North have had two chances to establish themselves over the last 30 or so years, the 70's and the 90's but they didn't. They had a great team in the 90's in particular and if they had done what Hawthorn did they may not need the AFL assistance they do now. How could they not attract supporters with players like Carey and Archer running around every week? They should have a whole heap of kids that went through that time who are just now becoming North supporters and members but sadly for them they don't.

They have got very little in the way of corporate backing, the AFL treat them like, as someone else said, “filler” they get the last spot in the TV pecking order and no one, other that their own supporters, cares about them. Most other club’s supporters disregard them and know nothing about their talent or their list and as mentioned above just pencil them in as a win. I don’t think anyone takes them seriously when they frame their top eight each year and are surprised when North makes it. The problem is they don’t have the talent to go all the way and they are therefore stuck in that area known as no man’s land, neither here nor there.

Problem is they don’t have the supporter base to drag themselves out of the mire and they don’t have the profile that will make them attractive to corporations, so where do they go? I would say they will wither and die if they don’t relocate, they are shrinking not growing and their siege mentality has frightened people off and not too them. Kids don't care about the "Shinboner Spirit" most wouldn't have a clue what it is, they need to make themselves relevant and clinging to the past tradition of a working man’s club just doesn’t cut it any more.

Yes considering they did win Flags in the 70's (albeit with that shocking 10 year rule) & yes i know we got Big Carl. When TV replays were big business back then North got exposure, How did they not capitalize?? Astounding really.

The reason the MFC floundered i believe was because during the 70's we got almost no coverage on TV-so what happened with North??

But sadly i think it is too late now. They are just too far back now.

The MFC has managed to turn things around & at least get back to zero as we speak, we can grow from here. North i don't think have that opportunity any longer.

If by some chance they do expand-Good, it helps all clubs.

The AFL are not going to prop up North for years and years. They are doing that already in the GC and GWS.

Current membership levels of Victorian-based (this morning's figures)

Collingwood 53,244

Hawthorn 44,644

Essendon 38,686

Richmond 33,700

St Kilda 30,369

Carlton 29,198

Geelong 27,668

Melbourne 25,253

Western Bulldogs 22,503

North Melbourne 18,056

North are bad, but compared to the others we're not exactly taking home the cash with Armaguard either.

Hope so. I haven't ploughed through all those Whiteboard Wednesdays for nothing.

Haha

Current membership levels of Victorian-based (this morning's figures)

Collingwood 53,244

Hawthorn 44,644

Essendon 38,686

Richmond 33,700

St Kilda 30,369

Carlton 29,198

Geelong 27,668

Melbourne 25,253 25,643

Western Bulldogs 22,503

North Melbourne 18,056

North are bad, but compared to the others we're not exactly taking home the cash with Armaguard either.

Fixed.

Yes considering they did win Flags in the 70's (albeit with that shocking 10 year rule) & yes i know we got Big Carl. When TV replays were big business back then North got exposure, How did they not capitalize?? Astounding really.

They were a high profile glamour club in a time when the business angle and money was not critical in VFL/AFL. Its only be become serious in the past 15 to 20 years.

The reason the MFC floundered i believe was because during the 70's we got almost no coverage on TV-so what happened with North??

MFC floundered because they were a poorly run club on and off the field since 1965. MFC performances during the 1970s were often putrid and never deserved the replays. Your re write of history to fit an argument is amazing and easily spotted.

The AFL are not going to prop up North for years and years. They are doing that already in the GC and GWS.

And 4 to 5 other Victorian Clubs...

Current membership levels of Victorian-based (this morning's figures)

Collingwood 53,244

Hawthorn 44,644

Essendon 38,686

Richmond 33,700

St Kilda 30,369

Carlton 29,198

Geelong 27,668

Melbourne 25,253

Western Bulldogs 22,503

North Melbourne 18,056

North are bad, but compared to the others we're not exactly taking home the cash with Armaguard either.

Indeed. We are no near out of the woods at all.

They were a high profile glamour club in a time when the business angle and money was not critical in VFL/AFL. Its only be become serious in the past 15 to 20 years.

MFC floundered because they were a poorly run club on and off the field since 1965. MFC performances during the 1970s were often putrid and never deserved the replays. Your re write of history to fit an argument is amazing and easily spotted.

And 4 to 5 other Victorian Clubs...

Indeed. We are no near out of the woods at all.

hmmm it's not as bad as that

last year's final figures

1.Collingwood 57,408

2.Hawthorn 53,978

5.Essendon 40,589

6.Carlton 40,480

7.Geelong Cats 40,326

9.St Kilda 39,021

10.Richmond 35,960

11.Melbourne 33,358

12.Western Bulldogs 32,077

15.North Melbourne 26,953

just 7200 more puts us up there as 3rd biggest Vic club, we are sure to see a swelling as we become a top4 side, we could certainly get there.

we were also 8th in the comp for average attendances last year, this will improve also

On field they are fair game and I hope they struggle and I hope we smash them at every opportunity, but that doesn't mean I want to see them disappear from the competition.

Agree 100%

My hatred of all teams is "on field only" - what happens off field is not my concern, I wont go out of my way to wish any team financial harm. As mentioned in other posts, we were not far away & I hope it will never happen to us again.

Just wish we smash them this year, because this wood they have over us is beginning to annoy me!!!

Just to clarify for you Sir High n Mighty, my original post was a bit lighthearted in case it wasn't clear enough, fair enough tho, it's hard to detect sarcasm just in written form. My main point is that I was happy to see them lose 2 games of footy compared to our 2 wins only because of their persistent need to piggy back our good fortune and improving form.

Madam high and mighty if you please

Nth Melbournes time in the guise as we know it is limited. They rolled the dice, have gambled and lost. They refused to take the money and move in lieu of a shiny new future courtesy of generous White Knights.

Alas the Knights never came. Did they ever in fact exist ?? Was it a ruse ( roose) ?

Brayshaw and Co have survived this coup. Will they be able to survive another. They will need to exihibit real success in order for anyone to turn up. Presently no on e really does or care.

They have chanced their one-toime lifeline to the public. Many paid up for memberships from other clubs just to help the kangas out. Peoplle dont normally do that twice. If kanga supporters cant be bothered why on earth would anyone else be.

It seems likely the AFL wont quite get the money there looking for at the next TV dealings. They want 1 Billion and only about 800 mill is on offer ( maybe ) according to the industry wagging tongues.

Vlad Inc has it pet projects. Nth isnt a priority and theyll probably want to slap them a little for being naughty lil boys last time.

Tassie is ripe for a team but sense teh AFL doesnt want to fully commit just yet.. PP's are more important just now. Should however they stictch up some sort of deal there it might suit all parties except hawthorn ( boohoo and who cares there )

Nth is on borrowed time...and theyre struggling to pay back anything at present let alone time !!!

MFC floundered because they were a poorly run club on and off the field since 1965. MFC performances during the 1970s were often putrid and never deserved the replays. Your re write of history to fit an argument is amazing and easily spotted.

Who mentioned re writing history apart from yourself, i was merely saying that because we were putrid in the 70's we got almost no exposure on TV, thus lost a huge amount of support from a new generation of kids who grew up on the Saturday night Replay.

Richmond capitalized on that period magnificently coupled with their move to the MCG in 1965.

you can draw a lot of correlations between north melb and wayne carey

There is some reason to fear for North's long term future but it's drawing a long bow to suggest that they are in for a poor season on the strength or otherwise of their performance in a group that contained two preliminary finalists from last year.

In fact, Geelong looked more like the Geelong of 2 - 3 years ago minus G. Ablett who they will miss greatly but they seem to have a renewed vitality and sense of purpose which should see them in the top four again. The Bulldogs also showed they're not going backwards and seem to have covered their losses from last year with the return to fitness of some of their injured brigade, improvement of their youngsters (eg Easton Wood), and the inclusion of some handy new players.

On top of that nobody should take the results from round 1 of the NAB seriously anyway.

i was merely saying that because we were putrid in the 70's we got almost no exposure on TV, thus lost a huge amount of support from a new generation of kids who grew up on the Saturday night Replay.

Richmond capitalized on that period magnificently coupled with their move to the MCG in 1965.

Ha ha no you didnt say that at all.You blamed MFC performances on the lack of TV coverage. Caught you.

The reason the MFC floundered i believe was because during the 70's we got almost no coverage on TV....

Ha ha no you didnt say that at all.You blamed MFC performances on the lack of TV coverage. Caught you.

To interject for a moment, I would have interpreted WYL's use of the word "floundered" as meaning the membership (hence financial stability of the club) suffered. He has merely given a more detailed explanation later as to why there was so little TV coverage.

Ha ha no you didnt say that at all.You blamed MFC performances on the lack of TV coverage. Caught you.

Have you deleted my earlier post about your attacks setting a poor example?

Have you deleted my earlier post about your attacks setting a poor example?

He does that

Careful he will suspend you too

Have you deleted my earlier post about your attacks setting a poor example?

Actually, your post and the post preceding it (that you had commented on and which was a response to my post) have both been removed.

Have you deleted my earlier post about your attacks setting a poor example?

Probably.

newsflash: North Melbourne is an opposition club, opposition clubs are the enemy

if they were to disappear it makes our future more secure, simple as that

Hopefully every other club in the AFL folds, that way we would have free reign over all players and be premiers every year!

Hopefully every other club in the AFL folds, that way we would have free reign over all players and be premiers every year!

did you really think that made the slightest bit of sense when you wrote it?

why waste everybody's time

you are probably one of those supporters that loves Collingwood 'for letting us have QB'

no idea

now go and buy a few North memberships and cry me a river

did you really think that made the slightest bit of sense when you wrote it?

why waste everybody's time

you are probably one of those supporters that loves Collingwood 'for letting us have QB'

no idea

now go and buy a few North memberships and cry me a river

They were taking the [censored] out of your ridiculous assertion that it would be good if North folded. If our club can only survive on the back of others failures then our club is also failing.

Guess which club has the the lowest Auskick numbers in the league, survives on AFL handouts and would be 4 million in debt if it wasn't for a small handful of wealthy supporters. I'll give you a clue. It isn't North Melbourne.

They were taking the [censored] out of your ridiculous assertion that it would be good if North folded. If our club can only survive on the back of others failures then our club is also failing.

Guess which club has the the lowest Auskick numbers in the league, survives on AFL handouts and would be 4 million in debt if it wasn't for a small handful of wealthy supporters. I'll give you a clue. It isn't North Melbourne.

you make me sick

all your points are refutable and have been refuted over and over again and i'll be damned if i'm doing it with smeone that is supposed to be on my side

go and barrack for someone else if you are so ashamed

you make me sick

all your points are refutable and have been refuted over and over again and i'll be damned if i'm doing it with smeone that is supposed to be on my side

go and barrack for someone else if you are so ashamed

I dare you to refute any of my points with facts.

They were taking the [censored] out of your ridiculous assertion that it would be good if North folded. If our club can only survive on the back of others failures then our club is also failing.

Guess which club has the the lowest Auskick numbers in the league, survives on AFL handouts and would be 4 million in debt if it wasn't for a small handful of wealthy supporters. I'll give you a clue. It isn't North Melbourne.

Poor arguments.

Which club plays 40 Sunday games in 3 years and little or no Friday night games, which club doesn't have a stadium deal, blah blah blah.

I dare you to refute any of my points with facts.

Yes we need on field success that's for sure...The good will of the Supporters & the Media will only go so far.

That said....more people do care for this club than i thought did, Thankfully those few wealthy Demon supporters did come forward-(I knew they were in the shadows).

But yes 2011 the solid wins must start coming regularly..

I still consider North way way below the MFC, even considering our position.