harry

hahahaha your signature is awesome!

Favourite Allen Jackovich moment was when we beat the filth at Vic Park in 91 I think. Jako was playing [censored] and got dragged just before quarter time and got jeered by the entire ground. He came back on and tore them apart, kicking 7 or 8. By then end after every goal he'd give the maggots fans the finger. Hilarious. Chopper lovell kicked the sealer in the dying seconds.

Well, I guess I can't really convince you of the colour/noise thing, as it's a matter of opinion, but I do take issue with the idea that the supporters need to 'turn things around'. In the past few years, the supporters have achieved the following: - Raised over $5mil. - Sourced a major sponsor (Kapersky). - Broken the membership record 3 years in a row, including following our worst season in 25 years. - Continue to have one of the highest, if not the highest 'member to supporter' ratio. I'd also posit that we have some the most knowledgeable supporters, but I obviously can't prove that. Anyway, my point is, we have absolutely sensational fans. Leave it to the media and other clubs to perpetuate harmful and untrue stereotypes.

I remember it happenning when we beat Carlton in the finals in 94.

You're kidding yourself. Our fans went bananas this season. I get sick of the self-loathing Melbourne supporter syndrome.

Yeah, I reckon.

No it wouldn't. Using that logic, if the first GF was boring, it should be cancelled the next year.

I'm surprised Davey isn't getting more support here. He's been our best player for years now and is unnerringly brave and committed. In terms of dealing with the extra attention, well, he's the first tagged every week and he's used to the responsibility of being the best player. Plus, it wouldn't nice to have a member of the world's oldest people as the captain of the world's oldest football club.

It's pretty bad news, but I wouldn't say Grimesy relies on his pace.

There isn't a lack of atmosphere, but it could be a hell of a lot better if the ground was full of fans from the competing clubs. To say that the revenue is a 'massive percentage' of incomes for clubs is an exaggeration. But, it is true that it does represent some income. Nonetheless, there are myriad other ways of replacing this for non-competing clubs, without ripping the soul out of the biggest game of the year.

Geez, I was sure beamer was going to play this week.

The situation with Grand Final tickets continues to be an absolute disgrace. The 'commercial reality' argument does not add up. All 16 clubs get tickets which they then farm out to sponsors. Does anyone really believe that these sponsors will not sponsor football if they don't get a ticket to the Grand Final? Of course not. Big soccer matches, with exponentially more sponsorship money at stake, manage to allocate more tickets to clubs in what are usually smaller stadiums. As I said, an absolute disgrace, and a bit of shame when you look around on Grand Final day and see little pockets of colour and passion in between all the theatre goers.

53,271. Would get upwards of 60K if it were a Saturday game.

Agree 100%.

haha I reckon rnd 22 in 96 might've been slightly bigger I remember when he said this, it made me so angry! We were playing Hawthorn that week and I remember when Kennett walked down the race an irate Melbourne fan gave him an absolute gobful. I hope we [censored] them. Go Dees!

Mate, I wouldn't worry about what Richmond supporters on bigfooty think of our players. I highly doubt the person who wrote that has ever been intimate with a woman...

We currently receive a million per year from the AFL, if I'm not mistaken. Our profit was 2 mil this year, but that was because of the govt money for AAMI (We didn't spend it all - kept 1 mil for future rent) and the back pay we received for the new stadium deal (also 1 mil). The impression I got is that we pretty much broke even. You'd still have to think we would be losing a mil a year if the AFL stopped giving us money. In addition, the MCC also give us a mil. I'm not sure if this is something they'll do every year or did it just because we were in trouble. So, we have to find a way to make an extra mil or two per year. I'd be interested to find out how they plan to do this.

I don't want to be a wet blanket but I reckon 27,000 is about par for Melbourne vs Adelaide. Out of all the interstate teams (not including those that are historically from Melbourne) they are the ones with the biggest following in Melbourne. We would've lost some attendance because of the weather and the fact the match was at one. 23K is 'ok' rather good in my book. For the record, that crowd of 39K against Adelaide was boosted by all the people participating in the 'pink lady' initiative which, from memory, was between 5-10k.

I was referring to the general hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth evident on this website as if we're the first team to ever get belted than saying the kids should 'harden up'. Nothing like a smug, baseless observation of another poster's personal life to make yourself sound more intelligent is there?

Well said Curry & Beer. Fair bloody dinkum, you'd think you lot had just witnessed ethnic cleansing. Look, it is a bit sad that the youngster mentioned at the start of this topic has never seen us win. And the first half on Saturday was bloody gutless, pathetic, soulless, whatever you want to call it. But you know what, our's is the greatest footy club in the world and I wouldn't go for any of those other d!ckheads for all the tea in China. When you support a club, you support them for life. You stick with them, through thick and thin. You NEVER NEVER NEVER give in. Melbourne supporters have done this in the past and we'll do it now. We'll come good one day, and when we do, we'll all be able to say we were there at half time versus freo in 08, Adelaide 09 when we didn't kick a goal till the third quarter and hawthorn 10. I can't wait till we play the filth next week because it will be another opportunity to see the greatest club in the world. Come on Dees, UNLEASH HELL!!!

Mate, if you don't think Flower was a champion or superstar, you are an absolute disgrace.

It's funny how the only side in Melbourne that still plays at their original home ground gets referred to as 'homeless' quite often.

I was only 2 so obviously too young to go to the game and i can't remember it all. But I've watched the video a thousand times and Wilson's goal is my favourite of all time as well even though I wasn't even there and I've seen a fair few in the flesh! 87 was such a special year, Robbie's last season, making the finals for the first time in 23 years, having to win our last 5 or 6 games and then almost making it all the way to the big dance! That season really brought us out of the wilderness. Melbourne supporters my age think we've got it tough, but at least we make the finals pretty regularly.

We would've beaten north if the game wasn't played on a cold, dewey friday night. If it was a hard track we would've won. Then we would've beaten Adelaide the next week. Malcolm Blight said in an interview after the gf, 'the team we were really worried about was Melbourne'.

The jump between 97 and 2000 is too far! We should've won the bloody flag in 98! Which means next year...