MILLERS ARTICLE HERALD SUN!

[CrouchinTiger]

Reading Millers article about how RFC memberships are down and that they received over 100 emails to the club on their performance against Collingwood just goes to show how passionate our supporters are about RFC being consistent and playing every week to the best of their abilty.

Whilst I have the great respect for Miller, its good to see that supporters are putting across to the club that this kind of performace we've seen for too long doesn't cut it. With the history and pride that RFC has, 23years is a long time between drinks and Miller knows this.

He goes on to say that give the club time to become challengers, well I heard that 10 years ago and 5 years after that.Supporters should voice their opinion when players are paid a fortune and don't perform.

I am a paid member and encourage others not signed to do so, but along with thousands I will voice my anger when the club is not performing when we have the talent to give the finals a shake, be it the first round or last.

I do support Frawley, I do support Miller, I do support the players, but I don't support a game plan that other teams have figured out and we don't seem to have an answer for. That's what pre season is for and you have 22 weeks of tough hard teamspirit football to go RFC.

Take these 100 emails as constructive criticism and fire up the boys to play the football that everyone who posts here knows we can play, and you'll get 10000 more memberships at the drop of a hat. 8)

 

[Rampaging_Richo]

Greg sounded a bit pissed off and somewhat angry about the current situation.

Well Greg, at Kangas, you had a team which played its guts out each week and had tremendous success.

Me and my fellow tiger supporters are a tad sick of waiting - not necessarily for a premiership, but to have a competitive team we can be proud of, a team in where every player has a dip and puts in 100%, a team which will take a few risks in trying to win a game, a team which develops young players into good senior players.

So far this year, I have not seen one bit of evidence that any of the following has or will happen. IN fact, the team seems to have taken some backward steps since last year. This obviously means that we can look forward to finishing 15th or 16th. Well at least we may snag a priority pick.

Greg, I will be patient because what choice do I have, but some hope or sign that we are at LEAST MOVING FORWARD wouldn't go astray either.

COME ON TIGES, SHOW ME SOMETHING........I think I am turning into Diggler..help.... ;D

 

[TigerFury]

A few weeks back, Miller was quoted as saying that he'd be interested to see how defeat was treated around the Club - as to whether it was acceptable or not.

I guess he has found out now how well the members and supporters treat it!

 

[Rosy]

Richmond supporters need to zip their lips and unzip their wallets, the club's director of football Greg Miller said yesterday.

I resent that statement. How about a bit of praise for people who've stuck by them for the last 20 or so unsuccessful seasons?

How about the people who buy memberships year in year out when it would possibly be better value not to?

Richmond must be more in crisis mode than I imagined.

Sure some fans might hassle the club with their unwelcome opinion, but surely we should have an administration in place that has the balls to stand by it's own convictions, not what some rabble supporters want.

We have a very loyal supporter base that buys memberships and attends games.

We get fed crap like that ad on telly last year saying why should the team turn up to a game if we don't. Yeah right, WE did turn up.

We read constant media reports how we're going to win back respect, how we were concentrating on round 1 etc.

Who cares about all of that, I can see where Greg is coming from with his long term plan for the club, but to tell people to pay up and shut up isn't on imo. They can't want our money but not our passion.

The problem isn't fans telling the club what to do imo, the club taking notice of them is.

Our list isn't that bad to me. The game on Friday night was there for the taking.

Start winning those games and membership will sky rocket. Simple really Greg!

 

[Koalalill]

Me thinks we will be having some interesting discussions at the Members Forum tomorrow evening

 

[MC24]

The problem isn't fans telling the club what to do imo, the club taking notice of them is.

You stole my thunder Rosy. I was going to pretty much say the same thing.

If the administration of our Club was concerned with the future of the Richmond Football Club, instead of looking after their own hides, we wouldn't be in this position.

SHOW US THAT YOU CARE AS MUCH AS WE DO AND WE'LL SHUT UP!

 

[Koalalill]

Well said gang - definitely going to print this one off and take it tomorrow nigth if that's OK ???

 

[Rosy]

Go for it KL,
If I can find Greg Millers e-mail addy I am planning to send him the link to read it himself too.
My gut feeling is that this will discourage people who've been thinking of signing up, rather than encourage them to hand over hard earned $$$ to the club.

 

[Koalalill]

Rosy,

I haven't read today's Herald-Sun but the quote you posted - is disappointing to say the least.

KL

 

[Rosy]

It's a Mike Sheehan article, and in all fairness that quote could be his own words and that might explain a bit, ha.
It's still the general gist of the article either way though.
If it's not put on the HeraldSun site later I'll type it out and post it here.

 

[mightytiges]

Richmond supporters need to zip their lips and unzip their wallets, the club's director of football Greg Miller said yesterday.

I haven't seen the article so in what context was Miller saying this? Was he having a go at supporters who aren't members and saying to them if you aren't prepared to get behind the club then shut up.

What Greg Miller needs to understand is that our supporters/members' frustrations have been built over a 20 year period not just one poor game or season. So while I understand where he is coming from as he's been at the club for just the last 6 months and thinks we're overreacting to a single loss, it might be wise for him to understand where we are coming from.

Alter the game plan for heaven's sake! My suggestions are in the review of last friday night's game.

 

[Rosy]

This is on 24 hour delay for the HS website, but I'll replace it with a proper copy of the article tomorrow. Typing isn't my strong point. ;D

Ire of the Tigers.
(Article by Mike Sheehan, Typos by rosy )

Richmond supporters needed to zip their lips and unzip their wallets, the club's director of football Greg Miller said yesterday.
In a blunt message to supporters, he said the club faced an indefinite struggle if membership continued to lag and supporters continued to demand quick fixes from new boards and new coaches.
"The great strength of this club is the volume and ferocity of it's supporters, but it's also a major weakness if it's not managed properly," he said. "It can make nervous directors make decisions they wouldn't normally make."
(Read sack coaches)
In Miller's 18 years as a key official at North Melbourne, The Kangaroos ahd three coaches - John Kennedy, Wayne Shimmelbusch and Denis Pagan.
In the same period Richmond had eight (10 in the past 20 years).
"If you've got members and supporters who force the issue all the time, you can't build a club. It takes time," Killer said.
"Unless the supporters fire up and get behind (president) Clinton Casey and the board and (coach) Danny Frawley, any three year plan I want to put into place is going to take five years. More.
"If Richmond is going to be successful, we've got to manage the expectations of our greatest asset, the supporters.
"If they want to be negative and whinge and not join up, they'll fulfil their own worst fear and nothing will change in the next 20 years."Clubs win premierships whne they're consistently in the top two or three. The Richmond people may need to be patient for three or four years."I know they've heard this before but, if they over-react, it may mean another 20 years.
"That doesn't mean we don't believe we can make the eight this year.
"(But( We'll never achieve what's got to be a long-term plan if we don't have the money, the stability."
Miller was staggered to learn Richmond's first round loss to Collingwood on Friday night prompted roughly 100angry e-mails to the club- more if the system hadn't been so offended by obscenities it refused to receive messages.
He described the club's current total of 19,000 members as a disgrace and a threat to it's future. "In my time at the Kangaroos, we had 22-23,000 members from a supporter base roughly a quarter the size of Richmond's," he said.
"We should have at least 25,000 or 26,000 here to enable the (club's) governance committee to give me the reigns and the capacity to add to our player list.
"We want to be aggressive in trading, but the supporters have got to allow us to be aggressive by putting trust in the Clinton Casey group."
Miller cited Collingwood as the latest example of successful planning, patience and stability.
The Magpies were on the way to last in 1999 when Eddie McGuire arrived. He immediately changed the focus, and the Magpies contested the Grand Final in 2002.
Only eight players on the 1998 list survived into 2003: Nathan Buckley, Scott Burns, Ben Kinnear, Simon Prestigiocomo, Mark Richardson, Anthony Rocca and Chris Tarrant (Tarkyn Lokkyer was a rookie).
"When I was at North, we got 10 players by trickery. Carey, Longmire, Scholl, Clarkson, Schwass, Archer-a heap of 'em. You can't do that anymore," Miller said.
"Nowadays it takes time. You need longevity for success. From boardmembers down to your bootstudder, because it makes for a comfortable successful environment.
"The longest serving staff member when I started (late last year) was eight years."
Miller was lavish in his support for Frawley, now in his fourth season.
"I believe when Danny started, he wasn't given the right level of support to give himself a chance," he said.
"You've got to surround a young coach with experienced administrators.
"He's got outstanding qualities and he's got good people around him now. I can tell you he's a real leader of men. That raw emotion, I believe in the right context, is a real strength.
"In my opinion, Richmond don't get the level of reverence they gat at other clubs."
Miller said he and assistant coach David Wheadon had joined long-time recruiting manager Greg Beck in the quest for fresh talent.
Miller, noted for his ability to spot fresh talent and land it at his footy club of the time, said he and Wheadon would focus on hidden AFL and VFL talent.

 

[TigerFurious]

It appears that the RFC still cannot decide whether they are rebuilding or just trying to make the eight. On the one hand supporters are told to be patient and wait a few years and on the other we see the recruiting of short term band aid solutions in preference to drafting kids. And too me actions speak louder than word Greg Miller.

Perhaps Miller should stop criticising long suffering supporters for not paying up an god forbid expecting something more than mediocrity and actually work on giving them a reason to become a member again.

 

[Harry]

The only advice I have for Miller is to get rid of the coaching and recruiting staff and find competent people to replace them. Easy as that.

 

[Rosy]

"We should have at least 25,000 or 26,000 here to enable the (club's) governance committee to give me the reigns and the capacity to add to our player list.
"We want to be aggressive in trading, but the supporters have got to allow us to be aggressive by putting trust in the Clinton Casey group."

I don't get this bit. Aren't we choc a block full on the salary cap anyway. If that's the case 10,000,000 memberships won't help agressive trading or filling the playing list.
I got the impression we went short this year because of salary cap, not because we had no money left to spend.

 

[Rampaging_Richo]

It funny that the cuurent attitude that Greg Miller has it pretty similiar to what Clinton Casey had when he had arrived at the club.

My little story was at Colonial in 2000 when Richo did his foot and we got beaten by Freo. I was a guest at the Prez lunch, and afterwards Clinton, with a smile on his dial, came up to me saying "ah, what a great game, pity about the result, the boys almost got there etc..."

I was a tad pissed off by this stage and snapped back that "this *smile* has been going on for years and will continue unless something is done, and I have had a gutfull" Judging by his reaction, he taken aback by my comments, which I think was a dose of what was to some ever since culminating in the membership tearing game V Bris last year.

Can every Johnny come lately please understand, we don't expect premierships, just a strong competitive unit that is a regular finals contender would be more than sufficient.

If the tiges made back to back finals series, 30,000 members would be acheived by Rd 1..that is a fact

The chicken has to come before the egg for many RFC supporters..

 

[hutstar]

Harry- spot on. For years i have heard the 'Tigers eating their own' line of reasoning, and it is simply total BS. The reason Richmond has this habit of sacking coaches etc. is simple. We keep hiring the wrong ones! These keep sucking! Seriously, Spud has lasted longer than i thought he would, but he gets beaten so easily. Its not like a Leeds situation where the players are failing and the coaches get blamed- we are clearly beaten in the areas of tactics and maneuvering on a regular basis.
The final evidence for mine is the weekend footy, not here but in Adelaide. How good did Torney look! Now he was always good for us too, but i guess the difference for mine was the was he was USED BY THE COACH- up the ground, free flowing, rather than stuck in a static, dreary game plan.
In summary- GREG- I will keep b*tching about the coaching, not to be difficult, but because it is poor!
I pay my membership, and I retain the right to call it as i see it. If Miller aims to rev up the members with taunts about not joining, he will create further alienation within the club. We will end up with a really good footy team and bugger all members.
Hmmmm, sounds familiar?
HUTSTAR

 

[Tigerdog]

I was disgusted after reading this article.
Milleron't bother talking up the coach and trashing the fans that won't get you any more members.Maybe Greg Miller is only now founding out what years of incompetency both on and off the field have done to our once great club(which is sadly now a laughing stock to the football public).Perhaps he has a much bigger job then he anticipated originally but I doubt he will back away from the challenge.But if this article is a tactic to make us sign up then you got it so so wrong Greg!!
A) We KNOW Danny is incompetent
B) A leader of men he may be, but that doesn't make him a decent tactician.
C)He has never known footballing success. This is an undeniable fact!
D) He may be liked even respected by the players but that doesn't mean he is a good coach just a good bloke.
Anyway Gregs mention of a 3 year program sounds like a spin doctored accelerated 5 year plan to me. Oh joy this year followed by another two of being mediocre also-rans.
Remind me again why we should sign up Greg particularly as this quote of Danny's rings in my ears.... "all our focus has been on Round 1" And what did we see in rnd 1?? The same tired old game plan(that rarely worked well ever) kick it to Richo in a 3 in one contest and make sure there isn't a crumber or other leading forward in sight!! And what result did this produce... that's right folks more of the same *smile* we have been seeing for the last 20!
I can't believe Greg feels as though the supporters influence the club so much, If the board and the footballing department are so weak that they even take our concerns on board well then they are in the wrong job! They should go about their business in a professional manner and attempt everything in their powers to better the RFC after all thats what they get elected or signed for. In the article it seems to me like Miller is saying that your average PRE punter can influence the way the board think or the way the make decisions... Well that has to be the biggest cop out load of crap I have heard this year, Most of the bad decisions that have been made at that club over the last 20 years have, I would have thought, been the opposite to what the average Tiger supporter wanted. I don't know about you guys but I have never sacked any of our coaches or chosen their replacements. So Greg don't place the past incompetencies of the board et al on the long suffering members because we KNOW the truth, if you see whats going wrong at the club fix it don't aportion blame, as this can often lead to resentment.
I have an idea gag everyone at the club for the rest of the year starting with the footballing department (god knows you need to talk amongst yourselves and come up with some real solutions for where we are headed) this way maybe the on-field stuff might finally do some talking(then again what if the patchwork job falls apart)
Finally Greg be strong do what you have to do to fix our club but dare not bad-mouth the long suffering rank and file because they saved this FN club for you to have the position you are in now!!
Win some games show off 2 alternative game plans, be seen to be giving the kids a fair go, play blokes in positions that suit them and you will magically see the member numbers rise.Alot of Tiger fans I know just don't bother going anymore let alone being members because they are so sick and tired of witnessing spineless passionless mediocrity with no great ray of sunshine to cling to for the future. How many people do you know who gladly pay money to be dis-heartened upset annoyed and completely dis-illusioned week after week year after year?? VERY FEW!!
Those are the people you want back as members, well bad mouthing them and playing like the tigers did in rnd 1 after saying that had been there sole focus, I doubt very much they have been swayed any.In fact i'd hazard a guess that they are probably even less likely to sign up then say 2 weeks ago.
Sorry guys got carried away there but I was so annoyed at that article!!

 

[MC24]

Finally Greg be strong do what you have to do to fix our club but dare not bad-mouth the long suffering rank and file because they saved this FN club for you to have the position you are in now!!

Sorry guys got carried away there but I was so annoyed at that article!!

No apology necessary Tigerdog. Totally understand where you're coming from.

It funny that the cuurent attitude that Greg Miller has it pretty similiar to what Clinton Casey had when he had arrived at the club.

Can every Johnny come lately please understand, we don't expect premierships, just a strong competitive unit that is a regular finals contender would be more than sufficient.

You make a good point RR. In recent times, I've had that feeling about some 'new' people at the Club. They really have no idea about the Richmond Football Club and some of them are finding out the hard way what we're really all about. They see us as having two heads, but we probably know and understand more about our footy club than some of them ever will.

As members/supporters, our interest is totally in Richmond becoming successful again. And, as Diggler said, having to go backwards, before we go forwards, is not an issue. We've been kicked from pillar to post for so long now, another season's not gonna make that much difference.

It's good to see Greg come out and take some of the pressure off Danny, but don't put the blame somewhere it doesn't belong.

How about taking some of the responsibility themselves, instead of blaming supporters for not signing up. Our supporters will sign up, just as soon as our Club shows them that they are fair dinkum about changing things. We've been hearing the same lame promises for so long, we can just about recite them back to the Club.

Our supporters have never let our Club down. You do something about the situation and earn people's faith and you won't have to ask people to become members.

 

[TigersGoddess]

What's with the zip up your mouths and unzip your wallets bit? All of us who pay good money on memberships (or have parents who pay good money ;D) are sick and tired of the same old crap year in and year out so you'll have to excuse us if we get a bit cranky from time to time (or every other week). My first memory of richmond is the save our skins rally so don't go spilling this unzip your wallets garbage because we do. I'm not the least bit surprised our membership numbers are so low what do they expect after last years effort and our rd 1 performance. You expect us to put our hands in our wallets year after year and fork out $$$ for a membership, just to get the same old story.

Show us that your trying to make changes and doing everything you can. Don't tell us, because as far as I can tell nothing has changed. You can talk until your blue in the face about how much work the boys have put in and how we well were going to play in the next match but I won't believe it until I see it.