I honestly believe mediocrity ( and the acceptance of it) infested the club so slowly, that nobody at the club noticed it until it became too late.
There is no quick fix, the only solution is to rip everything down and starting again.
The club needs a fresh start from the top down down.
We have a Chairman who doesn’t even talk to the members.
Most of the information that comes from him, is from Coterie luncheons.
Donate to the flight plan.
I’m always amazed that people put knights as the worst of the coaches when you had the hird appointment which was the biggest disaster in australian sporting history and worsfold who has been 5 years of absolute garbage with a 10x better list. At least knights won some exciting games, had a young side and had to follow on from a decades long coach, he was on a hiding to nothing. Not even a contest for mine they were all ■■■■ appointments and rutten will likely go the same way because the club refuses to go through a proper recruitment process.
We’ve become less of a football club and more of a soulless corporation. Winning became less important than the bottom line. In hindsight, the red flag should have gone up when we moved our games from the MCG to soulless stadium.
Your advice should have been heeded last year, because now it looks like two, maybe three, of them have since been Essingtoned.
We’ve just become too accustomed to copping ■■■■ and too tolerant of mediocrity.
Marketing FC
The impact of the saga has still not be dealt with.
I think the only time post Sheedy that the club had any sort of comparable culture, desire or appetite for winning a premiership was with Hird.
I’m not saying he needs to be brought back, or he didn’t make mistakes, but in terms of going into games, I had some confidence we would produce an effort that was respectable.
… and, as Roco is keen to continually point out, rid the club of the external influences that meddle in the daily operations of the club.
Evans, Dank, Weapon, Bomber, Neeld, McKenna, even Shiel and Xavier… all the result of woeful levels of due diligence, shockingly poor decision making, and external influence by powerbrokers with egos and influence inversely proportional to their knowledge of footy
It would be interesting if you brought all the players and coaches from the Saga back to the club and had an honest discussion, how much of what has been unsaid or buried contributes to what we witness now.
So, what path will the EFC PR machine go down this week as a diversionary tactic?
1 - Announce some re-signings?
2 - Pick a debutant?
3 - Announce a new sponsorship arrangement?
10 - Darren Bewick?
Some are soft but they are also playing soft through lack of belief and buy in to the game plan.
Yes they take time to adjust but the desire to win a game of footy isn’t there. Effort occasionally when suits but not consistently enough for mine. A lot of basic football not being executed because of lack of desire and belief.
It starts from the top in every business organisation and they are primarily responsible for the performance of their staff. Staff who deliver are mainly because they are happy and believe in the people running the company
I’d choose 3 because I feel like the only priority of the Club is corporate.
Yep.
Our problems are so similar to Carlton’s it’s actually scary.
Literally the only difference is our toxic influence doesn’t come from Lygon Street, it comes from Collins Street.
You can 100% expect them to send out emails such as ‘From the coach’, behind the scenes or buy more merchandise this week as if nothing is wrong. I’m actually surprised, working with AFL & NRL clubs how Essendon goes with their email marketing strategy and not taking into account when we lose.
So after Sheedy, we recruited from Knights from Richmond, who tried to implement a fast paced/handball based game, which failed miserably.
Then we brought in the Essendonians, who got d1cked for implementing a culture of poor governance and cheating (alleged or not, that’s the reputation)
Then we brought in Woosha who has been mediocre
Now we are back at square one with an ex Richmond person, trying to implement a face paced/handball based game.
I’ll always bleed red and black, but I wont be financially endorsing the club with a membership next year - to put it simply, I’m not sold.
He should never have been given the job on the first place. How anyone in any position of responsibility kept their jobs after 2012 is beyond. But no we didn’t clear house, in fact we promoted several people. We have a culture of ■■■■ covering and and lauding mediocre performances
When things are going bad. Supporters look to the coach and the president and the captain for answers/ reasons for hope.
Our president is invisible. Honestly can’t remember the last time we heard from him
Our actual coach isn’t saying anything, and leaving it to the former coach who gives the fans absolutely nothing apart from cliches soft excuses
The captain is cracking jokes, giving cliches, she’ll be right mate etc
Who are the supporters supposed to look to, to get hope etc from the club?!?
For me it’s all about our leaders. Let’s look at today’s game.
Heppell - His opponent was BOG.
Hurley - wouldn’t beat Walla in a 1:1 contest anymore
Hooker - missed critical early goal from 12m out.
Smith - half the player he was in 2018
Shiel - crucial disposal errors
We won’t ever win with leaders that don’t step up when required. We really need a list overhaul.