agm - kick em out ?

[StrengthThroughLoyalty]

most of us have ridiculed scott dennison for his stand against the board, mainly because he is as an unintelligent twat who is stirring up trouble at the club when all we want is stability.

but despite what we think of dennison i still believe that he was right to try and bring the board to account for the events that happened during the year. the hiring and sacking of blight was handled very unprofessionally and the appointment of thomas was farcical. if thomas was the best man for the job then why didn't they just appoint him instead of treating us as morons by trying to justify a process that didn't happen.

we would all like to put these events behind us and move on and hope for the best, but as a voting member of the club i feel it would be irresponsible not to demonstrate to the board that i am not happy with what happened during the year and demand that they outline their plans that will ensure our long term survival. we are in a precarious financial situation and we know that our club is one of the clubs that the afl want out of the league.

i am still very uncomfortable with rod butterss as president, he is now damaged goods. it would be fantastic if jim watts could take over because he is an exceptional operator and would do a great job, unfortunately he hasn't the time to take it on.

the agm is coming up next month and i hope members don't just accept what the board has to say. i don't want a witch hunt and can't see any value in laying blame at the feet of the board but i still want to know what steps the board are taking to ensure our long term future, and all saints members should demand to know at least this much from the board. don't ever believe the line that 'we have survived for over 100 years and we are still here' because the nature of the league has changed dramatically. it is not 12 teams in melbourne any more (unfortunately) it is a national competition and melbourne will not sustain all the clubs in this structure forever.

when st kilda were successful in 1997 the afl experienced the biggest percentage increase in attendances in it's history. if we can have some sustained on field success i believe that we and the afl can capitalise on a rich and untapped vein of gold from our latent supporter base. the increases in our membership last year counted for over 40% of the increase in all afl memberships, not bad considering we were coming off a wooden spoon year. personally i believe grant thomas has the correct attributes to become a very good coach, he has done everything right since he has taken over from blight, but if we are to survive as a club he must make this team successful within the next 3 years.

we are st kilda.

 

[Darkhour]

STL
I think you'll find that this year was a big lesson to Butters and it'll be different next year.. trust me.. there is nothing wrong with making the board accountable for their actions but as G.T has said.. we have to earn respect on the field and the rest will follow...

 

[sainter]

That's a fair enough call STL.

I don't think gathering 100 petitions and trying to cause a spill of the board was the right way for Dennison to go about making his point. Surely he could have just ran for one of the vacancies left by the retiring members and try to make his point that way. Still, I reckon the guy is a dead set tosser and I won't give him the time of day.

You are definitely right though, the board do need to be made accountable in some way for their mistakes. They let the excitement of hiring Blight cloud their judgement and they certainly didn't handle the appointment of Grant Thomas well at all. Hopefully this will be bought up by some members at the AGM. Voting for Dennison isn't the answer in my opinion, I'd prefer to watch a Collingwood premiership than vote for him.

I don't have a problem with Rod. I reckon he's great for the job. He's made a few mistakes and said a few things he shouldn't have said but I think he'll learn from that. He has some big ideas and is the kind of person I'm prepared to put my faith in. Brian Waldron, while unproven as a CEO, has a great deal of experience and he will do a great job.

Success on the field is crucial to our survival. A successful era for the St Kilda Football Club would allow us to increase our membership figure to that of the larger Victorian teams and ensure our survival. Another three years in a similar position to where we are now, I fear for our future.