Membership concerns

[andrewg]

I am very concerned we will not reach 20,000 members in 2014.

With not a lot of hope on the horizon, the ongoing Drama that is the St.kilda FC and a few of our big names gone I have a feeling membership will drop off significantly again this year. Whilst many of us might see the BIG PICTURE the common saints supporter would be very apprehensive about spending $185 to watch a bunch of 'no name' kids?

Thoughts

[plugger66]

It will be 29123. It will be the lowest in victoria but it wont be close to as low as 20K.

[andrewg]

Yep agree I was exaggerating but still a concern

[Kernal75]

Kangaroos can't get 25K members so we'll be ok. Dal should enjoy playing in front of 15K people every Sunday arvo at Docklands

[plugger66]

Kangaroos can't get 25K members so we'll be ok. Dal should enjoy playing in front of 15K people every Sunday arvo at Docklands

They had 34k this year. I reckon dal couldnt give a stuff how many he plays in front of if they are winning.

[stinger]

I am very concerned we will not reach 20,000 members in 2014.

With not a lot of hope on the horizon, the ongoing Drama that is the St.kilda FC and a few of our big names gone I have a feeling membership will drop off significantly again this year. Whilst many of us might see the BIG PICTURE the common saints supporter would be very apprehensive about spending $185 to watch a bunch of 'no name' kids?

Thoughts

well...they could be five down from my family alone...not happy jan......some of my tribe have been members their whole lives......three of us are/were social club members.....

[maverick]

I am very concerned we will not reach 20,000 members in 2014.

With not a lot of hope on the horizon, the ongoing Drama that is the St.kilda FC and a few of our big names gone I have a feeling membership will drop off significantly again this year. Whilst many of us might see the BIG PICTURE the common saints supporter would be very apprehensive about spending $185 to watch a bunch of 'no name' kids?

Thoughts

well...they could be five down from my family alone...not happy jan......some of my tribe have been members their whole lives......three of us are/were social club members.....

And that's the problem with our fan base, nothing perosnal against you Stinger.
I reckon we follow players as much as the club.
Do we have more in our lives than other clubs that don't stay members when the going's tough or a player leaves?

[chook23]

I am very concerned we will not reach 20,000 members in 2014.

With not a lot of hope on the horizon, the ongoing Drama that is the St.kilda FC and a few of our big names gone I have a feeling membership will drop off significantly again this year. Whilst many of us might see the BIG PICTURE the common saints supporter would be very apprehensive about spending $185 to watch a bunch of 'no name' kids?

Thoughts

well...they could be five down from my family alone...not happy jan......some of my tribe have been members their whole lives......three of us are/were social club members.....

yes eventually there is a tipping point.......where enough is enough.....for some that is now

[plugger66]

I am very concerned we will not reach 20,000 members in 2014.

With not a lot of hope on the horizon, the ongoing Drama that is the St.kilda FC and a few of our big names gone I have a feeling membership will drop off significantly again this year. Whilst many of us might see the BIG PICTURE the common saints supporter would be very apprehensive about spending $185 to watch a bunch of 'no name' kids?

Thoughts

well...they could be five down from my family alone...not happy jan......some of my tribe have been members their whole lives......three of us are/were social club members.....

Are you saying you may not renew because the club did something you didnt like regarding players? i understand people not buying memberships for various reasons but i never understand people not buying because the club did something they dont like. I dont like the idea of getting Delaney and losing Ben or Dal but I also dont like not winnings flags but i live mt club and will always join no matter how many poor decisions they make with players. Only poor in my mind. many others could be happy or dont care.

[lloyd21]

You have got to be kidding look at Emma Quayle's last potential draft order ..

If it that happens and it is very good chance it will you will be over the moon.

I would go just to watch " Spencer White "go around alone.

Over this negative stuff from supporters

Really happy

[chook23]

You have got to be kidding look at Emma Quayle's last potential draft order ..

If it that happens and it is very good chance it will you will be over the moon.

I would go just to watch " Spencer White "go around alone.

Over this negative stuff from supporters

Really happy

Can you post that draft order

[stinger]

I am very concerned we will not reach 20,000 members in 2014.

With not a lot of hope on the horizon, the ongoing Drama that is the St.kilda FC and a few of our big names gone I have a feeling membership will drop off significantly again this year. Whilst many of us might see the BIG PICTURE the common saints supporter would be very apprehensive about spending $185 to watch a bunch of 'no name' kids?

Thoughts

well...they could be five down from my family alone...not happy jan......some of my tribe have been members their whole lives......three of us are/were social club members.....

yes eventually there is a tipping point.......where enough is enough.....for some that is now

yep.....as i posted in the dal gone thread...


"2001 draftees...

ball with the filth
clarke retired after transferring to the lions...never reached half his potential
dal to north
maguire to the lions after a shocking injury
montagna...still a saint.....probably trade him out next year if we don't still trade him this year
houlihan....never got a fair go or a game...delisted
black left to go back to freo
knobel ..to richmond if my memory doesn't fail me



....best draft of all time too......we overlooked judd for ball...


..we really are a rabble aren't we,,,,????????????????


chuck in bj from the 2002 draft and that tipping point might just have arrived.......i will wait and see what the situation is next friday and how many early draft picks we end up with...but i did tell the club no dal...no membership renewals.....that's how strongly i felt...


look ...no other team sells off its star players and captains like st kilda has....dal and bj would have been certain 300 game players for us......ball would have made our best ever team...maybe....

goes back to the days of stewart, big carl, trott, plugger and hall for me....enough is enough......

tomorrow the sun might be shinning and i may feel a little different...but today i mourn another champion lost to us forever....

[older saint]

I think it may well be the straw for some but not this alone. Having had a membership for over 30 years I must admit the off field stuff around this club and the explanations I have had to try to explain to my young child has made me rethink for the first time ever about renewing . I grew up when we sucked and won 10 games per decade so performance is not a determining factor , nor even trading players whether i agree or not as a fan. Milne, Jones, Fisher and other off field incidents in the last few years however have made me question things - perhaps they were there but with young kids now i look at things differently

[spert]

I think it may well be the straw for some but not this alone. Having had a membership for over 30 years I must admit the off field stuff around this club and the explanations I have had to try to explain to my young child has made me rethink for the first time ever about renewing . I grew up when we sucked and won 10 games per decade so performance is not a determining factor , nor even trading players whether i agree or not as a fan. Milne, Jones, Fisher and other off field incidents in the last few years however have made me question things - perhaps they were there but with young kids now i look at things differently

Hey Older Saint- I echo some of your thoughts. I've been very concerned that after the recent Grand Finals, that we didn't consolidate and plan ahead and become even stronger. Like any organisation, it all starts at the top and I think we were dudded with the Westaway ticket. Let's hope Summers and co drive this ship through the stormy waters to another finals campaign ASAP!

[sax]

I think it may well be the straw for some but not this alone. Having had a membership for over 30 years I must admit the off field stuff around this club and the explanations I have had to try to explain to my young child has made me rethink for the first time ever about renewing . I grew up when we sucked and won 10 games per decade so performance is not a determining factor , nor even trading players whether i agree or not as a fan. Milne, Jones, Fisher and other off field incidents in the last few years however have made me question things - perhaps they were there but with young kids now i look at things differently

+ 1

As I stated in another thread, I have already renewed for next year (my 20th as a member), but living in SA with young kids, one is a 7yo boy who currently supports the Saints, it is getting extremely tough.
He loves footy, loves going to games, he's getting brainwashed at school & by two Port supporting Grandparents. He is also at that age where he wants to see his team win. That, along with all of the off field BS & trading away champions???????????

I love the Saints, but I also love my kids.

[vacuous space]

Considering we're about to embark on the 'lose until you assemble enough draft picks to win' strategy, I don't blame anybody who decides to save their money. It's what people do. If the club wants to make money, they need to find a way to win games. If the current crew don't think they can do it, there are solutions for that too.

[Solar]

So wait people are not going to renew for two reasons?

1) because their fav player has gone..... can you buy a dal santo membership card? Rubbish, typical soft response. Players will come and go, the saints will go on. I support the saints.

2) because we might be crap for the next two - three years. Wow that's cool, save your money and buy one when we are back up in the finals..... unless we never get there because your SOFT and the club loses enough money to go to the wall. We wonder why we are not a Collingwood or Hawks??? Its because people do not stick fat!!

[saintspremiers]

stinger in Pelican we pray.

He'll either be a god or a villain but has a plan.

Maybe go support GWS. They need members and the fires won't help them either

[savatage]

If you guys are angry - be angry at the Ross Lyon era. This era - where recruiting for the future took a backseat, is the reason why those in charge at the club now are getting rid of the Dal Santos and the like.

If we had a balanced list right now, then we would hang onto these guys - but we are NOT going to win a flag in the next couple of years. We need to recruit for the next few years.

Open your eyes, think a little & stop blaming the club for everything you don't currently like.

RENEW your membership because if you don't - you are actually contributing to the decline of the St.Kilda football club.

What goes down must come up (Unless you're Melbourne).

[citywest]

As a kid I watched St Kilda "win" 7 wooden spoons in 11 years, including 4 in a row. Harden the f up everyone. We will be s*** for the next 3 years no matter we keep Dal Goddard Lockett and whoever else you can think of. We need to spend another 3 years in the bottom 4 and then we will start rising. 2013 is 1999, 2014 is 2000, 2015 is 2001, 2016 is 2002. Simple as that.

[Dis Believer]

What a load of poppycock from a pack of whingers.

We had a couple of cracks at a flag and had a slary cap distribution that made recruitment hard and a "top up" mentality. Tht, combined with some woeful selections and a little bad luck means there was a hole in our recruiting that you could drive a road train through - that is a matter of public record.

How do you all propose that is fixed? Reckon we can get some good early draft picks by trading Jay Lever or Tom Ledger? As far as our list goes, these are desperate times and they call for desperate measures. We have little of value to offer and so are using what we have and relying on the rat cunning of Chris Pelchen to get maximum value for trades.

If you want to know what we are up against, look at the filth - they just flogged off two 27 year olds, got a gun kid and will end up with two top ten picks. Are their supporters whining about top line players being traded ?? The cult of personality among our supporters is a millstone around our necks. I have no doubts the club have resisted advantageous trades in the past for fear of supporter backlash.

Players move through your club. You get them in, hopefully under their real value, they play the game, hopefully at a high and consistent standard and with minimal games lost to injury, and then they either retire or get traded out to another club, hopefully at more than their real value. We don't seem to want to accept the last part, which in this day and age, is the key to continually topping up your list with top quality youth. The more top end talent you bring in, the more high value trades you can make 3 or more years into a players development. It is a self propogating cycle and we need to start the cycle up, because there has been no cycle like that at our club until recently. How do you think the pies are able to constantly get access to high picks? They are prepared to trade players out and they keep turning over (aside from half a dozen core players). We don't want to let anyone go and expect to rebuild with one pickj in the top 25 every year - get over it people, player movement will only get more active from here........

[Newman]

What's the chances that sometime on Channel 9's Footy Show in 2014 the panel will be Ball, Goddard and Dal. Great!!!

[Solar]

Sav, hit the nail on the head!!

[savatage]

What a load of poppycock from a pack of whingers.

We had a couple of cracks at a flag and had a slary cap distribution that made recruitment hard and a "top up" mentality. Tht, combined with some woeful selections and a little bad luck means there was a hole in our recruiting that you could drive a road train through - that is a matter of public record.

How do you all propose that is fixed? Reckon we can get some good early draft picks by trading Jay Lever or Tom Ledger? As far as our list goes, these are desperate times and they call for desperate measures. We have little of value to offer and so are using what we have and relying on the rat cunning of Chris Pelchen to get maximum value for trades.

If you want to know what we are up against, look at the filth - they just flogged off two 27 year olds, got a gun kid and will end up with two top ten picks. Are their supporters whining about top line players being traded ?? The cult of personality among our supporters is a millstone around our necks. I have no doubts the club have resisted advantageous trades in the past for fear of supporter backlash.

Players move through your club. You get them in, hopefully under their real value, they play the game, hopefully at a high and consistent standard and with minimal games lost to injury, and then they either retire or get traded out to another club, hopefully at more than their real value. We don't seem to want to accept the last part, which in this day and age, is the key to continually topping up your list with top quality youth. The more top end talent you bring in, the more high value trades you can make 3 or more years into a players development. It is a self propogating cycle and we need to start the cycle up, because there has been no cycle like that at our club until recently. How do you think the pies are able to constantly get access to high picks? They are prepared to trade players out and they keep turning over (aside from half a dozen core players). We don't want to let anyone go and expect to rebuild with one pickj in the top 25 every year - get over it people, player movement will only get more active from here........

f****** oath.

[Dr Spaceman]

Retaining all the old favourite players may help keep faith with the old fans who believe the game is changing. Unfortunately those old fans will gradually die off; quite literally.

The approach Pelchen and Co are attempting now may cause some of those old fans to drop off. But it may eventually see the Saints win a 2nd flag; then maybe a 3rd. And if that does happen then our membership will be far healthier, with an influx of groovy young supporters (perhaps even a few from the Bayside and Mornington Peninsula areas ), than if we simply continue to appeal to the rusted ons.

As someone who has attended games since the early 70s, I don't particularly like where the game is going. And I don't particularly like Dal leaving.

But nothing else has brought us the ultimate success and therefore I'm prepared to back our team in what they are trying to achieve, even if from time to time there's a little sadness involved.

I want a flag and to finally be able to shove it up the opposition supporters! If I want nostalgia I'll go to Sovereign Hill.