How long will we be down the bottom?

[The question]

[/b]

Never! The only thing saving MFC is it's name, simple as that.

I agree that the MFC name will save us but I worry that to talk about a 5 year rebuild is too long. The problem is that our older players can be disappointing and they should be the basis on which we build a team. There is a real need for key position players especially down the spine.

 

[davey_magik]

The question, change your team to Melbourne and then we'll talk to you. I don't like aliases/trolls on our board.

 

[Obbie]

I want the rebuild to take as long as it takes. What I want as a long suffering Melbourne supporter is for once in my life to see a Melbourne side as a true powerhouse of the competition. A Club that can finish top 4 for several consecutive years, seriously challenge for the flag and maybe win a flag.

I want a side that will win 70% or more of it's games over a 3 to 5 year period.
What I want is a stronger more successful period of success than the Daniher years. Do the research and find out under Daniher, Melbourne lost more matches than it won. When I was at school less than 50% was as fail.
Yes, I know 6 finals campaigns in 9 and a half seasons sounds impressive. Yes Daniher may have overachieved with the players at his disposal. i don't want to argue history. But the win loss record meant we lost slightly more than one in every two games club played in Daniher's 200 odd games as coach.
I'm not interested in rising up the ladder quickly to be a side that will finish somewhere between 5 to 8 for a few seasons.
Yes I know it's bloody hard to win a flag. A flag is the icing on the cake.
This as we all know is a very crucial time for the club. It may well be the last roll of the dice for Melbourne.

We have to trust Stynes and Bailey that the course of action chosen will in hindsight prove to have been the correct action.

How long will we be down the bottom?
Certainly 2009 somewhere in the bottom 6 and 2010 somewhere in bottom 8 probably b/w 9th to 14th. I believe this is a pretty realistic range.

What's most important to me is that the rebuild proves to be successful. Our club needs to rebuild correctly as Hawthorn appear to have done and not do a Richmond. Remember both Hawthorn and Richmond respectively lost preliminary finals in 2001 yet seven years later Hawthorn challenge for the premiership while Richmond are well Richmond. Smack bang in middle of the ladder nowhere near winning the premiership this year and I suspect for a few years to come.

Lastly, see you all at the "G" this Saturday.
This is a great chance to win this week. I'm taking my son in his new MFC jumper.
Go Dees!

 

[DetoNaitanui]

Good call Obbie, there's no point just trying to get some fake success like Richmond have for the last 20 years... It'll take as long as it needs to!

 

[The Dr]

I want the rebuild to take as long as it takes. What I want as a long suffering Melbourne supporter is for once in my life to see a Melbourne side as a true powerhouse of the competition. A Club that can finish top 4 for several consecutive years, seriously challenge for the flag and maybe win a flag.

I want a side that will win 70% or more of it's games over a 3 to 5 year period.
What I want is a stronger more successful period of success than the Daniher years. Do the research and find out under Daniher, Melbourne lost more matches than it won. When I was at school less than 50% was as fail.
Yes, I know 6 finals campaigns in 9 and a half seasons sounds impressive. Yes Daniher may have overachieved with the players at his disposal. i don't want to argue history. But the win loss record meant we lost slightly more than one in every two games club played in Daniher's 200 odd games as coach.
I'm not interested in rising up the ladder quickly to be a side that will finish somewhere between 5 to 8 for a few seasons.
Yes I know it's bloody hard to win a flag. A flag is the icing on the cake.
This as we all know is a very crucial time for the club. It may well be the last roll of the dice for Melbourne.

We have to trust Stynes and Bailey that the course of action chosen will in hindsight prove to have been the correct action.

How long will we be down the bottom?
Certainly 2009 somewhere in the bottom 6 and 2010 somewhere in bottom 8 probably b/w 9th to 14th. I believe this is a pretty realistic range.

What's most important to me is that the rebuild proves to be successful. Our club needs to rebuild correctly as Hawthorn appear to have done and not do a Richmond. Remember both Hawthorn and Richmond respectively lost preliminary finals in 2001 yet seven years later Hawthorn challenge for the premiership while Richmond are well Richmond. Smack bang in middle of the ladder nowhere near winning the premiership this year and I suspect for a few years to come.

Lastly, see you all at the "G" this Saturday.
This is a great chance to win this week. I'm taking my son in his new MFC jumper.
Go Dees!

That is one of the more intelligent, thoughtful posts I've ever read in big footy. I've highlighted the parts I especially enjoyed.

I reckon you're spot on there Obbie. I am sick of us having sporadic periods of success sandwiched imbetween years of total hopelesness.

Sure, we've played finals, even made the GF almost a decade ago now, but what I'd give to be one of those clubs where you are supremely confident at the start of each year that you'll be playing finals and possibly even challenging.

I thought that may be the case at the start of 2007, after 2 very good years, but injuries cruelled us and we haven't recovered at all. Hopefully what Jim and Bailey are doing now is the start of such recovery.

These past two years have been really hard. Awful, embarassing and just plain shite. But, as long as we are putting in the things in place on and off the field to ensure we can really flourish from, say, 2011 onwards, I'll cop these years of shitness.

I have confidence we are, but I just hope it's not just for one or two years, it's for an extended period of time.

 

[RandB]

Good call Obbie, there's no point just trying to get some fake success like Richmond have for the last 20 years... It'll take as long as it needs to!

I think it is fair to say that Richmond haven't even had that in the last 20 years...

Back OT I think what we all want is a point where we are in control of our own destiny and yes that will take some hard work to establish. Just think though, if we can cement ourselves with new facilities and better off field dynamics we certainly have the makings of something decent given the amount of youth we have and this years picks also.

Does anyone know what our red line is with respect to our debt? Is there an "acceptable" level to at least get down to by the end of this year to be safe or are we in serious strife if it all doesn't get demolished?

 

[McLean_4_Captain]

I believe the number Jimmy has thrown around is to wipe off $3mil. So that would leave us with a debt of about about $2mil, most of which would be the loss we've made this year, so if we can manage to turn a profit next year, even if it's a small one, then other clubs will be in a worse position then us.

I think we need to have a big turn around like that, to prove to the AFL that we're still viable. A big fundraiser is all well and good at wiping off the debt, but we can't expect to do it every year and it doesn't mean much if we run at another $2mil loss next year and our debt fluctuates like our ladder position under daniher.

 

[BETON5]

I believe the number Jimmy has thrown around is to wipe off $3mil. So that would leave us with a debt of about about $2mil, most of which would be the loss we've made this year, so if we can manage to turn a profit next year, even if it's a small one, then other clubs will be in a worse position then us.

I think we need to have a big turn around like that, to prove to the AFL that we're still viable. A big fundraiser is all well and good at wiping off the debt, but we can't expect to do it every year and it doesn't mean much if we run at another $2mil loss next year and our debt fluctuates like our ladder position under daniher.

It would be fair to say that i would be expecting our group to play finals in 2010.

 

[davey_magik]

We will be getting another 1.5m from the AFL this season apparently as Jimmy has come in and done a decent job already so the AFL have agreed to give us more funding (This is all IIRC so don't quote me on it).

The debt we have now includes the loss we'll have at the end of the season so if we can get it down to 2m that would be a huge achievement.

 

[McLean_4_Captain]

You're right about the $1.5mil, it was reported in the article last week about Fox meeting with Vlad and the MCC chairman. It said something along the lines of "the AFL & MCC have confirmed that they're happy with the people Jimmy's brought in on the board and that they would be giving us $1.5mil for 2009."