Throughout the last three years, the Carlton Football Club have committed to a well-documented rebuild.
But it wasn’t just with the playing list, but also throughout all aspects of the club. In mid-2014, the announcement came down that outgoing president and club legend Stephen Kernahan was stepping down from the role after failing to deliver ultimate success for the club which he set out in 2011 to have added another two premierships to Carlton’s tally by the end of 2015.
This strategic plan was called “The Blue Print”. While Kernahan may not have delivered the ultimate success during his time he had well and truly delivered on the principles in that Blue Print which included a strong financial position, world-class facilities at Princes Park and being a club that listened to its members, gave them what they wanted and gave them that hope which Carlton fans had been craving after five long years in the doldrums on and off the field.
To a degree, Kernahan did deliver the on-field success Carlton fans hoped for by getting the club off the foot of the table and taking the club to finals in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013. Memberships were going through the roof too, hitting a record of 50K in 2013, one of just four clubs to do so that year.
However, these achievements weren’t enough for Kernahan it was in the club’s 150th year, 2014, that he and long-serving CEO Greg Swann resigned after a poor on-field start to the 2014 campaign. The replacements would be board member Mark LoGiudice as president and former crows CEO Steven Trigg to take Swann’s role.
The 2015 season, which would be LoGiudice and Trigg’s first full years in office, would be a disaster for the Carlton Football Club in many ways. Many would call it a coincidence that those two happened to be there when the wheels fell off or the fact that they had inherited problems from the previous administration, but the facts were that it was that year after nearly a decade of stability things came crashing down.
The club won the wooden spoon in 2015, had a nasty dispute with coach Mick Malthouse which lead to him being sacked, were given 7 prime time Friday night fixtures (were built from the work over time of Kernahan and Swann to make Carlton a big club again) only to lose each of them by an average of ten goals and had a $2.7 million loss yet rounding out a disastrous year for the club.
In 2013, Kernahan and Swann’s last full year though, Carlton made a profit of $528,095.
However by the end of 2015, LoGiudice and Trigg were convinced that the issues throughout Carlton had nothing to do with their leadership whatsoever as they announced the club would be taking a three year rebuild in all departments from the list, to the coaches, right throughout the culture of the club completely stamping out the policies of the “Blue Print” which, described by Kernahan were to be “A true blue print for our future, the benchmark for how the Club operates today, tomorrow and in the future” and it was obviously something the members agreed on as it summed up what Carlton was and what it believed in which was seen through the rapid growth of membership numbers.
Yet the new administration believed changing things would be best for the club going forward without even consulting the members whatsoever in any sort of forum.
Some of the new policies have been effective such as a new coach, a new game style and an AFLW licence. But the attitudes within the club over the journey have been completely misguided to what the members actually want. Over the last few years, Carlton has been a bit subject among the media for having a membership problem.
While other clubs such as Geelong and Sydney have gone from the low 40’s and mid 30’s from 2013 to the mid 50’s now, Carlton has continued to struggle during the rebuild years being suck on 50K in 2016 and 2017 and only currently at 48K this year.
At the rate in which other clubs are growing member wise, Carlton probably has more disillusioned members than any other club. Of course, poor results on-field haven’t helped, but even in 2003 Carlton broke a membership record going from 26K to 33K, a year when they finished second last.
Macca
Guest
AFL confirms today that there will only be two AFL grounds in Victoria going forward so the idea of playing AFL at Princes Park again is effectively dead.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Well, it’s one of two things. Either he does have more money than Solomon and it really is all true – in which case he’s an ivory tower dweller, who lost touch with working class society a long long time ago Or, he’s lying through his teeth and just trying to be a big man on the internet because the reality is embarrassing for him. Either way not really worth wasting time stressing over
Paul D
Roar Guru
Well, it’s one of two things. Either he does have more money than Solomon and it really is all true – in which case he’s an ivory tower dwelling fool, who lost touch with working class society a long long time ago Or, he’s lying through his teeth and just trying to be a big man on the internet because the reality is embarrassing for him. Either way not really worth wasting time stressing over.
Macca
Guest
“Interesting, M@ttybRaps I’ve read is seen to be of a spoilt, arrogant sort of child” exactly the same as this M@ttyb!!
Macca
Guest
Yeah that is something I have always found funny, we don't know what we are talking about because we don't watch Carlton live but neither does he. Also he is attending 8-10 games live a year all (Freo or the bulldogs) travelling regularly backwards and forwards from Perth to Melbourne, driving and hour and a half each way to his Victorian property and yet watches every AFL game each week, all the WAFL, SANFL, VFL & NEAFL games, manages to get out to watch plenty of school boy football in the AGSV and is apparently playing plenty of gigs in Melbourne? Doesn't add up to me.
Travis
Roar Pro
Interesting, MattybRaps I've read is seen to be of a spoilt, arrogant sort of child.
Col from Brissie
Roar Guru
Don't forget his Carlton membership and all the Carlton games he must attend as he seems to think he knows more about Carlton than me and Macca who are only "barrackers" and just get our information from watching games on TV and media reports.
Macca
Guest
"What sort of musician are you?" have you never googled M@ttyb singer?
Paul D
Roar Guru
Matty – if you actually own property in Victoria, own property in WA, can afford Dockers memberships for the whole family (around $2500 for a family of 4) and also fly back and forth from WA to Victoria 8-10 times a year to watch games (around $7000, assuming it’s just you) – surely by now you must have realised that you have access to far more disposable income than the average football fan to spend on football, and you should refrain from criticising people for not measuring up to your level of financial largesse What sort of musician are you? I’ll be honest I know loads of them who are amateur and semi-pro and the one thing they all have in common is relentless scarcity of funds. Maybe you’re actually Tod Johnston. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-13/artists-struggle-to-make-a-living/9142492
Macca
Guest
Lets look at the points - 1) Sack the board - why? It isn't the same board that made the mistake of the past. 2) Trade aggressively - like we have with Yarran, Touhy, Menzel, Henderson, Gibbs,Bell and like how we got Marchbank, Plowman, Pickett and Kennedy for very little? 3) Stop relying on the draft - we have brought in many players through trades so we aren't relying on the draft but if you want sustainable success the draft is the best way to do it. 4) Build a core team by not delisting players - the club has said the massive delisitngs are over and non of the players delisted should have been kept as evidenced by your list. 6) Stop playing games at Etihad - simply not possible 7) Have a message that is echoed from the board, to the coaches, to the players and then to the supporters- EVERYONE ON THE SAME PAGE - that is happening, just some supporters aren't listening. 8) Talk to the media more so they understand what we are doing - the media want a story, they aren't interested in slowly slowly catch the monkey. So yes in your 1800 word rant you made some claims but none of them are valid points
Travis
Roar Pro
Wrong again Macca, your becoming consistant. The article is basically stating all my points and arguments I've been saying for the last day here. How we made mistakes in the past going back years and because of those mistakes it has resulted in the relatively new administration of Louguidence and co making some very un-Carlton like changes, including rebuilding which in the process has lost our status at a "Big 4" club and are unlikely to ever return to that. These changes lost not just our identity but also our fans too. Unlike his article though which is written from a neutral's perspective, I have actually outlined proposals to make us a big 4 club once again, reuinite the blues fans in this tough period and at the same time bringing about sustained success. It seems however you are incapable for reading between my lines which is a skill I was taught back in high school but you obviously haven't learned so here is a summary of what I hinted at in 1800 words.... 1. Sack the board 2. Trade aggressively (unlike with Gibbs) 3. Stop relying on the draft 4. Build a core team by not delisting players year after year 5. Listen to the supporters needs (through membership forums etc) 6. Stop playing home games at Etihad stadium 7. Have a message that is echoed from the board, to the coaches, to the players and then to the supporters- EVERYONE ON THE SAME PAGE 8. Talk to the media more so they understand what we are doing And yes ALL these things are achievable with a strong board and yes they would help the club, in fact make the club even stronger. All I have outlined is mixing the attitudes of Collingwood/Essendon, applying them with the onfield attitude of Geelong/Hawthorn and topped it all off with the historical views of Carlton. Not that hard Macca...
Macca
Guest
Travis - have you read that? It isn't agreeing with what you are saying at all. What it is saying is that Carlton made some massive mistakes pre 2015, but are finally doing a proper rebuild the right way which is of course going to lead to short term pain and we simply have to be patient. When the author says "Viewed through this lens, dramatic reactions from the football world to Carlton’s formline – which are admittedly inevitable for a ‘big four’ club that has long courted headlines and a young list representing a lightning rod for optimism and frustration in equal parts – are largely futile for the time being." he is criticising your article!
Macca
Guest
Travis - ". He reckons I’ve got no evidence or points even though I’ve got a 1,800 word article and a days worth of comments all out laying my points??" You wrote 1800 words without once getting to a point that actually could happen. AD- "I do have a property in Victoria which is about an hour and a half out of Melbourne,: So when you fly into Melbourne do you drive an hour and a half out to your property and then return and hour and a half to watch the game before driving an hour and a half back again? And on supporter V barracker - when the supporter in this discussion (ie Travis) believes that Liam Sumner was great off half back last year and that the club made a big mistake trading "Yarren" and Menzel it makes it pretty clear that just because you buy a membership doesn't mean you know anything about the game or the club. Also Matthew you have never answered how old you are?
Macca
Guest
"Murphy as captain has clearly been another massive mistake." How so?
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
I'm well aware of how poor the Blues can be. I'm well aware that occasionally Blues fans can get a little over optimistic about their club - like any club supporter, ever. But that doesn't change the fact that we were discussing your need to consider yourself 'more of a supporter' than anyone else because you have the ability to turn up to games more frequently than anybody else - who have legitimate reasons preventing them from doing so.
Travis
Roar Pro
Have a read of this Macca, Seems I'm not alone in what I say: https://www.theroar.com.au/2018/04/11/carlton-hype-good-bad-fake-news/
Slane
Guest
Good on you MattyBs. You've got such a massive heart that you can grieve for Carlton fans even while your own club becomes ever more irrelevant and continues to lazily circle the drain.
Mattyb
Guest
AD,your the one who asked if I was a member,and then tried to compare yourself to me. Look,pity these sorrowful blues fans all you want,their denial has been going on for years now. Keep playing the personality game if that's your thing but facts remain the blues have been once again pumped up all preseason and once the season has started have gone absolutely nowhere.
Col from Brissie
Roar Guru
Thank God, Matty is nothing like me.
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
Ah jeez. Did I write my comment in German? Pretty sure I made sense. I said, and I quote: "Of course, you have the access to home games that Col and I don’t, but it doesn’t make you more of a supporter than anyone else." You're the same in the fact that you're an interstate member of a club. You're different in the fact that you attend more matches than regular interstate members. You're an outlier, I guess. Also, what does the Bulldogs have to do with anything? And, for someone who spends a lot of time criticising fans for defending their clubs, you sure spend a lot of your living hours criticising said club on the internet.