Official Club Stuff New Western Bulldogs Chief Executive Officer - David Stevenson

[Cede Nullis]

I think a big part of Stevo's job will be ensuring Edgewater goes well. My only concern is that we have two non football people in the top 2 positions (Graham Lowe and Stevo). I'd like to see a footy person in Lowe's role personally to get that balance.

Can't knock Stevo's resume. Rather a business person in charge than what we had though (no offence to Simon).

Edgewater will be a big part, but also increasing our exposure and driving membership. Reckon he might have already had a word to Gil about our lack of Friday night games.

 

[oldcrowgirl]

Thanks mate. After sitting through the 97 & 98 prelims I can honestly say Crows are my second favourite SA side.

I totally understand your sentiment. My favourite niece is a Doggies supporter, so that is probably part of my feeling for WB. Also, I really like Bob Murphy from 360 last year. The feeling around the Crows is massive excitement at the moment. It was great to see the back of Trigg who was our CEO during the disgusting Tippett saga. The Doggies have appointed a coach who has started really well and Murphy as captain and a new CEO, who just might be the goods. Best of luck!

 

[King Bont]

That is not the image I want our club to portray.

Wouldn't be a good look

 

[Ant_]

Thanks mate. After sitting through the 97 & 98 prelims I can honestly say Crows are my second favourite SA side.

Funny enough I hated the crows for a long time after '97. More because of the actions of the crowd then their comeback

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

I like that his favourite player is Liam Picken, probably the least glamorous player at the club.

 

[Cede Nullis]

I totally understand your sentiment. My favourite niece is a Doggies supporter, so that is probably part of my feeling for WB. Also, I really like Bob Murphy from 360 last year. The feeling around the Crows is massive excitement at the moment. It was great to see the back of Trigg who was our CEO during the disgusting Tippett saga. The Doggies have appointed a coach who has started really well and Murphy as captain and a new CEO, who just might be the goods. Best of luck!

Well my wife is a Crows supporter, so I wish you guys luck too (just not too much). Crows will be certainly playing finals this year.

 

[BRWB]

Having worked for one of the biggest brands in the world, the other thing Stevo will bring is an intricate knowledge of brand awareness and all that entails. Particularly the effect exposure has on a brand (or lack thereof)....that's right AFL - farking exposure!!

 

[Cede Nullis]

Having worked for one of the biggest brands in the world, the other thing Stevo will bring is an intricate knowledge of brand awareness and all that entails. Particularly the effect exposure has on a brand (or lack thereof)....that's right AFL - farking exposure!!

Exactly! Apparently The Bont is now sponsored by Nike. If Nike are putting their money here, I think they would be looking for more exposure. Think it's reasonable that the best young talent in the game can get a Friday night gig and more FTA time, but we are dealing with the AFL and Seven. We'll know how effective Stevo has been as soon as the 2016 fixture is released.

 

[Oor Wally]

In the 70's and 80" I was always spruiking that Footscray if they won a premiership we would become the biggest club in the Vfl {afl] was always called a Fxxxxn idiot My words may be coming true.Also I hear Tiger Woods is our players new golf coach and Ronaldo our new diving for frees coach

 

[immortalmike]

Not entirely sure with the appointment. Would probably have preferred a football person. But he is undoubtedly credentialed and seems to be completely on board, hopefully he bucks the trend and is able to achieve his vision.

 

[Turtle3]

Exactly! Apparently The Bont is now sponsored by Nike. If Nike are putting their money here, I think they would be looking for more exposure. Think it's reasonable that the best young talent in the game can get a Friday night gig and more FTA time, but we are dealing with the AFL and Seven. We'll know how effective Stevo has been as soon as the 2016 fixture is released.

To be fair we were a crap team to look at last year. From a purely commercial and unbiased standpoint I would not have scheduled us with any Friday nights this year (also wouldn't have scheduled 5 or 6 Carlton games either but that's a separate point). If we continue to play electrifying footy for the rest of the year and continue to be the good news story with the brilliant batch of young kids we will get 3-5 Friday nights irrespective of the CEO.

 

[TiAn_]

That's ok, I'm not taking it personally.

I'm not questioning the mans experience, merely pointing out that the corporate world is a different beast to sports administration.

There is a significant difference between members of a footbal club and share holders in a company. Most share holders couldn't care less if a company was liquidated or merged or relocated if that was what was best for the bottom line. None of those things would go down so well with us.

I also never said that big dollar differentials can only be achieved by selling out the interest of the fans, but there is always scope for a club to make money by selling games and the like, and while I understand that this is part of us being financially succesfull it is not always in the fans best interests. There needs to be a balance.

I'll admit that I have very little knowledge or even interest in corporate governance, but I just wanted to raise some (as I said minor) concerns I have with the appointment.

I would love to hear the opinions of some people who have more background in this sort of stuff.

Just because you mentioned it, I'm a corporate lawyer and insolvency is one of my major practices, so I deal with liquidations and corporate governance every day.

I accept your point that selling games interstate isn't in (Victorian) fans' best interests and I hope that we can avoid that. I do take a lot of comfort from the fact he doesn't come from a non-sporting background - Nike is arguably the biggest "sporting" corporation in the world.

 

[Cede Nullis]

To be fair we were a crap team to look at last year. From a purely commercial and unbiased standpoint I would not have scheduled us with any Friday nights this year (also wouldn't have scheduled 5 or 6 Carlton games either but that's a separate point). If we continue to play electrifying footy for the rest of the year and continue to be the good news story with the brilliant batch of young kids we will get 3-5 Friday nights irrespective of the CEO.

St. Kilda were crap last year and they have Collingwood on Friday night. Don't get me started on Carlton. Hope your right about 3-5 Fridays next year, but don't count on it. Clearly the AFL & 7 have us at the bottom of the list. We need a bigger voice (we have the young kids) that has some real influence. Hope Stevo steps up.

 

[Ghenghis]

With Dave coming from a background at Nike, he seems perfect for the Bulldogs.
I know that for years I have been screaming out 'Just kick it' whenever some of our players had the ball.

 

[BRWB]

Not entirely sure with the appointment. Would probably have preferred a football person. But he is undoubtedly credentialed and seems to be completely on board, hopefully he bucks the trend and is able to achieve his vision.

Completely agree. However, I would suggest you hire your best option as CEO then build a team to complement him. I still don't understand how Graham Lowe can be Football Manager with no footy background (plus what happened last year). Hope Lowe is moved on personally and a football person to complement Stevo is hired.

 

[Snake Livermore]

Well, everyone gets promoted to their level of incompetence. Let's hope dogs CEO doesn't turn out to be Stevo's level of incompetence. By God he's got a job on his hands...

 

[Cudi]

I think a big part of Stevo's job will be ensuring Edgewater goes well. My only concern is that we have two non football people in the top 2 positions (Graham Lowe and Stevo). I'd like to see a footy person in Lowe's role personally to get that balance.

Can't knock Stevo's resume. Rather a business person in charge than what we had though (no offence to Simon).

I'm not too worried about this as we have Ben Graham who works very closely with Lowe.

 

[godoggies15]

Yes, I understand that the CEO is a business position.

My concern is that a guy coming in with a purely business background will only be interested in dollars and cents and may not be concerned with the human side of the football club. I’m not sure you run an organisation built on members in the same ruthless and uncaring way you can a billion dollar corporation.

I genuinely hope that sports administration is a direction he wants his career to move into and not just a stepping stone back to Melbourne and onto his next business role.

It is only a minor concern but a concern none the less. I take solace in the fact that I trust Peter Gordon to be sure that he is not putting our club in the hands of someone who would sell out the interests of the fans to show a big dollar differential on his resume for his next potential employer.

Really hoping that this appointment is as succesfull as most of our other moves of recent times, as we are entering a period that will be pivotal to the future of our club.

Think Cambell Rose...who was/is purely a business person...yet he did great things for the doggies

 

[Fossie 32]

Yes this sounds fair enough. Obviously it's good if we work toward not being underdogs so people won't need to feel sorry for us but don't see a problem with being people's second team if it's because we are a good club. And I think its reasonable for people to feel for the underdog etc.
Sounds like a good appointment.

You're right.

My view on the "we don't want to be everybody's second favourite team" angle.

1. We don't want to everybody's second team, we want to be people's number one team.
2. We have to shed the unlucky losers tag.
3. We shouldn't seek to be hated, but to be feared.

We can still be feared and be the team that everybody wants to have success (i.e Swans in 2005).

As for the new CEO, I think it's a watershed moment for the club. Great appointment on the surface.

 

[paulveed]

I am not suggesting I am in any way averse to David's appointment, I congratulate him, and wish him luck with the role.

But I must admit to a little surprise here. Am I wrong in my recollection that when Peter G was discussing the end of Simon's
position, didn't he state something to the effect that it was going to be important to select a candidate with significant
experience in venue management ? This particularly with Edgewater due to come on line this year, along with our involvement
in managing other venues.
I wonder if this means then that we will be creating another management position within our structure, specifically to control
venue operations for the club?
The other thing I thought I recall PG saying, was that they wanted the new person up and running by June.

As I say I hope this turns out to be an inspired appointment for both the Club, and David.

At the very least, I hope he can get Jackson Mac a set of footy boots with some tread.

 

[SWest75]

At the very least, I hope he can get Jackson Mac a set of footy boots with some tread.

I've been on about this too. Hope Macrae hasn't signed a deal with Puma because they need sorting out pronto!

Great appointment Doggies. Onwards and upwards now

 

[lachy]

Ballsy appointment. A CEO is not a football appointment, though it is good he does have a feel for the games as the football business is a different sector of the economy unique to southern Australia

 

[immortalmike]

Completely agree. However, I would suggest you hire your best option as CEO then build a team to complement him. I still don't understand how Graham Lowe can be Football Manager with no footy background (plus what happened last year). Hope Lowe is moved on personally and a football person to complement Stevo is hired.

I think Lowe was an example of us trying to innovate. I'm unsure as to whether it has worked. I do think we are lacking a senior football administrator that has experience and has had success. Hopefully that is our next appointment.

Think Cambell Rose...who was/is purely a business person...yet he did great things for the doggies

He also made some terrible mistakes with on-field ramifications. I think he along with Smorgon overall were our best ever administrators but unfortunately this is mostly due to their competition. Both were quite adequate at their jobs but neither were without peer, this is what I want for our football club.

 

[RedWhite&Blue]

St. Kilda were crap last year and they have Collingwood on Friday night. Don't get me started on Carlton. Hope your right about 3-5 Fridays next year, but don't count on it. Clearly the AFL & 7 have us at the bottom of the list. We need a bigger voice (we have the young kids) that has some real influence. Hope Stevo steps up.

Gill McLoughlan is a St Kilda supporter so they will always get a preferable draw while he is in charge.

 

[DexterTan]

Hmm... Obviously I will reserve judgement & I do trust the club to have made the right call, but I can't say I'm thrilled with the appointment.

No real back ground in sports administration and comes across as a bit of a schmoozer. Never really had much time for business types.

But what would I know. Glad we've finally got our man anyway.

Very humble fella you are.