St Kilda, a club in crisis. The Age

[Fidelis]

The Etihad deal I believe came about as the AFL forced us to leave VFL Park against our wishes, and was I believe a not negotiable deal.

I’m a little fuzzy on this but my memory is that the clubs who were playing out of VFL Park were encouraged by the AFL to find alternative deals. I think that we were being courted by both Docklands and the MCG at the time (off the back of successful years in 97/98 when we began to pull big crowds). I seem to remember that the Docklands sales pitch was that because the stadium capacity was only 50,000, there would regularly be sell out games and fans would swarm to take up memberships because this would be the only way they could guarantee seats. Alas, we went with the (false)promise of increased memberships. The AFL encouraged us by guaranteeing a certain income (irrespective of attendances) for a number of years. Hawthorn (a fellow Waverley tenant) held out and landed a deal with the MCG.

[whiskers3614]

(dating c ockheads).

drop the c, and add another e...

Bit of both probably!

[ozrulestrace]

http://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act ... 6756713307


Lucky he doesnt play for the saints other wise that "culture" word would be thrown around.

Sam Fisher is now with Franklin's ex GF.
Looks like she suffers from the "Liz Hurleys"(dating c ockheads).
Symptom of bad culture for Fisher to even be mixing in the same circles as Buddy?

I was thinking the same, she flits from bad boy to bad boy as long as it's a footballer she'll hang off the arm of anyone.

Wonder if she'll last longer than "Miss Adelaide Beer and Skittles" or whatever her title from a few years back?

Introduced by Dusty?

[gringo]

What if we had won one of the Grand finals? The 'play' is the thing mate. We nearly won two grand finals while under 'his watch' as you put it. The club is in dissaray financially because of a sh*th*use deal we got at Etihad. And that was under a different President's watch. Let's not forget that. We'd be better off if we played matches at Seaford. More supporters would go, that's for sure.

Those GF appearances had squat all to do wit GW as we were already on our way.

The Etihad deal I believe came about as the AFL forced us to leave VFL Park against our wishes, and was I believe a not negotiable deal.

They offered us the chance take over Waverley and pay for a multi million up grade or move. They were then told that they needed to decide quick and were pretty much blackmailed.

[Dave McNamara]

The GOOD NEWS is that "Caro's Leaks" coming out of St Kilda should start drying up in the next 2-3 weeks !!

Who's leaving?

Not leaving Bro... already left.




And as predicted... leaks already drying right up... mission accomplished.

(Remember... "the Prime Minister's office does not leak." )

[saintly]

The GOOD NEWS is that "Caro's Leaks" coming out of St Kilda should start drying up in the next 2-3 weeks !!

the ceo?

[bobmurray]

The GOOD NEWS is that "Caro's Leaks" coming out of St Kilda should start drying up in the next 2-3 weeks !!

the ceo?

I would have thought the leaker was Watters, trying to shore up his position

[spert]

The GOOD NEWS is that "Caro's Leaks" coming out of St Kilda should start drying up in the next 2-3 weeks !!

the ceo?

I would have thought the leaker was Watters, trying to shore up his position

Mmm.. Maybe he was found out and that was the final nail in the coffin

[Megamaguire]

Perception is reality in football just like Politics!

.

Have to say getting hoodwinked by perception and forgetting that it isn't actually reality is dangerous in the extreme I believe. In politics you can end up with avoidable and pointless world wars and the a relentless commitment to the destruction of the planet's atmosphere; oceans; bio-diversity and food security. For politicians following weak and selfish goals at the expense of sometimes everything!

In football-land perceptions can bring a club to its' knees real quick and attract such a horde of naysayers that the administrative people at the club can buckle usually after taking their collective eyes off the real issues.
In football club running terms stability has a lot of benefits especially for 'smaller' clubs.

Reality for St.Kilda is way beyond the rantings of any given number of journalists who are paid money for their eye-catching opinions.
Some day the afl may get sympathetic with the 'smaller' clubs (St.K/ North/ Dogs etc.) and save us and them from a crippling
stadium 'deal' that simply pushes the big and money bursting clubs far, far in front of their poorer competitors.
Saints need to go to the Mcg in the mean time till The Dome is AFLDOME and not the official name of some company!
Seaford may have been a desperate and necessary move or even some way to build an asset for the future and help St.Kilda somehow raise dollars to move back in style 2 Moorabbin but the reality for our club is that we are probably a lot more integrated and happier based @ Moorabbin.
When we made the 2 grand finals the talk was about how do we sustain success on the field of play. Good Aim! However as a club sustained development MUST extend to St.Kilda's administrative processes and the inevitable changing of boards; ceo's and presidents.

St. Kilda Football Club is like the pheonix that has to continually reinvigorate itself after enduring destruction. I still remember the Save our Saints campaign way back in the Stan Alves days. Not long after we were in a Grand Final (97).
A sustainable St.Kilda administration - I'd like 2 see that!

Looking forward to moving to the McG!

G O S A I N T S !

[saintly]

The GOOD NEWS is that "Caro's Leaks" coming out of St Kilda should start drying up in the next 2-3 weeks !!

the ceo?

I would have thought the leaker was Watters, trying to shore up his position

Can't be waters as he left 1-2 weeks ago. Nettlefold is still around and will be gone soon. That's why I thought it was him.

[Animal Enclosure]

The Etihad deal I believe came about as the AFL forced us to leave VFL Park against our wishes, and was I believe a not negotiable deal.

I’m a little fuzzy on this but my memory is that the clubs who were playing out of VFL Park were encouraged by the AFL to find alternative deals. I think that we were being courted by both Docklands and the MCG at the time (off the back of successful years in 97/98 when we began to pull big crowds). I seem to remember that the Docklands sales pitch was that because the stadium capacity was only 50,000, there would regularly be sell out games and fans would swarm to take up memberships because this would be the only way they could guarantee seats. Alas, we went with the (false)promise of increased memberships. The AFL encouraged us by guaranteeing a certain income (irrespective of attendances) for a number of years. Hawthorn (a fellow Waverley tenant) held out and landed a deal with the MCG.

The promised returns were based on reserved seat sales, corporate sales & maintaining the crowd figures that we pulled at Waverley.

Unfortunately the golden goose that Plympton & the board signed up for was more like a golden pile of festering goose poo.

The financials that they based the returns from Colonial Stadium on were linked to similar costs that a game at Waverley drew. The biggest problem was that the staffing at Waverley was about a tenth of what was required at Docklands. Colonial had hundreds of spots to fill (to man door ways, Medallion club customer service, every turnstile (& car park turnstiles)... so the cost of running an event blew out to ridiculous levels. The crowd figure needed for break even point went from zero at Waverley (AFL owned & paid for) to pushing 30K at Docklands.

The move also coincided with an onfield dip that saw our crowds fall well below 30K (while our membership was under written by the AFL for 3 years, casual attendees was not). So we lost massive money on crowds, maintained membership & lost corporate $$ as the team was rubbish.

As far as I know we definitely could have got into the MCG as a tenant club but missed the boat for the promised riches down the road.

Re: leaks.... Nettles has used Caro to get his messages out for years...

[stinger]

i believe our contract at docklands has expired.so...the old terms evidently continue to apply and those pricks are not anxious to enter into a more favourable contract with our club......

[evertonfc]

I'm actually really pleased Caro has brought this to light.

So many of our supporters were blind sheep - as the club likes to portray.

But now we have an opportunity to get it right, armed with facts about what HAS been happening.

Let's not screw it up. Let's get it right.

[SainterK]

I'm actually really pleased Caro has brought this to light.

So many of our supporters were blind sheep - as the club likes to portray.

But now we have an opportunity to get it right, armed with facts about what HAS been happening.

Let's not screw it up. Let's get it right.

Tom Harley woud be a good start.

Get rid of Nettlefold.

[plugger66]

I'm actually really pleased Caro has brought this to light.

So many of our supporters were blind sheep - as the club likes to portray.

But now we have an opportunity to get it right, armed with facts about what HAS been happening.

Let's not screw it up. Let's get it right.

Tom Harley woud be a good start.

Get rid of Nettlefold.

Nettlefold has gone or will be but he was in charge in our second most successful period ever. Harley wont be coming to us I wouldnt think.

[#gosaintas]

As CEO Nettlefold earned $700,000 per year and lost the club money and sponsors. The players were good though, as you have wisely pointed out although I doubt he had much to do with that.

[satchmo]

Is Harley the best we can do? I'm not sure of the attraction.

[oh when the]

I think the off field performance of some players contributed to loss of sponsors, money and members.
Not all CEOs fault.

[Darth Vader]

I'm actually really pleased Caro has brought this to light.

So many of our supporters were blind sheep - as the club likes to portray.

But now we have an opportunity to get it right, armed with facts about what HAS been happening.

Let's not screw it up. Let's get it right.

Tom Harley woud be a good start.

Get rid of Nettlefold.

Nettlefold has gone or will be but he was in charge in our second most successful period ever. Harley wont be coming to us I wouldnt think.

Correct - it was our second most successful period ever, which makes it an even greater indictment on him that the relative success couldn't be converted into significantly increased memberships, sponsorships or dollars. Not saying it's all his fault, but it will be his legacy.

As for the earlier comment re Harley, not sure what his qualifications are. The ability to state politically correct bore-speak and be connected with the AFL doesn't necessarily make for a good CEO, and I'm not sure what else he brings.

[SainterK]

Is Harley the best we can do? I'm not sure of the attraction.

If he wants it, and is motivated at the thought of improving us, I think he would be both dynamic and suitable.

His wiki page isn't that poor, he'd bring a lot IMO, he has been growing the afl brand in NSW, why couldn't he here?

[SainterK]

Correct - it was our second most successful period ever, which makes it an even greater indictment on him that the relative success couldn't be converted into significantly increased memberships, sponsorships or dollars. Not saying it's all his fault, but it will be his legacy.

As for the earlier comment re Harley, not sure what his qualifications are. The ability to state politically correct bore-speak and be connected with the AFL doesn't necessarily make for a good CEO, and I'm not sure what else he brings.

Given his background, he never really used his expertise to their fullest surely?

Marketing and advertising was his career prior wasn't it, yet he struggled in both corporate dollars and sponsorship.

[plugger66]

Correct - it was our second most successful period ever, which makes it an even greater indictment on him that the relative success couldn't be converted into significantly increased memberships, sponsorships or dollars. Not saying it's all his fault, but it will be his legacy.

As for the earlier comment re Harley, not sure what his qualifications are. The ability to state politically correct bore-speak and be connected with the AFL doesn't necessarily make for a good CEO, and I'm not sure what else he brings.

Given his background, he never really used his expertise to their fullest surely?

Marketing and advertising was his career prior wasn't it, yet he struggled in both corporate dollars and sponsorship.

Maybe things could have been much worse without that experience. People dont just keep their jobs if they are doing a bad job. The way people talk on here its as if no one gets reviewed. Well we obviously do review people and have the courage to sack them if they are found to have not being doing the job they should have. Just ask SW. Im sure Nettlefold was reviewed many times.

[Sainternist]

Caroline Wilson is not a football writer. She is a gossip columnist masquerading as a football writer.

100% correct.

[Darth Vader]

Correct - it was our second most successful period ever, which makes it an even greater indictment on him that the relative success couldn't be converted into significantly increased memberships, sponsorships or dollars. Not saying it's all his fault, but it will be his legacy.

As for the earlier comment re Harley, not sure what his qualifications are. The ability to state politically correct bore-speak and be connected with the AFL doesn't necessarily make for a good CEO, and I'm not sure what else he brings.

Given his background, he never really used his expertise to their fullest surely?

Marketing and advertising was his career prior wasn't it, yet he struggled in both corporate dollars and sponsorship.

Maybe things could have been much worse without that experience. People dont just keep their jobs if they are doing a bad job. The way people talk on here its as if no one gets reviewed. Well we obviously do review people and have the courage to sack them if they are found to have not being doing the job they should have. Just ask SW. Im sure Nettlefold was reviewed many times.

Interesting you say that. One of the gripes I heard about him was that, in a business where everybody has clear KPIs, Nettlefold didn't have any, so there was no way to objectively review his performance, and he kept his job because he had a good relationship with the Prez. Of course the person who told me this thought Netters was crap, so could be sour grapes, but if true could explain a bit.

Regardless, between Butters vs GT, Pelchen vs Watters, membership and sponsorship down, fights with Kingston council, profits turning into losses, I don't think we've been particularly well run over the last 10 years and papered over things with good performance. Having said that, I think the current board is one of the best we've had - Russell Caplan from Shell and Orica, Ian McLeod from Coles, Jack Rush. All with good experience.

[saintbrat]

speaking of 'Dissaray' and Crisis.....

anyone mention Fev when they develop a story on Brisbane.....
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/afl ... 6758289799

they are so desperate I got a Membership email from them today....

having just got myself of the Suns email list...... which I don't know how i got myself on....