiences - if we get all numbers up (or reduce the negative impact) then surely it is in our interets to do so.

I am no marketing guru, but it strikes me that Football Club sponsors are traditionally limited because:

a. The audience for a local club may not be national in nature;

b. a club may not want their brand linked with and thereby limited to the supporters of one particular club;

c. everyone wants to be associated with a winner.

All of these things strike me as making things tough for us. I dont have any famous mates with deep pockets, but it strikes me that the greatest success stories often come from people that break with tradition and start a new order. Although there are obvious limitations and impediments to our sponsorship dilemma, there are also probably opportunities as well.

We need to find some areas of differentiation from our competitors (other clubs) in the marketplace. Having the worst team and the biggest debt are differentiators, and although they dont sound too good they might be the angle that someone's looking for. Aside from a proud history etc etc what do we have to set ourselves apart from the other teams vis a vis sponsors right now. Find something that we have that the others dont, or make something that the others cant and we are on the way.

One thing that I often wonder about is the 2 Irish Lads. No other club has such strong Irish Links right now. Sure Sydney has Tadgh, but we have both the O'hAilpins. Is there enough interest in Ireland or within the local Irish community on how these lads are going? If so, are there any international Irish companies looking to increase their exposure in Australia? How about Guinness beer? Bank of Ireland, Jamieson's Whisky, Irish Tourist Commission etc etc etc Who sponsors those International Rules games? Could we just take the little interest in cross country rivalrly already developed by the AFL and exploit it for our own good. Would a clever poster of Setanta in a CFC guernesy with the caption "try some different rules" sell Guinness beers from the wall of a bus stop somewhere in Ireland.

If we have international players, lets be the 1st club to start looking for international sponsors. The flip side is are there any Australian companies that could use some international exposure in Ireland? Could we become their conduit?

Eventually some club somewhere is going to capitalise on all of this investment that the AFL is putting into overseas exposure. Lets make sure we are tat club!!! Why do you think that Sheedy is having Japanese players training with Essendon*?? Eddie already has several international sponsors (Lexus, Emirates) on the books at the Carringbush!!! I'm sick of us playing catch up footy both on the field and in the rooms. How can we get ahead of the game.

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"Who discovered we could get milk from cows, and what did he think he was doing at the time?" Billy Connolly

This is gold if it goes through. I don't care if Demitrihoe is sincere or not at this point.

At the moment we spend $1.8m on maintaining PP AND have to pay a portion of our gate recipts to access TD and the MCG. That is the worst of all worlds.

Even if we don't manage to negotiate some additional debt from the AFL (which we should, it's a 25 year lease), that's going to be like having a major sponsor come on board.

Money in the new era is overrated, look at Footscray the state government sponsor them in Workcover, the Federal government build them a training ground and they have some tidy draft picks, what's not having money or members not done for them lately, but to miss out on poaching also rans like Wayne Carey to assistant coach. The neuvo-rich Maguirepies finished half a game in front of us.
The clown at Spring Street after paying for Geelong's Sunshine Stand are now going to build us a training centre and frankly who cares if the players have a pretty gym and sauna, they already have the best trainig surface in Victoria, the Saints don't have a metrosexual training centre and they go ok.
Just pay your bills, when due and what's the problem. Don't resign Kouta at 33 and there's at least half a million a year in your sky rocket. The TV revenue will increase massively with the new deal and unless it all goes back to the players -is all gain. Surely we should take the hand out from the AFL I mean why not, at least take back our 930k before interest.
Pride: you're joking did you see our team play lately.
I remember when Quit were all over Elliot, they were going to pull sponsorship, blah blah where is there sponsorship today? A survey last year suggest our supporters were most likely to smoke, hey guys "wipe off 5 milligrams". Imagine QUIT on Denis Pagan's polo shirt lapels the media would love it.
As Gary Ayres would say "at the end of the day" it's a footy club not an investment house.

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Green Shooter

The Weazel said;
"They were the correct sanctions at the time and it sent out a strong warning to the clubs that the AFL and the other clubs wouldn’t tolerate that fraudulent a breaching of the rules," he said.

This makes my blood boil - it reminds me of a terrorist pulling a passenger out of their seat and executing them while on their knees - just as a lesson to the others not to disrupt their plans. I've said before, it's not Elliott or the players concerned who actually broke the rules that are paying - it's you and me and our kids - We pay because there were no policies in place to monitor cheating of the cap or punish players for taking cash payments.

It also indicates they knew others were guilty but probably had no way of proving it (www.matthewlloyde.com.au).

You would never see this kind of penalties in any sport in this country again because it's more than just a punishment, it's capital punishment.

Looks like our pleas have worked - I feel a little releived this afternoon.

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end of message

Duke , you are an idiot!
You say they knew others were guilty but couldn't prove it and then you iuse the exampple that they knew about and could prove before, during and after they [REDACTED] us....

and James Hird.com
(seriosuly, they were "leasing" these domains and Lloyd was writing for Essendonfc....and the Lloyd.com wasn't even re-directed to essendonfc....ever
Then there was Freo...bfore /During /and after (remember Fabian Francis - signed up, not allowed to play and given a "coaching role")

do I need to go on

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“Every single element of the Club has to be the best in the league, meticulously and methodically, and only by doing this will we be elite and challenge for number 17.”
Greg Lee

Spot on Duke - the only people the penalties hurt were the average supporter. JE walked away - the players didn't get anything taken off them - the current players still get their dough - you and me and J. Bloggs gave the AFL $30 each (33,000 members x $30).

Why the f did we not appeal these penalties?? Why the f am I so bitter?!

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I support Carlton, Fulham and I'm an accountant - my mate calls me a 3 time loser.

Is there something to this that we are all missing are the Carlton Football club and the AFL playing with us . think about this

The whole salary cap fiasco was and agenda to rid the AFL of Elliott because he was the stumbling block between us playing our games at the Dome and he was a threat to the cap and draft

The fines were handed down to a club that for all intention purposes was broke and if it was a buisness they would have liquidated

Elliott was ousted with out any of us knowing the true extent of the rorting we came all guess but nowhere have the figures been published

Collins Arrives we move from our home to the Dome and the G and are handed a couple of million to do so by the AFL . So therefor the financial benifits the the AFL to have us playing on the Dome must be significant

then twelve months later the AFL is going to assist us in maintaining PP because it needs a third ground and a back up to the other two. WTF

Why in the hell didnt the AFL assist us to maintain it while we were there playing games

If they are going to use it as a back up it make sense that games played there will be Carlton games so why move why not play 4-5 games there against low drawing interstate teams

This whole thing has lost me . Has anyone got an explanation ???

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

The AFL now are in the business of doing us favours.
they want to help us ....

Look.. this has been hatched along time ago...i dont know the ins and out on whats in it for anyone.. but its been set up ages ago.. ive known about it (loosely) for months.

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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.

who can the average supporter trust to be upfront with them these days???

CFC???? AFL???? anyone?????

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There's so much I could say...

I think we have to release our anger about what the AFL did in the past.


They did what they thought was right at the time... and although most believe the punishment was excessive, there is no way we can reverse that decision. If we hang onto our anger about Demetriou and the AFL we are diverted from moving forward.

The same goes for the board - if Kerr etc holds onto their anger about the present board etc. all we are doing is going round in circles.

The time has come to stop discussing past punishments and recover from it.

We need a reconciled board and not a factional board..
I think it probably wont happen till Elliot and Collo have fallen of the face of the earth.
Believe me that we cant be strong as we should because of egos.

And Collo cant say that because some Carlton people dont like him theyre not helping whilst he is there.

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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.

I am glad we are not asking for assistance.

It would help abit, but when you consider the affect that NOT asking for help will have on our youngsters, the choice is easy...

We are after all the Carlton Football Club. And you should never beg for mercy..

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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.

so Queensland anyone?

Fitzroy in its darkest hours was assured by the AFL they'd recieve all the help they needed....


I fear.

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

And the best part yet is that interstate games against most VIC clubs will be played at Princess Park. Something to do with better returns.

So CFC lose, lose and lose.

How's about we hand over control of the club to the ALP?

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Congratulations CK95