Could it get any worse for Port? - Yep!

[Wedgie]

Crowds traditionally are higher in times of higher economic need, there was some huge crowds in the great depression!
There's many reasons why Port are a failure but the economic climate isn't close to being one of them.

[Hondo]

I agree Wedgie

You can't tell me people aren't spending some money on things they don't absolutely need right now. It's just that going to AFL games at AAMI seems to have dropped off a lot of people's lists of what they choose to spend money on.

[stan]

This is not good for football, but I think maybe the bigger picture has been missed,. Here it goes, the power has actually been reducing there debt by rasing money against this. I think they worked there way to something like $1mill recently and then 2.5 overall? not sure of the figures at the moment. The SANFL has come out and stated they have a debt of $27Mill, now to me this we would tell me a few things, number one consdering the cash the SANFL take of the power and the crows through the stadium 'deals' you would have to ask the question....where the F*** has the money gone? Seriously it has not gone to proping up the power as they are actually starting to work in the right direction. So really SANFL? as our backward friend apachiebulldog wolfed his way to, statin that the AFL liences should just be given back and SA being the backwater that it is can just have SANFL football, but seriously they have $27Mil in debt so if the AFL doesnt take an interest in SA football then we will be watching the SAAFL as our front line football!

And Wedgie is right in SA we have 2 sides who are going like crap, really makes you want to see some football live. I went to watch Port v the Egales because my team was playiong but I probably wont go to watch Port v Carlton because its not likely to be an entertaining game.

[FlyingHigh]

But what were the relative prices of the tickets back then?
And the relative prices of houses/income compared to now? A small change in interest rates now has a greater % effect.

It does seem the greatest heroes and phemenons come from the darkest hours, such as Bradman and PharLap. Perhaps people become a bit desensitised when the going is good?

[Hondo]

There's also a bigger picture of the financial state of the bottom third or quarter of the AFL teams currently compared to the profit the AFL makes and the profits made by the top 1/4 of the AFL teams.

I don't have the answers to it. Collingwood spend $10m on non-player payment related footy dept expenses compared to $5m by Port and presumably there's another 3 or 4 teams spending what Port does.

Collingwood send players to Arizona, US for injury rehab!

[Sojourner]

I don't have the answers to it. Collingwood spend $10m on non-player payment related footy dept expenses compared to $5m by Port and presumably there's another 3 or 4 teams spending what Port does.

Collingwood send players to Arizona, US for injury rehab!

This is an area at present totally outside of the control of the AFL and I cant see it changing any time soon as they will argue "player welfare".

The Crows are no orphans at it either, at one point they were quite happy to fork over plenty of coin to put their players through the hyperbaric recompression chamber which was / is out of the reach of many clubs to get their players back from injury quicker.

[Wedgie]

I could pay off 2 million of debt if someone gave me 9 million.

[hottie]

Just another area where i believe Port didnt market well was to just believe the local magpie area would follow and not try and embrace the whole of SA to follow the Power.I believe they could have balanced the two better.

[southee]

Just another area where i believe Port didnt market well was to just believe the local magpie area would follow and not try and embrace the whole of SA to follow the Power.I believe they could have balanced the two better.

Yep...all this "live the creed" "since 1870" utter B.S did them no favours at all.....

[saintal]

Just another area where i believe Port didnt market well was to just believe the local magpie area would follow and not try and embrace the whole of SA to follow the Power.I believe they could have balanced the two better.

Yep...all this "live the creed" "since 1870" utter B.S did them no favours at all.....

Very true. Went completely against what they were trying to do in the early years, winning over non-crows supporters and children who didn't neccessarily follow PAM.

[croc11]

Sorry Stan, but you're figures are way off....

Port haven't got their debt level back to $1Mill - they were working on a debt level over 4 years of around $1-2M each year until 2014 (hoping for around $8Mill....) and then trusting that the AFL and new stadium deal would get them over the line, but last Friday they went to the SANFL Commission and said that their expected debt level was to be around $15Mill by 2014...and they asked for another handout from the SANFL.

The AFL has stepped in like the good white knight, but the devil is in the detail........ and will come at a cost - no doubt the AFL has the SANFL in their sights as they (hate or dislike) the SANFL for being able to take the game up to them. What this means, who knows ... I would suggest that they will want to decrease the dividends paid back to SANFL clubs which I am sure will seriously hurt a few clubs and may even render them unviable for the future.

People will make their own opinions, but the only winners are the AFL.

[Magpiespower]

Just another area where i believe Port didnt market well was to just believe the local magpie area would follow and not try and embrace the whole of SA to follow the Power.I believe they could have balanced the two better.

Yep...all this "live the creed" "since 1870" utter B.S did them no favours at all.....

Early, the club was quite clear in wanting to respect the Port Adelaide history and tradition but at the same time broaden its supporter base.

Now this required patience coz it was gonna take the best part of 20 years (at least!), targeting a generation who didn't grow up with the SANFL and thus had no baggage from the past.

A few years in - tellingly during the post-premiership slump - there was a fair bit of supporter unrest that the club had lost its way and was straying too far from its Port Adelaide roots. (That "ThundaWank" mardi-gras float to cart around the supporter of the week certainly didn't help.) Can only assume club administration wanted to appease the existing supporter base.

Reakon that was the wrong - and short-sighted - move.

The "1870" and "Creed" stuff just smacks of token symbolism to me. Pretty much meaningless. Also reactive.

Port Adelaide never supposedly gave a stuff what anybody else said. But here it was tacking 1870 on the back of its guernsey to prove it was a "real" football club. Please.

The creed? Well, I'd been barracking for Port for over twenty years before I even knew what the hell it was. Maybe that makes me a crap supporter but suddenly this document became sacrosant. Some carry on like it's the "Declaration of Independence".

Guernsey change irked me the most. Not the actual guernsey change. But the motivation behind it. Fans like it so lets change it NOW!

Knee-jerk. Ad-hoc. Reactive. Policy-on-the-run. Kinda like watching a live focus group.

FFS, lead don't be led!

All for the move to Adelaide Oval but that's not the panacea. Still have to address deep-rooted problems. Otherwise the haemorraging won't stop...

[Sojourner]

Have often wondered what might happen if Port Adelaide told Collingwood where to go and changed their colours to Black and White and wore their prison bar guernsey. Port are never going to attract supporters by trying to be something that they are not, if they want to go the 1870 / creed way, then do it properly and do actually be the original Port Adelaide Football Club. I suggest that they might actually gain more respect from the public who can at least then love to hate them instead of the schizophrenic way that the club portrays itself with a new guernsey or marketing trick as often as possible. The prison bar guernsey at least commands respect straight away and means something. Port could do worse than tap back into that. I didn't see the Crows complaining over the Gold Coast having the same tri colours, three sides are blue and white, Port should be able to be whatever colours they want.

[Bag The Points]

Have often wondered what might happen if Port Adelaide told Collingwood where to go and changed their colours to Black and White and wore their prison bar guernsey. Port are never going to attract supporters by trying to be something that they are not, if they want to go the 1870 / creed way, then do it properly and do actually be the original Port Adelaide Football Club. I suggest that they might actually gain more respect from the public who can at least then love to hate them instead of the schizophrenic way that the club portrays itself with a new guernsey or marketing trick as often as possible. The prison bar guernsey at least commands respect straight away and means something. Port could do worse than tap back into that. I didn't see the Crows complaining over the Gold Coast having the same tri colours, three sides are blue and white, Port should be able to be whatever colours they want.

Post of the year.

[gossipgirl]

Have often wondered what might happen if Port Adelaide told Collingwood where to go and changed their colours to Black and White and wore their prison bar guernsey. Port are never going to attract supporters by trying to be something that they are not, if they want to go the 1870 / creed way, then do it properly and do actually be the original Port Adelaide Football Club. I suggest that they might actually gain more respect from the public who can at least then love to hate them instead of the schizophrenic way that the club portrays itself with a new guernsey or marketing trick as often as possible. The prison bar guernsey at least commands respect straight away and means something. Port could do worse than tap back into that. I didn't see the Crows complaining over the Gold Coast having the same tri colours, three sides are blue and white, Port should be able to be whatever colours they want.

Post of the year.

AGREED

[The Sleeping Giant]

Have often wondered what might happen if Port Adelaide told Collingwood where to go and changed their colours to Black and White and wore their prison bar guernsey. Port are never going to attract supporters by trying to be something that they are not, if they want to go the 1870 / creed way, then do it properly and do actually be the original Port Adelaide Football Club. I suggest that they might actually gain more respect from the public who can at least then love to hate them instead of the schizophrenic way that the club portrays itself with a new guernsey or marketing trick as often as possible. The prison bar guernsey at least commands respect straight away and means something. Port could do worse than tap back into that. I didn't see the Crows complaining over the Gold Coast having the same tri colours, three sides are blue and white, Port should be able to be whatever colours they want.

It could be argued that the 3 blue and white teams are slighty different. Same as the Crows and Suns. No difference in black and white.

[OnSong]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... 500wt_1156

[Dogmatic]

Due to budget limitations I heard that Port are doing altitude training at Mt Lofty next week for their bye.

[The Sleeping Giant]

Due to budget limitations I heard that Port are doing altitude training at Mt Lofty next week for their bye.

Does public transport go there?

[Dogmatic]

Due to budget limitations I heard that Port are doing altitude training at Mt Lofty next week for their bye.

Does public transport go there?

They are using Matthew Primus, that is why they gave him the job. He is the club coach.