Received the Following email from the club signed by Gary Pert and Glen Bartlett:

To our members,

We’d like to firstly take a moment to thank you.

Thank you for getting on board in what was a record-breaking year for our club’s membership. We reached 52,446 members for the first time in our history; an incredible show of support from our fans.

Thank you for standing with us, and for sticking by us. We know this season has been bitterly disappointing for us all; it’s hard to write this letter and ignore the fact we finished 17th on the AFL ladder, as it’s obviously nowhere near where we wanted to be.

Coming into this season, we knew we would need to improve just to make the finals again. However, this is a brutal competition and we clearly fell short of our own expectations.

But success is not a straight line. We have had five years of growth and whilst this year has been disappointing, the pain we have all felt will drive us forward into 2020.

We have always said that this is not just about one season. Our focus is to build a team that will consistently feature in September over the next five to seven years, and challenge for a Premiership.

It has taken a lot of work to get to this point, but there’s a significant amount still to do. In saying that, the belief in the football club is as strong as ever. We have complete faith in our players and football department leaders and know that together, we will find the required improvement. Yes, 2019 has been a major bump in the road, but not one that is going to take us off course.

The most important thing for us now, is what learnings we have taken from 2019 and what actions we are going to take to address our issues. There are some harsh lessons for us all, and we are under no illusion that every area of our club needs to find improvement.

This process has already begun. We did not wait until the end of the season to start making change, having restructured our coaching and fitness department mid-season. Since then, we have also appointed some key personnel in Darren Burgess and Alan Richardson, who will be incredibly important for us going forward. Further changes will be announced in the near future.

We are a member-based club, and for that reason we will have a Post-Season Member Forum every year. The forum will focus solely on on-field performance and the elements that drive our football program. This year it will allow members to hear from the leaders of the club about the specific dynamics that affected our performance in 2019. Members will hear our learnings and our planned response to ensure continual improvement. The forum will also give you as a member, the opportunity to ask questions about our performance in 2019 and our plans for 2020.

The details of this year's Post-Season Member Forum are:

Date: Tuesday 19th November 2019
Time: 6:00pm arrival and registration, for a 6:30pm start
Location: MCC Members Dining Room, Level 2, Gate 2, MCG.
Entry: Your valid 2019 or 2020 Melbourne Football Club membership card is required for entry.

Please register your attendance (Valid 2019 or 2020 Melbourne Football Club membership card required for entry) via this link: https://melbourne2.snapforms.com.au/form/2019-members-forum

As a valued Melbourne Football Club member, you are a critical part of the growth of this club. Your support during the good times, and not so good times, means everything to the Club. For this reason, we would like to formally invite you to attend the forum and hope you can make the time.

Thank you for being part of our journey in 2019, and for your ongoing support. Please rest assured, that we will continue to do everything possible to create a club that you feel proud to belong to.

We hope to see you on Tuesday 19th November.

Good to see they acknowledge the disaster that is 2019.

The key is what they do about it. We have been fed platitudes for 13 years and you could probably print the same letter for 10 of those 13 years. We've heard it all before. They're lucky the club has any supporters left.

Just fix the **** mess. Demand better from everyone involved. 

5 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Good to see they acknowledge the disaster that is 2019.

The key is what they do about it. We have been fed platitudes for 13 years and you could probably print the same letter for 10 of those 13 years. We've heard it all before. They're lucky the club has any supporters left.

Just fix the **** mess. Demand better from everyone involved. 

Instead of banging on here all the time about how bad the club is, toodle off to the meeting and ask a few questions.

Yes, looking forward to hearing certain posters on here get up and ask their questions!

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

We have always said that this is not just about one season. Our focus is to build a team that will consistently feature in September over the next five to seven years, and challenge for a Premiership.

Gary & Glen, do you think Hawthorn's focus is to challenge for a Premiership?

We challenged this year like all clubs, just came up well short.

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

The forum will focus solely on on-field performance and the elements that drive our football program.

Sounds like a let out for Bartlett and Pert.

I sure hope they are going to discuss the training facility as it is very important to on field performance....

2 minutes ago, rjay said:

Sounds like a let out for Bartlett and Pert.

I sure hope they are going to discuss the training facility as it is very important to on field performance....

The AGM is really the time to get stuck into Barlett and Pert, if that's what you want to do. This forum is about the football, and given the year we've had is a brave and brilliant thing the club is doing. 

 

1 minute ago, Red and Blue realist said:

The AGM is really the time to get stuck into Barlett and Pert, if that's what you want to do. This forum is about the football, and given the year we've had is a brave and brilliant thing the club is doing. 

 

You are probably right re the AGM 'Red & Blue'...I hope they don't sidetrack the hard questions.

I'm not sure about being brave and brilliant though, the club should always be open to the members.

It's the least they can do after a season like this.

No members, no club.

It’s good that they’ve faced this front-on. I think that one of the biggest fall-outs from this year will be memberships, after having done a good job in building the numbers up. I’d say a lot of members will find it difficult to get enthused for next year, during the off-season, so kudos to the board for organising this event.

Yep got the same email. 

Good to see they acknowledge the pathetic season we had and are not sitting on their hands hoping it will get better  

Will be interesting to hear from those who attend how the meeting goes and if they answer questions properly or in a politicians way ( that is talk around the question but don’t answer it). 

Edited September 12, 20195 yr by DemonOX

1 minute ago, rjay said:

You are probably right re the AGM 'Red & Blue'...I hope they don't sidetrack the hard questions.

I'm not sure about being brave and brilliant though, the club should always be open to the members.

It's the least they can do after a season like this.

No members, no club.

Yes the club should always be open to members, but they should always listen but not always act on that. The people in charge are paid big $ to run and operate both the club and the team, much like any other business. The customer is always right of course, but satisfying (in this case 52,000 members + other supporters) is impossible because there are so many different opinions. 

Would @Demonland be able to run a live podcast of the event?

1 hour ago, drysdale demon said:

Instead of banging on here all the time about how bad the club is, toodle off to the meeting and ask a few questions.

I did that once many years ago. My question was on an administrative cockup. The answer I got was pathetic, comments like this is old news and a hysterical reply from one of the passing parade of incompetents that the club has been inflicted with over the years. He didn't even answer the question. Then the microphone was ripped from my hand by a lackiy from the venue.

Never again

4 minutes ago, 3183 Dee said:

Would @Demonland be able to run a live podcast of the event?

I would hope that the club would provide a live stream for members either through the club website or their social media accounts or at the very least on YouTube after the fact.

I would think it would be an inexpensive thing to do but it's up to the club to do that.

Bit like question time in Parliament.

There will be some wonderful Dorothy Dixers and then the cutting questions from the opposition will be turned sideways.

Better than nothing though.

Football department aside I would like to see the 5/10/20 year plan/vision for the Club.

We have some big issues such as MCC relationship as the old Demons die off and of course the arms race with the powerful clubs on so many levels.

Challenging to be in Finals for 5-7 years and win a Premiership. 

This is the Root problem and has been for many decades. 

As the oldest Club in the land we should be always aiming to make Finals and fighting for Premierships as the “Top” Clubs always do. 

Glad that a Forum will be an Annual Event

11 minutes ago, Mydee said:

I did that once many years ago. My question was on an administrative cockup. The answer I got was pathetic, comments like this is old news and a hysterical reply from one of the passing parade of incompetents that the club has been inflicted with over the years. He didn't even answer the question. Then the microphone was ripped from my hand by a lackiy from the venue.

Never again

In that case I would have demanded a proper answer and I would never have allowed the microphone to be snatched off me. Th e club is now allowing any member to go along and ask what transpired this year and anyone that has concerns should attend if possible. You will soon find out how fair dinkum they are in answering questions satisfactorily.

26 minutes ago, Demonland said:

I would hope that the club would provide a live stream for members either through the club website or their social media accounts or at the very least on YouTube after the fact.

I would think it would be an inexpensive thing to do but it's up to the club to do that.

I would hope they don't.

While I appreciate any member can go along, and am sure we have journos that are paid up members, what benefit is there for this forum to be splashed all over our club website for all of the footy public to see?

I'd much rather they ban any media "personalities" from attending, leaving the forum to true supporters.  If any of them want to run off to one of the ambulance chasers, then that says more about them than it does our club.

Am I being naive given the ease of which technology can allow things to be broadcast?  Most likely.  But I'd be keeping this as closed off as possible.

Any chance that people asking questions could announce their Demonland user name?

43 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Challenging to be in Finals for 5-7 years and win a Premiership. 

This is the Root problem and has been for many decades. 

As the oldest Club in the land we should be always aiming to make Finals and fighting for Premierships as the “Top” Clubs always do. 

Glad that a Forum will be an Annual Event

Are you going to be there to ask the hard questions?

Time for the whingers and whiners to put up or shut up

I've already registered and a couple of questions ready to go

As long as there is openess and honesty, this should be a good thing.

I dont think anyone thought we would be anywhere near 17th after such a huge 2018.

A lot of work to do.

A good letter, I thought

55 minutes ago, Satyriconhome said:

Are you going to be there to ask the hard questions?

Time for the whingers and whiners to put up or shut up

I've already registered and a couple of questions ready to go

Yes i am sure the “talking Beard” will be there. You must be so excited. 

As if i would tell you of my intentions

Whingers and whiners indeed. 

You accept anything as long as the boys say hello

26 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Yes i am sure the “talking Beard” will be there. You must be so excited. 

As if i would tell you of my intentions

Whingers and whiners indeed. 

You accept anything as long as the boys say hello

So no then, stay hidden behind the safety of your keyboard

This is your big chance, you have been spouting on here for eons that you have a much better handle than the Chairman,  CEO, Head of Footy, Coach et al

Let's see you there raising the issues

I actually talk the players about other things besides footy, although I do get withdrawal symptoms during the off season......have taken to standing naked outside my apartment and howling in the direction of Goschs

You would be surprised what you get told when you can be trusted to keep it to yourself and not put it all over a forum

Edited September 12, 20195 yr by Satyriconhome

1 hour ago, Satyriconhome said:

Are you going to be there to ask the hard questions?

Time for the whingers and whiners to put up or shut up

I've already registered and a couple of questions ready to go

What are your questions, Saty?

Just curious to know where you are at with the state of the club/2019 season.

It could get ugly!