Bookie wrote:
Elwood/Sedat just to carry the argument, Footscray have had more handouts than a Saudi robbery Court and will still fail especially once they stop getting their yearly priority picks (aka young talent development). I think the comparison is fair.
They have proven themselves, financially and on-field inept over one hundred years.
Sedat Footscray wasn't even in our league, you didn't need to breach the cap because no one ever wanted to play for you blokes anyway -ask Rawlings, Brown.
If you think we were the only"real" team over the cap your dreaming. Other clubs couldn't be professional in player dealing so the AFL made a rule to give you talent anyway.
Sorry but I'm sick of people assuming that they know all about how we won 16 premierships through being professional sorry "buying premierships".
Bookie, as a kid growing up, the name Carlton was synonymous with wealth, success, vision and professionalism, and they were a club that was admired for these qualities. I used to watch your club in awe in the early 80's. The point I was making in my previous post (and reinforced by Camel and Headplant) is that the Carlton name has lost that aura, and that has been primarily through the fault of the club itself for failing to see the winds of change (apologies for the Scorpions reference). The notion of "buying" premierships is totally irrelevent, as what was conducted by clubs during that period was completely within the rules. Plenty of other clubs threw money around left, right and centre during that time and won diddly squat. Carlton worked harder and were more successful as a result.
The whole hand-out mentality that is thrust upon the Dogs/Roos etc.. is the biggest furphy of all time. We are screwed annually by the vagaries of the AFL draw, (Fox Footay matches v Freo on a Sunday arvo are not quite as attractive for potential sponsors as having 8-10 Friday night games on prime time Ch. 9, are they) and the CBF is there to compensate those clubs as a result. You're dead right that our previous administrations being financially reckless in the 70's and 80's, but you tell me one club (apart from maybe Carlton) who lived within their means during that time. New Magpies ring a bell? Save our skins? 11c in the dollar at Moorabbin? I'm sure there's more. With the threadbare resources at our disposal, I doubt you will find 2 more competent and astute leaders than David Smorgan and Campbell Rose. As for losing players that we really wanted to keep, we've lost as many in the last 10 years as you have, one, and that was purely a financial decision, just like yours.
As for PP's, we have 2 of those at our club, Farren Ray and Tom Williams. Young Tom is a project player who will take a year or two. You have one in Walker. Contrary to perception, we only spent 2 seasons in the bottom 4 (thanks once again Rohder for the recession we had to have) and in our entire history in the AFL we've only won 4 spoons, which suggests to me that we have been fighting out of our weight division for 80 years and usually end up mid range. But what the hell, perceptions are hard to change.
Finally, I'm not so ingnorant to know that other clubs have breached the salary cap and cheated the system. The penalties handed out to Carlton were draconian to say the least, but they cannot be blamed for the current lack of 100-150 gamers on your list - the backbone players that sides like Port, Brisbane and Essendon* have won the last 5 flags on the back of. These guys would have been drafted in 1996-1999, and that black hole of recruiting at Carlton has been devastating to the shape of your list at present IMO.
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