I see the word coterie and don't really know what it means...so for now, my brain has just stored it in the same area as rotisserie and charcuterie.
So I would guess that a coterie is a group of fat cats, sitting round, eating grilled meats, maybe waving a bone in hand, with a bib on, laughing, and being a bit gross and demanding.
I need one more member for my coterie, ideally a thief or bard with lock picking, pick pocket and back stabbing skills. Cloke of invisibility or boots of silence would be a bonus. Elves, gnomes and halflings only please.
This post was started in 2015 and yet we still seem to have an issue ( even Rohan alluded to it ).
Is this a myth or do people have facts regarding the input coteries have on the clubās decision making?
For those in the know, hide coterie identities if you must, but I would like to know what is really going. If anything.
There has been similar issues with Carlton also for years. Their issues with coteries trying to influence club decision making has been played out a lot via the media.
Weāve gotten to a stage that the power of coteries is now a hinderance to the big clubs, with all the politics that comes with it.
I Imagine Collingwood would be in a similar position if McGuire wasnāt at the club, to keep them under control.
In my opinion, it is more of an urban myth than a reality. There are some well-heeled blokes who give shitloads of money to the Club who try to get their way, but if they have influence then it is on the Board not on Coteries or the wealthy Members.
Others may have real evidence but all I have ever seen were blokes full of booze telling Coaches and Officials how to run the Club.
Iāll also add that the view of whether coteries āinterferingā is good or bad depends on the situation.
I for one would be very happy to hear that influential people from the coterie world (and elsewhere) were knocking on the Board room door at the moment.
This is the ultimate problem with having the likes of coteries putting pressure on people being sackedā¦ and Iām not saying that itās unwarranted.
But itās the scapegoat approach which has happened for the last few years when things have gone bad. Sacking a single person is not going to turn this club aroundā¦ regardless of who it is.
Weāve sacked assistant coaches. Weāve sackEd back room Fitness staff, weāve sacked Football department administratorsā¦ all after bad loses.
There should have been an external investigation 2-3 years ago. Changes should have been made.
The club is not in a position to sack a coach right now, but in typical scape goat fashionā¦ sack the next high profile person just to keep the coteries groups happy. Without any planning or without any planned replacement, weāre about to go into trade and draft period.
Sacking Dodoro right now, would be the worst decision the club could makeā¦ that would send the club back even further.
Good luck to them. Membershipās, gate takings (even if crowds are allowed back next year) will be well well down for the next few years so itās going to be up to them to pour in coin for expanding our somehow āoutdatedā million $ facility built under 10 years ago.
Will they though?
Still enough happy clappers around as evidenced on here with deluded fans saying we will win almost every week and proclaiming that finals are still a chance even though we havenāt been anywhere near it for months
Yeah I canāt see it happening much at AFL level and if it does thatās on the boards head.
Most definitely happens from experience at lower levels and country footy though where a couple of sponsors or donators pulling the pin can make or break a club. Even happens at SANFL with my mob going through it currently
the shocking thing is, i actually think the afl would do a better pantomime of an open and transparent coaching appointment if they were running the club.
I donāt see our coteries as a major problem at all. Yes, they get some privileges made available to them that most donāt get, but they tip in money every year that others donāt also. Iām sure there are examples of their members trying to push agendas, but every one does that. Rohan Conolly is, I did when I introduced Paul and Katie to the members, Ben did with his open letter, this place is rife with it. Most of it goes nowhere, and some of it actually gets actioned. But the coteries donāt action anything, only the club can do that. So if they press for something, which to my knowledge doesnāt happen a lot, and it comes to fruition, good or bad, blame the club, not the guy that made the suggestion. And if you want to complain about the bad, you canāt then just blindly accept the good. Example: If not for certain individual cotorie members dipping into their pockets in a big way, Sheedy would never have come back to the club. He was asked too, but he wouldnāt unless he got paid way more than we could afford, so a bunch of people got together and topped up his money until they got him across the line. Itās not all bad. And without our high net worth members a lot of things would be a lot harder. You want to build a state of the art facility youāll find itās way easier when someone kicks in and gets all the electicals done cheap, or someone donates all the landscaping and planting for nothing etc. Out at Tulla they have a joke that if it hasnāt got a plaque on it then Paul Little probably paid for it. But when it comes to genuine power wielding changes I think the fear of these groups is way over rated. They do some good, they do probably do some not so good, but generally, for 99% of the time, they are just wealthy dudes who like to go to the footy, drink wine, eat well, rub shoulders with the players etc, and feel a bit closer to the action. For that they pay a motza. There is probably a little truth in the complaints about them, but most of it I think is just Andrew Bolting.
Okay - so I was in the Diamond Dons coterie for a number of years. To be honest, our Coterie was made up of a heap of hard working blokes who had put their blood, sweat and tears into their own business and happened to also be passionate Essendon Supporters.
Iād say almost 99% of the group were just blokes passionate about the club - yes we had a bit more āaccessā to the EFC hierarchy - for example over the time I built good relationships with Sheeds, Harvs, John Quinn, Longy, Dodoro, Peter Jackson, Bomba and a number of players, But it was never more than mutual respect. There were maybe one or two of our Coterie who had illusions of grandeur but they were very few and far between
The club have asked me from time to time to come and do some consulting work here and there and back in the day Peter Jackson would use a few of us for sounding boards on commercial stuff. Thatās the extent of it.
A very small group of people within certain coteries (mainly the Essendonians) had more access but not to the level of āstuffā many blitzers bang on aboutā¦
Thank you so much for sharing! Itās fantastic to hear things from people who are actually a part of it instead of reading about what people āthinkā goes on.