I think it's the principle of it - they stated on their website that season ticket holders get in for free. If there was a change to that, then all season ticket holders should have been told prior to the game.

I've noticed something strange... in the years we play ACL, we actually play pretty decent football in the A-League that same year (except maybe our first ACL back in 2007).

Probably sets the precedent that we need decent opposition in our pre-season games to make a mark on the A-League the same year. Not writing off this season as yet, but with our potential inclusion in the ACL again next season, hopefully that will get us playing better again.

If the W-League issue isn't on the agenda at the meeting I'll bring it up. We don't need these little issues - especially at the moment.

Its on tonight isn't it? Can you give Matt a big ups from me for being so responsive to the emails we send him?

Cheers!

Will do. He's probably ready for some positive feedback!

They just need to find out who was responsible for putting the Adelaide Season ticket holders for free on the website that's all.

I will know as others who were with me will next game!!!

I posted this in Rumor Mill as well:
Japanese forward looks to Adelaide

Ah yes, Bando Ryuji... Not quite the Endo Yasuhito I was hoping for, but nonetheless a great player.

This weeks insane formation:

And not to be more petty but did anyone have trouble getting into the stadium with their season tickets Friday night?

I swipe in and said ticket cant be used at this time!!! wondering if any had the same problem.

I was also thinking barbiero and usucar in the middle....aint gonna happen

Also with Cassio gone we are stuffed

This is what i think will happen

......Eugene

Watson...Susak..McKain...Usucar

.........Spase...Lev...........

Caravella.....???.......Ramsay

.............Djite

If Serj and Lev are back put Djite in the ??? spot and Serj up front

Not what i WANT to see but a good chance I'd say

More chance of a Barbs & Pancho midfield than Teeboy getting promoted to RW!

True enough

Anyways what do we need pacy fearless wingers for when we have Caravella........
.....
........

Anyways

Your right, our system has ... no ... room ... ... for ... pacy wingers ... ?

Sometimes watching AUFC is like this:
[youtube]QCOzKufIIzs[/youtube]

also, Dilevski did one or 2 good things in his 10 minutes of the second half and guess when that was?

When he found himself out of position on the right wing

You know, where a RB would often find himself

Weird how players play well in the positions they are good at and used to. Not to mention he scored a goal in 20 minutes playing as a RB against Heart wasnt it...

the fact that Caravella is not a winger means he cuts inside all the time

The fact that Susak is not a LEFT fullback especially meant he always naturally came inside

Obviously Susak played there out of necessity but Dilevski and Caravella are having their reputations ruined under the guise of versatility

I love Caravella and he bossed so many Gold Coast game, just as important as Culina he was in so many games.

I could give a similar spiel about almost every single one of our players on paper based on seeing them play for other teams.

So what is it? What isn't working?

What's Phil Stubbins up to? ;)

AHAHAHAHAAAAA

didn't even need to press play to know what that was and to completely agree

is our fearless captain on a 3 year deal? 8-[

Yep, fearless, and at times reckless.

A red card waiting to happen isn't he

Oh and the fouls he DOES get yellows for are usually in non dangerous areas where he just has a red mist moment and follows through etc

Again though, as an individual player its not like McKain is bad nor is he not up to A-League standard by any stretch

A whole team of really quite decent players look like park scrubbers at times

Some evry interesting comments during post game interviews

McKain TWICE mentioned the sitting back and countering tactic

Djite said its not up to him to comment on coach's tactics (not meant slyly was juts a media trained answer)

Rini after the game denying this was his tactic

Not sure what to make of that, if anything

I really don't like McKain. There's an air about him that just seems off.

Surely Barbiero and Da Silva will start on Friday? With Kamara promoted to the bench? (This is a bit more of a roughy I guess)

Also is it me and I've missed out but has anyone else received infor about the members thing. Noticed talk on here about Memebership committee. That better not be the one I stumped up the $65 for

No the Membership Committee has been going for ages and has nothing to do with the financial members. It is an ideas group for the club to have a closer connection to the everyday fans and active suppport, to learn the things that are of concern etc. Jessesdad is on the committee you can ask him about it if you want.

I've reported on each meeting I've been to. I missed the last one as I was overseas. Met last night and Glenn Elliot spent an hour with us talking about the club and recent events. Some of it was in confidence but I'll write up the stuff I can tell you asap. Can tell you right now that his passion for the club is undiminished and they're working their butts off to make things work. It's a lot harder than many of us think.

Was really excited to read in the agenda that he was going to be present :)

The REDS fans committee meeting

The fans committee met last night and Glenn Elliot (the club's CEO) spent an hour with us giving us a very open and frank report on how he saw things at present.

Before going any further I think I should say that I was very impressed by his passion for the club, his realistic assessment of where we are and his burning desire to make our club successful on and off the field. He's about as happy as any other fan about our performance so far but he's backing the people in the football department to turn things around. Glenn is a straight-talking, no-bullshit sort of person. He's a businessman who likes to succeed. He's also said that he will answer any call (not email or tweet - he hates those!) from a financial member of the club (season ticket holder or paid up member) who has questions to ask.

The committee hadn't met for a while so there was plenty to talk about. So, here's a rundown on what I can tell you. I'll try and address some of the things people on this and other forums have mentioned lately. Firstly the Glenn Elliot talk and then other issues. It'll be long and in no particular order so only read it if you want to. Otherwise - just keep supporting the club.

A.C.L possibilities: Glenn basically said that we'd be chasing this if and when the final details come from the FFA - which hasn't happened yet. At present there is no real clarity about what it will mean. What he did emphasise is that the Reds will not be doing anything that endangers the financial stability of the club or jeopardises our key agenda - the A-League. He seemed as excited about the possibility of playing in the ACL again as most of us are but only if it benefits the club in the long term.

Clubhouse and sponsorship: The Veneto Club was mentioned and Glenn said it was "on the radar" along with some other options. Again, the key the any club venue is its capacity to raise revenue for the club. AU is being run on a shoestring in order to make the club viable and like many other teams needs to be chasing alternative sources of revenue to allow for expansion - or even some flexibility. While fans might like a place to 'have a beer' the club sees any move into a venue as a way of securing stability financially. That means it's a serious business decision which will involve long-term planning and decisions about where and when it might happen. There are only three real sources of income for the club - gate takings, sponsorship and 'other'. Glenn and the club are chasing all three with a fair bit of energy. It isn't easy.

Hindmarsh: The club is committed to Hindmarsh as our ground and also to a long-term and mutual relationship with the Government. Glenn reported that the relationship with the government was going well. There's plenty of options and ideas about how things might work but all of them rest on respectful and realistic relationships with the owners.

Membership: Can't say much about this except that Glenn sees membership as a key to our future success. He recognises that this year has been a bit of trial and error but paid up members can expect to be getting a letter in the next week or so with some good news.

Club admin: A lot of people, myself included, have had a bit of a whinge about the club admin in the last six months. If you're frustrated then spare a thought for the people who actually do the work. Glenn made it clear that AU runs the leanest admin in the A-League. Many of the employees of the club are working 2-3 jobs in order that the club can survive and build. Where other clubs have 2-3 media people we have one. Of course this will mean that sometimes there are glitches. But next time you're on the end of one bear in mind that it's probably because the person involved was trying to do three other things at the same time in order that we might have a club to support. And if you're really annoyed, calm down then ring the club and ask what the issue is. Chances are someone will tell you. If we just have a bitch about it online or send off abusive emails we probably won't be helping the situation.

Onfield performance: You're not happy, I'm not happy, he's not happy. What else did you expect? The good thing was to hear how honest he was about it and how keen he is to see it change. But that's in the hands of the football department. He's a fan like us but he's also backing his staff. The club has a plan in place to review performance in the same way that all well-run businesses have. We don't necessarily see that but it happens throughout the season. Glenn's also frustrated about the run of injuries but he's been around sport long enough to know "that's football". He mentioned that Dario had a couple of fitness tests prior to the game last week and came through. He declared himself ok to play. Shit happens.

That's about it for Glenn. It was wide-ranging discussion and he didn't hold too much back. He wasn't interested in sugar-coating or excuses, he's too interested in getting AU to a point where we can stabilise and grow. Obviously the new broadcast rights deal is very much on the minds of all clubs as they look to balance the books.

Other stuff.

1. Delays in getting memberships out.
Some people have had issues about how long it took to get their memberships. Basically there was a bit of a glitch in process and no-one was really at fault. Stuff happens even with the best of intentions and preparation. Matt Rossi is currently doing about three jobs and for a bloke working as hard as he does it's amazing how sane he stills seems.

2. There's hope that a fan-made newsletter will soon be available at games.

3. More Errea club merchandise is on its way. Again, many people are aware of some glitches (sizing, etc) that have arisen but when you hear the details of how this occurred it's bloody hard to blame any one person or party. When things change it takes some time for the new situation to bed in.

4. The note on the website about free entry to Women's League games was a mistake. AU does not run the Women's team (FFSA does) and can't offer free entry.

5. Matt Rossi was pleased to hear some good feedback from people. Bear in mind that a pat on the back for the people at the club from time to time will probably do more to keep them going than constant reminders about the fact that they don't run things as well as Chelsea or Barcelona.
That's it folks. Kudos to the club and Glenn for talking to the fans committee again and being so straight with us. If you have further questions you'd like us to ask at the next meeting just PM me or reply here. Or ask the club (politely). It's our team.


Edited by Jessesdad: 29/11/2011 02:34:54 PM

I thought of this list for no particular reason and to make no real point. It is a list for a list's sake. But I will say this -

If the team is struggling, without a bit of local pride at stake, why would the punters show up?

Local Lads (top of my head)

Only a Year Ago ...
First XI players :
Cornthwaite
Dodd
Pantelis
Mullen
Barbiero

This Season...
First XI players :
.......

Bench players :
Mullen
Malik
Barbiero

Imports Rini has brought in :
Slory
Bodrusic
Usucar*
Levchenko

Imports we have lost :
Flores

*- exceptions to every rule. Love him.

Back to work now

Thanks mate, great post.

I know Elliot, Griffin & co do cop a bit of flack from some but I think they're doing a fantastic job, and am supremely confident they will take this club forward. I have nothing but respect for them, perhaps I am a little biased (they took my SANFL club, North Adelaide, from the brink of extinction to a finely run club in 2 years), but they are the right people to have calling the shots. Griffin always makes himself available for issues and has extreme pulling powers, and I think him and his group are enjoying having a little more freedom to make business decisions than they would have in the SANFL.

They have pissed alot of people off, cutting half the staff but it's for the good of the club, they know what they are doing. They may not be 'football' people, but they are passionate South Australian sport supporters, and I wouldn't rather have anyone else.