Irish Demon

Improvement from the rubbish served up last year shouldn't be too much to ask for.Another season of losing week after week and getting destroyed by the likes of The Bulldogs and Port Adelaide would just cripple the club.The queens birthday clash last year made for really tough viewing watching the old enemy put us out of the game in the first quarter and they spent the rest of that game toying with us like a cat toying with a mouse.We can't afford to have another season like the one we had to endure in 2012.I just want improvement and to see the team become more competitive.So i hope we regain some respectability this year and finish ahead of GWS The Suns The Doggies and Port Adelaide and it would be nice if we shock a big team as well.This year is all about regaining respectability and hopefully after Mark Neeld fixes the midfield we might be ready to go places in 2014.All i can do is trust in the man and his vision for this club.

At the moment we need to start getting more competitive and i expect that we will be a hell of a lot more competitive next year.The main thing then is to keep showing improvement each year until were at the point where we ready to challenge for a flag.I actually think we could be in a good position to challenge for a flag in 5 years time.It's all about laying some solid foundations and creating a culture geared towards success.Were not going to undo all the wrongs of the Dean Bailey era in one year.

It's a pity we didn't get in a coach like Neeld in 4 years ago.After beating only 1 proper club this year and getting battered week in and week out changes were required.Fair dues to Neeld he gave the underformers on our squad enough rope to hang themselves with and now he's acted accordingly.It's obvious that this is a coach that expects high standards and professionalism from his players.It's great to see a coach clearing years of unprofessionalism and a losing culture out of the system.As Chris Scott said last year after Geelongs premiership win.The players here are extremely well coached and that's been the case long before i came to this club.I think Mark Neeld is starting to instill that sort of Geelong like winning mentality into the Melbourne football club.

There's no extended solos on Thick As A Brick.It's full of pleasant melodic passages.Passion Play is Jethro Tulls more maligned prog epic but i reckon it's just as good an album as Thick As A Brick.Both of those albums were the only full on prog albums that Jethro Tull recorded.I think they reached their peak in the late 70's with the Heavy Horses, Songs From The Wood and Stormwatch albums.I saw Jethro Tull in Dublin last year.Ian has lost his singing voice but Martin Barres guitar playing and the musicianship of the rest of the band more than made up for it.

My personal favourite Gerry Raffery song is Night Owl.It's nice to see that someone shares my interests in 60's and 70's rock music!My main musical passion would be the early 70's progressive rock scene although those 20 minute keyboard solos can get numbing after a while!

Is there any Jethro Tull fans on this site?Would anyone like to discuss the merits of Thick As A Brick over A Passion Play!Their albums after the 70's weren't as good but they were still better than a lot of other bands.Martin Barre is a very underrated guitar player.

I hope we beat the teams that we should be beating like the Lions,the Power and the Dogs etc.The Saints are on a downward spiral as well so i think their beatable.That would be my minimum target.It would be also nice to get our annual win over the Bombers and we owe the Kangaroos a beating big time.

Richmond had a better season this year than we did but haven't they only played 2 finals since 1982 and i don't think it's set in stone that they'll play finals footy before us.I think we should be looking up to successful clubs instead of another basket case one.As for the part of your post that i put in bold i think that was the perfect description of Melbourne during the Dean Bailey era.I think Mark Neeld is a man that has a vision and a plan for this club.The way Dean Bailey and Chris Connolly ran the football department has made the job even tougher for Neeld though.It's a pity we gave Bailey that extra year.

I wouldn't go that far.The west australian teams,Port Adelaide's and Greater Western Sydneys songs are worse.The North Melbourne song as well as being very dull is also too quick.I don't have much time for North anyway their shinboner spirit nonsense does my head in not to mention Wayne Careys post retirement antics.

We won 5 games in 07,3 in 08,4 in 09 and if you take out the wins against the Gold Coast Suns we won 6 games in 2011 although that was the year of the 186.Apart from the suns and GWS we only beat one established club this year in Essendon.So as bad as the 07 09 and 2011 seasons were i think this year was well and truly our bottoming out season.

The one positive this year apart from Mitch Clark was that 2012 was our bottoming out on the pitch.If were competitive in 2013 and win more games than we lose then it will be a pretty decent year.

This could be the post that could sink me on this site but i love the old Footscray song!I love that line we'll never stop smiling if we win or lose.I find it charming that their celebrating being happy losers.I also love the lyrics in the newer version of the Western Bulldogs/Footscray song.Bulldogs fight and bulldogs roar we give our very best but you can't beat the boys of the bulldog breed were the team of the mighty west.It's like the whole western suburbs are singing with passion.I like the Richmond song but for emotional impact you can't beat It's A Grand Old Flag.When i hear it i always get a lump in my throat because Jim Stynes Sean Wight Troy Broadbridge and all the great men from this club that gave their lives for their country during the war live on when that song is played.I enjoyed reading about when the Demons were losing badly at half time against Essendon during a finals match in 1957 when John Beckwith started to defiantly sing It's A Grand Old Flag in the team room.The boys came back and nearly beat Essendon and went on to beat them by over 60 points a few weeks later.I have It's A Grand Old Flag,Sons Of The West and Sons Of The Scray on my ipod.I sometimes like to play them over and over again.I find North Melbournes and St Kildas songs to be the worst of the victorian clubs but for all round awfulness you can't beat the Meth Coast Eagles song.Phony and artificial it sums up nicely everything that's wrong with that club.

As far as im concerned Chris Dawes is the gift that keeps on giving. Not only do we now have someone to take some of the workload off Mitch Clark but we have also infuriated Collingwood's supporters in the process! Chris is getting some really bad abuse on a Collingwood site. Oh well a last second winner by Chris in the next Queens Birthday clash should be enough to shut them up. 2013 can't come soon enough!

I wouldn't begrudge them that seeing that it was their one and only flag but then again Luke Darcy and that piece of work Jason Akermanis played for the dogs.I've just visited the Whitten Oval forum and the doggies are angry.According to one poster on that site Chris Dawes will want to come to the dogs after he's spent 2 years with us when apparently they will be on the rise while we'll be still stuck in the bottom four.Hmm i don't think having a second favourite club is such a good idea after all!

You don't pick a club.The club picks you.The Demons were the club Jim Stynes and Sean Wight played for.This is the club that represents the city of Melbourne as a whole.The other clubs in Melbourne represent suburbs and surrounding areas.The Demons were here first anyway before those upstart clubs came along.I also reckon the only club song that can rival It's A Grand Old Flag is the Bulldogs one.I also support the Demons because i'd love to see them win a 13th flag for Jimmy Sean Wight Troy Broadbridge and guys like Robbie Flower and Stan Alves who were unlucky that their peak years coincided with the clubs post 1964 barren period.At the moment im just immersing myself in reading about the cubs history.It's a pity that we went into that post 1964 barren period.If we could have landed even one flag in the 70's 80's 90's and noughties we'd be on 16 flags now with Essendon and Carlton.As it is were debt free,we have a manager that is reforming this club from the bottom up and surely this year was as low as it's going to get on the playing field.I don't know when flag number 13 is going to arrive but the journey to that moment has started!If my future kids ever decide to support an AFL team they will only have 2 options The Demons or The Western Bulldogs!I'd also love to see Footscray land a second flag but sadly i think they blew their chance around 09/2010.I hope im wrong but i think the dogs will be doing well if their still in business in 10 years time.I see hard times ahead for them.

BT is nowhere near as bad as the two jokers on saturday arvo footy and i also think he's a better commentator than Dwayne That's As Good As It's Get's Russell!btw This twitter page made me laugh. http://twitter.com/NotDwayneRussel

After trying to decipher that piece of dribble it seems to me that you are trying to say that we should have given the man that has made Mark Neelds job of rebuilding this club even harder another term.We wasted 4 years of valuable rebuilding time under Bailey.This year was a right off because Neeld was taking in the scale of the mess that Bailey left us in.To be honest i get the impression that some people are hoping that Neeld fails.If that does happen then god help this club.Oh and btw Neil Craigs record from 05-09 with the crows is very respectable but of course it wouldn't suit your agenda to acknowledge that.

Considering that 5 years ago i had 0 interest in footy The Melbourne Demons are an organisation that i have developed a strong passion for.Yeah it hurts listening to the [censored] people throw at this club but at the same time every dig,every cheap shot,every snide remark by people like Paul Roos makes me love this club even more.At least this club has heritage and tradition unlike an artificial club like the Meth Coast Eagles with their artificial theme song and their fans with their foam hands and their flying high since 1987 signs.Why would anyone stop supporting this club?Jim gave his all for this club while he was dying from cancer and some of you are thinking about walking out on a cause that Jim died for.There's no guarantee of success in sport.You suck it up take the blows and just really appreciate the periods of success when they come and come they will.At least the clubs debt is cleared and we now have the training facilities to compete with the best.The playing squad is bit of a mess but let's give Neeld a fair chance to put it right.Mind you i do have a second favourite team but that team is The Western Bulldogs and it looks like they will be down for the next few years.I just love the doggies theme song and unlike the poor doggies at least we have won more than 1 flag.It's kind of sad really that clubs like Meth Coast have won flags in recent times while Footscray have been waiting since 1954 and we have been waiting since 1964.

I think this is my que to post something!I've been a lurker for the past few months but i've been only following AFL since last year so my knowledge of the sport wouldn't be that advanced although i have enough knowledge to know that Carlton Essendon Collingwood and Hawthorn are not worthy of my support!I wanted to support a Melbourne based team so the club that bears the citys name was the obvious choice.It's A Grand Old flag is by far the best theme song in the afl and a lot of people in Ireland would have a soft spot for Melbourne FC because of Jim Stynes and Sean Wight.I bought the illustrated history of Melbourne as a birthday present and i really enjoyed reading about the time when the dees where known as the fuschias to the Checker Hughes and Norm Smith era's.This was a tough season but Dean Bailey left a very poor setup behind him so i'll only start judging Mark Neeld from next year onwards.Im actually hoping for a finals push if the right draft picks are bought in.Anyway that's my story and as for this talk about this club standing for nothing.Jim Stynes helped to clear this clubs debt while he was dying from cancer.If Jim felt it worthy to put this club priorities before his health then this club must stand for something.btw Wouldn't it be great to win the 13th flag for Jim and Troy Broadbridge.I don't know when that will happen but i do know that the dees time will come.