Thats why they are on a board to run a company and you have a seperate football department to run footy programs
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Probably because the majority of the board were status seekers with no football knowledge had a majority on the board and voted against those two that possessed footy experience. How many of ex football players have ever been on the board.?
Richmond had a few ex players during their 3peat too i thinkā¦
Being an ex player doesnt mean you are wrong or right for the job, neither does being a business personā¦ We have had plenty of ā ā ā ā ones of those on the board too.
The most important person on the board is the presidentā¦ for decades we have compiled a long list of weak, unfocussed or self interested people in that position. We need strong leadership at the top.
I cant remember when we last had a seemingly well functioning board ā¦ probably last century.
The problem isnāt having ex-players on the board, the problem is people thinking that by itself is a legitimate platform to run for a board seat on
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The board members in general have plenty of status. It doesnāt add to their status to be stuck on a football club board.
Well The Hangar is sort of a daycare centre and a wellness gym, so Dean Solomon is a perfect fit for the board. He might get them to change the masseuse or have a lavender spray in the gym area.
Essendon fc has lost approx 50 goals a season with the parting of Stringer & Hind. We usualy play hawthorn first game . They are playing with a new style and will embarrass us if improveing changes are not made everywhere in our club. We need big improvements all over the club, Board, Coach, Players.etc.
We are going nowhere with what we have now , so improvements in all areas of the club are essential .
I think we should put Jeremy Cameron on the Board. He should be able to nab 50 goals from the board room, I mean centre half board room
Iām not necessarily that excited about Solomon running for the board. But youād think at a high level a board membership requires some combo of three skills:
- Experience in footy
- Experience in running high performing medium to large organisations
- Connections, reach or specialised SME experience that may benefit the board (e.g. finance, risk, digital, marketing).
Solomon has played and coached at 4 separate AFL clubs (the relative lack of success that those clubs had may be more or less important to each individual). Welsh never went anywhere other than Essendon and during the clubās worst era at that.
Solomon was was involved as a coach so has some sort of leadership & administration experience. Welsh was never involved as a coach or administrator.
I know little of Solomonās connections/SME experience, but contrary to most on here I place little value on Welsh being towed into property development by (ironically) the same power brokers at the club that weāre seeking to limit the influence of, and donāt see how that has any bearing on making you a good board member.
Iād say heās a far better board candidate than our current chairman in waiting. Not that thatās saying much.
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I wouldnāt want the board to be thinking that all they have to do is run the club like a company. The purpose of the club isnāt to make a profit, but to be a successful professional football club. The business arm of the club should complement the football arm.
I see myself as a member of a club that I support, not a shareholder of a company. Hopefully the members of the board appreciate the difference and realise that certain business practices that might suit a āfor profitā business wonāt necessarily be compatible with the best interests of a football club.
I worry that the board is so corporate heavy, that it doesnāt get this distinction.
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Great post Dons1984
JJohnson, a great,relevant comprehensive realistic post.
Yeah Iām convinced, we need neither of them.
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Well reminder the sitting President basically turned over half the board and CEO. Board elected Craig Vozzo as CEO who had extensive experience as a list manager and head of football operations. Board also signed off recommendation from CEO on a big increase in football operations spending including development coaches, game innovation, strategy and skills (David Rath) and lastly Mental well being coach for players Ben Robbins
So its been the biggest shift from a commercial business to football for over a decadeā¦ maybe more
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No, you canāt talk about all the change, because apparently what we need is change. If we sacked every single human being right now in the place and replaced them, people would still complain that the roof is still the same from last year and we need Colorbond to come in and take the whole thing off.
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The problem with the last change is that it came from within the existing board. We need someone from the outside to come in and take over. We have too many people that have hung around the board thinking that they could make positive changes, but then they do things like keep Dodoro, and hire a failed coach. We change our strategy a year after brining in 4 players
We really donāt know what we are doing.
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Of course it came from within the existing Board. Thereās no way an outside force could remove the Board: the Club constitution gives to the Board all the power necessary for it to maintain the status quo. Barham has hung in there quietly, waiting while all the power-hungry business men from the top end of town were persuaded out one by one. Little Paul , X and their pals. Finally he made his move. Heās made a couple of mistakes, but heās survived them, and I think heās learnt from them. Heās got his own team in place now at last; give him two years to reinvigorate the Club - until the end of 2026 - if he hasnāt done the job by then, we can start talking about his replacement.
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^ Poll
Who are you voting for at this stage?
I guess having some football ability and knowledge, seeing the inner workings of a number of unsuccessful clubs at player and coach level, see what bad culture and good cultures are like isnāt really a good skill you can put in a LinkedIn profile to get a job at a big 4 wanker house full of money wasters. And only they know governance, just ask them.
But given we have had Big 4 and MBA monkeys running the place for 2 decades might be worth injecting just a couple of those no skilled football people into the joint, to keep the epic governance experts who governed the ā ā ā ā out of the club between 2012 to today, honest.
If I had a membership Iād vote for Solly, only because he hasnāt worked at a big 4 monkey house. But I aināt buying a membership anytime soon, so monkeys it is.
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