praha

He has no point whatsoever. Eddie's a great business man, smart, but arrogant as hell, and a patronising [censored] at times. Must be hard working your arse off to get Melbourne up and going again, only to have this guy speak about your club like as if it's nothing. The guy is butthurt and frustrated. It's fair game. This always happens: someone goes out of contract, and he/she is offered a job elsewhere. Just so happens we have someone close to Collingwood staff. He's a butthurt moron sometimes. Love listening to him in the mornings, but Jesus Christ he can be an [censored].

Debt isn't always bad. It's when you're in debt without many assets, like Melbourne was, that is bad. Carlton has many an asset, a large supporter base, a great franchise player in Judd, great facilities and a great brand. They'll be fine. Focus on your own club.

Melbourne's social media presence is pathetic. I unsubscribed (but still like) Melbourne's Facebook page. The updates were dull, uninformative and too robotic. Not surprising that the club hired someone that clearly knows nothing about online communities.

But those on here will still find an excuse if we lose Don't you know the rules? You have to be optimistic otherwise you'll get banned... We should absolutely destroy Brisbane. Good teams smash [censored] teams. Time to see if we're a good team. Make a statement. We'll see how far this club has come. inb4 "round 1 is too early to make a call"

Well then that means he's going to be a champion. Phew!

TBH I think we've reached a peak. You can't expect massive membership growth unless you actually have an install base. Membership isn't indicative of install base -- support numbers are -- so we should look at expanding in that area before we all act so certain of achieving 40,000+. Club is taking massive leaps to expand the support base, which is great, but as it stands I don't think we will see massive membership increases this year, maybe even a small drop of 1-5%. Just my thoughts.

The whole membership thing is interesting because it really means jack [censored] aside from being an indication of install base, which is important. Collingwood is targeting 100,000 members, but what % of that go to over 70% of matches? Would be an interesting statistic. I think Melbourne probably has one of if not the highest % of supporters:member ratio. Our support numbers are low, but I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing. It's really just about expanding the brand as much as possible within what you've got, expanding team spirit, getting as high a % of your members to the games as possible, and ultimately being successful on the field. Naked truth is that we will never be as big as Collingwood. It's too late not in this media climate. But we have potential as a "boutique" club with its home at the MCG. We need to embrace that as much as possible, and I think we already are.

The club was still running on the success of the 60s. People were getting excited about the Dees again. 2 decades of crap wasn't enough to make people forget how dominate the club was. Bit like the sudden surge in popularity of the Bulls in the NBA. No one ever forgets that success. But the doldrums in the 90s and just complete and utter incompetence all the way through to 2011 almost destroyed this club. Teams like Collingwood acknowledged their large demographic and grew from there. Melbourne just sat and expected to grow without any real effort. Looking deeper at our support base now and we have the lowest number of <16 year-old supports, lowest AusKick sign-up numbers. The club has failed horribly in the off-field department. But you all don't need to be told that.

I think it's pathetic to be honest. Australia seems to be the only country where players in the professional leagues leave clubs to "go home". You already are home. Anyone would think that each Aussie city is so unbelievably different from one another that it's like moving through European countries by rail. I mean seriously, my current field is pretty competitive in Melbourne, and I've accepted that I'll eventually have to pack up and move to Sydney or abroad (most likely the latter). I can't feel sorry for these kids, or see any real justification in them wanting to leave a team because of the city. And I know that a guy has a right to move cities if he hates the current one, but it's so damn common in this country. They're lucky they have the capacity to go to their home cities and get a job. Not everyone has that benefit.

I feel many here are blowing this out of proportion, blinded by their obvious hatred for the kid. I think he handled himself well in that article. He's left, probably made the wrong decision, but we all make mistakes. At the end of the day you don't get offered $2,000,000 for one year every day, and who wouldn't leave a broken company for a considerably higher salary? I'm still [censored] that he left, but I feel many are hating on him for the sake of it. Good luck to him. I hope we smash them. But seriously, get over it guys.

I don't think any amount of poor handling on the club's behalf could blanket the fact he coached the second worst loss in league history, and easily the most embarrassing lost the football club has ever endured. He was a horrible coach. Putting a team of school boy all-stars doesn't mean anything if you don't have a gameplan. Bailey is a great assistant coach. Nothing more.

"Why am I spending Friday night having dinner with you?"

Love it, but I fear your message will be lost. The older members won't get it

Clearly doesn't care all that much about the international series. He clearly fled because the driver was intoxicated/under the influence, or simply breaking the rules in a way one would deem unacceptable of a professional athlete (when is breaking the rules never unacceptable, though?) Once a pretty boy, always a pretty boy. Probably our Steve Johnson: talented to hell and back, but just seems to go off the tracks sometimes. Hasn't for a while but he's always been a bit of a party animal.

Problem is that Docklands is a dry, dull and ugly place. If I were the Dees I'd be pushing the council to fix that failure of a project up, just as the businesses now are. Some are threatening not to renew their lease unless the place is given some life and amenities for staff and consumers. Plopping down concrete slabs with restaurants and shops isn't a way to attract consumers. The wheel is space that could have been used to create another botanical garden...and it wouldn't have cost us millions of dollars or cracked apart in 45 degree weather... I have no issue with this -- the club looking to get a base -- but I just hate Docklands. I really hope they clean it up a bit once the Markets move to Epping.

We had a perfect blueprint for our midfield. Enter: GWS.

Why the hell wasn't she given a red card after the first tackle?

Melbourne Red Sox?

The banjo features more predominantly in the new one, almost completely replacing the trumpet in the intro. Quite obvious. And awful. And the singers don't really have the same gusto as the original team. Compare 0:12 when they say "for me and for you" and then compare it to the original. Really awful stuff in comparison. Keep the original. You won't find voices like that ever again. Quite distinctive to the era, and ageless.

Beat me to it. Not bad I guess. He has been in training as a coach for a while, right? Didn't he flag his interest in entering coaching a few years ago? Anyway, I embrace the appointment of a proven and successful premiership players. Collingwood is the benchmark. We've nabbed two very influential individuals from a premiership-winning team of players and coaches. Good times!

Not sure if serious...

I want them both to lose tbh.

I hope that image never surfaces on BigFooty....

No one is holding a gun to your head to bet. Deesbet and other betting agencies tell you quite clearly of the chances you have to win. The odds are indicative of the chance you have to win, dictated by public support. If you lose it's because you've most likely placed a bet that most likely didn't lean in your favour. Deal with it or don't bet.

You're the guy that's been running the club's finances for the past 40 years, aren't you? With an idea like that...