Demons seek MCC alignment and more cash from AFL

Wouldn't this be nice back with our spiritual home.. safely behind gates where no bastard ( or Vlad) could touch us. Well truth be told nothing is that fortress like but it would make it incredibly hard to 'move' Melbourne

Further down this heartening news , read and cheer people :

"Better news for Melbourne — which will reinstate the Demon as its official logo next season "

I wont spoil the rest of the read...

Sky's looking bluer each day !! :D

Great article. Lovin Jimmy more and more.

$3.1million raised, the AFL kick in a mill, and we're still $4million in debt $3.2mill loss this year!

If that article is true several posters around here, myself included, owe Vlad and the league a big apology. Both the AFL and the MCC claim the previous administration "failed to meet it's business obligations." Gardner's heart may have been in the right place but it sounds like his head wasn't. How the flying truck did they manage to set us on a course that lost us $3.2million this year???

It sounds like now that the lunatics are no longer in charge of the asylum the AFL is doing everything it can to get us back on track. Love that they sent Mike Fitzpatrick down to lean on the MCC. That Stadium would be empty 360 days a year without football, it's time they started to give a bit back to the game that pays the bills. If they chose to do that by supporting the club they spawned with a "special" tenency arrangement and maybe a bit of cash on the side each year, that'd be great.

Instead, thanks to the debt demolition — which is close to $3.1 million — and the AFL's $1 million in special assistance, the club could record a reasonable profit but still have debt of at least $4 million.

f_d i am trying to work out the same thing.

I thought we were 3 mil (or so) in debt before this year, and we were expecting it to blow out to 5 mil with this years loss...

i cant work out how we can make a profit and go backwards. at the end of last year we were not $5 mil in debt, or at least we didnt advertise that we were...

This is this most positive article we have seen this year about our club! It'll take about another 5 years before we can see the fruits of this labour but It seems we've got the wheels moving forward again. Keep it up Jimma!

Fantastic news! A step in the right direction.

A positive article indeed. Am I right in saying that if there were no Debt Demolition campaign, MFC would be over $7m in debt?

How did the figure blow out to as much as $3.2m loss this year? It's gradually gone up in reports over the course of the season starting with $1m loss. Unbelieveable. Staggering.

Looks like we'll have to keep donating.

Dee-lighted about the reference to the AFL reminding the MCC in strong terms of its obligation to the club that had an integral role in the stadium's heritage. Absolutely dee-lighted about that one.

Positives from the Article:

1. MFC seeking realignment with MCC. Early days but this is something that IMO should definitely pursued.

2. Casey deal - Close to finalisation including alignment with Casey.

3. AFL has its financial people activately involved in the devlopment of the business plan. This should not be underestimated in the scheme of things.

4. AFL supported the MFC push with the MCC.

5. MFC making a clear submission to the AFL for $3million. Best it be done out in the open rather than rumoured and speculated about.

6. On track to have its HQ at Olympic Park by 2010.

However Caro's figures on the debt still to be paid off post the debt demolition does not gel by $2 million.

Has the club officially stated that will be the loss or is it media speculation. Otherwise a good article with lots of positive actions being taken by the board now.

However Caro's figures on the debt still to be paid off post the debt demolition does not gel by $2 million.

So do you agree with me about where are these figures coming from?

is it a journalistic problem or is it a bigger debt than we have been led to believe?

A great article.

Staggered and disappointed at the debt info though. Either someone can't add up, we weren't told the truth (which means donations might have been smaller than they could have been), and/or a number of unforeseen costs have been accounted for (Carroll? etc).

I really do hope that the debt figures given are the 2008 bottom line - or that they're just wrong

Ed: Didn't look to see C. Wilson as author. This is the second time she has had printed figures that don't align with what the MFC have stated. Curious.

promising article. In particular i like the bit about AFL level people getting involves in our business plan and going in to bat for us.

They wouldn't be doing this if they wanted us to die...

I also like the idea of having Casey Fields as a training facility in the summer, as well as community involvement, while having the admin at bubble dome in olympic preccinct.

This sounds awesome.

Caro made a mistake i think with the debt figures.

She heard we have $5million in debt, so calculated $3.1 (debt demolision)+$1 (special assistance) - $3.2 Loss.

However, in actual fact. we started the season $3m in debt. so our debt has been cut by about half....

This has been confirmed by Stynes... so our debt in about $2.5m

So do you agree with me about where are these figures coming from?

is it a journalistic problem or is it a bigger debt than we have been led to believe?

You would think it would be the former, Caro's mis-calculation, it doesn't add up. Surely we couldn't be led up the garden path and told porkies...

Caro made a mistake i think with the debt figures.

She heard we have $5million in debt, so calculated $3.1 (debt demolision)+$1 (special assistance) - $3.2 Loss.

However, in actual fact. we started the season $3m in debt. so our debt has been cut by about half....

This has been confirmed by Stynes... so our debt in about $2.5m

Do you know this to be fact, or just guessing?

Positives from the Article:

1. MFC seeking realignment with MCC. Early days but this is something that IMO should definitely pursued.

2. Casey deal - Close to finalisation including alignment with Casey.

3. AFL has its financial people activately involved in the devlopment of the business plan. This should not be underestimated in the scheme of things.

4. AFL supported the MFC push with the MCC.

5. MFC making a clear submission to the AFL for $3million. Best it be done out in the open rather than rumoured and speculated about.

6. On track to have its HQ at Olympic Park by 2010.

And also:

7. MFC looking to pay out Nathan Carroll...

By the way, can someone explain to me what an alignment with the MCC would entail? I wasn't alive when it was ended 25 years ago, so I don't know what it really means, especially considering it isn't of a financial nature.

promising article. In particular i like the bit about AFL level people getting involves in our business plan and going in to bat for us.

They wouldn't be doing this if they wanted us to die...

I also like the idea of having Casey Fields as a training facility in the summer, as well as community involvement, while having the admin at bubble dome in olympic preccinct.

This sounds awesome.

Caro made a mistake i think with the debt figures.

She heard we have $5million in debt, so calculated $3.1 (debt demolision)+$1 (special assistance) - $3.2 Loss.

However, in actual fact. we started the season $3m in debt. so our debt has been cut by about half....

This has been confirmed by Stynes... so our debt in about $2.5m

Disagree. My information is that we were $3m in debt and would lose another $1.7m approx this year. Therefore before Debt Demo we would be about $4.8 in the hole.

Debt Demo has raised $3.1m and we have a debt therefore of about $1.6m, which the current Board would like to try and wipe off before the start of next season, so we would be debt free.

Being debt free would save about $500k in interest for next season and therefore improve the bottom line by that amount.

By the way, can someone explain to me what an alignment with the MCC would entail? I wasn't alive when it was ended 25 years ago, so I don't know what it really means, especially considering it isn't of a financial nature.

There may be better and longer answers to this..However.

Keep in mind we were essentially born of the MCC. We are its child. We're family..Estranged, dysfunctional or rebelious , we are still cut of the same cloth. However it was deemed at some point for many reasons..and you need to delve into club history to learn all and relevance ) that we as a club ought walk on our own. No longer under the umbrella of the MCC and totally repsosinsible unto itself. Strangely enough we've NEVER really lived the high life since this moment. Been a bit of a struggle as they say.

To answer your first bit is rather hard in any detail as none has been revealed. it seemes to indicate that instead of a stand alone club there is desire by the MFC to come back in from the cold and operate under the MCC in some way. How this would take form is anyones guess at this juncture. Im fairly confident that given its recent history that the MCC will not want to close a tie in case it then takes on financial responsibilites it really wouldnt want. There are however common grounds and interests to say nothing of History..We are in many ways the prodigal son.

In something that rivals ( in a football sense ) the war of the roses it wil be intersting to see if indeed the MCC welcomes back its wayward child back into the ancestral kingdom. Many, myself amongst, would say this IS where Melbourne belongs.

Instead of nomads searching the deserts for its spiritual oasis Melbournes heart is the MCC and its Winter Home..the MCG.. but to carry the theme further, there is nothing wrong with a Summer castle at the House of Casey !!!

In the past we were part of the MCC. I cant see this happening in the same guise again. I can see a role as a working partnership by ways of letters of association and common purpose. There is Synergy between the camps that is simply going to waste at present. This ought to change and be exploited as much as possible.

Should we all become happy families once more I think history would show that any resurgence of the mighty club is not acidentally associated with such a course !!

Thanks bub.

To answer your first bit is rather hard in any detail as none has been revealed. it seemes to indicate that instead of a stand alone club there is desire by the MFC to come back in from the cold and operate under the MCC in some way. How this would take form is anyones guess at this juncture. Im fairly confident that given its recent history that the MCC will not want to close a tie in case it then takes on financial responsibilites it really wouldnt want.

Ahem - 'The relationship would have no financial commitment but would see Melbourne again become a section of the MCC'.

As a MCC & MFC member, I think this would be a great move for the club.

We need to get back to our roots. We were once cream of the crop. We'll get there, we just need all the help we can get

Ahem - 'The relationship would have no financial commitment but would see Melbourne again become a section of the MCC'.

bad cough ??

No commitment may not evolve into no responsibility. How do you take something under your umbrella as a section without possible consequence ?

I think the reporting glosses over the detail. Will need to be very carefully crafted as an association. The MCC is viable and assett rich. We.... well..

I too hope some sort of recoupling can occur...but going back as we were is a bridge too farI would think.

With regard to the comittment area also...its elsewhere reported that the MCC want to see what the AFL does first

An interesting chapter for the MFC unfolds

Regarding figures being wrong in Fairfax articles... this is pure speculation by me, but I happen to know quite a few fairfax staffers, especially at The Age and with the talk of staff cutbacks a lot of people are said to be jumping ship and the ones that are left are so demoralized they are practically tearing the place down from the inside. Most of these people that management have deemed unneeded are subs, check subs, etc. - all the people that check the structure, facts, spelling, grammar and accusations that the journalists have generally gotten wrong and fix up the articles before they are sent to print.

All the whispers I'm hearing would lead to me to believe that there will be a hell of a lot more mistakes in Fairfax articles in the future.

Then again Caroline Wilson could just be an idiot.

Personally i think its a combination of the two...

Personally i think its a combination of the two...

I'll give you largess as to the former..

Disagree with latter

No matter what happens, the deal with Casey is still important, as the MCG is a cricket ground in summer remember, so footy training just doesn't work.

And regarding the speculation about a payout to Carroll, remember this is just a journo's opinion, it's not a statement from the club.

I think of far greater interest than all of that piece is the news that Warnock has told Freo that he's off. I guess it's just a case of how much he wants to play with his brother...

A bit rushed.. but is this what they are hinting at?

the trad jumper with MCC logo ?