Irish Demon

While i would prefer if he could be seen more clearly Jim is there that's the main thing.Mind you the more and more i look at it the more and more i like the new banner.

I thought WYL made a great point about Jim Stynes.The post saying things like get a Jim Stynes avatar if you like him so much is very petty to be quite frank.Move on it's all in the past is a silly argument as well.Going by that logic we should forget about all the former champions of this grand old club.I know we can't put every Melbourne legend up on the new banner but in my humble opinion it won't look the same without Big Jim.The site owners have made their decision and i respect that but can't we embrace the future and celebrate our past at the same time?

Everything has to click if you want a successful club.We need strong and competent leadership from the boardroom and whichever coach we appoint be it a Roos or a Eade they need to be backed and given time to get this club competitive.Some of you will say that maybe Neeld wasn't given enough time but he was a rookie.Let him undergo AFL coaching training at another club!We are the Melbourne Football club the oldest club in the AFL not some training centre for learner coaches.This job requires someone who knows what it takes to get a football club functioning.You don't become a club like Geelong overnight.Geelong are the club they are today because of years of honest hard work and endeavor from the top right down to the bottom and it took Bomber Thompson a few years to get Geelong going and competing for and winning flags.

Oh we need a new voice for next season but Craig will have to do until the end of the season and i would be hopeful that he can leave us in a decent enough shape for the new coach when he arrives.

Neil Craig is a very underrated coach.Things went sour towards the end but overall his record with the Crows is very good.He was also the assistant coach when they won back to back flags in 1997 and 1998.I think Neil will try and get the players to enjoy their footy again and hopefully we'll pick up a few more wins starting against the Saints this weekend.

The Melbourne of 2012 and so far in 2013 was just unacceptable so for that reason alone im happy Neeld (what has this got to do Rodney Eade you say,i'll get to that!) is gone.To give credit where it's due Mark did bring players like Mitch Clark and Chris Dawes to the club but the task of turning this grand old club around was too big a task for a rookie coach.It's quite fitting isn't it that Neeld's final game as coach was played out in front of a silent MCG.Even the Collingwood supporters didn't feel that it was a win worth celebrating.There was no triumphant chanting of the Coolingwoood Cooolingwood chant.We only beat one proper club Essendon during the Neeld era.The next coach will be an experienced one.It's about time that the the MFC stops becoming a training centre for rookie coaches.I would be delighted if we get any out of Matthews, Roos, Clarko and Choco Williams.I would accept Brett Ratten as well who turned Carlscum around from being a rabble to playing finals footy.Im a huge fan of Rodney Eade though.He did a good job at the Swans and he turned the Western Bulldogs into a team that the bigger sides feared.Rockett said that on the day he first arrived at the Whitten Oval that the club was at rock bottom and the players confidence was shattered.It sounds like this is an ideal job for Mr Eade so and he wants it!I also think Rockett is our most realistic option.Yeah he hasn't coached a side to a flag but we have enough to do just getting competitive at the moment and Rodney Eade would make us a competitive team that no one would relish playing.

I suppose i shouldn't expect any less from that lot but it's sad to see the way the Collingwood supporters are kicking us while were down.Some of them mustn't remember the 90's when they were like us.To be fair there's a few posters on that site that seem to be decent and knowledgeable footy people it's just the ignorant bogans on there that bother me.There is a few people on there that seem genuinely saddened about our plight.I just hope our boys can get their act together and stick it up to the critics.It would be a lovely turnaround in fortunes if Mark Neeld can turn this situation around. http://www.magpies.net/nick/bb/viewtopic.php?t=70442

I don't know where we are heading to.I don't know how the future for the Melbourne Football Club will turn out.I do know that whatever happens i will not turn my back on this club.I will continue to walk around town with my Melbourne jacket.I will continue to have a Demons flag flying from my car. Even if we are going to lose very game this year by over 100 points i will continue to stand by my Demons.We were here first,were not going anywhere and boy will we enjoy it when we get our act together and start winning again.Im not sure that Mark Neeld can turn this around but i will be delighted if he proves me wrong.No one is suffering more than Neeldy at the moment.

I love AFL Live 2012 although i wish they would play the proper version of It's A Grand Old Flag and the commentary is awful.I won the flag with the Demons on legend mode.Jack Trengove won the Brownlow medal.Ricky Petterd won the Coleman medal and Brent Moloney won the Norm Smith medal!The legend difficulty mode is way too easy!The one player mode just offers no challenge.

I think Neil Craig will be seeing out 2013 as our head coach although i hope Mark Neeld turns it around..I don't think Roos or Choco Williams would come to us.I might get slated for this but i think we should have approached Rodney Eade to replace Dean Bailey.He had the Bulldogs playing some great stuff during his time at the Whitten Oval.People might say yeah but he couldn't go the whole way with the Swans or the Doggies.That may be true but he has a proven CV as a competent coach and with Eade in charge i don't think we would have seen the pathetic performances that we saw last year and that we are seeing this year under Mark Neeld.

The club is in a bad way at the moment but i fail to see how supporters jumping ship will help things.What purpose will lowering the clubs membership numbers serve?Forget about coaches for a minute we need a clear out of the 186 tanking board.That lot need to be booted out of the club and replaced with competent admins asap.These people inflicted the tanking strategy,Dean Bailey and Mark Neeld on us.They have caused enough damage.The players efforts out on the pitch have been disgraceful.I would go as far as saying that we should give a few youngsters from Casey some gametime if only to make a point to the more experienced players.Finally if we lose to GWS then i can't see Mark Neeld surviving that.I think we might have made a mistake hiring Neeld in the first place but i hope he turns it around.I don't think he will though we have started the 2013 season with even worse performances than what we produced last year.That's a damming indictment on Mark Neeld as far as im concerned.Compare Mark Neeld to Brendan McCartney at the Bulldogs.They were brilliant last week against Brisbane.They were comfortably beaten yesterday by a very strong Fremantle team but their players never caved in,the effort and application was always there and they seem to have some good quality young players coming through.Why can't Mark Neeld get our players to play to their full potential every week?

Im shocked i honestly didn't see this coming.I thought last year was bad but getting thumped by an average to poor team like Port Adelaide by 80 points is just not acceptable.Today was an insult to all Melbourne supporters,it was an insult to Jim Stynes memory and it was an insult to all the great men that represented this club with pride and distinction in the past.I am angry at the players for showing no heart,showing no bottle and just letting those Port Adelaide boys walk all over us.I am also angry at Mark Neeld.I expected to see signs today that this club was moving in the right direction.Instead it looks like we could actually be going backwards and isn't that saying something?So the coach has to take his share of the blame for todays debacle.I do have to question Mark Neelds vision after today.I understand that our playing squad is not up to standard but we still shouldn't be losing to Port Adelaide by 80 fcuking points.So you have to wonder is Mark Neeld capable of getting this squad to perform to it's full potential?This could have been worse than the 186 if we were playing a better team than the Power.We are even further away from the elite than i thought.I still think that the jury is out on Neeld until the end of 2014 season but we need to start showing some improvement sooner rather than later.However the signs aren't encouraging it look like it's a case of a new season but the same old sh!t from the MFC.It's hard to be optimistic after what we all just saw today.There is something seriously wrong with this playing group and im beginning to wonder is Neeld even capable of stopping this rot?

We have a lot more serious issues to worry about than the bugler.This club has a reputation as being snobby and elitist but the reality is that the Melbourne Football Club has a very broad and varied fanbase.However i love it when we play up to that elitist image by bringing out the bugler with the smoking jacket.If it enrages the likes of Joffa and the rest of the Collingwood cheer squad then the man is doing his job!I just wish the players and coaching staff at this club would start doing likewise.

Why didn't he tell Jim that so instead of lying to his face?I can't say for certain what i would have done but i would have given a man of Jim Stynes caliber and stature a straight answer.

Im feeling pretty positive about today and the season in general.The squad is in much better shape when you compare it to last year and i don't see any reason why we shouldn't win today.The Bulldogs gave the two fingers to the critics yesterday and hopefully we'll do the same.Carn the Dees.