Spoke at Melbourne Business Community breakfast today.

My impressions and some details of his talk to come later ...

Looking forward to it Jack. It will be interesting to hear what he had to say.

........... interesting.

in PJ we trust

Thanks Jack. I'm hanging out for information like this. Where PJ leads us is far more important than our win/loss ratio for the remainder of the season.

Great, thanks.

Will await your report with interest.

Was at the same breakfast. PJ spoke really well, and with conviction, gave me a lot of confidence the club is in the right hands.

I can really feel that the tide is starting to turn with this club, on the other hand I've lost count with how many times I've said that to myself. The good thing about the future is that it always looks bright.

I heard Tim Watson make two statements this morning I wholly agree with.

Name one football club to have succes without a fully functional board & that the fish always rots at the head.

Edited June 7, 201312 yr by The Yarra

I heard Tim Watson make two statements this morning I wholly agree with.

Name one football club to have succes without a fully functional board & that the fish always rots at the head.

Our fish will have a new head soon.

Our fish will have a new head soon.

....... but it will still need time to recuperate from the major surgery.

....... but it will still need time to recuperate from the major surgery.

Indeed. And the stench to dissipate.

Good. This is what must happen. Every level of the club put under scrutiny.

The main impression I got from Peter Jackson was his resolve to address and repair the issues confronting the club. He didn't sign on to the end of 2014 if he thought this couldn't be done.

He stressed that it was a club problem and not one that boils down to any particular individual.

Jackson said that the structures at football department were not right and he repeated the comment made previously about the CEO having four different people reporting to him and that this was problematic. He said that the club had invested for success but it certainly didn't come this year and was never going to come right away looking at age of the list.

He said he didn’t feel the decision to appoint Jack Grimes and Jack Trengove (note PJ – it’s not Trengrove and a repeat will bring a rain of tweets from Supermercado upon you!) was in itself wrong but he asked where were the players like Mitchell or Ling with the experience to support them?

Jackson added that the club’s problems go back at least three or four years and are due to poor list management back then. There is therefore no short term immediate fix. He said bringing in some of the older players introduced recently was OK indicating that he understood the need to bring such players into the club for what they could bring with them.

He believes that list management is the most important function at a football club. He is confident that the current list and recruiting management is much better than it has been previously and believes we made some very good recruiting decisions in 2012 and will get better.

He added that we're a nice football club but we need to be ruthless like Geelong is now compared to how they were around 2005-6. We need to be an elite football organisation that demands success as do clubs like Geelong.

On the club’s financial position PJ said that it had made modest profits in recent years but when the wheels fell off at the beginning of the season and crowd numbers fell, it impacted drastically on our financial position. Crowds of 13k v Gold Coast of $28 v Hawthorn (their home game) are not help to our bottom line or those of other clubs.

PJ was positive about our ability to turn things around both on and off the ground. We can restructure without impacting on our ability to do business.

We do need support and next week he has a meeting with the AFL commission and will present a plan. We have the support of the other clubs which don't want to see any club struggling with crowds as low as 13k.

He added there will be an announcement at the weekend about a review of the Board.

He finished by saying we were not a basket case and he regarded it as the best challenge in football.

Peter Maynard who works in the sponsorship area pointed out the mutual benefits of our partnership with the NT government. Disappointingly, the club's attempt to lure South China Airways to sign a lucrative sponsorship agreement (which was under negotiation for two years) has collapsed. The club only received that news recently after talks stalled in early April.

I can really feel that the tide is starting to turn with this club, on the other hand I've lost count with how many times I've said that to myself.

Actually, I think you've said that to us.

The main impression I got from Peter Jackson was his resolve to address and repair the issues confronting the club. He didn't sign on to the end of 2014 if he thought this couldn't be done.

He stressed that it was a club problem and not one that boils down to any particular individual.

Jackson said that the structures at football department were not right and he repeated the comment made previously about the CEO having four different people reporting to him and that this was problematic. He said that the club had invested for success but it certainly didn't come this year and was never going to come right away looking at age of the list.

He said he didn’t feel the decision to appoint Jack Grimes and Jack Trengove (note PJ – it’s not Trengrove and a repeat will bring a rain of tweets from Supermercado upon you!) was in itself wrong but he asked where were the players like Mitchell or Ling with the experience to support them?

Jackson added that the club’s problems go back at least three or four years and are due to poor list management back then. There is therefore no short term immediate fix. He said bringing in some of the older players introduced recently was OK indicating that he understood the need to bring such players into the club for what they could bring with them.

He believes that list management is the most important function at a football club. He is confident that the current list and recruiting management is much better than it has been previously and believes we made some very good recruiting decisions in 2012 and will get better.

He added that we're a nice football club but we need to be ruthless like Geelong is now compared to how they were around 2005-6. We need to be an elite football organisation that demands success as do clubs like Geelong.

On the club’s financial position PJ said that it had made modest profits in recent years but when the wheels fell off at the beginning of the season and crowd numbers fell, it impacted drastically on our financial position. Crowds of 13k v Gold Coast of $28 v Hawthorn (their home game) are not help to our bottom line or those of other clubs.

PJ was positive about our ability to turn things around both on and off the ground. We can restructure without impacting on our ability to do business.

We do need support and next week he has a meeting with the AFL commission and will present a plan. We have the support of the other clubs which don't want to see any club struggling with crowds as low as 13k.

He added there will be an announcement at the weekend about a review of the Board.

He finished by saying we were not a basket case and he regarded it as the best challenge in football.

Peter Maynard who works in the sponsorship area pointed out the mutual benefits of our partnership with the NT government. Disappointingly, the club's attempt to lure South China Airways to sign a lucrative sponsorship agreement (which was under negotiation for two years) has collapsed. The club only received that news recently after talks stalled in early April.

Thanks WJ that was very informative.

WJ a most informative post, thanks for that. It sounds as if there will be changes made but not rash decisions and not wholesale sackings. Have I interpreted this correctly?

...

Peter Maynard who works in the sponsorship area pointed out the mutual benefits of our partnership with the NT government. Disappointingly, the club's attempt to lure South China Airways to sign a lucrative sponsorship agreement (which was under negotiation for two years) has collapsed. The club only received that news recently after talks stalled in early April.

I think this is interesting, and dissapointing. I wonder if it has anything to do with CS's departure? China was always his baby, and the Chinese traditionally like to deal with long term contacts in these sorts of deals.

Thanks WJ that was very informative.

No worries Redleg.

I assume Briefed is still running at Flemington tomorrow and you're happy with the overnight rain?

Thanks for relaying that, Jack.

Interesting times ahead.

Great summary by WJ.

One point that I noted in particular was that PJ and the board will be going to the AFL next week with a detailed plan of how we will extract ourselves. The AFL, MCC and other clubs needs MFC to be healthy. Poor attendances against Richmond, Hawthorn and GC hurt others almost as much as they hurt us. However, the AFL will only give support if they believe that they are confident that it will be spent wisely. PJ pointed out that the MFC had dropped a fair bit of coin on the football department in the past two years, which is the sort of money that will make the AFL more averse to support. On the other hand, PJ believes that we can reduce costs without having to impact the football department to much, nor services to members (like the fabulous Melbourne Business Community breakfasts!).

It was reassuring to hear PJ pinpoint a problem, i.e. list management around 2009, but reassure us that our list management expertise is now better. PJ suggested that the most important member of a football club was the CEO list manager (he made a faux pas on this), not the coach, CEO or president. Very interesting.

The main impression I got from Peter Jackson was his resolve to address and repair the issues confronting the club. He didn't sign on to the end of 2014 if he thought this couldn't be done.

He stressed that it was a club problem and not one that boils down to any particular individual.

Jackson said that the structures at football department were not right and he repeated the comment made previously about the CEO having four different people reporting to him and that this was problematic. He said that the club had invested for success but it certainly didn't come this year and was never going to come right away looking at age of the list.

He said he didn’t feel the decision to appoint Jack Grimes and Jack Trengove (note PJ – it’s not Trengrove and a repeat will bring a rain of tweets from Supermercado upon you!) was in itself wrong but he asked where were the players like Mitchell or Ling with the experience to support them?

Jackson added that the club’s problems go back at least three or four years and are due to poor list management back then. There is therefore no short term immediate fix. He said bringing in some of the older players introduced recently was OK indicating that he understood the need to bring such players into the club for what they could bring with them.

He believes that list management is the most important function at a football club. He is confident that the current list and recruiting management is much better than it has been previously and believes we made some very good recruiting decisions in 2012 and will get better.

He added that we're a nice football club but we need to be ruthless like Geelong is now compared to how they were around 2005-6. We need to be an elite football organisation that demands success as do clubs like Geelong.

On the club’s financial position PJ said that it had made modest profits in recent years but when the wheels fell off at the beginning of the season and crowd numbers fell, it impacted drastically on our financial position. Crowds of 13k v Gold Coast of $28 v Hawthorn (their home game) are not help to our bottom line or those of other clubs.

PJ was positive about our ability to turn things around both on and off the ground. We can restructure without impacting on our ability to do business.

We do need support and next week he has a meeting with the AFL commission and will present a plan. We have the support of the other clubs which don't want to see any club struggling with crowds as low as 13k.

He added there will be an announcement at the weekend about a review of the Board.

He finished by saying we were not a basket case and he regarded it as the best challenge in football.

Peter Maynard who works in the sponsorship area pointed out the mutual benefits of our partnership with the NT government. Disappointingly, the club's attempt to lure South China Airways to sign a lucrative sponsorship agreement (which was under negotiation for two years) has collapsed. The club only received that news recently after talks stalled in early April.

Nice work on the report, much appreciated!! Do you think that this now means curtains for our current list management guy?

As you seem pretty well informed, what changes are you expecting?

No worries Redleg.

I assume Briefed is still running at Flemington tomorrow and you're happy with the overnight rain?

Yes. One scratched 12 more to go and he can jog around the track to claim the first prize.

Nice work on the report, much appreciated!! Do you think that this now means curtains for our current list management guy?

As you seem pretty well informed, what changes are you expecting?

I'm not so well informed but I don't think this means curtains for Tim Harrington because PJ said he was happy with our 2012 recruiting.

I don't think our last two recruiting gurus will be invited back any time soon.

As to the coaching and football department, I would imagine that over the next six months we're going to see some new faces and perhaps some new positions created and others made redundant.

And you can back it in that there will be changes at board level but nothing radical like a former state premier.

I'm not so well informed but I don't think this means curtains for Tim Harrington because PJ said he was happy with our 2012 recruiting.

I don't think our last two recruiting gurus will be invited back any time soon.

As to the coaching and football department, I would imagine that over the next six months we're going to see some new faces and perhaps some new positions created and others made redundant.

And you can back it in that there will be changes at board level but nothing radical like a former state premier.

So in other words, we should be pointing our fingers at Barry Prendergast for the state of the club, and maybe even Bailey??

It is refreshing to hear that Jackson has come to these views. For me, it reinforces my belief that since Neeld and Co took over, that we have been heading on right path and that things are going to get better.

I think it's pretty obvious that our problems started in the Bailey era. Recruiting, premature moving on of senior players, failure to put in place the proper standards etc etc.

I also really like the statement regarding Trengove and Grimes.....PJ recognises that although the move to make them captains may not have been the best move, he seems to acknowledge that there has been a lack of leadership amongst the player group in the past, and that there were possibly few alternatives to the Jack's.

I heard Tim Watson make two statements this morning I wholly agree with.

Name one football club to have succes without a fully functional board & that the fish always rots at the head.

I'll have a stab at Fitzroy in 1916 who finished last on a ladder of four clubs with two wins but won 3 straight 'finals' for a Premiership.