casey scorp

The cost of Bubbledome is too much for the club hence the return to the G has become such a priority. The previous admin could only raise around $500,000 of the costs which I believe totalled more than a million for Bubbledome.

I don't think it's the fit-out that is necessarily the major cost concern.

Bubbledome is around $500k/year RECURRENT. It's surprising that MFC didn't rule a line through this crazy notion months ago.

Training on the MCG (other than on a very odd occasion) just won't happen.

Maybe the reason no announcement has been made about Casey as a summer venue is that it might be needed on a more regular basis.

Yes it was a positive statement and I would of liked to read Mike Tyler's response from City of Casey. He didn't return calls. Is he that busy? Or has a muzzle been put on him

He might have methane and Council election matters to keep him busy at the moment. Given he was reportedly surprised to find that MFC was expressing concern about the 30 year arrangement the club itself had previously proposed, I imagine he’d be happy enough that it was back on track after how long MFC has been discussing the matter with the Council.

I'd be surprised if there was any muzzle - most of the Councillors are very supportive of the CEO and the MFC project it seems.

About time there was a seriously positive statement, instead of the rhetoric.

The tactic will be the same one we used successfully earlier in the year against Saintsational's gun player. We'll assign someone to smother him with love and kisses.

That the Casey Scorpions bloke?

Yep, didn't like wise monkey (and others) getting up close and personal...

Just flicked through this topic.

Must confirm that the “Casey Scorpions bloke” is not Casey Scorp!

Casey Scorp could never be considered a "gun player" - in fact he's not even good enough to be any sort of a player.

Looks like Me and the CEO are on the same page. The greedy skunks wants 600 k / yr.

It's got nothing to do with greed, and the 600k/year was offered by MFC - not demanded by the Council.

You seem to miss the point that it was MFC that wanted a 30 year deal and offered the community program worth $600,000/year in order to convince the Council to put its funds into the building extension and to allow MFC to use Casey Fields.

The community program contains a whole lot of components which are mostly about MFC engaging with the community. Have you missed the part where MFC does not have a geographic support base, and wants to develop one at Casey? That takes effort, and the effort has a value. It won't happen overnight and has to be sustained for many years.

I understand the sentiments of taking time to carefully make a decision, but one of the problems could be how long the Council is prepared to wait.

It has already been waiting since the 5 August Council meeting , and $1.4 million is now being eyed off by some Councillors for other projects.

So far the Councillors supporting MFC have resisted efforts to redirect the money, but how long will this patience last?

How long does MFC need to take to consider its position?

Anyway, time will tell how the meeting today reported in the Herald Sun went. Hopefully Cameron Schwab will make an announcement.

Any player that deems himself to be above driving 45 minutes to get to work, can take their ego somewhere else.

The players simply can't be allowed to influence decisions. St Kilda has suffered from it for years, and part of the reason why St Kilda passed on Casey Fields 12 months ago was because a very high profile player didn't like the idea of going to Cranbourne to train.

The club needs to make a decision, and not let the tail wag the dog.

Consultation with players regarding a long term strategic decision like this is just plain wrong. After all, the players generally have a relatively short term involvement.

Also, there's a difference between the consultation with players regarding this matter and consultation regarding the earlier start to the pre-season. That's because the earlier start to the pre-season was inconsistent with the CBA, and needed players support to get off the ground.

Yes, I wondered the same thing.

Peter Spargo was Interim CEO for a few months, and we hardly heard from him.

Yet, when Cameron Schwab takes over as CEO, we hear from Peter Spargo.

Odd!

Article in this week's Cranbourne Journal:

The blame game: 30-year deal a stumbling block to football club move

http://cranbourne.yourguide.com.au/news/lo...ve/1332008.aspx

MFC's interim chief executive and director Peter Spargo told the Journal last week the club wanted the same arrangement enjoyed by VFL club Casey Scorpions - three 10-year optional terms - and not the 30 consecutive years stipulated by council.

I believe that 30 years was not stipulated by the Council, but proposed by MFC.

There were also concerns about the increased costs of delivering the club's community programs, costed at about $2 million a year, over a 30-year period, Mr Spargo said. "There are some issues with regard to the proposal that Casey Council have put to us that we are at loggerheads about.

The program was, according to the 5 August Council report worth about $600,000/year - nothing like the $2 million/year mentioned in the article. And most of it was in-kind (eg players going to clinics, being involved in pre-season training, the club running media conferences etc) rather than a direct cash cost to the club.

"They want us to try and predict the cost of our community programs for the next 30 years.

"We can't predict what it's going to cost us in 12 or 15 years, it could have doubled or tripled. If we lock ourselves into an agreement for 30 years, we have to deliver on that...and we are just not prepared to do that."

The Council report, which can be seen on the Council website (go to the agenda for the 5 August meeting at http://www.casey.vic.gov.au/meetings/artic...Item=11233#aug) doesn't seem to be making a demand for estimating costs over 30 years. It has a present day nominal value of around $600,000/year. Really, if the club is delivering the program it proposes, it surely doesn't matter what the nominal value is in any future year.

Mr Spargo said the council's proposed $1.4 million redevelopment of facilities at Casey Fields wouldn't go ahead if the deal fell through.

That makes sense - why would the Council build it if MFC isn't going to go there. It could put its money into other projects.

But he said the MFC's planned alignment with the Casey Scorpions, which is expected to be finalised by the end of the month, and its community programs would not be affected.

"We will be coming to Casey and forming an alignment with the Casey Scorpions come hell or high water."

Great news!

The rupture was revealed last week when Casey chief executive Mike Tyler alerted councillors by email that negotiations were unexpectedly in "a state of flux".

Actually the story might have been broken on demonland:

There's been a shed-load of trouble at the Casey council over the proposed financial arrangements with Melbourne.

And just now an email arrives, the gist of which is: "The Casey deal went to [censored] last night."

It also looks as though the views of Casey have also changed, hence the stalling. If the Mfc cannot commit to the 30 year community plan due to the various costs associated with this, so be it.

Casey Council's views haven't changed one iota. It was all ok from Council's perspective at its meeting on 5 August.

If the Mfc cannot commit to the 30 year community plan due to the various costs associated with this, so be it. If our club cannot commit to this, taking into cosideration its current status and the ever changing current economic climate at risk of losing "everything"...I support them in the process.

Agree. It's up to the MFC Board to determine whether they can live with the agreement.....which was based on MFC's own proposals of:

* the community development program

* the 30 year arrangement.

If the Board now determines it can't live with it, that's fine. But it should come clean and say that it has reviewed and changed its position, instead of trying to cast the Council in a poor light.

The Council has bent over backwards trying to accomodate MFC, and its changing agendas (driven partly by changing Boards and CEOs) for the best part of 8 months.

Arsenal's training complex is an hour from Emirates Stadium.

This happens all around the world.

There are 6,000 people from Casey who travel into the CBD to work every day, and they are mostly travelling in peak congestion traffic.

The players will be travelling to Casey Fields for training in off-peak conditions. If they live around Sandringham, they will make it in about 30-35 minutes. That is a very tolerable travel time for commuters.

The other thing is that players will adapt. As new players come ontoi the list they will be aware that training is split between MOPT and Casey Fields. Like any organism, the players will find a location of best fit taking into account training, playing and social life.

I know that some years ago the Kangaroos looked at Casey Fields as a relocation option. The view of a Kangaroos past playing legend at the time was that the club would turn over most of its list over a 5 year period, and players coming to the club would arrive knowing that Casey Fields was their training base. So it simply wouldn't be an issue.

Finally, if you are a Victorian U18 player, Casey Fields is a hell of a lot closer to home than Perth. And if you are a WA U18 player, and you're drafted by Melbourne FC, it's not much further to get to Casey Fields once you're travelling from Perth!

5. Goal Posts

6 New Facilities

7 Convenient parking

8 A NAB match at their own ground

Please someone show me some solid evidence, ANYTHING, that suggests Cranbourne is desirable for the players and more importantly by the players.. 1 single reason.

I am tipping I will be waiting a while.............

jackas_backa wins this conversation hands down!

1 A consistent summer training venue.......the players have been all over Melbourne, wherever the admin could find an available oval, from one week to the next, for years.

2 A top quality surface.

3 Closer rapport with (soon to be, hopefully) aligned VFL club - the only venue where an AFL club and its aligned partner actually share the oval!

4 MFC players who play VFL for the Scorpions play on their HOME ground.

There's 4 benefits for players, without mentioning benefits for the club (because you didn't ask for that).

Well said suzanna and bezelbub!

Well it appears the Dees are just negotiating the finer details of the appearances in the Community they have to do, as it will cost the club a bit of money. The club should take as much time as it likes, as this deal is for 30 YEARS.

Either way we will start training there in the first week of November, no doubt about it.

There's no doubt the Demons will start training at Casey Fields in November - with or without agreement with the Council. MFC can come to an agreement with the Scorps in the short term.

However, without an agreement with the Council there won't be any extensions to the facility, and it'll be back to the Junction Oval during the season for the next couple of years (it would have been anyway for 2009). And no gym and coaches' offices for the pre-season training periods.

Hey, I had to respond to the assumption that it must be Casey that is stalling the deal! My little bird told me that Casey has been keen to get this deal on paper, but it has been MFC dragging its heels....

That's as I hear it too.

There's been a shed-load of trouble at the Casey council over the proposed financial arrangements with Melbourne.

Only 3 (sometimes 4) out of 11 Councillors were against MFC. There has been strong support for the financial arrangements, and for the community partnership program proposed by MFC to secure the Council's support.

And just now an email arrives, the gist of which is: "The Casey deal went to [censored] last night."

No decision at the Council meeting last night!

I heard they had a council meeting last night from a news report concerning the Methane Gas problem - Do you know or have you heard if their was anything raised at all with respect to the Mfc last night?

Do you know or have you heard if their was anything raised at all with respect to the Mfc last night?

A couple of things as I understand it:

• a couple of questions from the public about whether the MFC project at Casey Fields could be abandoned or deferred, and redirecting the money to assist people affected by the methane issue

• a question from a Councillor about whether or not MFC had signed up with Council

• some comment from a Councillor about MFC personnel being involved in a fund raising activity run by 3 of the Councillors who supported MFC.

It still seems a bit odd MFC haven't managed to actually secure Casey as their VFL team...surely they would have been on to this by now. Am i missing something?

Very odd indeed, particularly as there were some obviously premature comments about MFC moving to Casey Fields which spooked the horses and Sandy and St Kilda jumped into bed together, and now MFC and the Scorps don’t seem to be able to get it together.

wow

thanks for the reply

i have a renewed confidence in this

however, question 3:

do you think that there is a chance, that in maybe 10 years down the track, you or people like you might go for melbourne as your number 1 team because you feel a connection? do u think people are likely to change teams?

and do u think that the percentage of kids that chose the dees as the club they go for will go up, knowing that melbourne train in casey?

and also, a scorpians related Q...do u think when melbourne gets jack watts he wont get much of a change at FF/CHF because there are already established players there (a bit like at Sandy?)

I’d have to say no to Q3. I’ve been a St KFC supporter for almost 50 years – that sort of feeling doesn’t change. And I am fanatical – I would get to probably 18-20 of the 22 H&A games each year.

However, I have been surprised at how quickly the Demons have become my 2nd team. Previously my choice of second team has been for indirect reasons - Geelong for a few decades because my grandmother and great auntie barracked for them, and then PA when it entered the comp because my seafaring father was a member of the PA Magpies in the 1960s (joined one day when he berthed at Port Adelaide, and was invited along to the club). Now the choice is based on MFC being (almost) a Casey-related team. Because of that local connection I have far stronger feelings for MFC than for GFC or PAFC.

I think some people may change teams – particularly if they are at that life-changing time moving to a new location with a new partner, or maybe junior comes home from school having received a handball from a Melbourne player doing a clinic at his school and wants his parents to get him a Melbourne jumper. I think they will be the key times for changes in allegiances or establishment of new allegiances.

Finally, Watts. I’d say a #1 draft pick would get a go at the Scorps. The Scorpions are a very young team – unlike Sandy there are not any established VFL players of years experience or even former AFL players dropped down (other than former Saint, James Wall, who is still young & who won the Scorps B&F on Friday night).

do u actually go for melbourne?

and do u think melbourne can really catch the hearts of casey folk?

A couple of good questions; no and yes.

I saw a post on here some time ago, that suggested I supported St Kilda. They were quite correct. I am a member of St Kilda (have been for years), and I was disappointed that St KFC elected to establish their new base at Frankston (now Seaford) instead of at Casey Fields. They would have had a great arrangement, being at the same ground as their aligned team, based in a major growth area full of young families and being part of a development which will be the sporting capital of SE Melbourne. They blew it.

As a local resident I am really keen to see an AFL team based in Casey, and in fact in the expectation of MFC's likely establishment at Casey Fields I actually took out a membership. I hope I wasn't too premature!

MFC has become my second team, and I will go to quite a few games.

I am also a Casey Scorpions member, and hopefully the Scorps and MFC get an alignment sorted out soon. I go to most of the Scorps matches as well, and hope that lots of MFC supporters will come along this year to support the Scorps if the alignment gets done.

In answer to the second question, it will be an absolute bonanza if it is done properly, and over an extended period. Many people moving into Casey are at a time in their life cycle where they are putting down new roots, often as a young couple (don't believe that the nuclear family is dying out - it's alive and well in Casey). They are at a time of transition - it's a vulnerable time (in the best sense of the word). Ripe for the picking!

Lots of young kids equals great opportunity to make connections through schools, local clubs etc.

I saw the Council report that had all of the community programs to be run by MFC, and the plan is to get into the schools, clubs, businesses and to work closely with the Council.

I strongly believe that MFC will do a better job than St Kilda would ever have done in engaging with the local community. To some extent it has to - its future relies on getting a strong geographic support base (as well as continuing to appeal to the broad church).

An alignment with the Scorpions will reinforce the local conmmectin as well.

I am very hopeful that MFC can make a huge impact in the local community, and benefit greatly. After all, they're my second team now!

PS - I have spoken to many people in the local community, and almost without exception they are very keen on having MFC at Casey Fields (even though, like me, they already barrack for another team).

It's now almost 4 months since the OP, and a few more months prior to that when Chris Connolly first raised a Casey presence.

Nothing much seems to happen, although our local paper this week said the Demons are making their debut at Casey Fields on 1 November:

http://www.senews.com.au/story/64680

Demons to land at Casey Fields

It also seems that Casey Council might be looking elsewhere (concurrent or alternate?) for an elite sporting team:

http://www.senews.com.au/story/64756

Casey pitches for A-League

Hopefully MFC will get this sorted quickly.

My comment may have been misinterpreted. I'm not concerned at all about Melbourne Heart at Casey Fields - I'm more concerned about lack of a formal announcement about MFC at Casey Fields (ie more than Chris Connolly [bless his enthusiasm] saying so). Same concerns as Roost It, although I don't think it's the residents' views about the deal that would be slowing it down - the Council has already made a decision knowing that a small vocal minority is against it for political reasons.

Why hasn't the website had any news on this. Is it confirmed? Have we actually signed? Is it being downplayed due to the residents concerns with the deal?

No, I want MFC to get the deal signed and an announcement made pronto.

It's now almost 4 months since the OP, and a few more months prior to that when Chris Connolly first raised a Casey presence.

Nothing much seems to happen, although our local paper this week said the Demons are making their debut at Casey Fields on 1 November:

http://www.senews.com.au/story/64680

Demons to land at Casey Fields

It also seems that Casey Council might be looking elsewhere (concurrent or alternate?) for an elite sporting team:

http://www.senews.com.au/story/64756

Casey pitches for A-League

Hopefully MFC will get this sorted quickly.

Keep the updates coming.

I found this on the website for the Berwick/Cranbourne News today

IT SEEMS everyone has an opinion on the Brookland Greens methane crisis – including Melbourne footballer Cameron Bruce.

The Demons begin training at Casey Fields next month and Bruce tipped that he and his teammates might have to wear Michael Jackson-style masks as protection.

Bruce also said he thought that training at the venue would make Melbourne a bit more ‘explosive’ when they hit the field next year!

http://www.senews.com.au/story/64681

Hopefully it wasn't in today's published local papers.

I don't think the residents of Brookland Geens would think it funny.

So the target of getting one training base is not going to happen. Is there room in the existing Grandstand for our Footy Department to move in.

There's no room for the Footy Department and no room for the gym equipment until the extension is completed.

At the rate things are going the MRS will be completed before the Casey development starts. There just seems to have been no urgency about getting this sorted, even though Chris Connolly raised it months ago.