Is it Time

[creator]

Firstly I have been a footy follower for over 30 years. I like the game and my team has been North.
Secondly I did not play for North and have had little involvement in the Club except as a supporter.

However I am concerned with the administration of the club!!!

Like all of you I cannot fathom why the supporter base has not increased with success on the field,and the brand of football being played.It appears we have obtained more members but they are never seen at the matches.Is this because they are fictional?

It has been stated recently that Carlton FC own 20% of North but these are non voting shares. Who then owns the voting shares?

In the Roos forum some recent postings asked when the AGM is going to be held.It evolved that it was advertised ,but in some odd place in the paper with such trimmings as if nobody was to see it! (6 pm on Tues 27th)

If coaches are blamed for lack of performance on the field, I feel the current administration should carry responsibility for the disasterous financial loss which extended to players and staff not being paid.

The ingredients have been put in place by the team over the past 8 years for us to be in a financially sound position now, not the laughing stock from other clubs, and we should not have to defend the Club as many of you do in places like the Footy Board.

Is it time to look at a new administation for the Roos?

creator
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light dispels the gloom of night
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[The invisible mullet]

I guess what we wouldn't want to see are the boardroom tussles you hear about too often down Richmond way. Your concerns are, to an extent, valid. We have been successful on the field and our membership has grown but we don't seem to be matching that financially or in crowd sizes. It's a situation that is not dissimilar to Hawthorn when they faced a merger with the Dees. Time should reap another generation of paid up North members in the next 5 - 10 years.

I think however you are being a little harsh if, for example, you take into account the effect of the Sydney experiment, the ordinary home games we had last year, the ridiculing of the innovative Orange sponsorship, and the proposed Fitzroy-North merger. The AFL should take a fair bit of the blame for the failure of North's push into Sydney. There was little chance for North to establish an identity as the second team in Sydney when other AFL teams were playing "home" games there as well. And maybe the Sydney market is still a fair way off being a viable market for a second team.

And I think you're being very harsh if you consider what North produces for those who are faithful on the field every week. i'll take that over the larger, cashed up clubs any day.

[Rooboy 96]

Originally posted by creator:
If coaches are blamed for lack of performance on the field, I feel the current administration should carry responsibility for the disasterous financial loss which extended to players and staff not being paid.

creator

Creator I am also sick and tired of continually defending my club on the main board... but what you have to remember is that in all honesty you should be over the moon that you still have a footy club to support... I remember back in the mid-80's when we were in a worse position then Fitzroy... but we are still around... I know continously fighting for survival... but we are still making it onto the park...

And Frankly if it was not for our administration I doubt very much we would be... just imagine what Greg Miller could do at Collingwood... shit we only had 3000 less members (in 2000) then supposedly the greatest supported club in Australia...
Remember in the early 90's we only had 3000 members...

I have learnt to stand back and not criticise our administration as they more often then not get it right...

look at some of the decisions that not all of us agreed to "replacing Schimma with Pagan"... "moving to the MCG"... "playing night football"... "away jumper"... "playing some home games interstate"... so far only one has been a flop... but then that isn't yet really decided...

So even if you are annoyed at continually defending our club... remember these people deserve our support... and have mine...

[Rooboy 96]

BTW in the mid-80's did you ever think we would win another Flag... because in all honesty I couldn't... we were almost dead and burried...

[DEVO]

Last year was probably the worst year the club has experienced that I can remember. Everything seemed to go against us from the start, such as the draw (no home games against the big guys), the loss of Stevo and other injures to key players at key times, and the passing of Mr Casey. I don't think the Administration can be blamed for any of those.
But I think the true test of how good the North Football Club and our Administrators are, is how we bounce back from such a dreadful year. One bad season doesn't mean we should sack the Administrators who got us to the top.

[Shinboners]

The administration at the corporate and football club levels has undergone change in the last 12 months. With the passing away of Ron Casey, we've now got a new Chairman and he must be given time to implement what he may feel are changes that need to be made at the club.

At the football side of things, Pagan has brought in new people to assist him and we have had about a dozen new players come to our club.

It wasn't so long ago that Essendon went through similar changes on their adminstrative and football sides. As long as we can get a year or two of stability, we should be fine. The problem for the club, as DEVO has pointed out, is that last year, we had many things go wrong, and I doubt that any other club could have dealt with them and still finished with a preliminary final appearance like we did.

[Groucho]

There's no bigger story in footy than a "team in trouble" and that's why all the so called investigative journos (Wilson,Sheahan,Smith) are hanging around looking for blood. They'll all be at the AGM and I'm sure there'll be one or two feature articles along the lines of "Can North Survive". Our loss is unfortunate but can be explained quite logically and I'm sure we won't be the last team to have circumstances go against us and sustain a large loss. As has been said by SB, only a few years ago Essendon lost over a mill and had to restructure,they're largely impregnable of course whereas we're perceived to be vulnerable,but it goes to show that it can happen to anyone. The disappointment to me was that we are lagging in such areas as forming coterie groups,strange as I would have thought our innovative and progressive administration would have been "way up there" in that area,but at least it's something we can work on. The other disappointment is the Broady social club complex which,really should have been operating years ago and earning 1-2 mill per year,but circumstances have caused delays which have now proven to be telling and bring up "all eggs in one basket" questions. If things go right for us this year we should be ok and the focus will turn to another club but,as I heard Greg Miller say a few weeks ago,the future of our club is in the hands of our members,meaning that we will have to get membership up over 30000 and keep it there otherwise we may have to become familiar with the road to Canberra.

[Shinboners]

Originally posted by Groucho:
There's no bigger story in footy than a "team in trouble" and that's why all the so called investigative journos (Wilson,Sheahan,Smith) are hanging around looking for blood.

Also take note that none of these journos ever come up with any suggestions or solutions. They are never in the hotseat of having to make a decision and risking their clubs future on that decision. Also note Wilson and Sheahan's softly softly approach when it comes to Richmond and Melbourne respectively. At least with Smith, his support of Essendon doesn't stop him from having a go when he feels it's necessary.

[Daphne]

I saw Smokey Dawson being interviewed on C7 at the end of last year, he said that he was very excited about the future of the Kangas. What they were setting into place for this and following years was for the future of the club. Now call me stupid (thats been done before just ask CIK and others) but for some reason I believed him. I have never heard him talk like that before, and I felt reassured by what he said.

[DOC]

Valid points have been put up for discussion here.

I believe that the current admin has done a good job an will continue to do so.

I was amazed when the Hawks went from 8000 members to 30,000 in one season because of that dirty word "merger" but I ask everybody here Is it possible fo N.M.F.C to have 40,000 many paid up members in the coming seasons when the possible slide down the ladder comes?

Is it just me or do kids these days seem to change teams when that slide happens. I hope there is enough loyal ones out there.

If half the kids wearing our jumper stay supporters and buy memberships the future is bright.

Go The Skull !!!
J.I.T.C
THE DOC

[Rooboy 96]

so creator are you still thinking the same way???

[Carey_is_King]

There is little doubt that our administration has been innovative, but has it really benefited the club ?

Friday Night Footy
A huge success, and as soon as that became evident, we lost our "priority" position and the bigger (read wealthier) clubs took over the Friday night spot. Were we so naive to think that the Friday night spot would always be ours ? Did we not obtain any guarantees from the AFL ? Obviously not.

Move to the MCG
What has it done for us ? I prefer it to any other, and so do most of the members surveyed last year, so what happens ? We play more "home" games at Colonial than we do at the MCG this year. What happened to "Members First" ?

Away Jumper
What benefit have we gained from that ? I like them, and I think they look good, but so what ?

Sydney
Well now we are really talking. Most members look upon Sydney as a bold initiative which, unfortunately, did not work so well. I look upon it as a poorly researched, ill informed decision, which has cost the club dearly. I know it's easy to be smart after the event, and I can hear others saying "come up with a better idea yourself", but the bottom line in the management of a football club is no different to the bottom line in business. You do your research, you allow for contingencies, and you ensure that a worst-case scenario will not cripple you.

Innovative administration ? Yes, but with a string of good ideas which have not put dollars in the bank, and one which has taken a few out. I don't necessarily think they should be sacked, but I sincerely hope they have received a wake-up call from the $1.1M loss they have just announced.

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Trample the Weak,
Hurdle the Dead.

[This message has been edited by Carey_is_King (edited 14 February 2001).]

[Rooboy 96]

Originally posted by Carey_is_King:
There is little doubt that our administration has been innovative, but has it really benefited the club ?

IMHO... without the administration we have... North or The Kangaroos would have been gone years ago...

Friday Night Footy
A huge success, and as soon as that became evident, we lost our "priority" position and the bigger (read wealthier) clubs took over the Friday night spot. Were we so naive to think that the Friday night spot would always be ours ? Did we not obtain any guarantees from the AFL ? Obviously not.
Yes... and we paid for it... sadly we trusted those we trust no longer...

Move to the MCG
What has it done for us ? I prefer it to any other, and so do most of the members surveyed last year, so what happens ? We play more "home" games at Colonial than we do at the MCG this year. What happened to "Members First" ?
if we had of stayed at Arden Street... people would be saying "North... Oh yes I remember them... didn't Ron Barassi coach them"

Away Jumper
What benefit have we gained from that ? I like them, and I think they look good, but so what ?
and a lot of other teams have stuffed this one up... our administration got it right first time...


Sydney
Well now we are really talking. Most members look upon Sydney as a bold initiative which, unfortunately, did not work so well. I look upon it as a poorly researched, ill informed decision, which has cost the club dearly. I know it's easy to be smart after the event, and I can hear others saying "come up with a better idea yourself", but the bottom line in the management of a football club is no different to the bottom line in business. You do your research, you allow for contingencies, and you ensure that a worst-case scenario will not cripple you.
you know what they say CIK... nobody likes a smartarse....

Innovative administration ? Yes, but with a string of good ideas which have not put dollars in the bank, and one which has taken a few out. I don't necessarily think they should be sacked, but I sincerely hope they have received a wake-up call from the $1.1M loss they have just announced.


a sting yes... but don't come telling me they don't do a damn good job...

[creator]

No one has convinced me that all is plain sailing at the Club.

I look at the Roos forum and see complaints that people are not getting membership renewals?

No one is responding to E Mail enquiries?

There are reports about monies owing to Broadmeadows council and builders over a gambling venture gone wrong?

There appears to be no attempt from the Club to clarify the situation .

From comments made on the Roos forum it is even hard to find out when the AGM is being held.

I find it all a little strange.

Thank God the footy is starting!!!!

creator
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light dispels the gloom of night
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[Carey_is_King]

Originally posted by Rooboy 96:
a sting yes... but don't come telling me they don't do a damn good job...

Rooboy,
They have done a good job, but that doesn't make them immune from criticism or errors.

I was not suggesting we should have stayed at Arden St, but we don't seem to want to stay at the MCG either, and it is the ground that the members prefer.

Jumper - I agreed it was good, but has it put a dollar in the bank ?

Yes I know, nobody likes a smartarse, but Sydney is/was a failure, yet I see Miller in today's paper still saying it is the future and he still believes in it.

I am not here telling you they have done a bad job, but I am telling you they have a failure on their hands, and in a purely business sense, it is not good enough. I worry that the whole thing is starting to come apart at the seams.



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Trample the Weak,
Hurdle the Dead.

[Fred]

Sorry to intrude, but I would like to give my thoughts as an outsider.
I was surprised to read the size of the loss, especially as 25000 members is more than a few of the Melbourne based clubs, ie Melb, Bulldogs, Saints. There may be more but I don't have the figures.
I was under the impression that the AFL subsidised the Sydney games and they didn't lose because of them.
So, given the foregoing and the fact that the Roos receive the same amount as other clubs from the AFL, why such a big loss?
To me, it points to the administration.
In effect, they have either spent 1.5m more than equivalent clubs, or received 1.5m less.
I hope the club survives without merging or relocating.
Thank you for your time.