Good evening one and all...

Just an opening post to say hi to all, including some of you whom may remember me being a prominent poster on another Carlton-based forum... boy, I was typing away back when garthp actually DID post bullshit! LoL...

Being a long-time reader of TC for some time now, I just felt that there have been one too many times when I have read up on here and wanted to post a reply *more often than not a pay out to some negative chump bagging the players/admin./footy record sellers* - and not being able to do so...

So, with that - I just want to get the following points out in the open:

*First and foremost, I've been a true Carlton supporter since the day I was born... and with that, I have held a Carlton membership for eight years and counting, and will continue to do so every year irregardless of club standing, current admin. or other hardship...

FYI: I believe that any person who threatens non-renewal of their membership during our current state probably should - as it's probable that they are not true supporters anyway...

*It is my belief that the current admin. should not be held accountable for Carlton's current crisis... whether they have put their best foot forward of not is subject to opinion - but as much as I personally do not like Smorgon and Malouf (or the way they handle/portray the club in the public eye), they didn't screw Carlton over... you can thank Elliott and the AFL for that...

*I don't think bagging out any given player is warranted or worthwhile... ok, I believe some may play for the jumper or with more passion than others - but bagging the individual is counter-productive and useless... it is much more satisfying giving cr@p to the likes of Collingwood, Essendon* or Richmond.

*Ok, you may like/love/hate/loath Pagan, but there is nothing we as supporters can do to change that (though try telling that to the Spanka who decided to start the 'SackPagan.com' movement)... all we can do is honour the decision of the board *irregardless of how dodgy/legit that decision might be* and back the coach and players that don the Navy Blue one hundred percent...

*Let me just say, from following the forums for quite a few years - I was posting when Carlton first received their draft penalties, and when we received our first wooden spoon... and even then we were posting with a sense of hope, a feeling of injustice, and a thirst for revenge... this appears to be wholly misplaced with negativity and bagging, and of course a few dead-beat posters - ok, maybe there's not a lot to get excited about at the moment, but it bothers me to think that we will end up posting gibberish that translates to the ravings of a rabid Tigers supporter, a premiership-deprived St Kilda supporter - or a just plain feral Collingwood fan...

*Last of all, I'd like to make it known that he DO HAVE HOPE... wont go into the prospects of our youngsters, the Fev Rev. or any specific postives, but to say this - we will end up winning a premiership before Collingwood... or Essendon* for that matter. No ranting, think about it - and to add to that, give Pagan his contract to set things right - he never claimed the clubs problems would be rectified before now... and have faith... because the past 5 years is perhaps the ONLY TIME in Carlton's history that we have really found true hardship and felt complete angst at our predicament...

Ignore the pessimistic ramblings of Mike Sheahan, the vitriol of Caroline Smith, any doom-and-gloom merchant that happens to be a sports journo... bagging Carlton out might piss us off - but they only do so, so as they can sell newspapers. And in my opinion, if they have to bag us out to do that, they're scraping the bottom of the barrel...

How we react now as supporters and and as a whole is important, the only telling sign or statistic is our membership, and this forum... which I look forward to posting on more in the future!

Go Blueboys...

SparkyBlue

Welcome to TC, Manchester City Blues, I mean SparkyBlue

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For some silly reason, you people want to assassinate him, and it's just rubbish. You people. All of you, ALL of you!

Sparky Blues is not MCB.. he is an oldie but a goodie and #1 Blues cousin...

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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.

Welcome Sparky.

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Hello there mate.

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dane's trolling again

Thanks Camel, Synners and Dane...

lol, no - not MCB, remember meeting him at a TBV forum match once... lol, i'm about 10 years older ROFL...

And Synbad, good memory mate - but I'm actually No.1Blue's brother! While No.1 and I don't always agree on everything Carlton - we both share the same passion...

Nice to see some of the old guard still postin'... look forward to chattin' on here in the future...

Cheers.

Welcome back Sparky.

I've already bought my 2007 membership as well as Baby Blue for my little one.

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Mjonc signing off at 8888

The current administration has been in power now for over 4 years. They have no responsibility as to the position the club was in when they took it over, but they have the responsibility to improve that position.

The also have a responsibility to project the club in a positive light to build sponsorship and membership.

I think that the board's performance has left room for criticism, and as members we are the shareholders of the club, and it is our role to hold the board to account.

It will be interesting to hear the reports from the next AGM, there was a fair bit of disallusion at this years meeting, and the responses from the board were disappointing.

Sorry steve, should clarify that mate - when I say our current admin. shouldn't be held accountable, I refer to us being in the situation we have been put in, in the first place...

I agree, they (and in particular since under the current president) have not put their best foot forward in terms of rebuilding our club - be it in sponsorship, branding terms, public perception and general handling of internal matters...

...as long as we keep in consideration the predicament they (the board/coach etc.) have been put in, in the first place - then it is only fair to offer criticism on how they have handled club matters since then - only after then AGM will the outcomes become more clear. I can bank on it that the focus will be on our financial position and overheads/developments/sponsorships - such is the way of Smorgon. IMO, he may have the business nous - but not very tactile in the ways of AFL administration...

And mjonc, nice to see someone getting in early for another tilt in 2007... as always my Carlton membership will be the first thing I buy after NYE! Funny thing too, you live in the same suburb as my folks... mum being a Swans suppporter, step-father a Tiges supporters - and my 'lil 8 year old brother?? Die-hard Carlton boy like his two older brothers...

Welcome back, Saprky.

You going to saddle up against the Bombers?

Would love to have you both on board.

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Writer for SuperCoach Paige www.scpaige.com.au
Twitter - @johnfeeney24

Hi sparky,

I just recieved my membership renewal in the mail...was pleased to see Walks and Co on the front.

I'll renew tomorrow. They need ALL of us.

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The problem will be made. for the solution to be sold, to your face before your eyes, tolerance is now the new danger

Sparky...I must not be a true supporter as I wont be renewing if we recruit the likes of Michael Gardiner to the club and if i do renew I will be bagging any players/Officials/coach whoeva I think are not doing their job ....cos when you pay your money thats your rights...
If your happy with proceedings at the club and want to salute whateva comes out of MC Labour Park be my guest but this is the worst period of the clubs history ever and most of the journos are getting it right..thats the sad part..they get the info straight from the leaky board that you support and have endorsed because you are a loyal supporter.....they dont deserve your loyal support..Pagans there taking your money, feeding his racehorses and AMP policies and seeing out his time thanks to a gutless board that caved in when Demetriou squeezed Smorgons aggots...

The club have abused your loyalty and clouded your judgement with lies and coverups.....

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"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

Love ya passion Sparky.
I've been reading this over the last few years myself, but as you can see from when I joined and the number of posts, that I pretty much just read out of interest (and a laugh every now and then).

Been a one-eyed Blues man since I was about 3 or 4.
Grew up in Bendigo which was our country recruiting zone back in the VFL days. Even played against and with a few of our past stars when I was an under 12's chump (Williams/Dean/McConville and a few others).
Seen all the good years .... and some of them were sensational.
Was a member when I lived in Adelaide for 10 years and drove to Melbourne about every 2nd or 3rd week to watch the games at PRINCES PARK (sorry, but I'll never call it anyting else).
But now I live in Queensland and can't justify forking out for membership to see 1 game (maybe) per/year. But I'll always be a died-in-the-wool Carlton supporter.

My biggest concern is that our 1st spoon was like a truck had hit me from behind ...... the 2nd wasn't much better ..... but this year it didn't seem to bother me too much. That's why I'm posting. To get my true passion for the club back and start to HATE LOSING again.

I can't wait until I can change my log-on from 95perfection to 09perfection. Maybe wishful thinking, but you have to start somewhere.

We are Carlton. We are the greatest club in the history of the game. We will rise again and when we do ...... we will be AWESOME !!!

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^^^

Don't worry Essendon* ....... We still hate your guts

^^^

I don't know why people are bagging the club when we are flying. Membership is through the roof, we can't fit all the sponsors in, a young list who are all happy to stay together and a united board.
I'd hate to return to the dark old days of my childhood in the 80's and 90's.

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides

Yeah, because we regularly got 50K members in the 80s and 90s when we were actually good.

We drop down to 25K and that was the status quo for several years. The bandwagon of the fightback's lost its momentum because the casual supporter can't see any reason to keep it going.

Great post Sparky. Welcome aboard...again

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Cer 'ch 'n alluog Blues

We were up the top of the membership tables in those days. Us along with Collingwood and Essendon* were miles in front of the rest. Now we are middle of the road. Halford when it comes to football you know a lot about Thomas the Tank Engine.

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides

PJ you lanky bugger, howzit? Think you might just have to sign me up for the forum match - No.1's been cajoling me about it recently...



What is up with people who believe that they "have a right" to bag out/whinge/criticise about the club and players if they own a membership...

Guess what? Free speech means you don't even need a membership to do the above, you are free to bitch, moan and complain about the club to your hearts content!! Same with purchasing a membership, that's your perogative - if you supporting the club comes down to whether we draft a 27 year-old has-been hack (IMO) then so be it... I'm not saying it's wrong, but if you are that sensitive you should probably be a Richmond supporter...

Besides, who said I'm happy with the way things are @ the club, let alone endorsing the board?? (Did you even read my whole post?) All I'm saying is that irregardless of our feelings towards the admin. in general, there ain't a lot we can do about it... be seriously, if you were going to cut up your membership I'm surprised you didn't do it the year we got Harford, Martyn, and co.

Oh, and TheGame (tiddlywinks?) - Membership circa 1990? 10,459...

You see, I'm not claiming that everything is peachy at Carlton - but I'm not going to cry in my cornflakes just because we're going through a rough patch (read: 5-10 years lol)... Because I'd like to say that I was one of the positive supporters during the tough times when were kickin' @rse and back up the top where we belong!

95perfection, nice to see I could squeeze a post out of you... Few relos up Golden Square way, Bendigo league is stronger than ever... I have began to post for the same reason as you - to get the passion for my club back, to show a bit of (sometimes reckless/stupid) optimism in the hope that it might just spread a 'lil...

There are supporters who bitch and moan about their footy club, and then there are supporters who bitch and moan about those supporters.
Everyone is having a moan, don't pretend you're any different Sparkles.

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"We used to sit around and talk about how bad the game plan was." Anthony Koutoufides

Raw Numbers vs Placings. Explain to me why we broke 30K 3 years in a row after our first wooden spoon after never doing it beforehand. The club went on the front foot with the whole 'Fight Back' stuff and 4 years on, we're still trailing behind with our ass hanging out of our pants. I'd say we're doing pretty bloody well, comparitively speaking.

And get over TTTE. Everyone else has.

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Cer 'ch 'n alluog Blues

Good point, But you're still a negative so and so

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The problem will be made. for the solution to be sold, to your face before your eyes, tolerance is now the new danger