Swans stand on the brink of ruin?

[DST]

Problem this time is the compromised draft for the next three years.

The Swans are testing youngsters but how many can they realistically cut? Do we end up with 5 picks in next years draft from pick 70 up. Probably 4 picks in the pre-season draft looking for off cuts from other Clubs.

Next years draft is not compromised but from all reports looks to be shallow compared to a couple of previous stand outs.

There is no doubt we will turn the list over this year more than we have at any point in the last 7 years under Roos, but most of it will come from retirements rather than de-listments.

At this point in time we are treading a fine line, but it is by no means panic stations. However:

* We will need to be able to get the likes of Laidlaw, Schmidt, DOK, Merideth, Vez, Thornton, Moore, Bird, Jack, Currie and Murphy on the ground with no injuries over the next 32 games.

* Hope that the early promising signs for both Johnstone and Hannaberry continue and the extensive work put into the NSW Scholarship program bares fruit

* We draft well with at least 5 picks in the last un-compromised draft in 2009

* We are able to trade for or recycle a KP defender who can play 150 to 200 games for the club

DST

[Donners]

It's going to be a quite remarkable transition, with 4-5 retirements of senior players. Fosdike and Kennelly are gone, Leo, O'Loughlin and Crouch are likely to go, and Bazza must be up in the air. It's going to be hard to cover that in a weak draft.

[ernie koala]

We heard all this same stuff after Eade left, no finals, ageing team blah blah.

DST

Those perceptions were from Melbourne media. The facts were we had 2 or 3 retirements, a few veterans like Maxfield, Williams, Ball and a core of players reaching their mid twenties (ie peak playing age), I may have missed a few but ....C Bolton,J Bolton, Kirk, Crouch, Hall, Mick O, Goodes, Barry, Fosdyke, O'keefe.
This time round we have 5-6 reaching retirement age and a bunch of underplayed kids, and a modest group in their mid twenties. IMO our list management over the last few years has been poor, particulary in the knowledge we have 3-4 severely compromised drafts on the horizon.

[Bear]

Hmmmm.....

We are looking at a loss of $500Kish.

We spend $4m or so more on our football dept than NM.

Maybe one less trip for Roosey to Notre Dame this year.

Hardly on the bring of ruin

Chairman Head's leadership is so negative and excuse-ridden now it is a disgrace. We really need some new, positive leadership at the SSFC.

Jason Ball would be my nominee.

[SwansFan1972]

Recieved Colless' letter to lapsed members last week (offering a discounted pass to three SCG games).

It was good to get a mea culpa of sorts, but there were some elements of the letter which really do make you wonder if they have the capacity to fix things up and get back on track.

Quote from letter:

"The purpose of this letter is not to question why you didn't renew your membership, but to provide an honest appraisal of the 2009 membership program and to give some guidance as to our longer term commitment to members and what members can expect going forward"

Given the membership towelling they copped this year, one would think agenda item #1 would be to figure out why. Admittedly, the letter does then go on to (sort of) outline what the club thinks happened ...

"The response to the grading of seats was mixed. Some members welcomed the change and ended up paying less for their seats ..." This is just really the wrong stuff to put in a letter to LAPSED MEMBERS. I really don't give a rats that some people paid less (and lets be honest, the lesser amounts were trivial really, while some of the price rises were 40%, and were 80% before the gold/silver backdown, which was too little too late) ... "others were naturally disappointed with the need to pay more."

"In hindsight, we underestimated just how reluctant loyal and long-term members were to move from the seats they have occupied for many years, into more affordable seats". Yep - they sure did. The main issue was the size of the cost rises - way too much for our season family tickets.

It is a crying shame that it took the harsh reality of 4000 - 6000 lapsed members to finally get the club's attention. There were strong indications very early on that the restructure would be a disaster, but they ploughed on regardless and now here we are. Someone should be walking from the club or be booted out - a letter saying "oops, we really stuffed up didn't we" doesn't mean much if no-one carries the can.

[hot potato]

The new ticketing was a big contributor to the downward spiral of members. We had a letter from The Swans asking for feedback 'why we didn't rejoin' this week.
We actually have rejoined, with a reduced no of membrships and lower level of membership, so they don't even know that.
But the main reason they lost members is because they did NOT phone members to ask if they were rejoining, if not why not, could we offer you the alternatives to reducing the cost of your family membership (lower grade etc).
We found found it astonishing that as a business, they did NOT do this.
For the cost of a call we would have signed up, probably at reduced number and grade but YES would have resigned.
In November, December your mind is not on footy, but a phone call does the trick in most businesses. The personal touch and follow up.
RUN THE BUSINESS SWANS, DON'T JUST EXPECT IT TO RUN ITSELF.

HP

[rwgirl]

I think the biggest problem this year has been that the membership department appears to have been outsourced. Every time I have rung to have some ticketing/membership issue fixed, I have been fobbed off with...we don't do that anymore.

It took 3 phone calls and two visits to the swans office at the SCG, to finally get the correct member card for my husband (he'd been sent a junior card??).

When I rang and emailed for tickets to an interstate game (which I've done for at least the last 5 years), they could only process them on line-I could have done that, but didn't because I wanted 8 tickets together. Because of the 2 tickets per membership issue, I was charged 4 sets of transaction costs, and then they weren't all together!! When I complained I was advised they don't have any control over the ticketing.

The membership department are very pleasant on the phone, but they no longer have any authority/ability to do anything...it all has to be done by some other company.

[Agent 86]

Premium Melbourne membership:
16 home and away games, premium reserved seating, Grand Final ticket guaranteed = $410.

Premium Sydney Membership:
Entry to all 11 games played at the SCG and ANZ Stadium, premium reserved seats, no GF guarantee. = $460 (extra $85 for GF guarantee).

I know people who didn't renew in protest to another price hike.