I never thought i'd see the day when this clown would use the NRL to put down the AFL.:shock: Things are changing apparently.
(Article from the Australian)
Can't pay, can't play, Carlton's stormy existence getting worse
OPINION
Patrick Smith
March 07, 2006
IT was an unusually large gathering of media, for the news was not in anyway fresh. Carlton, once the arrogant strutter of the AFL, is in all sorts of financial trouble. The Australian documented its plight late last year.
The club's revenue grows timidly, its debt remains in the many millions and the football side is hopeless. Coach Denis Pagan was forced to apologise for the performance of his players after they were embarrassed by 99 points when they played Port Adelaide on the weekend. Carlton is down and all but out. A little ritual kicking music, please.
The club president, Ian Collins, took the news conference yesterday. His chief executive Michael Malouf sat beside him. The conference started some 15 minutes late and Collins spoke for the next 15 minutes without stopping for a drop of oxygen.
Distill his words and the problem is this: the cost of running the side's base - Princes Park, formerly known as Optus Oval - is killing the club and it wants the AFL to help out. It was never spelt out exactly how the AFL would intervene - Collins never gets into specifics in case they come back to haunt him - but if headquarters could fund the $1.8 million it takes to run the place annually that would be as good a starting point as any.
The club has the option of seeking assistance from the league in the form of an increased dividend but it is unwilling to do that just yet. Collins said any direct AFL cash injection would dilute the club's independence. He's absolutely right there.
Sport in Australia is changing at a pace. While Collins detailed his club's tenuous position, the state's only rugby league side, Melbourne Storm, was entertaining the media on the oval outside.
The Storm men and the media played some football. It was a little about getting to better understand the game. But it was more about the media and the footballers establishing a rapport. Such is the present state of the Carlton team that the Storm could beat them in a game of AFL. But then so could the media.
Only an hour or so before Carlton laid out its grim circumstances - softened by more than $2million for its shift of home games to Telstra Dome - Storm announced another sponsor had joined the Victorian franchise. Superannuation company Hostplus joins Medibank Private as the club's major partner. The new deal would have to be worth more $1m.
Carlton offered that it was close to finding a sponsor for Pagan. The administration has whittled the list to a number of self-help groups. So much has changed since late 2002 when the then president John Elliott announced that Pagan would be the club's new coach. Pagan has been in charge for 66 games which have delivered just 18 wins. Asked whether Pagan had been re-signed Malouf nodded. He seemed neither pleased nor disappointed. It is fair to say that Carlton is numb from president down to the players.
There was a vitality about the Storm representatives yesterday - a top four finish this season was not talked down - that was absent from the Carlton conference. Storm is optimistic, while Carlton's Collins and Malouf sat without emotion. The club can't pay, the team can't play.
Last year rugby league committed to a large advertising budget in Victoria and a promise to spread the word about the code more so than ever before. Storm is using the Carlton base as a pit-stop on its way to its new venue at Olympic Park that it will share with soccer and rugby union.
You fancy if Collins could deliver some resolution to Carlton's debt he would gladly hand over the presidency. He might get his mind made up for him. The masses at Carlton are restless and challenges have been made for board positions. As it is, in any other sport than AFL Collins would appear utterly compromised. As Princes Park drains Carlton of money, Collins is chief executive of the second biggest venue in town - Telstra Dome.
If Carlton has one dignity left it is that it has not gone begging to the AFL. For the moment it is busking by the front door. If the AFL would only take Princes Park off its hands. The pitch by Collins is that the AFL might need a third venue - it already has long-term contracts with the MCG and Telstra Dome - for an emergency. It is a desperate argument.
Carlton was once a mighty power but it will not necessarily be one again. There is a new order. Storm celebrates a $1m sponsorship; Carlton acknowledges a $7m debt. Soccer draws more than 40,000 to a final in Sydney; Perth gives birth to the Western Force. Elliott, all puffed up and self-important when he was Carlton's president, used to thunder Victoria could not sustain 10 AFL teams. Collins' worst and growing fear is that Elliott was right.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18374093%5E12270,00.html
(Article from the Australian)
Can't pay, can't play, Carlton's stormy existence getting worse
OPINION
Patrick Smith
March 07, 2006
IT was an unusually large gathering of media, for the news was not in anyway fresh. Carlton, once the arrogant strutter of the AFL, is in all sorts of financial trouble. The Australian documented its plight late last year.
The club's revenue grows timidly, its debt remains in the many millions and the football side is hopeless. Coach Denis Pagan was forced to apologise for the performance of his players after they were embarrassed by 99 points when they played Port Adelaide on the weekend. Carlton is down and all but out. A little ritual kicking music, please.
The club president, Ian Collins, took the news conference yesterday. His chief executive Michael Malouf sat beside him. The conference started some 15 minutes late and Collins spoke for the next 15 minutes without stopping for a drop of oxygen.
Distill his words and the problem is this: the cost of running the side's base - Princes Park, formerly known as Optus Oval - is killing the club and it wants the AFL to help out. It was never spelt out exactly how the AFL would intervene - Collins never gets into specifics in case they come back to haunt him - but if headquarters could fund the $1.8 million it takes to run the place annually that would be as good a starting point as any.
The club has the option of seeking assistance from the league in the form of an increased dividend but it is unwilling to do that just yet. Collins said any direct AFL cash injection would dilute the club's independence. He's absolutely right there.
Sport in Australia is changing at a pace. While Collins detailed his club's tenuous position, the state's only rugby league side, Melbourne Storm, was entertaining the media on the oval outside.
The Storm men and the media played some football. It was a little about getting to better understand the game. But it was more about the media and the footballers establishing a rapport. Such is the present state of the Carlton team that the Storm could beat them in a game of AFL. But then so could the media.
Only an hour or so before Carlton laid out its grim circumstances - softened by more than $2million for its shift of home games to Telstra Dome - Storm announced another sponsor had joined the Victorian franchise. Superannuation company Hostplus joins Medibank Private as the club's major partner. The new deal would have to be worth more $1m.
Carlton offered that it was close to finding a sponsor for Pagan. The administration has whittled the list to a number of self-help groups. So much has changed since late 2002 when the then president John Elliott announced that Pagan would be the club's new coach. Pagan has been in charge for 66 games which have delivered just 18 wins. Asked whether Pagan had been re-signed Malouf nodded. He seemed neither pleased nor disappointed. It is fair to say that Carlton is numb from president down to the players.
There was a vitality about the Storm representatives yesterday - a top four finish this season was not talked down - that was absent from the Carlton conference. Storm is optimistic, while Carlton's Collins and Malouf sat without emotion. The club can't pay, the team can't play.
Last year rugby league committed to a large advertising budget in Victoria and a promise to spread the word about the code more so than ever before. Storm is using the Carlton base as a pit-stop on its way to its new venue at Olympic Park that it will share with soccer and rugby union.
You fancy if Collins could deliver some resolution to Carlton's debt he would gladly hand over the presidency. He might get his mind made up for him. The masses at Carlton are restless and challenges have been made for board positions. As it is, in any other sport than AFL Collins would appear utterly compromised. As Princes Park drains Carlton of money, Collins is chief executive of the second biggest venue in town - Telstra Dome.
If Carlton has one dignity left it is that it has not gone begging to the AFL. For the moment it is busking by the front door. If the AFL would only take Princes Park off its hands. The pitch by Collins is that the AFL might need a third venue - it already has long-term contracts with the MCG and Telstra Dome - for an emergency. It is a desperate argument.
Carlton was once a mighty power but it will not necessarily be one again. There is a new order. Storm celebrates a $1m sponsorship; Carlton acknowledges a $7m debt. Soccer draws more than 40,000 to a final in Sydney; Perth gives birth to the Western Force. Elliott, all puffed up and self-important when he was Carlton's president, used to thunder Victoria could not sustain 10 AFL teams. Collins' worst and growing fear is that Elliott was right.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18374093%5E12270,00.html
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