One-Eyed Richmond Forum
Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: Jackstar on July 26, 2004, 10:22:14 PM
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Rumor has it that the alternative ticket will have Schwab as President and Wood as Football Director.
This must be a joke surely.
Last I heard Bryan Wood was a Sales Respresentative and Brendan Schwab, well he is a great leader of men isnt he, he already walked out once when the going got tough and now he wants back. I think the RFC has seen enough of the Schwab family,Brendan I have some words of advice pal,,go and join you doppy brother Cameron.
I remember Cameron being such a tosser back in the early 90,s
Even wanted to get in the coaches box with KB until KB told him to get lost.
And Woosha Welsh wants back in.You had your chance !
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Go now, rebels demand of Casey
27 July 2004
Herald Sun
Trevor Grant
THE long-awaited battle for power at Richmond ignited yesterday when former director Brendan Schwab demanded the resignation of current president Clinton Casey.
Schwab, 36, who plans to run for president, announced a rebel team of seven to challenge Casey, including former premiership players Bryan Wood and Peter Welsh.
As soon as Schwab announced his ticket to bring change to the embattled club, Welsh left a message on Casey's mobile phone late yesterday.
Schwab said he and his group wanted to meet Casey this week to ask him to go quietly.
If he doesn't, they plan to organise an extraordinary general meeting to force a full-scale election before the end of August.
"Our immediate objective is to have a short-term, very smooth transition to a new board," Schwab said.
"We need to act. The financial position is dire. I am genuinely concerned about the club's capacity to continue to trade as a going concern."
Casey immediately signalled he was digging in for a fight.
He said he was happy to meet Schwab's group but had not changed his belief, stated last weekend, that any election should wait until January.
"My reaction really hasn't changed, whether it's Brendan Schwab, Peter Welsh or Michael Pahoff, my view is it's not the right time for a spill of the board," Casey said.
"At the very least I'm pleased they are out in the open and talking about whatever it is they have to offer.
"We will listen to what they have to say but unless there is something compelling in what they have to offer, we would not be in favour of anything to do with board changes until the end of the year."
Schwab said there were a number of "important reasons" why his group would not wait until January.
"At the moment we have a football club that is haemorrhaging," he said.
"The worst-case scenario is a $2 million loss. By January the club's trading performance for 2005 will be pretty much settled. If we wait until then it would delay our capacity to address the financial problems not by six months but 18 months.
"We want to get in and administer the medicine as soon as we possibly can."
The rebel ticket contains three former board members – Michael Humphris, Schwab and Welsh – and four newcomers – Trevor Barrot, Robert Edgley, Colin Radford and Wood.
The club has a board of nine but Schwab said two places had been left open in anticipation of discussions with current board members and others.
If Casey decides to fight, the rebels will nominate two further candidates to fill a ticket for the elections.
Schwab, son of famous Richmond and AFL administrator, the late Alan Schwab, said it was a group decision that he stand for president.
"I have never coveted the presidency but I've always been prepared to play whatever role is needed to turn the club around," he said "The view of the group is that I'd be the appropriate person to be president."
Schwab said he would seek to have Wood, who is the nominated football director, and Welsh added to the coach selection panel of football boss Greg Miller and consultant David Parkin.
"What we will be suggesting to Clinton is that Peter and Bryan join the process. Peter has continued to have a terrific relationship with Greg," Schwab said.
"We have also been very deliberate in asking Bryan to become football director, having had the experience in a culture of success under Kevin Sheedy at Essendon for a number of years."
Schwab says his group would have no trouble working with the recently appointed chief executive, Steven Wright, who is due to start next month.
He also rejected the club's argument that his push was creating a difficult environment in which to search for a new coach.
"There's a suggestion there's an instability around the coaching appointment. What we need to understand is the cause of the instability. It is the trading performance of the club," he said.
"Richmond is a big club. We have a massive support base. So essentially we now have a business which is failing simply because it hasn't engaged that huge mass of people that support the club.
"That is the principal cause of our problems."
The group says plans were well under way to secure the necessary 100 signatures from members to initiate an extraordinary general meeting. Even though they have had discussions with lone dissenter, Michael Pahoff, they do not plan to use the petition he has assembled.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,10256506%255E19742,00.html
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Richmond rebels
27 July 2004
Herald Sun
The men behind the challenge to Clinton Casey.
BRENDAN SCHWAB, president. A lawyer who specialises in sports, entertainment and industrial law. CEO of the Australian Entertainment Industry Association. Richmond board member from 1998 to 2004.
MICHAEL HUMPHRIS, treasurer. A financial insolvency expert. Club director and treasurer from 1986-1993. Instrumental in club's Save Our Skins campaign in 1990. Life member since 1997.
BRYAN WOOD, football director. Premiership wingman in 1973, 1974 and 1980. Worked at Essendon under Kevin Sheedy from 1992-96.
TREVOR BARROT; Runs $70 million transport business. Founding member of Richmond's President's Club. Cousin of club legend Billy Barrot.
ROBERT EDGLEY: Managing director for the Asia Pacific region of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Lifetime Tigers supporter.
COLIN RADFORD: Trained journalist and former media adviser to Victorian premier. Senior executive at the Transport Accident Commission, a key Richmond sponsor.
PETER WELSH: Runs successful sporting goods business. Premiership wingman in 1980. Life member and former director.
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Radford,Welsh and Wood seem comical against the main 4s CV.
Is it a mercinary job or is it a competitive challenge.
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Challenge a one-way ticket to trouble
Mike Sheahan
27 July 2004
Herald Sun
WHEN I was young and more inclined to listen, a wise old journo told me: "Never take sides in club politics."
It was sound advice. I learnt exactly what he meant when Carlton tipped out the president and the coach only a couple of months after the 1979 premiership win.
George Harris and Alex Jesaulenko were invincible at Carlton. Or so it seemed. Yet, they took a stand, walked out in the belief they would ride back to power in an election, but, when the votes were counted, they remained out.
So, to Richmond and the power struggle that has been threatening for months.
Brendan Schwab finally has produced his ticket – he could have produced War and Peace in the time – guaranteeing an election campaign of at least 10 weeks' duration.
At least the Richmond supporters will have a contest to watch, but that's the only upside.
You don't have to be a Richmond supporter to have your doubts about the Casey regime. After all, the Tigers will finish in the bottom four for the third year running, and will lose at least $2 million, continuing the financial haemorrhaging of the past two or three years.
But, the Schwab ticket includes people who must accept part of the blame for the current predicament.
Schwab and Peter Welsh were board members, and senior board members at that, until the eve of the 2004 season, while Mike Humphris was a board member during a previous bleak period in the club's wretched modern history.
Schwab and Welsh will argue they talked to deaf ears at the board table, that they had to get off and get back to have an impact.
Yet they can't plausibly argue Casey was responsible for all the bum decisions. Was it Casey alone who engaged the chief executives, who signed off on budgets, who agreed to the ridiculous notion of outsourcing corporate activities?
Schwab didn't seem to have the time or the money to tackle the presidency during his term as a director; Welsh said several times he left the board because of the demands of his business.
Things obviously continue to change in a hurry in football.
The inevitable consequence of a power battle is the impact it will have on the search for a new coach, and, to a lesser extent, key players at other clubs who might become available as soon as the home-and-away season ends.
These blokes need to get together to see if they can work out a solution; to minimise the potential damage.
Casey has shown his good faith by offering to stand for election next summer, 12 months early.
Schwab and Co should show their good faith by sitting across the board table with the Casey group in search of a compromise.
Richmond has a list that doesn't suffer by comparison with Hawthorn. Yet, it might be political instability that ultimately swings the decision for Terry Wallace, Rodney Eade, Gary Ayres, Mark Harvey or whoever.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,10256504%255E20123,00.html
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Richmond rebels issue challenge to president
By Greg Denham
The Australian
July 27, 2004
RICHMOND president Clinton Casey refused to step aside yesterday following an ultimatum from rebel leader Brendan Schwab, who released his ticket to challenge the present board.
The seven-member challenge group has installed Schwab as president-in-waiting and includes Peter Welsh -- like Schwab, a former board member who resigned earlier this year.
The other members are Michael Humphris, Bryan Wood, Trevor Barrot, Robert Edgley and Colin Radford.
Casey was adamant that there would not be a spill of the board. "Unless they have something to offer, we'll be rejecting their demands to resign," Casey said. "Any change to the board will go to the members at the appropriate time and that's at the January general meeting."
Schwab, the brother of Fremantle chief executive Cameron and son of highly regarded former Richmond and AFL administrator Alan, called on Casey immediately to appoint Wood and Welsh to the current coaching sub-committee of football director Greg Miller and consultant David Parkin.
Casey said he would convene a special board meeting this week to discuss some of the requests of the alternate board, including altering the process to identify a replacement for outgoing coach Danny Frawley.
Schwab said if the board refused to step down, his group would gather the necessary 100 member signatures and force an extraordinary general meeting.
"We want a smooth transition; we want to do it with dignity and respect," Schwab said. "But Clinton should put his hand up and go."
The rebels want nothing to do with a 100-name members' petition gathered in May but not yet presented by disgruntled member Michael Pahoff.
And in another twist, an emotional and inflammatory letter written by Miller to Pahoff on Sunday night was published yesterday on a Richmond supporter website.
In pleading with Pahoff for boardroom peace, Miller said in part: "The club is the laughing stock of the supporters of all other AFL clubs, the media and even, to an extent, the AFL hierarchy.
"It is fundamentally wrong to use 100 signatures to put the club back in the headlines. It is most damaging to the needs of the club. I can assure you that, should this continue, we will miss out on the best coach again."
The alternate board has been kept to seven to allow the possibility of up to two new directors to be elected, including at least one current board member. The present board consists of eight members.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10255501%255E2722,00.html
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You don't have to be a Richmond supporter to have your doubts about the Casey regime. After all, the Tigers will finish in the bottom four for the third year running, and will lose at least $2 million, continuing the financial haemorrhaging of the past two or three years.
But, the Schwab ticket includes people who must accept part of the blame for the current predicament.
Schwab and Peter Welsh were board members, and senior board members at that, until the eve of the 2004 season, while Mike Humphris was a board member during a previous bleak period in the club's wretched modern history.
Schwab and Welsh will argue they talked to deaf ears at the board table, that they had to get off and get back to have an impact.
Yet they can't plausibly argue Casey was responsible for all the bum decisions. Was it Casey alone who engaged the chief executives, who signed off on budgets, who agreed to the ridiculous notion of outsourcing corporate activities?
Schwab didn't seem to have the time or the money to tackle the presidency during his term as a director; Welsh said several times he left the board because of the demands of his business.
Schwab and Co should show their good faith by sitting across the board table with the Casey group in search of a compromise.
Don't normally agree with Sheahan but IMO he's spot on the money this time around. If Schwab and Welsh were only on the board for a short period of time before walking out then they may have a case. However after 5-6 years on the board you can't claim immunity from being aparty to our current woes. A ticket of mostly former board members doesn't give me one ounce of confidence. Nor does Casey I might add. Neither of these people have demonstrated what it takes to take Richmond forward and towards success both on and off field. In fact the opposite is true for all of them. It has come down to a vote between twiddledee and twiddledum. I can understand your anger and frustration Miller towards egos and selfish interests. Same old same old for the last 20 #%& years.
Can 27,000 members vote informal :P
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Mike Sheahan
But, the Schwab ticket includes people who must accept part of the blame for the current predicament.
Schwab and Peter Welsh were board members, and senior board members at that, until the eve of the 2004 season, while Mike Humphris was a board member during a previous bleak period in the club's wretched modern history.
Schwab and Welsh will argue they talked to deaf ears at the board table, that they had to get off and get back to have an impact.
Yet they can't plausibly argue Casey was responsible for all the bum decisions. Was it Casey alone who engaged the chief executives, who signed off on budgets, who agreed to the ridiculous notion of outsourcing corporate activities?
Schwab didn't seem to have the time or the money to tackle the presidency during his term as a director; Welsh said several times he left the board because of the demands of his business.
Things obviously continue to change in a hurry in football.
Well Mike - have you been reading OER. Exactly what I have been saying.
Scary thought - Mike is spot on here
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Schwab was on SEN this morning. He went through the reasons why he left the Board.
What I want to know is who would want him as President when he couldn’t enrol the other Directors of the Club in believing that it was on the verge of being unviable? :-\
What does that say about his ability to be President of anything, let alone an AFL Club and especially one that has such a history of instability?
I actually wrote a letter to the Club in about 1999, to the then President, Leon Daphne, saying that the Club was stagnating.
One of the other members of this ticket, Peter Welsh, came out in the press some time later saying that the Club wasn’t stagnating at all. ???
The reason I wrote the letter was because I felt that the Club was just sitting back waiting for the team to be successful in order for the Club to become successful.
Schwab now comes out, several years later, and says that’s how the Club is being run now. :-\
Fair dinkum, if any of these people know what they’re getting themselves into, or what they’re doing, I’d be surprised.
Naïve is as naïve does. If Schwab can’t convince people of the dire situation the Club is in then God help Richmond if he's the one dealing with all the egos that go on at a footy club. :help
Casey’s not exactly squeaky clean in all of this, but unless someone can guarantee, in writing, that this new regime can bring success then why go down this divisive track? Because our footy club has just been running around in circles, for years, trying to be successful, by going down this track in the past. :banghead :banghead :banghead :banghead :banghead :banghead :banghead :banghead :banghead
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You know things are crook when you a news story on the ABC.
So polite too "Mr this" and "Mr that". ;D
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League watching Richmond rebels
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou says the league is keeping an eye on developments at Richmond.
A rival ticket, led by former board member Brendan Schwab, has called for the current board to negotiate a take-over.
Demetriou says it is too easy for rivals to force a spill of the board at AFL clubs and has suggested they change their constitutions.
"You get the opportunity at an AGM to appoint new board members and remove people you may be dissatisfied with. I think that's the appropriate forum," he said.
Mr Schwab earlier today announced his plans to lead a rival ticket against Richmond president Clinton Casey and the current board.
He said he was aware of the need for stability at the club during its search for a new senior coach and was seeking to have two members of the seven-member rival ticket placed on the selection panel.
Mr Schwab wants to negotiate the new board's structure to ensure the transition is smooth but said he was willing to run a full ticket at an election.
"The performance of the club under the current presidency over a long period of time shows the need for change," he said.
"There's overwhelming consensus within the Richmond football family of the need for change and our objective, of course, is to achieve that through negotiation in the smoothest and most effective way possible.
"Our initial plan is to achieve stability around the coaching appointment and it's our suggestion that key members of our group, Brian Wood and Peter Welsh - both former Richmond premiership players - be added to the coaching appointment panel with Greg Miller and David Parkin to ensure that the best possible coach for the Richmond Football Club is secured."
For his part, Clinton Casey said he was preparing to call an emergency board meeting to discuss the challenge.
He said the board would like to hear the rival ticket's suggestions but would dismiss any proposal to completely replace the current board.
The challenge, led by Mr Schwab, is separate to another challenge from disgruntled member Michael Pahoff, who has made public a letter written by Richmond football director Greg Miller, warning that the club would not attract a new coach and get through the trade period without peace.
Mr Pahoff has also collected the 100 signatures necessary to force an election, though Mr Schwab has asked him to hold off on his plans to call for a spill of the board.
Mr Miller said he was disappointed in the manner Mr Pahoff and Mr Schwab had gone about addressing the issues at Richmond.
"Unfortunately not only Michael decided to do it that way, but it looks like Brendan Schwab and his team are wanting to do the same," he said.
"I'm not casting aspersions on them as people but I think their timing should have been a lot better and they should have put Richmond first."
Mr Miller said he would consider resigning from his position if the board changed.
"I'm certainly loyal to my employer, which is Clinton Casey and the board, but I understand that boards change and you work with new boards," he said.
"But my concern, and I've been pretty vocal about it, is this public brawl that Richmond continues to have and the timing of it all is unfortunate.
"I'm not sure that it's ever going to get any better, that's what worries me."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1162685.htm
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"You get the opportunity at an AGM to appoint new board members and remove people you may be dissatisfied with. I think that's the appropriate forum," he said.
Casey has put himself up for re-election, let member’s vote on it at the appropriate time.
Because, over time, it’s become the Richmond mentality that the next person will fix things for us that makes us want to keep going down this track. There is no certainty that things will get better, whichever way we go with this. So why can’t people just support who is there now and, at the appropriate time, make changes?
On the evidence provided so far, Schwab is no President. If members vote him in we will get rolled by every other Club on just about any issue we’re involved in. I can just see it now. Since at least July 2003 he tried to convince the other Board members of the seriousness of our situation. If he couldn’t do that then how could anyone expect that he could convince anyone of anything?
He might have the best business plan set and ready to go, but can he carry it out? Where’s the past history that suggests he can? He’s got people supporting him now, but what happens when the honeymoon’s over and things start to fall apart? How’s he gonna handle things then? Same way he did last time? Just up and leave? And if he does, it won’t be the second time either, apparently.
Lots of people in the past have come in promising this and detailing that and we’re still a joke.
I'm not interested in change just for the sake of change. Put it in writing that he’s gonna assure us success and I’ll start to believe that this new ticket is the way to go.
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Demetriou says it is too easy for rivals to force a spill of the board at AFL clubs and has suggested they change their constitutions.
I don't think Andrew Demetriou is the only one who thinks that consitutions need changing.
I reckon there maybe a few thousand Tiger members calling for that as well. I can see it now - 10,000 motions calling for a change to our current constitution. :thumbsup
5%-10% of members signatures would seem a fairer figure than 100.
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"There's overwhelming consensus within the Richmond football family of the need for change …"
Who are these select few who give themselves the right to know and say what the members want? How do they know what our views are and whose opinions did they canvass? Did anyone here get asked, I know I didn’t?
"…it's our suggestion that key members of our group, Brian Wood and Peter Welsh - both former Richmond premiership players - be added to the coaching appointment panel …"
Who says members want Welsh and Wood being involved in such decisions?
No wonder we’re a joke. You don’t need to be a Board member to make vital decisions at RFC. Anyone can wander in, invited or not, preferably not, and make half assed decisions, based on how big an ego they have.
As members, if we don’t wake up to how this works to keep us on mediocrity street then we’re never gonna get ourselves of this situation. We never get a say, because a select few generally get to say it for us. No more rebel individuals/groups telling us what we want. We deserve the right to have a say and vote on matters. Absolutely sick to death of these ego driven maniacs wandering in whenever they feel like it, because they’ve had they’re noses put out of joint, and destroying our Club, time after time.
If they want to get on the Board, go through the proper channels, or why do we even bother with elections?
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Well said TS. Wholeheartedly agree with you. We've had the same clowns big-noting themselves at our Club for a large proportion of the past 20 years. Time us as members were finally given the opportunity to tell them they are no longer wanted at OUR Club. That means Casey, Schwab, Welsh and whoever else who has had a major say at our Club and failed in that time should sod off! We don't want you and your destructive influences anywhere near our Club any more >:(.
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WTF? This guy's had like since February to get ppl together and this is the best he could do?
Where's Crazy John? And for that matter, where's Humphrey B Bear?
They better get naked girls with large pom poms to do the half time entertainment if they want us to go to anymore games.
It cant get any worse, so I say the board should be replaced with naked cheerleaders. Richo will play better.
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Casey to meet would-be challenger
27 July, 2004
Paul Gough
Sportal
Richmond president Clinton Casey will meet with his challenger Brendan Schwab on Wednesday in a bid to avert an off-field war at Punt Road but maintains he will not step aside in favour of his former vice-president.
Schwab, who stepped down from the board earlier this year, has declared he wants to take over the financially troubled club and has launched a seven man ticket in a bid to overthrow Casey and the current board.
The ticket includes Richmond's 1980 premiership wingman and much-respected former board member Peter Welsh as well as insolvency expert and club director from 1986-93 Michael Humphris plus another former player in Bryan Wood - who would be football director under the proposed new regime.
Casey has offered to put himself and his board up for re-election at the club's annual general meeting in January but Schwab's group and rebel member Michael Pahoff want to force the club into calling an extraordinary general meeting in the next few weeks.
However Casey said on Tuesday he remained adamant a potentially divisive election should not be held until after the struggling Tigers had hired a new coach for next year.
"I have agreed to meet with Brendan Schwab and Peter Welsh tomorrow and we will sit down and hear what they have got to say," Casey said.
"But at this point in time we haven’t changed our position from the fact that any changes at board level should be done at the end of the year."
Casey said he would be willing to step aside as Richmond president if a better credentialed person came along to lead the Tigers but said Schwab wasn't that person.
And he said the son of former legendary Richmond and AFL administrator Alan had to take his share of the blame for the predicament the Tigers were in this season - second last on the ladder and facing a $2 million loss.
"Certainly Brendan has been on the audit committee for the past five or six years and to say he is not a part of the position we are in is a bit unfair and that will be part of the questions I will be asking him tomorrow," Casey said.
"I don’t know if me stepping aside at this point in time (for Schwab) is in the best interests of the club."
"I do want to stay on after the end of this year but if someone can come along that is going to do a better job I will stand aside but at this point in time I haven't seen someone that can do that."
Casey said now was definitely not the time for the Tigers to be brawling over who should be running the club.
"We believe we have got a lot to get through," he said.
"We've got to get a new coach, we need to recruit the best players, we've got a busy period to get through and then we believe that the right time for this (an election) would be at our annual general meeting (in January)."
http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=162588
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"There's overwhelming consensus within the Richmond football family of the need for change …"
Who are these select few who give themselves the right to know and say what the members want? How do they know what our views are and whose opinions did they canvass? Did anyone here get asked, I know I didn’t?
"…it's our suggestion that key members of our group, Brian Wood and Peter Welsh - both former Richmond premiership players - be added to the coaching appointment panel …"
Who says members want Welsh and Wood being involved in such decisions?
No wonder we’re a joke. You don’t need to be a Board member to make vital decisions at RFC. Anyone can wander in, invited or not, preferably not, and make half assed decisions, based on how big an ego they have.
As members, if we don’t wake up to how this works to keep us on mediocrity street then we’re never gonna get ourselves of this situation. We never get a say, because a select few generally get to say it for us. No more rebel individuals/groups telling us what we want. We deserve the right to have a say and vote on matters. Absolutely sick to death of these ego driven maniacs wandering in whenever they feel like it, because they’ve had they’re noses put out of joint, and destroying our Club, time after time.
If they want to get on the Board, go through the proper channels, or why do we even bother with elections?
Hear, Hear....and so say all of us!
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If Schwab and Co hold off to the AGM in January:
1) That Bryan Wood will be allowed to sit on the coaching sub-committee with Miller and Parkin (notice Parkin just said on Talking Footy that he hasn't spoken to Miller for a week and a half but is aware of Miller's concern over the current climate).
2) That all board positions are spilled and up for grabs at the AGM.
This will be presented to Schwab tomorrow at the meeting between him and Casey.
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And he said the son of former legendary Richmond and AFL administrator Alan had to take his share of the blame for the predicament the Tigers were in this season - second last on the ladder and facing a $2 million loss.
"Certainly Brendan has been on the audit committee for the past five or six years and to say he is not a part of the position we are in is a bit unfair and that will be part of the questions I will be asking him tomorrow," Casey said.
Interesting question - I think we deserve an answer on that one Brendan. :banghead
the truth - how nice that would be :-\
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I have actually sat down tonight and re-read these articles and I must have missed this bit this morning - maybe it was the 7.45am start ;D
"Richmond is a big club. We have a massive support base. So essentially we now have a business which is failing simply because it hasn't engaged that huge mass of people that support the club.
"That is the principal cause of our problems."
What a simpistic answer to a massive problem. The reason the Club has not been able to "engage that huge mass of people" is because the product is, for want of a better term crap. Brendan if you think getting big crowds to games is the answer you're an idiot. Is that your business plan? That has been one of the major flaws in the Club's financial planning for the last few years. It is not the principal cause of our problems.
But I'll run with you theory for the moment and I'll make it simple:
To get the big crowds you have to have a good team that plays good footy - that's why we need a good coach. Good coach - hope for the future and membership will grow. That's what people are trying to do but the harsh reality appears going by what was said on 3AW this evening by Gerard Healy and David Parkin on Talking Footy the chances of securing said good coach is fast disappearing because of more "Tiger Turmoil". :banghead
The principle cause of our problems is that we have not achieved the revenues we need. This is because of a number of factors and I'll name a few:
1/ being too reliant on gate receipts - if the team isn't performing people wont show up - this season in particular it shines like a beacon. You cannot base financial plans on the hope we are going to play in finals.
2/ gaming revenues - if the government isn't making the money in taxes that they should then the venues are unlikely to make much either. Footy clubs in general have been stupid in their continued belief that pokie revenue is a cash cow.
3/ Sponsorship - they clearly didn't achieve what they budgeted for. The why bit is the easy part - improving it is the hard part
But who signs off the budgets? The board; and I know I harp on it Schawab & Welsh were part of the board last year that signed off on these budgets. For crying out loud take some responsibility :banghead
Where is your ticket's plan on these issues Brendan? Sponsorship, controlling costs, improving the revenues generated form the gaming venues? Give me a concrete plan!
Read the Annual Reports of the Essendon Footy CLub - they don't rely on traditional "footy revenues" to survive fianancially. They have a number of other area that generate revenues for them.
These are things that need to be addressed. To say the business is failing because 'simply it hasn't engaged that huge mass of people that support the club" will lead us to exactly where we are now and that is scary.
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Sadly because of our poor on-field returns for 20 years we can't claim to be a big club anymore. Such talk belongs to 20 years ago and the old VFL when we had the highest attendances in the league. Instead we have the potential to be a big club again. The facts are we are behind clubs such as St Kilda and Hawthorn in terms of membership numbers. From memory we came 12th overall. Our average attendances while quite good considering how long we've been crap for are signficantly lower than the big clubs - West Coast, Adelaide, Essendon and Collingwood.
As for engaging our supporter base. Some fans last year were claiming late last year that we wouldn't reach 15,000 members if Frawley stayed on. Not only did we not lose members we increased the number by around 10%. Yes we offered free sunnies and introduce the continuous membership rewards program but still amazing nevertheless. Credit to Trent Jacobs for that. Whoever eventually wins the boardroom battle will have to try some new strategy to attract members. Ironically getting the best coach and promoting our young players as the future of the RFC will most likely be the best chance of attracting members as on-field results won't improve that dramatically in 2005. Sadly the infighting is seriously jeopardising our chances in regards to this. When it comes down to membership numbers, bums on seats and sponsors it all comes back to success of the football department.
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Tiger rebels reject plea for more time
By Chloe Saltau, Nabila Ahmed
realfooty.theage.com.au
July 28, 2004
The battle for control of the Richmond board will intensify today when president Clinton Casey meets his challenger, Brendan Schwab, but Casey yesterday warned that any compromise struck with the club's former vice-president would not include his resignation.
Casey will ask Schwab and his rebel group of seven to hold off on an election until the club's annual general meeting in January, allowing the Tigers time to appoint a new coach and get the process of rebuilding the playing list under way.
Richmond wants to appoint a successor to Danny Frawley within a fortnight, which has created a similar sense of urgency in Hawthorn's search for a coach to replace the departed Peter Schwab.
But Brendan Schwab last night said he would not wait until January.
"We've got a football club that's bleeding," he said.
Casey was prepared to consider Schwab's demands, including his push to include former premiership players Peter Welsh and Bryan Wood on the sub-committee that selects a coach.
"If that's a part of it we'll take it on board and consider it . . . We'll sit down and hear what they've got to say, what demands or requests they've got, and we'll consider them and get back to them," Casey said after current board members met yesterday.
"At this point in time we haven't changed our position from the fact that any changes at board level we think should stay until the end of the year, and if they've got any other things to talk about we'll look at it then."
The Tigers board is under siege on two fronts, with Schwab calling for a clean sweep and rebel member Michael Pahoff threatening to force an extraordinary general meeting and overthrow Casey's administration.
Casey reiterated his belief that any election should wait until the end of the year.
"We've got a lot to get through. We need to get a new coach. We need to recruit the best players, we've got a busy period to get through and then we believe that the right time would be at our annual general meeting at the end of the year.
"I don't know that stepping aside at this point in time is in the best interests of the club . . . If someone comes along who is going to do a better job then I'm happy to stand aside. At this point in time I haven't seen someone to do that."
Casey said Richmond could not afford to lose football director Greg Miller after the man charged with rebuilding the embattled club said in a leaked letter to Pahoff that he almost felt like "giving up".
"To lose Greg Miller would be the worst thing that could happen to the place right now."
Schwab last night said his group wanted Casey to resign immediately but would be keen for Miller to remain at the club, describing him as an "outstanding football executive".
Schwab would not be drawn on who he would want as coach, saying only that both prospective candidates in Terry Wallace and Rodney Eade would make excellent appointments.
He would not speculate about the group's next step should Casey refuse its demands. He will approach today's meeting with two objectives.
"First, we want to get some solidarity and stability around the coaching option and Peter Welsh and Bryan Wood would add to the quality of the process and send the message that irrespective of the board, the new coach will have the support of the club moving forward," Schwab said.
"The other thing we want is a smooth transition of power to the new group." He said the next six months loomed as a crucial period for the financially stricken club.
Meanwhile, AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said he did not support attempts by dissatisfied members to oust boards mid-season and suggested clubs should change their constitutions to make such moves more difficult.
He admitted the AFL was concerned that Richmond would record a loss in excess of $2 million this year, but was not worried about the long-term viability of the club.
- with Lyall Johnson
http://realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2004/07/27/1090693963175.html
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I know a compromise has been reached but I thought I'd still post this article from today's HUN. A couple of weeks ago I think froars mentioned that she had seen a former board member Claude Ullin at the Social Club - it seems he is helping out with marketing see the middle of the article in italics and bold ;)
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Former board member slams rebels
28 July 2004 Herald Sun
Mark Stevens
INFLUENTIAL supporter and former board member Claude Ullin stepped into the crossfire at Punt Rd, taking a swipe at Brendan Schwab's rebel group.
Ullin, who as marketing director landed the TAC sponsorship and drove the Tigers' 1990 SOS campaign, said yesterday Schwab would not cut it as president.
"I don't think Brendan's got that ability, frankly. What business has he run? He's a lawyer," Ullin said. "It would just destroy the club to go into an election right now. All the wrong decisions would be made -- all on emotion.
"I wasn't going to get involved in any of this, but when you see the behaviour of certain people, I just can't keep my fingers out of it now."
Ullin, on the Tigers board from 1987 to 1994, is a councillor and former mayor of Stonnington. He is a successful art dealer.
He has been drafted on to a marketing committee at Punt Rd in recent months as the club attempts to lift itself out of the mire.
Ullin worked closely with president Neville Crowe to save the club via the famous SOS fundraising drive.
"Even during the SOS period, it wasn't as low as this. Neville Crowe was a fantastic president with a lot of charisma and we were all devoted to Neville getting through it," Ullin said.
"There were no challenges. The supporters knew we were trying to resurrect the club and we did."
Ullin backs the same scenario now, with Casey continuing to push on with recent changes in place.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,10268155%255E19742,00.html
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IMO Richmond people are now coming out publicly because they have had a gutful of all these petty ego games. After 20 years of them you would think everyone would realise all they do is keep us in the mire and provide entertainment and increased newspaper sales for others. I think we all realise what a crucial time it is for the Club. At the moment we can still get out of this mess if we work together to make the right decisions. In fact there's a bright future if that occurs. However if we stuff it up, we may never recover.