What would you do.

billrobs1 wrote:Can a club in such a precarious financial status and with such poor performance on the field justify 2 General Managers?

Success on the field will lead to an improved financial result eventually and a more sustainable business model. Please invest more in coaching.

Good post billrob and brings an interesting point to the table,

Look forward to the response

Thanks for the response Lee

RR, photos of drafted players are currently in the players' area under the grandstand. I and my visiting friends do not have access to this area so if they are there then they are not visible to normal member's and public. My point is that if any person walked into our club they will not see 1 photo of any recent WAFC champions that have moved to AFL other than Adam Cooney and the Roo. They had to win Brownlows to get a Pic up.

I will refer your other points to the appropriate club people.  We do talk to other SAnFL players when the rules allow us to, hence the recruitment of Andrew Hayes, Justin Hardy and Riley Milne this year.  We wouldn't be allowing any thiught of disrupting other clubs' salary caps to sidetrack us.  In any event, it doesn't work like that.
Quality SANFL players are the best recruits, they are proven performers in the league. The up side in failing to secure an opposition player is that their club would have to cover our offers. Its not disrupting just common sense.

The AGM used to be held readonably soon after the football season, but was moved to February recently to allow tome tor the preoaration and audit of the financial statements, among other things. I understand that it would take months to go through our books especially when most of the money is "missing" however the new board should be elected as early as possible to plan and begin the next season rather than inherit the decisions of out going board.

The Constitution requires appointed Board members to stand for election at a subsequent AGM. This has been manipulated in the past and just brings a mistrust from the member base. Appointments to the board from the board and then employment prior to election, no election as there are no "other" candidates have occurred.

Several of your other suggestions are well worth considering and I thank you for all your suggestions and will follow them up.







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markdreher wrote:

billrobs1 wrote:Can a club in such a precarious financial status and with such poor performance on the field justify 2 General Managers?

Success on the field will lead to an improved financial result eventually and a more sustainable business model. Please invest more in coaching.

Good post billrob and brings an interesting point to the table,

Look forward to the response

I think you will find this has been or is in the process of being reduced to one GM

I would like to make a few general observations.

First, though, to RR, I will see if we can get the drafted players' photos in the clubrooms, as you suggest.

It might help if I outline how a few things work.  I asked here for suggestions which might help the club go ahead.  I've been on the Board about 5 months, so I'm generally not that interested in what happened in the past, except to learn from any mistakes and make sure they're not repeated.  Those who want past Board members or current coaches to be put in front of a firing squad can start a separate thread on that, although I do ask whether the critics have brought up their concerns at an AGM or with the club.  If they have, that's good.

My focus since I've been a Board member is to do two main things:

1  Look ahead positively, be inclusive and open to members and supporters.

2  Do everything I can to bring our focus as a club on winning premierships.

The WAFC Board is tasked with running the club successfully to achieve the second item above, IMO.  There are several sub-committees, which deal with a number of matters, including football, recruiting, debt management, boundaries, finance, structure and other matters.

It is not the role of a football club board to involve itself in day to day coaching matters.  Indeed, any board that meddled in selection or normal coaching and playing matters should resign, IMO, so there's no point addressing playing or coaching questions to me.

It is also difficult to defend a board when you can't make many decisions public at the time and that's frustrating for all of us, but necessary. I am totally confident, though, that our club will be strong quickly, if measures the Board puts up soon are adopted.

I don't want to settle for our club being just competitive, I'm driven to see us win premierships, as are all the Board.

Finally, a word about this forum.  At least ten years ago we were the only club not to have a Fans' Forum.  I started one, have funded it since its inception and with the enormous help of others transferred it to this new site recently.  It is nothing to do with me as a Board member and I am one of 3 moderators, all of us passionate Bloods' members.  Nothing is ever censored, unless it is defamatory or abusive and that's rare.  It is extremely unusual for anyone to be banned and even then, their posts can still be seen. There's also not much logic in accusing someone who provided this platform to be trying to stifle freedom of speech.

If posters want to be negative, nothing's stopping them, but please start a separate thread.

If posters want to be abusive (and calling volunteers 'knobs' is abusive in anyone's language), then they get a warning or a temporary ban.

I do want to thank the other Board members for allowing me (so far) to be open on this forum.  If it just descends into abuse or constant negativity, they would be well within their rights to ask me to stop, as it just reflects badly on us as a club.

PS: If anyone, at any time, would like a tour of the players' rooms, I am happy to help.

Success comes at a cost and the main areas of concern for our club is a consistent and high revenue stream through our club. While it is fantastic that more wealthy members have contributed to our club this can not be relied upon to sustain our continued growth and prosperity.

The main areas that need addressing and that have been bought up at every AGM I have attended is the need for increased membership and patronage and the need for a Main Road location.

As in my previous posts the club should explore main road access from South Road with a ring road around the oval to the club rooms.
It should as a matter of urgency explore the need for a bus route that goes down Milner road. Access to our oval by public transport is poor and therefore restricts patrons from attending games and patronizing the club. If we as a club are encouraging people to come to our club for some refreshments post match,after work and on non game days how are these people expected to get home without breaking the law.
It should ensure that the History of the club is proudly displayed to all visitors. People want to see success and be aligned with success. While we do not (as yet) have the premierships to boast of we have plenty of players who have come through our club and tasted success at higher levels. This is at the moment one thing we can hang our hat on.
The club needs to re-engage with the locals in our clubs area and encourage all residents to attend the club. If this means we need to offer free membership benefits (with non voting rights) for the summer period to locals then this should be looked at. We need to develop additional members by encouraging all locals to our club. The Richmond area in the past 5 years has had over 90 new establishments built in just the 3 streets from our ground and yet we have not increased our patronage to our club.
And of course you need success on the field without doubt, people follow winners so we need to get people into the club, win and then get them on board.
I encourage the board to think outside the square and develop a 10,5 and 2 year plan with measurable outcomes that will be given to employees of the club to achieve. What are the number of members we require and how are we going to achieve it? How do we develop more community involvement? How do we develop our brand to attract corporate,state and individual financial assistance? We need to remain focused on what we want to achieve and in what time frame they must be achieved.

Good luck Lee, I admire anyone who stands up to be counted as you have done.

Richmond Rocker wrote:

markdreher wrote:

billrobs1 wrote:Can a club in such a precarious financial status and with such poor performance on the field justify 2 General Managers?

Success on the field will lead to an improved financial result eventually and a more sustainable business model. Please invest more in coaching.

Good post billrob and brings an interesting point to the table,

Look forward to the response

I think you will find this has been or is in the process of being reduced to one GM

Thanks RR most appreciate.

Couldnt be bothered to start a new thread....

I thought MM's report issued to members yesterday was very good. I feel I have a better understanding of the on field results for 2014.

I still cant understand the inconsistency this year but I like the way MM took responsibility for this.

I have more respect for him now. Next year will be a very telling year for him individually.

Since this is a suggestion thread....please reassign resources out of the administration of the club and put it into the football dept. Support MM to deliver what he seems determined to deliver.

BTW Lee I dont think there are many forum members who are deliberately being negative and personal. I feel the majority are passionate and very constructive. I am not sure what type of "positivity" you were expecting when we are performing so badly on and off the park???

On a positive side...great to hear that MM is having a fair dinkum crack for next year!!!!

I am also looking forward to ST returning and bringing his passionate stance on certain issues....always entertaining

Thanks, br.

I agree with your thoughts about the allocation of resources and the Board has been working hard on that topic for some time now. Results will show soon.

I also agree with you about members not being deliberately negative and personal. Most of the comments in this thread have been very positive and will be followed up.

I'm also looking forward to ST returning. I actually think most of his game analysis and comments are very good and also entertaining and I have no issues with him, except if it's abusive. I'm more than willing to 'bury the hatchet' and start fresh, if ST is happy with that.

I love the passion on this forum, whether I agree with some posters or not, but I'll also reply with passion.

Just to support Lee and maybe sort of answer a question or 2:

Our financial year is October to October - It takes time for the closing of accounts, auditing etc.. and Xmas is not a great time to run an AGM hence the date in Feb.

We have a new board member (not me) who is doing KPI's on all WAFC employees with targets etc... So that suggestion which is very good above is being addressed.

Moving to a main road is an ultimate plan. We are confined by a 2km limit to move our pokies from their current location - Funding this move requires social impact statements and other costly red-tape papers - Hence, we need to make sure we get the right location at the right price as we cant afford to get it wrong. We are working on this but can say no more.

Keep the ideas coming

Mark Beswick wrote:Just to support Lee and maybe sort of answer a question or 2:

Our financial year is October to October -  It takes time for the closing of accounts, auditing etc.. and Xmas is not a great time to run an AGM hence the date in Feb.

We have a new board member (not me) who is doing KPI's on all WAFC employees with targets etc...  So that suggestion which is very good above is being addressed.

Moving to a main road is an ultimate plan.  We are confined by a 2km limit to move our pokies from their current location - Funding this move requires social impact statements and other costly red-tape papers - Hence, we need to make sure we get the right location at the right price as we cant afford to get it wrong.  We are working on this but can say no more.

Keep the ideas coming

All SANFL clubs financial years run October to October. It Should be run in 2nd Week of December. If the club reports an operating loss the Members should receive 3 monthly Financial update reports throughout the next financial year. I understand the process of audit however this should not be a barrier providing the "books" do not not need glossing over.

It is more important to open and honest with members (as the current board appears to be) and allow the new board to build for the next season rather than inherit decisions made for them for that season by an out going board. This is not a reflection on the current board but protection for future boards.

AGM's
December  - South, Adelaide, Port, Centrals,

January - W/West Torrens

February - North Sturt Glenelg Norwood West

Thanks for that, RR.

To prepare financial statements, have them audited and have them printed in about 6 weeks is a difficult and perhaps stressful exercise.

As an auditor myself, I well understand the problems involved in meeting a timetable like that, so I'm not surprised that your list shows the majority of clubs have their AGM's in February.

You say the club should issue financials every three months if we make a loss. I think the Board should issue abbreviated financial statements every 3 months regardless of the result. I agree with you totally about that. The members have a right to know exactly how we are travelling at all times and as you say, the Board is keen to be open and transparent.

We need a much better cash flow and as I have said before, we'll be presenting plans for our future after the season end and involve members every step of the way.

I think I can say that the Board is united, positive and extremely confident of our future.