How about the part where I have conceded the club has made dumb decisions in the past?
thing is no matter what I say, until I join the club which constantly bashes every single aspect of the club and branding them as incompetent even if they make the right decision (such as the Balme appointment), I'm going to be labelled a simpleton.
in a way I can understand it, teh club has failed so many times over 30+ years so we are used to them being incompetent, but things are starting to change and if you can't see that, maybe you are the one that doesn't understand.
The deja vu involved in the latest at Richmond is startling.
Clinton Casey becomes Peggy O'NealIn 2004 Clinton led his board (plus and minus a few with resignations) to a victory in a board spill at an EGM.
Casey never had an understanding of member-based clubs, Australian football in general or Richmond FC in particular.
Same with Peggy. "Homecoming games", and "tail gate parties" WTF.
Casey made some hugely expensive decisions including hiring Ian Campbell as CEO. Peggy has now doubled the cost of Operations Manager hiring Balme as an extra cost.
Gary March becomes Maurice O'ShannassyServing under Casey, March was in mute agreement with the decisions made by Casey. Same with Maurice.
After Casey left March inherited the presidency and then subtly disavowed all the bad decisions he went along with previously. Will O'Shannassy do the same?
Garry Cameron becomes Rob Dalton.While trying to manage the budget, Garry had to rely on membership, donations and poor sponsorship. Same with Rob.
Richmond has THE prime physical location for AFL, amongst the top member numbers and among the largest attendances and TV ratings.
And yet we still struggle to leverage this into sponsorship dollars.
The budget is under pressure from extra unforseen costs made by the President and CEO. Think coach contracts and Balme's added cost.
Ian Campbell becomes Benny GaleBeing seen as successful in another area does not mean you can do the job as CEO.
The Peter principle* seems to be at work in his and other staff placements.
Gale does not seem able to take control of the KEY area of the club - football - and uses clichés and spin to explain what he seems not to understand, how to manage.
When he joined he replaced the membership and sponsorship managers.
Membership continues to climb but how much is due to a manager who is continuously reducing member benefits.
Sponsorship is failing after a good first year or so.
It should be noted that Steve Wright took over as CEO and turned finances around, focussed on membership, developed PRO and involved us in community projects like Korin Gamadji.
Greg Miller becomes Neil BalmeWe've definitely seen this before.
The Messiah arrives after gaining a huge reputation following success at other clubs.
The idea that either man was the sole architect of success at their previous clubs ignores the fact that they were surrounded by top class operators.
Terry Wallace becomes Damien HardwickBoth came with excellent resumes but were shown to be very limited and defensive in their coaching, not trusting players and again surrounded by below-par associates.
They were and are reduced to buck-passing, spinning situations and decisions and making excuses.
Both were and are kept far too long because of fear of a media backlash until the position was untenable for everyone.
* The Peter Principle holds that in a hierarchy every manager rises to the level of their incompetence.
Managers do a good job and are promoted. This continues until they reach a standard that is beyond them. They then fumble along and their performance is never bad enough to deserve demotion or removal but is sub-optimal. The end result is that every position is eventually filled by incompetent employees.
In 2004 we had a board spill at an EGM and Casey's board, with a few new members and the key inclusion of Greg Miller, was returned.
In 2016 will we see another spill from a traditional membership leader (Mandie or Macek) which is won by the failing incumbents and the key inclusion of Neil Balme?
Sorry for the length but the similarities were too many to ignore.
The main point of all this is that it is not the CLUB that is at fault
