Whilst in theory cancelling 80,000 memberships would deliver a message, in reality it actually won’t help the club succeed any faster. Saving some money on the other hand makes sense, unless they turn the corner and you end up going to games and paying more at the gate.
I’ve been following this club since 1971. I live in Strathmore a short walk from Windy Hill. I was at the 1984, 1985 and 1993 GFs, working overseas in 2000. Back to Australia early 2005. Since that time we have not won a single final, and the club has been mismanaged to within an inch of its life. Yesterday’s surrender is down there as one of the most pathetic and disturbing efforts I’ve witnessed. Zac Merrett must wonder what he’s even still doing at the place. Cooked. Decades of mediocrity with no hope in sight.
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Incorrect.
the overwhelming pressure that would be brought to bear on the current board of directors after taking such a catastrophic hit would absolutely leave them incredibly vulnerable to a board challenge.
Which is the only way anything will possibly change for the better, which…drumroll….would help the club succeed faster.
People get so fixated on treating symptoms all the time that they either completely ignore or simply fail to truly understand the root cause of our problems.
Barham unfortunately was largely a puppet and as time has now revealed while his actions led to some superficial level of change, unfortunately it fell short of the complete cleansing from the top down that was actually required to reset this club and get it back on the right track.
It is foolish and downright ignorant to think that leaving this status quo unchallenged will lead to success.
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I like how on the Essendon website there’s the EFC merchandise photo of Hobbs, Bryan and Perkins. Are they only selling VFL jumpers and sub vests?
How much of our plight is down to culture? Most of it? All of it?
At post 5317, @Paul_Cousins offered up a poty contender when he detailed what ‘culture’ means and why it’s the biggest factor in determining the club’s fortunes. Blitzers could have guessed our culture was lacking but it was great for them to get an insight into how deeply the rot ran from somebody with inside knowledge and the generosity to share it.
Paul, you spoke of how you disagreed with the argument that the apparent ongoing recruitment of players that lack resilience, composure, competitiveness and aggression doesn’t play a role in our current state and that our list, whilst imperfect, is more or less on a par with most clubs talent-wise.
Do you maintain this stance? (apologies if I have misrepresented you)
Would you agree that our recruiting staff hasn’t correctly prioritised the attributes required for a brand of footy that maximises our flag chances? If you don’t consider the inherent personality traits of the playing group significant, why not?
Surely our list having too many panic merchants that lack resolve plays a supplementary role to environment.
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What should the board do?
Sack the coach, replace the CEO, footy manager, head of recruitment and president again? Or another external review?
Board needs to hold its nerve for once and stop repeating previous mistakes. Back in Scott at tell him he has support for a rebuild, if that’s the path he wants to go
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It’s not about sacking it’s about governing.
They just need the skills to appropriately assess and review our performance. It’s been really obvious for a long time the club over rates the list which then informs strategy and actions. If we had a board that could assess were we are at without the hope and delusion they might start making good decisions and hold people accountable for performance.
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This was the condition of him being employed.
He had the keys to fix the club, and the club would stick with him until he’s done.
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Culture from the top down is everything.
It’s hard to get right and it’s even harder to maintain over a long period of time.
There is no question in my mind that Sydney and Geelong are the two absolute standouts in this regard largely due to longevity.
They’ve proved it over and over again which is unbelievably impressive IMO.
Beyond them I think it’s the hawks and tigers over their recent dynasties who have also gotten it mostly right but both of those are also good examples of how hard it is to maintain.
Essendons culture by comparison is absolutely one of the worst in the league to this day without question.
To turn this ship around we need to rebuild our culture as a football club and rebuild with genuinely solid foundations.
To do that we need off field leaders of exceptional strength, intelligence and character but also humility.
Men and women of vision and integrity who will challenge the entrenched thinking and norms that are clearly holding this club back.
I don’t believe for a second that we have the right people in the right roles who fit that description.
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Hugely under-rated comment here. There is no coincidence that our lack of player development coincides with the neglect the VFL program has received.
Plan to win the VFL prem every season and watch the players it produces. Only need to look at the 83’,92’, 99’ winning side to understand the importance of having a strong and successful second tier. More recently, again there is no coincidence that the Hawks, Tigers, Dogs and Melbourne had premiership sides in the VFL around the same time as their successes in the top flight.
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Thats the problem, hamstrung ourselves by signing up average players on long term deals, who wont take us to success and have shown they are not capable of standing up at the pointy end.
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They have finally broken me.
30 seasons in, they’ve finally done it.
Congrats EFC.
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I cant apologise on behalf of the club
But i am sorry
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The board needs to show some leadership. To develop a strategy and plans that are going to work. Not meaningless blather.
It’s their job.
They should also act on independent reviews. That’s if any of the reviews have been truly independent which it appears most haven’t so they’re useless.
They just run with the same old “jobs for the boys/girls” the “people like us” mentality. For all the guff about culture and diversity.
Clearly the club culture is rooted and they have no idea what to do about it.
But they, the board, are the ones who are supposed set the standards and develop the winning culture.
Clearly none of them have been very good at it as the longevity of this thread shows.
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I understand that but it doesn’t mean better people would end up on the board. It would probably just create renewed chaos, division and instability which in my view is recipe for disaster.
I think we need to stay committed to this plan and hope that the club navigates its way through the difficulties. Things aren’t always as clear as it seems or as simple as we’d like. With our club, there’s years or complexity and layers to uncover and deal with. For example, long contracts for club staff which are in place abd the club not being able to separate itself in the immediate term.
If Campbell was still in charge, he’d sack a back room staff member which none of us has heard off…… just to satisfy the masses.
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It’s just a football club. Some pretty average people have been successful at other clubs.
What plan?
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Our club makes plans? Maybe the players make plans for September in July…
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