Saints re-engage Moorabbin

[linz]

There is plenty of room to expand at Seaford.

Why can't we use both facilities and make it a strength?

I agree, we should be looking at promoting the Southern Saints. This extends from St Kilda to Frankston and beyond.
2 facilities are great. We need to follow up with aggressive marketing incentives for local businesses to be involved also.
I too was perplexed when we moved from Moorabbin.
We need to take stock and move on. As always.

[Teflon]

Fair call.

I find your "players over for dinner parties" stuff amusing...What was that bout making stuff up?

If people come over and they play for the Saints and they have dinner you can call it a dinner party. I call it dinner with friends. Dont know what that has got to do with making things up though.

Sure...

How you finding the weather over in Boulder at the moment......I mean... being so close to the team as you are...lol

[Teflon]

Damned if we do; damned if we don't

Yes, do lets do both.... cause that makes sense...

[bobmurray]

Damned if we do; damned if we don't

Yes, do lets do both.... cause that makes sense...

Gee...you're on a roll......plumbers tape....

[cwrcyn]

It wasn't just the Scotsman who couldn't get the Moorabbin deal done. Don't forget that Rod Butterss had been hammering away at this for at least a couple of years, also. The council at the time was filled with those who had delusions of grandeur, thinking Moorabbin was the new Brighton, and that the pokies were a blight on their 'posh' suburb. And a football club, oh dear, that's just so not Brighton. We'd prefer something that will reflect our prestigious standing as a well to do bayside suburb. Isn't that right, Topsey darling!? They were probably hanging out for St Kilda to drop their lease on the ground, so that some developer friends could build a few hundred apartments on the site (this may very well have been their rationale the whole time, and I mean that seriously). Thankfully, our administration left with the lease still in their possession, and that would have infuriated Topsey and her cronies. Do any of us believe that the site would not have been sold off to a developer, otherwise??

There was also the issue of the extremely stubborn bowling club, who would not re-locate a couple of hundred metres from their South Road frontage.

We can all slam our administration for not getting things done, but when you're dealing with delusional, power drunk councillors (par for the course, really), it's pretty hard to get anything done. The club could have seen itself sitting on a pile of shite for at least 10 years or more if it had not done something about an alternative. A lot of it also comes back to money, and our constant lack of it.


I agree with a previous poster. Damned if we do, damned if we don't. What's probably happened in the interim, is that the nuff nuff previous councillors have moved on and some pro-Saints have move into the council chambers. The fact that the property market is on the slide may also be a factor. Opportunity finally comes knocking for us.

This constant 'oh, typical St Kilda' criticism really riles me. It's the standard fall back position of talentless journos, not the kind of thing I would expect from our supporters. Remember, we've had Demetriou in charge of the AFL for that whole period, and his furious hatred of Grant Thomas meant that the AFL would not do anything to support St Kilda's attempts to work out things with the council at that time. I'm sure that if we had had a supportive ALF chief at that time, the outcome might have been different ( yes, I know - might have been).





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[HitTheBoundary]

Nice post cwrcyn.

If we return to Moorabbin in some capacity it may also be that our short absence will act as a positive, i.e. the local community and traders may have experienced a let down without the Saints there, so it could be a case of "don't know what you've got until it's gone", and the second time around may be different.

It'd certainly be interesting to see what the Saints could do with council support.

[StThomo]

Wonderful news.
Very pleasing to see the admin at least testing the water to move back to where they should have stayed. Terrible decision at the time.

[saintlee]

Is there any reason for us not to use both grounds for different purposes? I would have thought it best to stay with Seaford as the core training base and rent out Moorabbin to junior clubs, or maybe VFL clubs....

[Jakes]

There was also the issue of the extremely stubborn bowling club, who would not re-locate a couple of hundred metres from their South Road frontage.
.

Can categorically state the bowling club were all for the move. My former manager was a member at the time and he was pissed off the deal collapsed, because moving down the road was to provide much better facilities for them too, I think over the carpark.

[barks4eva]

This is embarrassing when you look at how the bigger clubs manage this.

We leave Moorabbin , build a state of the art facility at Seaford and in 2 yrs have apparently outgrown it?

What a shambles, complete short sighted waste of cash by incompetents.

We are a laughing stock - reading that Greg just hasn't found a plausible enough reason for us to admit we frigged up and need to go back to Moorabbin.

Barks 4 Eva must be pissing himself."

The current board led by Westaway completely stuffed this up ~ I raised objections to this at the 2008 AGM and a throng of sheep attempted unsuccessfully to howl me down ~ I spoke with a prominent board member in private and warned him this would be a huge mistake ~ I had a private meeting with Archie Fraser who promised to show me documents supporting his claim in response to a question at the AGM as to whether there was evidence that other options had been canvassed ~ in front of around 500 members he bluffed and said he had no problem in showing me evidence ~ first thing he said at the meeting in private was he would not be showing me any documents or evidence that he promised to do in front of the members ~ basically he lied

The current board stupidly agreed to a white board presentation Fraser made of the benefits of a re location to Seaford and being the vacuous, laterally challenged, shadow boxing, cheese eating surrender monkeys that they are ~ signed off on it

When the current board ousted Butters who was currently attempting a move back to St kilda ~ Footy First announced within five minutes that the club was relocating without ever having made one mention of it while they sought the members vote

Disingenuous at best ~ a cowardly, opportunistic grab for power without any of the spin associated with their " we will listen to the members " ~ they have done anything but and now after Westaway is on record as saying the home jumper is untouchable and how much of a traditionalist he is ~ two years in a row they've made alterations to the home jumper without any consultation whatsoever

I only hope the new board members make changes and listen to the members because footy first have been nothing short of devious and diabolical and shown themselves up for the dumbed down dingbats of discombobulation that they are

Only two years on and now these clowns realise AFTER the event that Seaford is in fact a white elephant

They cannot say I did not tell them because I made the entire board fully aware of this REALITY and warned them accordingly

Perspicacity and perspicuity are not the strong suit of Footy First

[barks4eva]

This constant 'oh, typical St Kilda' criticism really riles me. It's the standard fall back position of talentless journos, not the kind of thing I would expect from our supporters. Remember, we've had Demetriou in charge of the AFL for that whole period, and his furious hatred of Grant Thomas meant that the AFL would not do anything to support St Kilda's attempts to work out things with the council at that time. I'm sure that if we had had a supportive ALF chief at that time, the outcome might have been different ( yes, I know - might have been).





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Butterss was finally IN with Demetriou and city hall at the time he was deposed

If Butterss had stayed the support from the AFL was coming

Footy First put an end to that

The wheel was starting to turn and then Footy First

[Dr Spaceman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah......











.....but how tall is Tom Lee?

[bergholt]

The current board led by Westaway completely stuffed this up...

The current board? Weren't four of them only appointed to the board a month ago? How much culpability can possibly be assigned to them?

[plugger66]

Fair call.

I find your "players over for dinner parties" stuff amusing...What was that bout making stuff up?

If people come over and they play for the Saints and they have dinner you can call it a dinner party. I call it dinner with friends. Dont know what that has got to do with making things up though.

Sure...

How you finding the weather over in Boulder at the moment......I mean... being so close to the team as you are...lol

Why dont you comment on what I actually say instead of making things up. You want to come around as well one night? Im sure a few players will need a laugh after being away so long.

[Dave McNamara]

We are an AFL footy club for Gawd's sake! Surely we must have influence!?!
We must have been able to 'influence' enough individual councillors.
If that failed, stack the bloody council!
Councillors come and go..., some end up under buses...

I never understood why we didn't just bide our time for a bit longer...?

However, all is not lost... We still have the lease! Puurrrrecious!
Also, don't we actually own the Seaford establishment... as in, after almost 140 years we actually have a tangible (and appreciating) assest on our books(?)

I have a dream!

It won't happen over night, but our people will one day return to Moorabbin, and eventually re-establish in Linton Street our once magnificent Persepolis, our suburban fortress, our monument to all that is great about the St Kilda civilization..., and most importantly, a place where all unbelievers who set foot tremble before the Animal Enclosure.

Come on Saintas Board. Vision! Big picture! (Shell/Orica/Wal-Mart/AV Jennings/Andrew from Hawthorn corporate backing???)

Make these things happen!

We will rebuild!






Whoops! I meant...

[Dave McNamara]

Why dont you comment on what I actually say instead of making things up. You want to come around as well one night? Im sure a few players will need a laugh after being away so long.

I reckon plenty of us would love to come round one night and meet a few of the players.

Might be a bit of a cruel and unusual punishment for those poor players though...?

[joffaboy]

[]

We'll then fall out with Kingston cause we want 45 porkies and they only allow 44 before deciding to open negotiations with Casey.

Too many porkies already been said

AND.... barks and Thommo agreeing on something - worlds collide

[matrix]

i felt the ground shake 750 odd kms away

[stinger]

Come on Saintas Board. Vision! Big picture! Andrew from Hawthorn corporate backing???)

bahahahahahaha......you really are a newbie dave.....