How dare fans take PS4 time away from players!
1 Like
They just need to make Windy Hill an Essendon entertainment precinct. Keep the bare bones footy facilities so VFL/W and local footy finals can continue but build a stage somewhere around the ground, so all fan engagement events can be held there. Expand the social club etc
They Hanger remains as a pure training venue.
6 Likes
Agreed.
AFL world is so funny how when you win the premiership (or theresbouts) everyone says you have the best list, the best coaching group, amazing leadership at board level and great list management.
When in reality the league is much much closer than people think and all it takes is a slight improvement on the field and then youāre in contention.
2 Likes
Its a tough one. For example if you are the Lions or Cats fans then your home HQ has zero connection. Training is at the stadium and 80% of sessions is locked to fans. We are one of the clubs that is open consistently and fans can come in anytime. I get it can sometimes have a cold feel but they have been working on it. Having 2-3 engaging fan training days this year and family day is a good start. Having some seating around the ground with shade a better outcome. You can shop, sit at the cafe, see the museum and get a membership by just walking in.
For me its on the improve anyway
24 Likes
The cafe was better when it was upstairs and we could watch training from the balcony as we sipped on our lattes.
3 Likes
One thing that made family day more homely was the cheer squad members on the sausage sizzle. It was great seeing them outside their traditional roles of clapping, gesturing and trying to negotiate with security staff over someone who had gotten a little too emotional.
1 Like
My wife takes one of the twins to Carlton. Very professional, well oiled machine. He gets to spend quality time with the players. The players are not rushed and run mini training sessions with the kids. Gets all his favourite player autographs within half an hour. Food and merch top notch and lots of freebies for the kids. Gets an upgrade on his membership for attending clinics or family day etc.
9 Likes
and lots of seating for the fans
2 Likes
Fark Carlton
32 Likes
Exactly, I donāt give a flying ā ā ā ā what those scum lords are doing
5 Likes
Yeah, but the other stuff matters, especially for the kids we want to keep supporting the Bombers. I remember going to the footy as a little kid and a huge part of the fun was running on the ground after the game and getting the autographs of players as they walked off the field. You canāt do that now, but you can get an autograph and actually talk to a real player at a Family Day.
4 Likes
It means ā ā ā ā if youāre not winning. Weāve lost 15 years worth of fans because weāve been the worst team in the comp to follow.
no one would give 2 fks about it if we were winning
4 Likes
I reckon the Hangar is a fantastic facility.
100 times better than the decrepit old Windy Hill.
1 Like
For the players, I agree.
I think itās okay for the fans, but it could be better. If we do up Windy Hill, fan days could well go there, which may end up being a better result.
3 Likes
As TD said a few years ago.
āIt has no soulā
Hate Collingwood but canāt help but envy at their facility.
Marketing alone, set in a prime location.
Yet here we are in an industrial estate.
Anyway, to my original statement.
Where was Brad Scott?
It was a poor set up as it was with the jumper presentation, at the very least our coach shouldāve been there to address the crowd.
Kevin Sheedy in the cafe & Bomber shop was at least a nice touch but why must we always turn to Sheeds??
Sorry for the rant but I left there yesterday very underwhelmed.
4 Likes
Agree with this. If we were winning flags, everybody would be talking about the āworld class facilitiesā.
1 Like
Thats what we were saying today at the blitz charity game
3 Likes
Yes, agree thereās signs the Ckub is making a genuine effort to improve.
To me though, like in our own day jobs, weāre naturally really good at certain aspects of our job whilst thereās some aspects of our job weāre not as strong at and have to develop. But itās a battle and we tend to gravitate to our strengths.
The current leadership have been open about the need to refocus on footy. Abd thereās no doubt the club needed to determine the areas requiring focus and resources, then fix them (Eg: Development / conditioning). However, it has arguable (certainly imo) meant the Club has become a bit insular / inwardly focussed and the fan / member isnāt as close to the club as they want to be.
Letās hope the club gets the right balance and continues to lift in this area as it noted it needed to in the AGM. However, to fix ācommunityā you need leaders to be genuinely passionate about wanting to fix engagement levels (1) as well as having really good people in the communications, media, membership depts to successfully step change situation (2). On these points, Iām not yet 100% convinced we do but certainly hope we have and they really deliver over the next 12 months.
As Greg Norman says with respect to running his successful business, ādonāt just change the peopleā¦ Change the peopleā.
PS: Iām not talking about Vozzo here, more his commercial team. But you do need direction and innate passionate to make change at the highest levels of the Club.
1 Like
I didnāt say winning wasnāt important. Itās essential. But the other stuff is important to. Not as much, but still important.
1 Like