Robbo Endorsed Caroline Wilson steps down as CFW at The Age

[yaco55]

Caro rarely attended post match pressers (IMO she should have attended them) and Hird knew this, which is why he made sure any open slather press conference was going to be one where Caro wouldn’t be there to ask any tough questions. Mark Stevens and Connolly were the senior journos in the room and they wouldn’t ask those questions at a post match presser. It was also a spontaneous decision to take questions about the scandal at that conference (Rodski attempted to wrap it up at first, but Hird stepped in and said he would allow questions)

And it was the worst press conference in the history of footy - We learnt nothing, absolutely nothing about that evening's game.

 

[Beerfish]

Why are the efc supporters so bent out of shape ?
She was proven right ...

Not bent out of shape but she basically won a Walkley for having a direct line to Vlad/Gil. Great investigative journalism there. Also the vitriol she sprayed at Hird on a daily basis helped paint him as some kind of monster and the doe eyed public lapped it up. Was he worthy of blame? Of course. Was he solely to blame? Not at all but they needed a 'face' and Vlad/Gil told her to make him 'it'.

 

[NMFCMUFC]

Why are the efc supporters so bent out of shape ?
She was proven right ...

I think it’s more the way she went about it Barrett copped it as well but Wilson’s writing style is quite personal and she portrays herself as the moral arbiter for all

 

[Wild Bill]

Not bent out of shape but she basically won a Walkley for having a direct line to Vlad/Gil. Great investigative journalism there. Also the vitriol she sprayed at Hird on a daily basis helped paint him as some kind of monster and the doe eyed public lapped it up. Was he worthy of blame? Of course. Was he solely to blame? Not at all but they needed a 'face' and Vlad/Gil told her to make him 'it'.

He said he was 100% responsible for what happened. That had to make him the main target. Others also got their fair share of attention as well.

 

[Wild Bill]

This is just one topic.


Roos must accept the inevitable ; FOOTBALL; Caroline Wilson
The Age (Melbourne) 12-2-2007

“THERE is a sense of inevitability about the Kangaroos and their uncertain future which, despite a lack of leadership and some procrastinating by the AFL, is looking more and more certain by the day.”

“Although the club is pushing for another season in a bid to make up its mind about a Gold Coast move, the truth is that fewer and fewer North Melbourne people believe the club can survive in its current form.”

“One month ago, Glenn Archer was being touted as a significant and symbolic catalyst for the Kangaroos and their fight to survive in Melbourne… But now Archer even admits that his club's chances of survival as a Melbourne-based entity are increasingly slim. As a symbol, his value for the Arden Street push has dropped significantly.”

“More importantly, the club has secured a promise from at least 75% of its controlling shareholders that they will support a move to the Gold Coast after a last-chance 2008 should James Brayshaw's somewhat flimsy, if well-meaning, plan fail to reach its equally flimsy objectives.”

“You might argue, as the Kangaroos have, that Andrew Demetriou has shifted the goal posts in speeding up the proceedings but it has been clear for almost two years that Demetriou wanted 22 games a year in southern Queensland well before 2015.”

“It is difficult to imagine a greener pasture for the club than southern Queensland… the AFL has never been wealthier and more steadfast in its belief that the Gold Coast must be infiltrated for the competition to remain on top of the game.”

“…the Kangaroos need a much stronger administration, and more competitive playing list to become a powerful new-look club in a bid to win supporters in a new region. None of that is going to happen until the Kangaroos make a commitment.”

“But never have the Kangaroos had more to gain, never have they looked more vulnerable and never has an AFL second chance looked more attractive.”

“John Magowan, the acting club chairman, does not want to be the one to flick the switch but you get the feeling he knows that flicked it must be.”

“The AFL must tell the club the deal will be removed from the table by January if it cannot make up its mind and refuse the Brayshaw option. And Magowan, the reluctant chief, knows what he must do then.


Roos' powerbrokers soften Coast stance ; FOOTBALL; Caroline Wilson
The Age (Melbourne) 11-30-2007

“THE Kangaroos' two most powerful shareholders, Bob Ansett and Peter de Rauch, have agreed to commit to a Gold Coast relocation within 12 months should the AFL accept James Brayshaw's one-year survival plan and it ultimately fails.”

“Acting club chairman John Magowan is believed to have secured 75 per cent of the club's shares, with the proviso that the AFL agrees to keep open its $20 million a year relocation package until the end of the 2008 season.”

“Under the Brayshaw plan, the Kangaroos will be given a year to reach a certain level of membership, boost the quality and quantity of their administration, secure a naming rights sponsor for Arden Street, improve corporate sponsorship and unite their board in a bid to be given another chance at survival.”

“Should the bid fail - as the AFL and key board members believe is inevitable - Magowan has secured an assurance from both de Rauch and Ansett, who control an estimated 40 per cent of the shares, to push forward to the Gold Coast.”

Roos face coast ban ; FOOTBALL; Caroline Wilson
The Age (Melbourne) 11-27-2007

“THE AFL will consider redrawing the 2008 fixture and pulling the Kangaroos out of Gold Coast games should they reject the league's $100 million relocation offer.”

“In what would prove a historic and unprecedented move, The Age understands the AFL now believes it would be impossible to expand into the northern market with the Kangaroos next season if they choose to remain a Melbourne-based club. The AFL fixture would be altered to put in place games more attractive and saleable to the Gold Coast market.”

“While the league has a deal to play seven Kangaroos home-and- away games at Carrara over the next two seasons - worth a total of $2.8 million to the club - it already has broached the possibility of a financial settlement with the divided Kangaroos board.”

“(Gillon) McLachlan, who refused last night to comment on negotiations, is also the AFL's manager in charge of the fixture.”

“While Brayshaw's faction - which includes directors Ron Joseph and Brayshaw's elder brother Mark, who has chosen to support his brother's one-year survival plan - claims the club cannot hope to reach a decision without a concrete stadium agreement, the AFL believes the group is using the Carrara issue as a delaying tactic.”

“The AFL is continuing to consider legal advice regarding the shareholders (of the club)…”

“While Collingwood has put its hand up to step into the Gold Coast market on a part-time basis, next year's fixture would more likely be made up of a variety of clubs playing home games at Carrara.

Pies launch bid for coast deal ; FOOTBALL; Caroline Wilson
The Age (Melbourne) 11-22-2007

“COLLINGWOOD has launched a radical plan to become the AFL's team on the Gold Coast with a proposal to play up to six games at Carrara as early as next season.”

“Magpies' president Eddie McGuire and his chief executive Gary Pert yesterday met AFL chiefs Mike Fitzpatrick and Andrew Demetriou and put forward the rival bid, assuring the AFL it would step into a new-look Gold Coast agreement should the Kangaroos reject the $100 million offer to move there.”

“The AFL did not totally reject revising next year's fixture given the reality that should the Kangaroos reject the league's proposal, their four games scheduled for 2008 would struggle to capture the hearts and minds of the Gold Coast public.”

“Should the, albeit left-field, offer by Collingwood be considered, the Magpies only interstate games would most likely take place at Carrara or the Gabba.”

Roos ask for an extra year ; FOOTBALL - AFL close to deal on Gold Coast stadium; Caroline Wilson
The Age (Melbourne) 11-21-2007

“THE Kangaroos have attempted to put off their historic relocation decision for 12 months, with acting chairman John Magowan yesterday asking the AFL Commission and its clubs to approve a one-year deadline extension for the club to build a survival plan in Melbourne.”

“However, The Age understands that even the anti-relocation faction on the Kangaroos' board has begun to seriously question whether the club could survive should it choose not to relocate.”

“The AFL also revealed to the clubs that it was on the verge of reaching a $120 million deal with the Queensland Government to fund the redevelopment of Carrara - a deal the Kangaroos have privately admitted could seal their decision to relocate.”

“Magowan, who is understood to be cautiously committed to the relocation proposal, indicated yesterday that his board had in principle accepted the terms of the AFL's package…”

“The Carrara deal involves a state government-led consortium that would follow a two-stage redevelopment worth a total $200 million and based on the Skilled Stadium model at Geelong, in which the first $120 million rebuilding would create an 18,000-seat venue and the second stage would create a 22,000-seat venue.”

“AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou revealed yesterday that he hoped to seal a deal with the Queensland Government in two weeks' time, a date which would coincide with the AFL's next large-scale meeting with the Kangaroos.”

“Demetriou said yesterday the state government's proposal hinged upon a fully Gold Coast-based club. He said should the Kangaroos vote against moving or should their shareholders reject the AFL's $3 million buyback proposal, work on a 17th licence would begin.”

Kangaroos pay price for dithering ; OPINION; Caroline Wilson
Sunday Age (Melbourne) 11-04-2007

“While the AFL is not blameless, the club's board has failed to be decisive about the Gold Coast.”

“…but even the most bitter Kangaroos rivals agree on one thing - the club's astonishing achievement in finishing third during this difficult and strife-torn season. In fact, what the Kangaroos achieved in 2007 almost could be described as a miracle, given all they were up against.”

“Not only did the Kangaroos pay their players as a group between $500,000 to $750,000 less than most of their opponents, but they operated with a dedicated but virtually skeleton full-time group of football staffers, not to mention a further dedicated group of part-timers who clearly worked well beyond their wages.”

“Nothing will change next season unless the club commits to relocation and the brave but risky new Gold Coast world.”

“Since 1999, the club has tried to forge new markets in Sydney, Canberra and the Gold Coast... If it stays in Melbourne, where would it sell itself next?”

“Even when Glenn Archer, seen by some as a spiritual saviour, broke Wayne Schimmelbusch's games record in August, he could not draw a decent crowd worthy of his work for the club.”

“In truth, the club has fiddled while Arden Street has burned.”

“(The AFL created) a competitive balance fund with a series of strict guidelines - stipulations that clearly have not been met by the Kangaroos. Yet still the money has come in.”

“Should the Kangaroos choose to remain at Arden Street - and the smart money is on Demetriou getting his way and overseeing a relocation - the club faces an uncertain future and a decade of hard slog and drudgery simply to remain alive. And it will have wasted the AFL's time and caused immeasurable heartache and angst for its small but loyal band of supporters.”

Roos short on cap ; FOOTBALL; Caroline Wilson
The Age (Melbourne) 11-03-2007

“THE Kangaroos are paying their players below the AFL's stipulated salary-cap requirements and have reneged on a pledge to plunge an extra $500,000 into their cash-strapped football department.”

“As the club continues to negotiate a potential relocation package to the Gold Coast with the AFL… frustrated AFL insiders have revealed that the Kangaroos' financial crisis remains so desperate that the required 92.5 per cent total player payments required by the league have not been met despite funding from the league.”

“…AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou and his commission have been working privately on the unlikely prospect of a 17th licence and are understood to have a potential consortium in place which has already conditionally raised $60 million.”

“Despite coach Dean Laidley's insistence upon a $500,000 injection into the club's under-resourced football department and the club's commitment to that, The Age understands that Laidley's overstretched staff will only receive an estimated 75 per cent of that next season.”

“(The AFL’s relocation package) includes eradication of the club's $4.25 million debt and a temporary Gold Coast zone, priority draft picks and a profitable new stadium deal along with bonuses for Melbourne-based members.”

“Given the Kangaroos' perilous finances, a reality delivered to the club again by the AFL three days ago, the 95 per cent salary- cap demand is effectively a Gold Coast clause.”

“…the AFL is understood to be considering a series of options in a bid to take on those North Melbourne shareholders opposing the move (to the Gold Coast).”

AFL splurges to tempt Roos ; FOOTBALL; Caroline Wilson
The Age (Melbourne) 11-02-2007

“THE AFL has vowed to pay out the Kangaroos' $4.25 million debt and spend a further $3 million buying out its shareholders as part of the Gold Coast relocation package to be laid out today in further detail to the club.”

“Not only has the AFL vowed to plough millions of dollars to underwrite the Kangaroos' potential move, its package, while still not completed, is also expected to include:
-A written guarantee of between seven and eight home-and-away games in Melbourne.
-A special deal for the club's Melbourne members.
-A promise to ensure the club's on-field success in the short- term via priority picks, further potential to pick up uncontracted players and a Gold Coast zone.
-Continuing support of Arden Street as a permanent Melbourne training base for the club and the wider community.
-State-of-the art training facilities and an AFL-funded marketing team to promote the team in the increasingly tough Gold Coast market.
-The multimillion-dollar investment in establishing a team on the Gold Coast also includes the redevelopment of Carrara - still the AFL's preferred venue - with more than $300 million and a stadium deal based on Geelong's Skilled Stadium model, in which the Cats profit to the tune of $30 a spectator.”

“With the board still divided and apparently controlled by maverick shareholders, the AFL Commission also is considering a series of legal options in the event the club's private ownership structure stands in the way of a decision to move north.”

“However, even (Glenn) Archer and (Denis) Pagan have conceded in interviews this week that the club's survival in Melbourne is not certain and have called for more time.”

“But the AFL will reiterate to Carter and Head today that it needs a decision before the end of the year, and while it did not rule out extending the 30-day deadline agreed to by both parties, it seems clear a 17th club is a real possibility.”

“While the AFL has not directly threatened to withdraw its funding from the club, the Kangaroos would lose their Gold Coast match revenue - $1.6 million in 2008 - and have no guarantee that the special assistance from the AFL would continue.”

AFL in Gold Coast ultimatum to Kangaroos - we're going with or without you; Martin Boulton and Caroline Wilson
The Age (Melbourne) 11-01-2007

“THE AFL has given the cash-strapped Kangaroos 30-days to agree to a permanent move to the Gold Coast - or the league will step up plans to establish a 17th team there from scratch.”

“The ultimatum to the Kangaroos board came during a two-hour meeting with AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou and chairman Mike Fitzpatrick.”

“ "The AFL is going to the Gold Coast and whether it's with the Kangaroos or anyone else we will be there," Demetriou said. "We will have no hesitation whatsoever in issuing a 17th licence." ”

“Demetriou told the club it had handled its business poorly over the past season, and did not rule out with- drawing the $1.4 million annual funding within two years.”

Extra teams AFL's plan B ; FOOTBALL - Demetriou warns Roos and offers alternative; Caroline Wilson
The Age (Melbourne) 11-01-2007

“AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou last night vowed to establish not only a 17th club on the Gold Coast but did not rule out an 18th club in Sydney beyond 2010 should the Kangaroos refuse to relocate to Queensland.”

“Demetriou left the Kangaroos directors under siege last night…”

“In his most meaningful confrontation with the club to date over the proposed relocation, Demetriou fell short of threatening the club but instead outlined its perilous financial circumstances and imposed a 30-day deadline upon the Kangaroos to reach a decision and promised to open negotiations regarding the proposed Gold Coast package.”

“With a majority of AFL clubs - including Sydney, the Western Bulldogs and Carlton - now prepared to oppose Collingwood and support the short-term prospect of a Gold Coast club, Demetriou vowed to make public the AFL's multi-million relocation package.”

“(Demetriou) told the North board he had been directed by the commission to admonish the club for its failure to comply with the special guidelines under its special assistance package and voiced his concern over its inability to appoint a new chairman.”

“(Demetriou) did not rule out withdrawing the Kangaroos $1.4 million annual funding within two years, accusing the club of failing to co-operate with the league's financial guidelines.”

“The club's lack of leadership and failure to face the prospect of relocation saw it appoint an independent consultant to deal with the AFL on the Gold Coast issue.”

“While North will make a small profit after the $2.6 million AFL 2007 injection, it still boasts a $4 million debt and has failed to put forward a business plan to the AFL nor kept the key financial executive Ian Anderson regularly informed of the club's finances.”

“It is that oversight that has empowered Demetriou to deliver the AFL's threat to cut the annual $1.4 million special funding to the club at the end of 2008. According to the commission, the Kangaroos have been negligent in meeting the criteria of that funding.”

“Coupled with the Kangaroos' alleged sloppy business performance is the fact that the club is privately owned and controlled by shareholders who have not put money into the club to make it sustainable in Melbourne and yet are preventing its proposed relocation.”

Pressure builds on Roos to move or lose funding; FOOTBALL; Caroline Wilson
The Age (Melbourne) 10-30-2007

“THE AFL is losing patience with the leaderless Kangaroos and is on the verge of threatening to withdraw its annual $1.4 million special funding of the club by the end of 2009.”

“(the AFL is) frustrated at the club's indecisiveness regarding its forecast relocation to the Gold Coast”

“Demetriou and the AFL Commission have moved to make it clear that league special funding will cease at the end of 2009.”

“The club has been told it could not survive without the AFL funding and is expected to run at a loss this season despite the annual financial boost”

“A final relocation decision would almost certainly take place in the coming weeks in the knowledge that the club could not survive without AFL support and that the league's proposed relocation package will not improve with time.”

“Ironically, the club's players and coaching staff, including Dean Laidley, are understood to strongly support the relocation in the belief they would no longer be forced to operate using relatively substandard training conditions.”

Roos draft allowances a no-go zone, say Pies ; FOOTBALL; Caroline Wilson
The Age (Melbourne) 10-23-2007

“COLLINGWOOD has threatened to take the AFL to court should it proceed with a plan to grant the Kangaroos a Gold Coast zone as part of a relocation package.”

“With further negotiations between the AFL and the Kangaroos board scheduled over the coming days on the sensitive subject of a permanent move to Queensland by 2010”

“While the Kangaroos board remains divided over relocating, club directors Stephen Head and Andrew Carter are continuing to pursue the exercise with the AFL executive”

“The independently funded Gemba report into the club's future said the Kangaroos could not survive in Melbourne with their current Telstra Dome agreement and without extra AFL support. The club is funded to the tune of $2.6 million a year with $1.2 million of that amount coming from the competition's underwriting of matches played at Carrara”

At least she has put her hand up to admit she got it wrong. Brayshaw and co have done a great job to turn our club around and nearly debt free after drowning in debt for years.

 

[Snake_Baker]

At least she has put her hand up to admit she got it wrong. Brayshaw and co have done a great job to turn our club around and nearly debt free after drowning in debt for years.

Journalists are not supposed to get things wrong, especially when it involves weeks of work and a couple of dozen articles.

This would be considered a major stuff up in just about any other professional field.

 

[brutus76]

Goodbye and good riddance to Trashaline "I refuse to admit my father was responsible of the Tigers decline from the 80s onwards despite it being publicly known" Wilson

 

[Topkent]

Good on her, sure she's biased as hell and make no friends but she writes some insightful things. She's miles better than Robert Walls but gets ten times the hate, we all know why that is

Your kidding me. She was the chief football writer who never wrote a single thing about football. She was a gutter journalist who rose to the top tarnishing other people while always playing the sexist card anytime someone stood up to her

 

[basashi]

I think Caroline Wilson was quite a good journalist on the business of football (if not the game of football) but she really did the wrong thing in one area: the treatment of the two AFL staffers who had romantic relationships with co-workers.

Her profoundly incorrect stance on the matter was a great discredit to her career.

 

[Frank Gallagher]

What would be the result of Carro and Mike having a baby?

 

[workhorse]

Love or hate Finey, this is still one of the best few minutes of radio I remember listening to live.

 

[schmuttt]

Your kidding me. She was the chief football writer who never wrote a single thing about football. She was a gutter journalist who rose to the top tarnishing other people while always playing the sexist card anytime someone stood up to her

When did she ever play the sexist card?

 

[Topkent]

When did she ever play the sexist card?

On footy classified literally every time someone questioned her she would say that it was 'sexist'. Was happy to fire bullets at everyone but immediately played the victim card when anyone fired back

 

[Ishmael_]

I don't know if there is a better thread for this, but I quite liked her attack on Kennett and the doublespeak crippling Tasmanian football. It's a bit ad hominem for a reporter, but I don't mind it at all as an opinion writer now (Although really, you could argue the change is only technical). I can't argue with her.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/ca...n/news-story/11bffa72ade5ce0d70ba38427db83d0b