I dont want to piss on the parade but...

[choppy]

what happens now?

Lets not kid ourselves, looking at those numbers on Thursday night we are seriously in the shit financially. Im hoping some of you more connected people can answer the following questions.

1 - How is the 5 million of debt eliminated.

2 - What membership level and average home ground attendence is required to meet the profit forecasts in the plan.

3 - The plan seems to rely on acheiving best case outcome in all area's, memberships, attendence, sponsorship, etc to meet targets. Maybe I misunderstood this part of the presentation but it did concern that everything has to go right for it to work.

4 - Who are the people behind the scenes to back up the plan. Now Jim Bob is a great front man and can string a few words together but lets be honest his business acumen being limited to 'corporate governence', you wouldn't hand over any money to the man. Who are the financial people? I was reasonably impressed with John Macgowan and the Gemba person but who will lead the finance area. The same people who got us into this shit over the last 5 years?

5 - Who are these five white nights. I was concerned when he said he didn't know when he would get the money and then said it might be qtr 1 next year before they came on board. What gaurantee is their on this money?

6 - What happens to the revenue on this 10 million. Is it used for yearly operating expenses, which the graps seemed to imply or is it put aside or does it retire the 5 million in debt?

7 - They mentioned they would still look at selling games interstate. Where would they do this, we have burnt Sydney, Canberra, Queensland, theirs no other place left is their?

8 - The stadium deal appears to be critical but their was no idea of how this was to be resolved.


This will probably come across as being critical or pro AFL or pro Gold Coast but as the cold hard reality sets in; that the we are on our own and the AFL are'nt going to do us any favours, the plans going forward need to be robust.

Their is only one chance of getting it right.

The final interesting thing to me was that if the club and the AFL had been upfront with those figures over the last 12 months then I suspect the 'relocation' would have occurred. The financial model going forward was not containable and I can understand how the board was in favour of the 'relocation'.

The AFL and the pro Gold Coast faction actually shot themselves in the foot by being sneaky and devious behind the scenes. If they had have been more open and upfront the outcome I suspect would have been different.

 

[Manbearpig]

Don't stress.

Remember this plan has been analysed thoroughly by Gemba and the same peer reviewers that analysed the Gemba report.

Hard work is certainly needed to achieve the goals, but they are achievable. As he explained in all calculations, worst case was taken into account, as was needing money for "a rainy day" in case things didnt' go exactly as planned.

 

[Ashley B]

Choppy no 1 said it would be easy, i could paint an argument to say theres a lot of other teams in the competition with the same financial problems as us if we broke down everything within each club. I believe in James' plan we must all believe that is what life is about believing we will win this.
Most of this r word is media driven once we get 30000 members they will leave us alone and hop onto another team like a pack of vultures.
If anything it has bought everything out into the open we know what we have to do we have goals we have a plan and now finally we have a strong committed board with the same goal to help us match our success on field. Dont let the media get you down it will be hard but nothing worth saving is ever easy, we will grow very strong from this, i believe.

 

[thumping]

Choppy I hear what you say,But as JB said numerous times Thursday night the Battle has only just begun.

Have faith mate not only with JB but with the whole New board he is assembling.

Also,we as a whole have to become more accountable,Attend more games,purchase more merchandise,volunteer our time and most importantly purchase memberships and encourage others to do so

 

[Davo01]

The thing to know is that a team of people have been working around the clock on the stay in melbourne plan for 3-4 months. Good North people with business smarts who had to have a credible plan to be able to convince Bob Ansett they had a sustainable business model and to get the approval of the peer review by Scanlon, O'Hoy etc.

Ron Joseph has been driving much of this and I hope his team of unsung heros get the recognition they deserve over the coming days as JB pulls his team together. One name that has been mentioned in the media is Carl Delina (former player and partner at KPMG) who would no doubt be a very welcome addition to the board.

 

[David3030]

Choppy I hear what you say,But as JB said numerous times Thursday night the Battle has only just begun.

Have faith mate not only with JB but with the whole New board he is assembling.

Also,we as a whole have to become more accountable,Attend more games,purchase more merchandise,volunteer our time and most importantly purchase memberships and encourage others to do so

Have faith. Like all Tiger supporters we hope you guys pull through.

If your already a member and can afford it, increase your membership level, if your not a member ... well your not a true supporter, especially when the club needs you.

Not sure about JB's business acumen, and not having been there Thursday night, if his business plan has been scrutinised by financial experts it should work for your club.

 

[Chief75]

I too am still deeply concerned about the finances, having been there on thursday night to have the guy from Gemba take us through the finances there are still a lot of question marks.

The capital raising will see us make around 600-700K per annum. My take would be that we need to consistently hit around 30K members each year to begin paying back on the debts. This is going to be tough, but hopefully it will make so called supporters sit up and realise that the fight is now in our hands.

what happens now?

Lets not kid ourselves, looking at those numbers on Thursday night we are seriously in the shit financially. Im hoping some of you more connected people can answer the following questions.

1 - How is the 5 million of debt eliminated.

2 - What membership level and average home ground attendence is required to meet the profit forecasts in the plan.

3 - The plan seems to rely on acheiving best case outcome in all area's, memberships, attendence, sponsorship, etc to meet targets. Maybe I misunderstood this part of the presentation but it did concern that everything has to go right for it to work.

4 - Who are the people behind the scenes to back up the plan. Now Jim Bob is a great front man and can string a few words together but lets be honest his business acumen being limited to 'corporate governence', you wouldn't hand over any money to the man. Who are the financial people? I was reasonably impressed with John Macgowan and the Gemba person but who will lead the finance area. The same people who got us into this shit over the last 5 years?

5 - Who are these five white nights. I was concerned when he said he didn't know when he would get the money and then said it might be qtr 1 next year before they came on board. What gaurantee is their on this money?

6 - What happens to the revenue on this 10 million. Is it used for yearly operating expenses, which the graps seemed to imply or is it put aside or does it retire the 5 million in debt?

7 - They mentioned they would still look at selling games interstate. Where would they do this, we have burnt Sydney, Canberra, Queensland, theirs no other place left is their?

8 - The stadium deal appears to be critical but their was no idea of how this was to be resolved.


This will probably come across as being critical or pro AFL or pro Gold Coast but as the cold hard reality sets in; that the we are on our own and the AFL are'nt going to do us any favours, the plans going forward need to be robust.

Their is only one chance of getting it right.

The final interesting thing to me was that if the club and the AFL had been upfront with those figures over the last 12 months then I suspect the 'relocation' would have occurred. The financial model going forward was not containable and I can understand how the board was in favour of the 'relocation'.

The AFL and the pro Gold Coast faction actually shot themselves in the foot by being sneaky and devious behind the scenes. If they had have been more open and upfront the outcome I suspect would have been different.

 

[utility]

1. Over time. Most people are in debt, it's how you manage and service your debt that is important. We finally have the opportunity to have a vibrant, talented and united management team... vital for wiping off our debts.

2. JB said we should aim for 26,000 members next year and an extra 5,000 per game. I think we may be able to go well past 26,000 given the level of signups since the announcement, and the level of support from non-North Melbourne members.

3. Many things need to go right, but not all. In any business you have to accept failures at some point... it's just a fact of life!

4. I can't remember who peer-reviewed the Gemba report, but one was Peter Scanlon. When JB announces the new board (and potentially a new CEO) you will see the business acumen available to the club.

5. It doesn't matter who, and unless they want to be known publicly then respect their right to privacy. Glenn Archer said there is $8M lined up and another $2M in about a year... if you don't believe Arch then I can't help you!

6. That is a management decision. There is some serious business acumen coming on board so I am confident they can make the right calls.

7. I wouldn't completely rule out Canberra. With some relationship building we may end up playing games there, as the Bulldogs said playing there is just a grab for cash. Hobart is also an option, and given the right planning I believe it is viable to play one of our home games outside of Australia.

8. A lot comes down to the AFL - their contract is screwing us. Have a good, hard look at the AFL and Allen Aylett's administration for getting us in this situation.


JB mentioned that they have already NEW lines of sponsorship never tapped into by the club before lined up, and the Vodafone deal is apparently more lucrative than the previous Primus and current Mazda deals.

Yes, we have a massive challenge ahead of ourselves, but we have been working with a dysfunctional board for a long time. We now have the chance to inject the club with a first-class leadership and management team; everything starts at the top.

 

[Davo01]

The thing to know is that a team of people have been working around the clock on the stay in melbourne plan for 3-4 months. Good North people with business smarts who had to have a credible plan to be able to convince Bob Ansett they had a sustainable business model and to get the approval of the peer review by Scanlon, O'Hoy etc.

Ron Joseph has been driving much of this and I hope his team of unsung heros get the recognition they deserve over the coming days as JB pulls his team together. One name that has been mentioned in the media is Carl Delina (former player and partner at KPMG) who would no doubt be a very welcome addition to the board.

Gemba has helped set a range of targets that the club, board and management need to meet. I expect JB might keep the Gemba team on to work with the club into the medium future to help keep things on track.

 

[PeteD]

As JB said 5,000 members is $1.5 M - I guess that includes other $ than just the cost of the membership.

Gemba said reduce the churn from 26% to 19%. Surely the Roos will not have 5,000 lapsed members every year based on the changes JB is making.

 

[Mailman]

2008 is not an issue. I feel we will be above even the proposed best case scenarios.
From then on in though its going to be much tougher, as:
a) Opposition supporters who buy NM memberships for 2008 drop off
b) NM supporters who buy multiples also drop off.
c) The supporters who dont usually buy a membership but feel guilted into it for 2008 will feel that theyve played their part.

The problem with this situation is that IF serious cracks only start to really appear in 2009/10 its too late for us to relocate, and therefore death or merger would be the only alternative (Note: Each of which I believe is better than the Gold Coast proposal)

In conclusion, Im more personally worried that next year everything will look very rosy for North, but thereafter deteriorate dramatically.

 

[linnaeus]

I agree the problems are enormous and the last thing we need is to go cap in hand to the AFL in a year's time. I was one who was undecided about the Gold Coast and indeed was luke warm to the proposal. The stadium deal did not worry me as I believed that the AFL would fix that. The decisive thing for me was the loss of control. I had believed that the club would be returned to the members and we would elect the Directors irrespective of where we were actually playing games etc. The knowledge that we would have no say whatsoever was the turning point for me, especially given that we have suffered for years without representation and only achieved minority representation this year because of the Tax Office rulings.
I floated an idea earlier this year which got lost in all the emotion and hype.
One way for us to eliminate debt and/or buy out the shareholders [if they want money] would be for Arch to head up a group called Archer's 5000. Each of the 5000 would pay $1000 in four yearly instalments of $250. That totals $5m over 4 years. We could put up a board at Arden St to record the names.I offered to pay my $1000 upfront and to pay another $1000 over 4 years in the name of my son.My offer still stands.

 

[utility]

Arch to head up a group called Archer's 5000. Each of the 5000 would pay $1000 in four yearly instalments of $250. That totals $5m over 4 years. We could put up a board at Arden St to record the names.I offered to pay my $1000 upfront and to pay another $1000 over 4 years in the name of my son.My offer still stands.

I think it's a good idea as long as it doesn't impact our regular income streams... I think you would need to already be a member to commit to such a program.

 

[Aliroo]

What we as members do now is renew membership every year, buy merchandise direct from the club, attend as many functions and games as possible.

JB is going to be a great spokesperson for our club, maybe the best we ever had. I trust he is going to appoint a board who believe in his plan and this great club and who have the business, finance and marketing acumen to carry it out.

Despite the members only voting for 3 of the board, I now believe they know ALL of them are accountable to the members and will never get away with shutting us out again.

 

[LancePicioane]

From what I understand, the debt is only trading debt which doesn't have intrest on it.
We can continue existing alongside that debt.

 

[a4brianp]

Didnt Peter Derauch mention at somestage recently that he had raised 3million to help payoff the debt sure i read it somewhere.

 

[ROORAGE]

1. Over time. Most people are in debt, it's how you manage and service your debt that is important. We finally have the opportunity to have a vibrant, talented and united management team... vital for wiping off our debts.

2. JB said we should aim for 26,000 members next year and an extra 5,000 per game. I think we may be able to go well past 26,000 given the level of signups since the announcement, and the level of support from non-North Melbourne members.

3. Many things need to go right, but not all. In any business you have to accept failures at some point... it's just a fact of life!

4. I can't remember who peer-reviewed the Gemba report, but one was Peter Scanlon. When JB announces the new board (and potentially a new CEO) you will see the business acumen available to the club.

5. It doesn't matter who, and unless they want to be known publicly then respect their right to privacy. Glenn Archer said there is $8M lined up and another $2M in about a year... if you don't believe Arch then I can't help you!

6. That is a management decision. There is some serious business acumen coming on board so I am confident they can make the right calls.

7. I wouldn't completely rule out Canberra. With some relationship building we may end up playing games there, as the Bulldogs said playing there is just a grab for cash. Hobart is also an option, and given the right planning I believe it is viable to play one of our home games outside of Australia.

8. A lot comes down to the AFL - their contract is screwing us. Have a good, hard look at the AFL and Allen Aylett's administration for getting us in this situation.


JB mentioned that they have already NEW lines of sponsorship never tapped into by the club before lined up, and the Vodafone deal is apparently more lucrative than the previous Primus and current Mazda deals.

Yes, we have a massive challenge ahead of ourselves, but we have been working with a dysfunctional board for a long time. We now have the chance to inject the club with a first-class leadership and management team; everything starts at the top.

Genious. Fitting in this instance.

 

[Limerick]

what happens now?

Lets not kid ourselves, looking at those numbers on Thursday night we are seriously in the shit financially. Im hoping some of you more connected people can answer the following questions. Yes we have a challenge. The current JB plan is that start only. Many more initiatives will follow.

1 - How is the 5 million of debt eliminated. By trading profitably and paying off this debt.

2 - What membership level and average home ground attendence is required to meet the profit forecasts in the plan. We need to get to a similar level to Richmond, Hawthorn & St Kilda by 2010. 28,000+ in 2008, around 30,000 in 2009.

3 - The plan seems to rely on acheiving best case outcome in all area's, memberships, attendence, sponsorship, etc to meet targets. Maybe I misunderstood this part of the presentation but it did concern that everything has to go right for it to work. No I read it as being based on the current projections of membership (28k), attendances (up 5k per home game) and the known new sponsors. It didn't count on further new initiatives which ARE in the pipeline.

4 - Who are the people behind the scenes to back up the plan. Now Jim Bob is a great front man and can string a few words together but lets be honest his business acumen being limited to 'corporate governence', you wouldn't hand over any money to the man. Who are the financial people? I was reasonably impressed with John Macgowan and the Gemba person but who will lead the finance area. The same people who got us into this shit over the last 5 years? No the new people coming in.The "same people" will be removed.

5 - Who are these five white nights. I was concerned when he said he didn't know when he would get the money and then said it might be qtr 1 next year before they came on board. What gaurantee is their on this money? They are entitled to their privacy. They have given their word, and this type of money is typically tied up.

6 - What happens to the revenue on this 10 million. Is it used for yearly operating expenses, which the graps seemed to imply or is it put aside or does it retire the 5 million in debt? Its not planned to be used to address normal operating costs.

7 - They mentioned they would still look at selling games interstate. Where would they do this, we have burnt Sydney, Canberra, Queensland, theirs no other place left is their? We haven't burnt Sydney, Canberra or Queensland as places to play the odd game. North never promised to relocate to the GC. That was the AFL and R Clarke's spin.

8 - The stadium deal appears to be critical but their was no idea of how this was to be resolved. There are ideas, but these need to be worked through with Telstra and the AFL.


This will probably come across as being critical or pro AFL or pro Gold Coast but as the cold hard reality sets in; that the we are on our own and the AFL are'nt going to do us any favours, the plans going forward need to be robust. We are on our own which is the way it should be. The plan is both robust and dynamic.It shouldn't be seen as a fixed plan.

Their is only one chance of getting it right.

The final interesting thing to me was that if the club and the AFL had been upfront with those figures over the last 12 months then I suspect the 'relocation' would have occurred. The financial model going forward was not containable and I can understand how the board was in favour of the 'relocation'. The AFL plan still has unanswered questions e.g. the AFL plan will provide around $12m pa of operating revenue, but the AFL refused to indicate where the other $13m+ would come from. This question was put to the AFL and they refused to provide an answer.

The AFL and the pro Gold Coast faction actually shot themselves in the foot by being sneaky and devious behind the scenes. If they had have been more open and upfront the outcome I suspect would have been different.

Yes we would have rejected their offer sooner.