Tinkler needs to get some of the Old Boys onto the case and have them target this "supporters club" head on. A full page ad of Harragon advising people about acting in the club's, not their, best interest should sway all but the most one-eyed supporters.
Even get a few ex-players at a meeting with Tinkler, Jim and the Nannas to see if they still feel the same way after chatting it through. If they don't even bother to accept the invitiation, all the better for swaying those members still undecided on how to vote.
And while the website looks good, lets be honest- how many of the old farts do you think have access to the Internet. Talk back radio and the Herald are the best way to target them. You get the feeling that if Tinkler can silence, or at least drown out, the vocal minority then we should see the vote easily reach the 75% needed.
And one last thing- surely the Herald can turn down advertising dollars? A positive long-term relationship with Tinkler has to be worth a lot more than 3 weeks of one-page ads. You'd think that behind the scenes Tinkler must be applying a bit of pressure for the Herald not to run the ads.
Tinkler has had the old boys going in to bat. I believe there has been some television ads but given I don't watch much commerical TV I have not seen them.
Over the past week or so there has been a full page ad featuring Tinkler, another one featuring Harrogan, one featuring Leigh Maughan and today there is one with Michael Hagan.
I would say that the efforts will intenisfy in the next week as I believe proxies have to be lodge by 29/3.
Which reminds me I have to send mine to someone.
The fact is that these older members have kept their membership up and are the "cardigan" wearing old time fund raisers from yester year. They honestly believe that the hand to mouth existence can continue and that some how, some way the Knights will rise from the ashes like the proverbial phoniex and win a premiership.
Given the push for proxies from the big players if people post their proxies in then the result will be known before the meeting. I think if it relies on face to face voting on the night then its doomed and this is what the supporters club would know. They would know that most of the time hardly anyone that can vote goes to the AGM, and this is where their motivation for saying "no" to proxies is coming from.
There has to be someone with $$$ and smarts behind them, because they are being very astute in the way its publicised they are not saying straight out NO, they are asking people to make their own decisions and not give them their votes to others.
