It's interesting to see the demarcation the AFL makes between "the Club" and an "employee". It seems because CC was a "football manager on a second tier down from the board" his actions are seen as independant of the Board (Club). The two are apparently not interchangeable. I'd be interested whether an employee on the first level down from the board would constitute "the Club." I won't hold my breath waiting for an answer from the AFL....

The AFL think we tanked, INCLUDING match day, but knew it would be difficult to prove and didn't want a court case, or to cripple the club over a flawed draft system they implemented. They had enough evidence and a determination to do something, especially when the whole football world thought we tanked, but were able to facilitate an outcome where all parties walk away somewhat satisfied under the circumstances. Except, of course, some supporters that you'd never please.

No draft sanctions is massive.

They also probably wanted to avoid some difficult conversations with betting agencies which provide them with some decent cash.

WYL what are your thoughts on what has happened as u were a big advocate of going to court if we were to get any sanction?

Just curious mate not having a go at u.

OX personally i would have prefered to go to court for the reason that the charges are shaky.

I am seething we have been fingered when i believe other clubs did the same.

But if our gaming licenses and Sponsors are solid i can begrudgingly cop it.

We simply have to win at all costs now. We the supporters must make sure the FD is the number one priority as far as available funds.

How we are not guilty but the head coach gets 16 weeks will always be a mystery to me.

But we can attend next years draft so it could have been worse.

On field we will be hated by other clubs who did the same.

This must make us stronger.

Us v Them from today.

I think a lot of people are looking at this from the wrong direction. The meeting was held yesterday, and then our lawyers sat down and pushed them into a release that absolves the club of virtually all blame. Make no mistake people, we have just dictated terms to Vlad and co. and forced them to accept the only route we were willing to allow them to save face.

This is a great day to be a Demons supporter.

If this is true rm the why didn't we beat down the $500k fine?

I feel let down....I understand that it is good to get this crap out the way before the start of the season but I cant help but feel we rolled over.

The things we did badly

1/ Chris Connelly being so blatant in a meeting AND

2/ Having enough people hear him that either became disgruntled later and rolled over on him or were weak livered and rolled over on him OR

3/ there was documentary proof.

Thats where we went wrong.

The reason I feel sick is the sheer hypocracy of the proceedings, the precedents, and GM presser regarding what he considered manipulation (CC's comments) and the other example given of Freo resting players for a home final.

Its a con job and not a very good one.

4. The rats in the ranks (previous MFC employee's) dibby dobbing to the AFL before the investigation and to DOA (CW) DURING the investigation and findings period. Smoke them out.

OX personally i would have prefered to go to court for the reason that the charges are shaky.

I am seething we have been fingered when i believe other clubs did the same.

But if our gaming licenses and Sponsors are solid i can begrudgingly cop it.

We simply have to win at all costs now. We the supporters must make sure the FD is the number one priority as far as available funds.

How we are not guilty but the head coach gets 16 weeks will always be a mystery to me.

But we can attend next years draft so it could have been worse.

On field we will be hated by other clubs who did the same.

This must make us stronger.

Us v Them from today.

Agree mate and it could have been a lot worse.

It's time the dees players stood up and show something on the field.

It's been a long 6 years and its time to move on.

The club being found not guilty was incredibly important. Not only for the Bentleigh licence but also for sponsorship and our integrity as a club moving forward.

Even though this whole sage gives me the Jimmy Brits the net result is this.

We paid $500k for a no 1 draft pick. You would do that every day of the week.

This charade has leached us of $500,000 in tax to the AFL to cover up their incompetence.

I went to most of the 2009 games and have no doubt we did what had to be done to secure the first 2 draft picks, even under intense media scrutiny.

Cuddles and Bails did their very best for our club despite the ramifications and for that I feel deeply for the humiliation they are copping for taking that bullet.

Now that the dust has settled and I am calm I will make my final comment and bare with me I have said

a few of these things in the past.

Richmond game 2009, I went with a couple of Richmond mates, they said at numerous times during the game " you sure don't want to win this do you.

I was devastated when we lost and could only agree with my mates that we tanked.

I left the ground of that opinion and I still do to this day.

Did we do any worse that a number of other teams namely Carlton for one.

No in my opinion.

Why in the end did we get done?

Because we made it so obvious and shot our mouths off and left evidence that bought us undone in the end.

I have maintained that we should fight to the end and go to court if necessary why didnt we?

I suspect there was proof that we tanked ( which we as members will probably never see ) and we would have lost.

I can think of no other reason.

The MFC then had to negotiate the best deal.

That deal we see before us, as others have said why a $500 000 fine if you are innocent?

Again I can only assume the evidence was we tanked and this was the negotiated settlement.

We will pay a fine but we are innocent.

Weird but there you are.

I think we have arrived at today because people at the club in 2009 tried to be way too clever and then were very ordinary at the delivery.

What it shows to me is that winning is what the MFC should be about.

That is what created the great club of the Mid 20th century.

Win at all costs take no prisioners attitude.

I hope that the club now sees this as the way forward.

No more clever tricks, just win as many games as possible and then worry about draft positions at the end of August.

The long term down side is we will be forever the tanking demons.

But you cannot re write history.

The MFC must now be a winning team and play finals football in a few years time.

IMO there is no other way to try and remove the stain.

Go Dees ( starting Friday )

.

If this is true rm the why didn't we beat down the $500k fine?

Have you considered it might have started at $1 million

Have you considered it might have started at $1 million

No old dee tbh it didn't even enter my thoughts. U could be right but we will never know.

Time for all of us to move on and hopefully look forward to a good season for a change.

OX personally i would have prefered to go to court for the reason that the charges are shaky.

I am seething we have been fingered when i believe other clubs did the same.

But if our gaming licenses and Sponsors are solid i can begrudgingly cop it.

We simply have to win at all costs now. We the supporters must make sure the FD is the number one priority as far as available funds.

How we are not guilty but the head coach gets 16 weeks will always be a mystery to me.

But we can attend next years draft so it could have been worse.

On field we will be hated by other clubs who did the same.

This must make us stronger.

Us v Them from today.

I would have preferred to fight the bastards. That's not an option now and I'm trying to be pragmatic but I can't help being disappointed that once again we've ended up with sand in our face.

I'm with you WYL - it's up to we supporters now to fly the flag by getting to games and supporting the 2013 Demons. If the can't fight, for whatever reason, we need to show we are loyal supporters and will conduct ourselves with the dignity becoming supporters of the original football club. We need to set the example by becoming united like never before. Go DEES!

The main objective of today was to craft a resolution whereby it's not in anybody's interests to look into it too deeply.

That's been done.

Is it true that Bailey is only suspended from doing anything on match day, and doing anything one-on-one? That still leaves a lot of wriggle room for an assistant coach. Is that a punishment that fits what he was charged for? And what exactly did he do wrong again? Bailey would be justified in taking it further, but if his punishment only prevents him from doing some of the duties of an assistant coach, he's not come out of it too badly. Until, perhaps, he tries to look for another job at another club.

The AFL needed to nail the coach (in some way) and to nail someone from the club (in some way that wouldn't do the club any mortal damage), and draw blood from the club itself, again without it being a mortal wound.

The AFL got everything they wanted. Surprise surprise.

We were grazed but not mortally wounded.

I have a vague memory of some posts in 2009 that expressed concern about the amount of "loose talk" around the club, particularly by CC who was in a more responsible position then IIRC, to the effect that if any of this "loose talk" got to the "wrong ears", we could have some awkward questions to answer. Can anybody else remember something like this? Were there other occasions in 2009 when CC joked in a nudge-nudge wink-wink manner about priority picks?

Now that the dust has settled and I am calm I will make my final comment and bare with me I have said

a few of these things in the past.

Richmond game 2009, I went with a couple of Richmond mates, they said at numerous times during the game " you sure don't want to win this do you.

I was devastated when we lost and could only agree with my mates that we tanked.

I left the ground of that opinion and I still do to this day.

Did we do any worse that a number of other teams namely Carlton for one.

No in my opinion.

Why in the end did we get done?

Because we made it so obvious and shot our mouths off and left evidence that bought us undone in the end.

I have maintained that we should fight to the end and go to court if necessary why didnt we?

I suspect there was proof that we tanked ( which we as members will probably never see ) and we would have lost.

I can think of no other reason.

The MFC then had to negotiate the best deal.

That deal we see before us, as others have said why a $500 000 fine if you are innocent?

Again I can only assume the evidence was we tanked and this was the negotiated settlement.

We will pay a fine but we are innocent.

Weird but there you are.

I think we have arrived at today because people at the club in 2009 tried to be way too clever and then were very ordinary at the delivery.

What it shows to me is that winning is what the MFC should be about.

That is what created the great club of the Mid 20th century.

Win at all costs take no prisioners attitude.

I hope that the club now sees this as the way forward.

No more clever tricks, just win as many games as possible and then worry about draft positions at the end of August.

The long term down side is we will be forever the tanking demons.

But you cannot re write history.

The MFC must now be a winning team and play finals football in a few years time.

IMO there is no other way to try and remove the stain.

Go Dees ( starting Friday )

.

REALLY like this post OD.

I would have preferred to fight the bastards. That's not an option now and I'm trying to be pragmatic but I can't help being disappointed that once again we've ended up with sand in our face.

I'm with you WYL - it's up to we supporters now to fly the flag by getting to games and supporting the 2013 Demons. If the can't fight, for whatever reason, we need to show we are loyal supporters and will conduct ourselves with the dignity becoming supporters of the original football club. We need to set the example by becoming united like never before. Go DEES!

right now its up to the FD & Players. If they show fight the supporters will flock.

Another 186 and that would be dire.

The opening 2 comments from Gillon McLachlan was what we all wanted to hear ...

There had not been a directive from the Melbourne FC board or executive management that the team should deliberately lose matches in any game during the 2009 premiership season.

The Melbourne FC, its coach and team did not set out to deliberately lose in any matches during the 2009 premiership season.

In fact, to have these 2 comments upfront was very important in terms of our 2 gaming venues and our sponsors (and future sponsors)

Here is the full transcript ... Tanking investigation: Full text of AFL statement

Thought this was an interesting comment ... though I'm not sure that any other club will be investigated in the same way that we were ...

Mr McLachlan said if any person came forward with new evidence involving clubs acting in a manner which was prejudicial to the interests of the AFL, the AFL’s integrity department would examine any such evidence.

Overall, it's hard to know how to feel. A 500k fine seems quite steep, all things considered. Bailey getting 16 weeks is also odd considering we're still none the wiser to what he actually did wrong. Connolly has taken a bullet for the club and I hope the club looks after him. Again, we're still unsure about the context of CC's comments and what was actually said.

The whole thing was vague right to the end. Maybe in a few days there will be a sense of relief but right now I'm annoyed that we've taken the brunt for all the indiscretions (and that probably won't change)

I guess we can all say that the AFL found us not guilty of deliberately losing matches. Does that mean we're not guilty of tanking? Probably, but there is the issue of the 500k fine ...

There are still a lot of unanswered questions and it's doubtful whether we'll ever hear the full story.

Edited February 19, 201312 yr by Macca

Round 1 is more important to me now then ever before. I want a show of strength from the players by smashing port. I want to walk away from the G knowing that the worst has passed. I want to know that being a member of the MFC isn't all torture.

And if we hadn't picked up that priority pick,we would still have threads on this forum criticising the board for not having the werewithall to know how to do it like other big clubs like the p-pies and carl-s-tank. This is better because we got our pick

Now that the dust has settled and I am calm I will make my final comment and bare with me I have said

a few of these things in the past.

Richmond game 2009, I went with a couple of Richmond mates, they said at numerous times during the game " you sure don't want to win this do you.

I was devastated when we lost and could only agree with my mates that we tanked.

I left the ground of that opinion and I still do to this day.

Did we do any worse that a number of other teams namely Carlton for one.

No in my opinion.

Why in the end did we get done?

Because we made it so obvious and shot our mouths off and left evidence that bought us undone in the end.

I have maintained that we should fight to the end and go to court if necessary why didnt we?

I suspect there was proof that we tanked ( which we as members will probably never see ) and we would have lost.

I can think of no other reason.

The MFC then had to negotiate the best deal.

That deal we see before us, as others have said why a $500 000 fine if you are innocent?

Again I can only assume the evidence was we tanked and this was the negotiated settlement.

We will pay a fine but we are innocent.

Weird but there you are.

I think we have arrived at today because people at the club in 2009 tried to be way too clever and then were very ordinary at the delivery.

What it shows to me is that winning is what the MFC should be about.

That is what created the great club of the Mid 20th century.

Win at all costs take no prisioners attitude.

I hope that the club now sees this as the way forward.

No more clever tricks, just win as many games as possible and then worry about draft positions at the end of August.

The long term down side is we will be forever the tanking demons.

But you cannot re write history.

The MFC must now be a winning team and play finals football in a few years time.

IMO there is no other way to try and remove the stain.

Go Dees ( starting Friday )

.

Incorrect Old Dee there was absolutely no evidence of tanking in the report. We would have won in Court but made a powerful enemy.

From The Age:

"Just to reiterate ... employees of the Melbourne Football Club Dean Bailey and Chris Connolly

Aaargh ... don't tell me Bailey got himself a job at the club again,?

Please no!

Incorrect Old Dee there was absolutely no evidence of tanking in the report. We would have won in Court but made a powerful enemy.

I will believe that after I have read the report Redleg.

Not that I think any of us will ever see it.

Surprise me and tell me it is available.

If it is not available why not.

Until then we tanked pure and simple from where I and the football community sit

Was there anything on the thing that broke this thing wide open? The fumble count in the last 3 minutes in the richmond game.

Edited February 19, 201312 yr by Satan

I will believe that after I have read the report Redleg.

Not that I think any of us will ever see it.

Surprise me and tell me it is available.

If it is not available why not.

Until then we tanked pure and simple from where I and the football community sit

Doesn't matter where you or anyone else sits OD. The fact is that officially we didn't tank and furthermore, the fact that the AFL accepted this is a fact means it's likely that its legal advice was that it had a snowflake's chance in hell of getting up before the judges of the Supreme Court of Victoria. You can back that one in.

Incorrect Old Dee there was absolutely no evidence of tanking in the report. We would have won in Court but made a powerful enemy.

The power of the AFL is a fanciful conception.

This power rests on it never being challenged.

Doesn't matter where you or anyone else sits OD. The fact is that officially we didn't tank and furthermore, the fact that the AFL accepted this is a fact means it's likely that its legal advice was that it had a snowflake's chance in hell of getting up before the judges of the Supreme Court of Victoria. You can back that one in.

Is there also a part where the AFL didn't want one of its clubs done on such a charge?