Members' Information Night

The official website has an announcement of a Members' Information Night to be held on 24th November.

http://westadelaidefc.com.au/wafc/members-information-night/

Looking forward to it that and the cyclathon really enjoy these positive events for the club !

Great idea by the club

Without wanting to criticise these proactive moves, I think it's also important the club broadens its income-generating base, as there's a danger that all new money-raising initiatives could end up asking the same people to keep putting their hand in their pocket. Not that I know how to do this, mind.

Very fair point, aldo.

We recognise that the Club needs to broaden its base for fund-raising and are doing that.

We need to broaden our appeal right across the whole spectrum of supporters, members, sponsors and others.

Agreed Aldo -

We are trying to target people from all walks of life and all income bases. Not easy in an economy where $$$ are hard to come by - We think the cyclethon will target a new audience and hopefully families in the district with no previous links to our club. Like all new initiatives, we hope it takes off and grows each year

Agree 100% with what club is doing. Put a sign in airport advertising our club as well closes to CBD.

lets just see how much bullshit get said. (This is a s*** stir)

That's the spirit.

Jamo wrote:lets just see how much bullshit get said

Great positive post, just what the club needs when they are trying there hardest to be open and transparent to all clear thinking members.

Are you volunteering to help out or just being a pain in the arse ?

I guess you will just have to attend now and find out

We are putting in an enormous amount of time to come up with the right way for our club to go forward. As the notice of meeting says, it's no secret we have a real struggle with cash flow. This inhibits our ability to recruit, to pay our bills on time, to afford the best in many areas and to lift our club from being perceived (accurately) as struggling.

I want an end to that, the President and the Board want an end to it and we hope our members feel the same way.

The club has stayed afloat due to Board members and generous sponsors putting in large amounts of funds.

There are no easy answers, but we think we will put a proposal to the members which will protect our assets, but put us in a position to go from near the bottom of cash ready clubs to very near the top.

There will always be those who will oppose, as is their right, but I hope those people put up viable alternatives if they do oppose what we propose.

If what we say is bullshit, the members will quickly recognise it.

We hope members will question us in detail and then be happy to come along for the ride to a new era.

As I said a while ago, there would be announcements and we would be open with members before taking action.

Lee

You last post is fantastic. In any business cash is king and I will support 100%
what the board is going to do to improve this club financially

Lachlan, we appreciate your support - As Lee said, we are doing this in the long term interests of the WAFC. I want my kids to have a club in 50 years to call their own. I think the transparency that we will show and questions from the floor we will be prepared to answer will be refreshing and perhaps be a template for other clubs in similar or for some clubs in the sanfl, poorer shape than we are in. As Lee wrote, our President, Accountant and many others have put their own money where their mouths are. I don't think anyone could question their loyalty and desire for our club to be financially independent going forward even if we need to make a few tough decisions in the short term and even a few more from left field. Its taken most of the year to get to this point so we can make accurate assessments and know the information we present is accurate in the present and for future board members. I look forward to the info night knowing everyone involved with westies from players, volunteers, members, paid staffers, creditors and elected officials are all on one page debunking rumours, hearsay and allowing everyone to pull together fully informed from this point on.

I hope that there will be a review on this forum after the night as not all of us can attend. Warts and all please, just like our match day reviews

I will be happy to do that, RR.

I'm sure others will also give their thoughts.

Don't forget this is on next Monday night.

It's extremely important to the future of our club.

I hope all those who have been rightly calling for action will attend and support the Board's plans.

Otherwise, I hope they present a viable alternative for the Board to also consider.

I think details have just been posted to members.

Important that all true West Adelaide supporters and members attend. We need to be all on the same page as we move forward. The info night will be open, honest and end rumors, innuendo and half truths.

I don't think full truth of whats been happening with be told. I Hope to be proven wrong!

Jamo, why would you say that?

Do you think The Board and I are dishonest?

Jamo wrote:I don't think full truth of whats been happening with be told. I Hope to be proven wrong!

I think most people know that we spent more money than we had on our last coach.
We also had a flawed business plan.
Finally we had poor business practices in place that failed to pick up on mass theft at the club.
All this have left us a couple of million in debt.  Is there anymore Jamo.

Well, ST, I think the $100K Collo won for us in the Foxtel Cup and coming 2nd and 3rd would make up a fair bit for your dislike of him.

Although it was before my time on the Board, I believe we did pick up theft and recovered all the money.

We now have a total of a couple of million in debt. Are you seriously suggesting our building was freehold and we had no debt previously?

It would be nice to stick to facts.

My take is that the rot started about 8 years ago when a CEO at the time presided over a loss of more than $600K.  Results over the past few years have been relatively cash flow neutral.

So we are 2 million in debt and Collins wins us 100k and what then takes half of it . Really.
At least we now have a park for the kids out the front. Who negotiated that deal.

ST, I've been on the Board 6 months and have tried to be open with members.  I'll stick to trying to find solutions for the mistakes of the past and leave you to blame whoever you want.

I'll tell you one thing, though. In that 6 months, I've worked on the Board with people who are genuine West Adelaide members who just have the interests of our club at heart.  That involves hours of work and travel.

Part of our debt is a large sum lent to the club by the President and Finance Director to enable us to keep going a while back.

I'll also point out that we are far better off than most clubs and have equity of over $2 million dollars.

As I said, I'll look forward, you can chase past CEO's and Board members.  When you punish them, let me know how it helps the club,

Oh, Suggesting that Collo took half of our Foxtel winnings is nonsense and just showdps your hatred of him is blinding you to the facts.

PS: Keep tabs on our facebook and twitter for some recruiting announcements.

How did we get a park for the kids at the front of the clubrooms. Surely someone is taking the piss with that one.