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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.

One of the points made at this morning's Melbourne Business Community Breakfast by CEO Peter Jackson was that the club's financial bottom line is being impaired by poorer attendances than those for which the club had originally budgeted. My view is that those supporters who are therefore shunning the club be it for whatever reason - the team's performance, the president, coach, players, football department, club psychologist, whatever ... it's not really helping the cause and making his role as CEO in restructuring and reviving the club all the more difficult. I know it's a tough gig but we're not always going to be traveling as badly on field as we are at the present time. My view is that you can't claim to be a part of any future success if you don't support your club in times of difficulty. We should be out there in force against Collingwood on Monday.

I have only been a supporter of the Melbourne FC since 1997. I come from Queensland and grew up playing Rugby League and Union as young child. I spent 13 years in the West surrounded by Eagles and Dockers fans before moving back home with my young family. As a supporter of a sporting side I have always thought that I was pretty level headed and could be quite balanced in my approach to providing that support. I loved to watch other teams play and enjoy the spectacle of the game. The last few years I have become increasingly obsessed with football and find my self in the off season getting very impatient with the lack of football in particular not being able to see the Mighty Demons playing. The last few years have also hardened my resolve and passion towards the boys. I can honestly say I am a one eyed supporter who is more ferociously vocal and feral when I watch the Dee's play. I also now hate every other team in the AFL with a passion because I only want success for one team and that is the demons.Whether this is good or bad remains to be seen, but I find it an interesting side effect that our boys are struggling on field and I am becoming more and more resolute in my view that they are the only team for me. It has now become a case of Us against Them and for me that is both disturbing and exhilarating. So bring it on Media Commentators and bring it on opposition supporters because regardless of who the President, Board, CEO or Coach is, I Support Melbourne FC!

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 was once told by someone with intimate knowledge that Todd Viney would never return to the club. I never believe in absolutes when it come to people. We are not mathematical equations.

If you aren't watching, you are missing out and should watch at another date. Absolute class act and after his performance last weekend, he has shown he is worth every penny we payed for him on AND OFF the field. I for one am a big, big fan.

*sigh*...there is always one.

If as reported that upon Peter Jacksons request Watson has had a chat to Watts about what he went through then it just shows how great a bloke Watson really is. Never heard a bad story about the bloke. And Jackson isn't mucking round either- great to see. And good on Jack too for seeking ways to improve himself.

Those of us who survived those mostly horrible years between The Red Fox and Swooper know what real hopelessness is all about. In those pre draft days we were stuck with an ageing metropolitan zone and a patchy country one. There are numerous examples in recent years of teams turning their fortunes around in the short term to be at least regularly competitive . I've missed only two Victorian home games ( through illness ) since the late 1950's . For me ,attendance is like a family duty.

Another thing you might want to consider is to practice jumping on bandwagons. It might come in handy one day day.

Zero chance the MFC folds.

Reading all these posts, it's obvious the pro versus anti Jeff For Prez is split down the middle. I think his politics should be left completely out of the debate and centre purely around whether or not he can help lead us out of the deep mire in which we find ourselves with what he can bring to the table. We seem to have embraced Peter Jackson as an MFC outsider without question as a mover and shaker, and yet Jeff polarises like no other, save perhaps Eddie. A bull in a china shop approach yes, but a man who thrives on a challenge, as an ex Premier passionate about the Melbourne brand (the city - but we carry its name - he made a point of this) and he was president of a club with a demographic not dissimilar to our own. And as a previous non-supporter, like Jackson, he will see us with other eyes. What I think this club needs is exactly what outsiders like PJ and Jeff can bring - an outside perspective from hugely successful football environments that have tasted the ultimate. For the past 50 years, we have navel gazed from the inside to no avail with small smatterings of success along the way without having achieved that ultimate. We are constantly painted as beige with no personality and we stand for nothing. We have well meaning diehard supporters who are successful in business who are voted in to take on roles within the club and yet they continually fall short, apparently because of something called "our culture" of which they also become tarred because that is who or what we are. It is time to take on a completely fresh approach to fix something that has been broken for 50 years. If it takes non Melbourne supporters, like Jackson and Kennett to rebrand us, give us corporate governance, profile, gravitas, sponsorship, respect, even success (dare we dream) - then why not? We are severely lacking in all these areas. Kennett's performance on Footy Classified early this year was almost statesman like in its depth of understanding of the issues within the AFL and in his role at Beyond Blue similar understanding of the frailties of the human condition. Sure he is full of hot air, bluff and bluster and he has that great ability to put his foot in it, however he is a winner and a can-do person, with much clout and many contacts and along with Peter Jackson, knows what it takes to be successful. He will make the place hum again, which will draw in more supporters and support, which will encourage our players to want to stay and have players from other clubs wanting to be part of it. Our club has not hummed for a long time - and it is about time it did again.

Wouldn't that be great. To have a favourite son return to the Club and basically saying ""all is forgiven". His "retirement" remains an issue at the Club and his return would hopefully put an end to the constant breast beating that goes on and on and on. Another area where the Club can move on.

Absolute disgrace in today's Herald Sun for Kiss of Death to predict a win to Collingwood on Queens Birthday. This has certainly influenced me to change my mind about the result. KOD never gets it right.

Whispering you only had to say the first 6 words of that sentence and i was in agreement.

Agreed. Best people, not best Melbourne people. Junior might be the best, but I doubt it. Anyway, sounds to me like this rumour became a rumour when the OP posted it.

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.

Like Clark, an absolutely inspired play getting him to the club.

Solid as a Rock wasn't he. Absolute Class

21 months is a pretty long knee jerk...

more revisionist BS, show me your post from around that time that did not approve of it keyboard warriors around here get everything right years after it happens and BTW Watts is a footballer, you don't play a game of footy and get traumatized for life because of it, what kind of idiot believes that oh the opposition tackled me, better not play good footy again ever you people blow my mind sometimes

I'll be there like I am every week. I still have my team poster up on the wall at work, my scarf draped across the top of my PC monitor, my securit pass on a MFC lanyard, the stickers on my car and wheelie bin.<br />Everyone I know knows I go for Melbourne. I'm proud of it and I dont hide from. People respect that, and like me realise that by sticking with them, it will be all the more sweeter for me they come good.<br /><br />

What a pleasure to read compared to the hysterical guff posted on this forum from people who want instant results and messiahs.

Going to support the colours doesn't mean you support the coach or certain people at the club. The club is bigger than Neeld or any other person, grow a pair and support your team.

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.

No they don't. I don't. Plenty on here don't. You're not a 'most hardened supporter' if you have a breaking point.

Aside from any issues with the FD, coach and the board, I wouldn't trust Jeff Kennett (especially his mouth) as far as I could throw him. How about, for every problem, we stop latching onto the first option that comes up?

Kennett deserves serious consideration. He is a divisive arse who does not know how to not interfere with things outside his purview, he alienates people, creates feuds and bathes in emnity. It says bucketloads about the current board that anyone would consider him. I'd caution EVERYONE to consider the personality of the applicant well before their experience. Personality is a better predictor of job performance than anything other than IQ. Think of it like an accelerator or brake on talent - it can act as both. Jeff's personality is toxic. Our consideration of him should conclude at this first hurdle.

This should be the current Boards final act. The begging must cease. Show me who will run with Jeffrey or who has the Ox been talking to?? Change must happen as soon as mext week if wheels are rolling.

This. If you want to join in when we get better, you have to pitch in now.

Spot on WJ Am not happy with this club ATM but I will be there Monday Coaches, Presidents, Players come and go the club is forever

I'll back PJ over JK. Things are starting to happen, let them. We will have new people running things at the MFC, let's not sabotage that. PS. JK called for Clarkson to go after round 1, us to merge and/or be relocated as well. He is not a MFC member and is a lifelong Hawk. Says it all for me.

Thank God for Neeld. Without him we probably wouldn't have Dawes or Clark.....just saying.

To me he just seemed sick of discussing how and why the club was struggling. I noticed that when Sam began to talk about the Dees, I was expecting a jibe and I think Dawesy was too as his face contorted and looked as though he was getting pretty angry. Sam came out with some words of support though which was good. When Garry pointed at Dawesy and said something along the lines of 'you boys had better play with some effort', that really annoyed me. Especially as he refuses to take any kind of responsibility with the club. Garry is fast becoming a grade A [censored].

Any member on this site who supports Jeff for President can and hand in their membership and close the door on the way out. I will not accept a Hawthorn supporter who advocates we relocate and or merge as President regardless of my personal opinion on Jeff and the skills he may or may not bring he is not wanted by me and I think the majority of dedicated passionate demons. If you want and example of this clubs culture problems that people have ranted about then you should have a good hard look at yourselves. Can you imagine Essendon fans or Collingwood fans supporting a Carlton supporter as their President? For all of McLardys possible errors or faults and am not convinced there have been that many he loves this club and feels our pain and I would keep him everyday rather than a Hawthorn person.

Jesus you nuffie lefties, stop arguing with Ben Hur, he loves it.

Meanwhile...back at the Melbourne FC. (cricket noises)

Watson, watts off?

He is incredibly smart and his law studies are really shinning through. Whether I believe the spin or not, he has done a great job recently in the media.

For some reason I thought Don was going to see us through Jim's passing and then, because of circumstances, the tanking affair whilst actively looking for a successor. I had the impression that he never saw himself as a long term President. He has the Clubs interest at heart and I hope he finds a highly qualified replacement

Another knee-jerk anti-Neeld post. Anything that seems wrong, it's his fault. Maybe it is. But as a number of subsequent posters have posted, there may be many sensible reasons as to why Magner was omitted. And add to that there may be things that we don't know - not that that would stop some people rushing to judgement. Continually amazed by the depth of anti-Neeld sentiment. You'd think he took over the Hawks and suddenly they became a crap team, rather than he took over a crap team, cleaned it out and started again.

Yes there is something missing D, a quality coach who can COACH but unfortunately Neeld is still the bloody coach.

Should the Dees do the dirty on Casey again? History: For the past four years, Casey has made the finals on the back of some handy Melbourne-listed players, only to find that come the finals, the Dees heirarchy decides that it wants to send most of its eligible VFL players off for a break so that the AFL-listed players can begin pre-season training in early October. The only exceptions to this policy have been players about to be delisted anyway (eg: Bate last year). Not surprisingly Casey comes up short in September - usually out in straight sets. This year Casey again looks set to make the finals and its Melbourne-listed contingent (which includes young Jesse Hogan) have been firing. Given how bad the Dees have been going, players who have been dropped to the VFL get a chance to play in a winning line-up and get some confidence back and play proactive football, rather than the reactive chasing type they get in the AFL. Casey strength is serving a really good purpose in the current environment and I don't understand why the Dees football administration treats them like s... in September. My view is that young guys like Hogan, Toumpas, Kent, Gawn, Barry and Blease etc would really benefit from being part of a genuine finals campaign with the added pressure that entails. If they were to make the VFL Grand Final it would serve as a positive note for the whole club to end its season on - just like it did for Geelong when they won the VFL flag with guys like Ablett, Stevie J and Lonergan one year before they made a quantum leap. The VFL finals series (and a potential GF at Etihad Stadium) would also give guys like Davis, Spencer, Fitzy, Taggert, Nicho, Tynan, Magner and Couch etc one last chance to show on a biggish stage that they are worthy of being kept on the list. Whilst I get why Misson and his fitness staff want players to be back early in October, I think the benefits of a successful Casey finals campaign would far outweigh the downside of a later start for the 10-12 guys that would do us proud for Casey. Am I missing something? I always thought that success was meant to breed success.

Cain/Kirner crippled the state.

Thanks for your service, dedication and passion Don but its time to move aside and give the job to someone who can give this club some mojo. The supporters are divided but for mine after 35 years as a member, I want dynamic successful people with proven football experience on the board. This is not personal, you are a good bloke with a big heart. Get it done Don, and don't wait until there is a supporter driven spill.

Big bad Ben, When you sell a public asset and use that money to "balance the books", the asset never comes back. Jeffs fire sales of prime city real estate took assets, sold them and then counted it as revenue. Knight Frank Baillieu did well from it. The constituents not so well. and you want him at the MFC.

Pretty spot on. Good bloke, trying his hardest, loves the club, but right now we need the best around to get us up again. There's a real groundswell of passion about our club at the moment, and even though it's been inspired by negativity let's hope it's the beginning of a new era for us.

The harm is delaying post-season surgery, which puts their pre-season training back. I'm not advocating one approach or the other, but let's not pretend that there is no cost involved. It's a decision about what's more important; players playing in finals in a secondary competition, or starting pre-season ASAP?

I think the great case for this is the 2002 VFL premiership in which a core of superstars got there first taste of success. Ablett Bartel Hunt Johnson Kelly Chapman Look where these guys ended up...