Tried to post some messages on my new iphone but the technology failed me. It was a fantastic night with about 200 in attendance including 22 players and, as reported, the target of 150 paying supporters was exceeded. The original announcement of the amount collected was a little under $2m but it did not include money paid by supporters to be photographed with the 1964 premiership cup and the legends at the evening. That tipped it over $2m. There were also several supporters who couldn't make it on the night but who contributed their minimum of $5k.

People should apppreciate in the context of the amount collected on the evening, how magnificent the contribution of Joe Gutnick was at the end of 1996 when he alone tipped in $2m on the way to contributing a total of nearly $3m. It is believed he is back in the fold (he was unavailable last, will make a contribution to the debt demolition and will be seen again at the club very soon.

Jimmy was keen to impress on all at the function that his board wanted to include all supporters and, judging by the mood of the evening, they are well on their way.

Good news too about the Casey Fields development that will move the club forward as far as a training base for the future is concerned (plus it puts the icing on the cake for a new alignment with Casey Scorpions).

The speakers were might impressive and the visual presentations magic. Highlights were the warm up of Garry Lyon, stirring speeches from Chris Connolly and a brilliant interview by Stephen Phillips with Dean Bailey. Congratulations to the organisers for the hard work in putting it all together and to Foxtel for its $100k sponsorship.

Having said that, there's still a long way to go. We've cleared only 40% of the debt and the Debt Demolition appeal has touched only a small percentage of the club's supporters. It's now up to the other 99% to help get us into the black or much closer to it by the end of August.

Then the real hard work on the part of the board starts - the job of making us a strong and a viable club on an even footing with the other clubs and on to winning a premiership in the near future. That's the hard part.

Thanks sid for the info.

Lets go people its all up to us now!

2 of my family members were present at the dinner last night and said that the way they created the atmosphere that they were in the rooms for a game was very clever and amazingly well done.

hey said the energy in the room was very very special and that the club is definitely on the right track....

Sid, you are an absolute legend!

Personally, i would love to say thank you for helping save my football club, and i'm sure many others agree.

Future generations will thank you for saving the Mighty Red and Blue as well.

The rest of us must now pull our weight to pull the Dees out of the Mire and back into the glory days.

Again, thank you Sid, and the others who were amazing enough to donate such an amount of money

Fantastic news.

Im very proud to be a Demons supporter today.

I'll be making a $500 donation soon.

It's nice to wake up and read that such a sizeable chunk of the club's debt has been wiped in one swoop. $2,051,000 in one night! Thanks to everyone present for their generosity. Well done.

Fantastic effort by all those who attended. It moved me to donate $50 this morning.

These statements made by Stynes and Lyon are important if the club is to move forward:

"The main thing is, people like Joseph who maybe felt discouraged to be around the club for whatever reason, are encouraged to come back in," Stynes said.

Lyon said the days of internal division at Melbourne were over.

There are people on this forum who are quick to take potshots at the likes of Gutnick, Johnson, Guest, Ridley and Szondy for things that have happened in the past. If people continue to ridicule those who have given up their time and money to the club for nothing, we will go nowhere. Now is the time to move on, and embrace anyone who can help the club.

I figure if every adult member can donate 100, it would leave around 800,000 which perhaps the club could find another avenue (or event) to pass through, we can get rid of the debt.

Hell, i'm donating 100 now that i don't really have, and if i see us within a million with a week to go there'll probably be another 100 going down

Could a moderator pin the link to the debt demolition website onto the top of the board.

I just read-

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/tabid/7415/D...px?newsid=64895

Does this mean Foxtel has not contributed their 100 000 yet? as it has to be from the members and supporters not the event last night?

Mouse, if the night raised 2,051,000 and the total listed is 2,069,645 then i don't think it could include the 100,000 from foxtel because there's only 18,000 not linked to last night (that's been counted)

So i suppose we can claim 2,169,645 but it's better to push it up ourselves

And mo, i generally find topics left in the general area get more interaction as they are easier to see. We should just keep this board up near the top with people updating their donations

People should apppreciate in the context of the amount collected on the evening, how magnificent the contribution of Joe Gutnick was at the end of 1996 when he alone tipped in $2m on the way to contributing a total of nearly $3m. It is believed he is back in the fold (he was unavailable last, will make a contribution to the debt demolition and will be seen again at the club very soon.

Jimmy was keen to impress on all at the function that his board wanted to include all supporters and, judging by the mood of the evening, they are well on their way.

Uncle Joe Gutnick

I remember the dark day, Melbourne was close to going down the (financial) gurgler not to mention being swallowed in a merger with the Tassie Hawks. I was taking a phone call at work in the foyer and a mate walked past & said there's some millionaire mining magnate who's just rescued your club with a $2M donation. I had never heard of Uncle Joe and thought he was pulling my leg. 2 mill, it couldn't be true. But it was, a miracle. We had a saviour from the depths of despair.

Later I was at the rally at Dallas Brooks Hall. Joe is a great Demon, he put his hand up when it counted. One day I want to shake his hand (I wore a red and blue yarmulke to the 2000 grand final, in appreciation of Joe and because he couldn't be there on account of his Jewish faith).

Great work Jimmy, being inclusive!

PS has someone merged two threads here??

It will be interesting to see how much we get and how much we "save" from interest that will no occur due to a lump sum throw at the debt.

$100k sponsorship.

Having said that, there's still a long way to go. We've cleared only 40% of the debt and the Debt Demolition appeal has touched only a small percentage of the club's supporters. It's now up to the other 99% to help get us into the black or much closer to it by the end of August.

Then the real hard work on the part of the board starts - the job of making us a strong and a viable club on an even footing with the other clubs and on to winning a premiership in the near future. That's the hard part.

Thanks Sid for the update and helping the club. Your a legend.

Lyon said the days of internal division at Melbourne were over.

There are people on this forum who are quick to take potshots at the likes of Gutnick, Johnson, Guest, Ridley and Szondy for things that have happened in the past. If people continue to ridicule those who have given up their time and money to the club for nothing, we will go nowhere. Now is the time to move on, and embrace anyone who can help the club.

mo64, well put!

It's time everyone pulled in the same direction together. Because that's what makes a club strong. Put your faith of those in charge or in the position to make the right decisions whether its our future home base, or at the trading table...

And mo, i generally find topics left in the general area get more interaction as they are easier to see. We should just keep this board up near the top with people updating their donations

I'm inclined to agree, more traffic here.

"The symbolism of today shouldn't be lost on anyone," Lyon said.

"I think you will enjoy the fact that whilst tonight is the rebirth of this great footy club, our greatest rival is in disarray.

"The Collingwood footy club is going down the plughole as the Melbourne footy club re-establishes itself as a power."

That is music to my ears. Love this club!

I don't think I've felt happier to be a Demon. The support for this football club is unbelievable.

I'll be chipping in more then that $20 for sure. I might throw in everything that I make at work today. There are a couple of other Demons supporters at work. I'll get into them in a couple of hours!

mo64, well put!

It's time everyone pulled in the same direction together. Because that's what makes a club strong. Put your faith of those in charge or in the position to make the right decisions whether its our future home base, or at the trading table...

Let the love roll on!!

Magpie winge

Oh my god, this week just gets better and better!

wow oh wow!

hahahahahhahahahahhaha jesus ahahahahahahahah cant stop laughing!

Magpie winge

Oh my god, this week just gets better and better!

Sure does! Pleasant lot...

[censored] Lyon and the Melbourne Toffs. They will go bust very soon and its a crying shame that they will play this Friday to mark the 150th year. I know these were the first 2 teams to play a match but the thing is, they should just give this game to us because they owe us lol!!!

(lovely pic that goes with it btw, check out the two totally handsome dudes... )

I detest Collingwood as much as the next human being, but what Garry said was neither smart nor classy. There's no need to kick clubs while they're down. We're not even 'up' yet. All his comments achieved were to decrease the chances of Collingwood and other AFL supporters putting their hands into their pockets to support Melbourne in a time of financial need.

Yeah, i didn't think it was great, but i think it's about time our club starts to really stand for something, to promote it's own front and back itself as a power club of the future.

All other great teams have arrogance, at least to some degree, and Garry is probably the perfect person to do it. Intrisically linked to our club but not involved enough to really get offended of drag our name through the mud.

It's usually people saying things about us, then us defending ourselves looking weak and responsive.

Aside from all that, i think it was meant more for those there rather than the greater public (though he must've known it'd get out)

My favourite bit in the Pies thread is the "we'll happily play hawthorn or Geelong," no you won't, because without us they wouldn't play on QB at all and that's the way we have to start thinking

I detest Collingwood as much as the next human being, but what Garry said was neither smart nor classy. There's no need to kick clubs while they're down. We're not even 'up' yet. All his comments achieved were to decrease the chances of Collingwood and other AFL supporters putting their hands into their pockets to support Melbourne in a time of financial need.

Actually I agree with you pantaloons, I hate it when other supporters kick us when we're down. After all, MFC is considerably more successful than Collingwood in the past 50 years. They need our sympathy if anything.

Yep it was a cheap shot by Garry, let's show more class and support our collingwood colleagues in their misery...

On the Collingwood thing, I'm sure it was just for show.

However, we do score $500K from each QB game, as we're always taking the gate - wouldn't want to upset that applecart.