I think we have been extremely lucky to reach the high membership numbers in the last 3 years considering our performance so I'm not really surprised with the drop in membership numbers at all. In fact, the club should have forcast a drop in membership & I think they are absolute fools if they didn't. We broke 2 records in consecutive years (??) for memberships when we were bottom & just about bottom, the luck with numbers had to run out sooner or later unless we started winning.

Having said that, those who haven't renewed their memberships need to have a good hard look at themselves & think about what it means to the club to have these numbers. However, they are slowly screwing us over with the seating etc & that is not going to help matters. If I had've known when relocating from PP that we would end up sitting behind the goals at MCG home games I would never have supported the move. Last year social club members had a choice, for most of the year to sit in the AFL members section or the allocated bays on Level 2 of the Southern Stand. This year, we have 4 bays behind the goals on the ground level with no option to sit in the AFL members. 6 years ago a silver 17 membership would get you the same seats as what we get now. I know this because I had a silver 17 membership & used to sit there. It's an absolute disgrace.

But I love Carlton so I'll put up with all of this crap until we come good again & think of this time as just a "bad patch".

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Hi Danielle, but doesn't it show how badly the club is managing its high value members? I really believe that the biggets drop off has been in that area. Which Club would screw its premium members the way Carlton does? Suicidal behaviour by the club.

Agree mikkey. We've talked about this at length a few times & unfortunately things have not gotten any better.

We had that many spare seats in the social club area on Sunday that Collingwood supporters came and sat in our area

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This is purely my opinion.

The AFL (and Carlton) have taken the game away from those who were once the lifeblood - members.

Members are treated like dirt with absolutely little to no value-add benefits of being a member fo the club.

The AFL only look after the top tier corporate supporters.

Furthermore, the game of AFL is at its worst in terms of on-field display. It is a shambles. Soccer has its best opportunity to step in here and steal away supporters and money from the AFL, who have absolutely tarnished a golden nugget and what was once the pinnacle of Australian sport.

Down at club level, the prices offered where even going to the footy is a luxury these days for a family are disgusting and go to show exactly why no body can be bothered shelling out any more cash.

The game and unfortunately Carlton have removed themselves from the vacinity of the supporters, and in doing so have completely lost touch. Ego and the almighty dollar have gotten in the way of what made the game popular in the first place. As such, I find it ironic that that the club comes cap in hand to the people it ignored and continues to ignore asking for more like little Oliver.

As much as I would hate to see the club fold, unfortunately I am not in a position to hand over the little money I can afford with life and family priorities to a greedy gluttonous corporation.

Now many people will disagree with that, and that's fine, but this is how I see it. I guess you could say my passion has waned. The other thing is that I have gone to just a couple of Victory games over the last season and found myself thoroughly enjoying it - as such, my previously subdued love for the round ball has taken over the oval variety.

I hardly think I am justified in criticisng the Board if I am not a financial member. At least they are trying, even if they are not doing it very well, and it's not a position I envy.

I joined the Social Club for the 1st time in 2003, but hardly use it. I have done so every year since. I did so because I recognised that without its Members the Club is gone. Perhaps I have been fortunate in being in a position where I am able to make this decision, but I don't want to see my Club die, and it's one of the few ways in which I see that I can help.

SO if you have made the decision to not renew your membership, in some kind of misguided belief that you are somehow helping by withdrawing your support, but still sit here in criticism ... well if too many members make the same decision, the ability to make that decision may be permanently removed from you.

If you were a Member while Elliot ran this Club into the ground, then part of the responsibility lies with you.

Cutting off your nose to spite your face is not a solution, and certainly nothing to be proud of.

I will not desert my Club when it most needs my support.

Absolutely agree. I will still buy my membership as I did this year. I just don't believe I need to put my hand back into my pocket and fork out more yet again. It just won't happen. I've done as much as I can do.

U guys want to keep forkin out and listen to the tripe the board craps on with week in week out,then thats your decision.I know deep down how much i have passionatly supported this club over many years and satisfied with my decision not to renew this yr until i get value for my dollars.As i said before i was one of the first to proudly get my membership when the club asked for its members to sign up a few yrs ago.33,000 odd ppl did the same.If the club wants us to stay,then show us some value for our money.Give up with the plight your club needs ya.Just look at the example before.$200 odd dollars for a replica gearnsey from our merchandise shop when ya can get them at least half that price at other clubs.Open your eyes guys

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norm

I would love to Renew but i just dont have the Money & Sadly cant afford a membership.... having said that, its no Excuse, i would ban myself from doing the things i love or buying the things i love, just so that our club wont vanish or merge into something else..... BUT until the day the people who run the footy club, starts to listen to its supporters, improves its communication skills and work on Treating us like Valued Customers, those few thousands who didnt renew will always keep away...

So norm43, the solution is to run away and let someone else make the sacrifices in time and money required to save your Club? You can't solve things by running away from the problems. As I said, if everyone had that attitude the Club would certainly die.

I choose not to rely on fairy godmothers.

And Dodo27, yes unfortunately what you say is true. I do agree with what others have said in that the Club has probably been lucky to achieve the numbers it has over the last 3 seasons, given where it is.

Looks like you've lost the passion and it's merely a financial thing for you now. Find something else to be passionate about. Give up Carlton forever, not just until the Club is successful again...that would just be weak in my opinion.

it has nothing to do with winning and losing

it has to do with personnel decisions

I would happily watch a team that lost every week under a good coach wth a good plan, and some kids whose futures I could get inspired by

the bigger fool is one who sees a problem, does nothing about it, and then wonders why nothing is changing.

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Love Cricket? Love me

See, I have a premium membership now, and I will most probably renew it next year (as in 99% likely... but might have to downgrade for $$ if its tight then).

But I just don't want to go. The club has and will get as much money out of me as its going to.... I just can't bring myself to go and watch that shit.

Having said that, I'll probably be going to the St.Kilda match with a mate I haven't seen in a while... luckily, he's a Stkilda supporter, and we can both talk about how crap Carlton have become.... except he'll be happy and I'll be miserable.

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Love Cricket? Love me

I totally understand that the club wants to increase the revenue it pulls in from merchandise, it just seems blatently obvious to me that an organisation such as a football club would actually reduce their take on each item but increase the overall sales, thus increasing the amount of happy supporters and happy sponsors as adults and kids alike would be walking round logos adorning their bodies.

exactly... their economics are wrong. You often can't increase revenue by jacking up prices.... unless the market is inelastic, and I wonder if we are inelastic shoppers...... I know I've not bought a carlton jumper for my nephew recently because of the price.... and there's a lot of bad experiences being presented here.

It would be really interesting to see a graph of unit sales vs price change over time.....

Jarusa... get charting!

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Love Cricket? Love me

I empathise with all of what has been said.

I don't know what the heck is wrong with the marketing department but they seriously need someone who can rejig it to touch base with supporters. It's almost like you need a corporate marketing, and customer/user marketing group.

The customer/user marketing could work so much better for them. It's ALL about value-adds.

For example, they could keep the replica guernsey for $200 in the shop, BUT if you buy any membership today, you get 50% off ALL merchandise in the Carlton shop. Cha-ching! They encourage memberships (even the lower variety) and sell more merchandise at prices Members are willing to pay for. You could even rope it so that the bigger the membership, the bigger the discount (ie. Social Gold gets a whopping 70% off). They still make a respectable margin, and more importantly, are moving stock! Afterall, the shirts are made by chinese workers earning 2c per hour or something.

It doesnt end there...

Strike up deals with vendors and restaurants in Carlton. They want advertising and brand awareness, the club wants members to give back to the Carlton community and support local business who in turn might reward further with small/group sponsorships. Flash your membership and get 15% off that meal you just had in Lygon Street, another 10% discount if you take your family to the zoo.

Come game time, you could look at further value adds. Again sell your merchandise at X% off if you have your membership with you. Furthermore, sign up your whole family on gameday and receive a discount. Bring a friend to the match and sign them up, they get a discount, you both get a bonus (meal voucher, free upgrade, whatever).

Have your weekly Carlton membership draws which give members the chance to win some things, such as going to the rooms before/after the game, or the chance to sit near the coaches box. Anything.

On top of that, every game have some lucky kid(s) who get to run through the banner and do some pre-match warmup with the group. You'd have that kid (and maybe some of his mates) and perhaps even his parents or family for life.

Run club focus groups to find out what members want more of (apart from victories and premierships) and use that important information to deliver even better value.

I tell you what, if the club did the above and showed they were working to provide more, I'd not only upgrade my membership, but encourage others to sign up too.

I know the above is easier said than done, but it would absolutely make an impact on the present situation. Whoever is there now just isn't thinking hard enough.

A membership does't have to just be about attending games, it can also be about feeling like you're part of a community. And for some that's the most important part of all!

you do get some value-adds, Teckers....... you get your club lifestyle book whereby you do get saving at restaurants and in shops, and vouchers for all sorts of free-bes.

I suppose your point is that those value-ads don't really tie back into the local community.... but that would be a tough offer for someone like Wojee who lives in the country who might not get near Lygon st very often.

There are value-ads though..... but I think its just the club aligning with a third party who put together the whole pack... we just re-sell it on their behalf... its probably identical value-ads to what supporters of other clubs get... or you could get yourself if you buy those lifestyle books

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Love Cricket? Love me

All they have to do is make sure the replica jumpers are always 10% lower than what Rebel Sport charge and make the sure authentic jumpers sold are at a premium but not the monopoly money that is currently being charged. The marketing department needs to take a field trip to their local JB Hi-fi then wander down to HMV and get a semblance of an idea about what happens when you treat your customers favourably - wow! a happy and loyal customer base! We are doing an HMV by charging $30.95 for an 'Essential John Tesh' cd and scratching our heads as to why people aren't buying more cds.

I know what you're saying Tyrant having received one of those but lets be honest it's just run of the mill stuff. If they wanted to, they could easily do a better job than that.

probably right

my free parma at PJ O'Briens was shithouse

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Love Cricket? Love me

They already do most of those things.

- Club lifestyle gives you discounts on restaurants, shopping etc

- Pretty sure kids get to go on the ground or present guernseys as occurred at the family day

- Have had focus groups for members in recent years