The decayed decade

[The Old Dark Navy's]

We have all heard of the term 'annus horribilis' in reference to a terrible year. Well we have just gone through a decade of this.

I recall a comedian talking about his 10 year anniversary followed by the line 'and I have never seen a woman more decayed.'

Like all good marriages, our foray into the Noughties, was exhilarating to begin with, immensely pleasurable.

We had ended the 90s with a Grand Final appearance against the odds, one of our more famous victories behind us in the preliminary final, and a brash young talent booting a lazy dozen goals against the arch enemy on a New Year's Eve to remember. We fairly charged into the 2000s ready for any challenge.

We were making a good fist of it too. A string of victories, and looking to challenge favourites Essendon for the flag. We almost made it through a good year. An injury to surely the best player of that season, the greek god Kouta, another to Silvagni and our season was pulled out from under us in the preliminary final.

We tried to make amends the next year and while not as consistent, surely had the top sides worried, before again crashing and burning, with Kouta again going down, this time more seriously.

What followed was a horror movie. SOS had gone, Ratten soon followed, 3 wins for the year, our first wooden spoon in 105 years of VFL/AFL competition, and the only solace, the prized first two picks in the draft, being stripped away due to salary cap breaches.

2003 we were half a game away from another spoon, this time under Denis Pagan, the great coaching hope. 2004 a slight resurgence due to the efforts of a string of recycled players, before plummetting to further spoons in 2005 and 2006.

We went within a whisker of 3 consecutive spoons in 2007 amidst cries of tanking from the AFL world, and finally finally set about restoring our reputation by beginning the climb back up the ladder, culminating in our 3rd finals appearance of the decade, to go with the 3 wooden spoons of the decade.

In amongst this Dick Pratt returned to the club and gave us hope. Alas Pratt passed away within two years amidst a storm of controversy about his business dealings.

We end the decade almost ironically with the same man who began it, but with a 180 degree change in fortune. The decade of the decayed Brendan Fevola. Two time Coleman medalist, goalkicking freak, larger than life character, flawed genius, who just happened to have his reign in the worst decade of Carlton's existence. He will come to sum up the decade in many respects.

The decayed decade as I have called it refers to the remnants of the past, a club that failed to adapt and never really participated in this decade. A boys club in terms of drinking, hijinx, recruiting strategies, and failure to get people into place strong enough to bring us into the present. I fear that even quality people like Greg Swann might be even money to be dragged down by the ghosts of the past, as opposed to dragging us out of it. Let's hope that he has the resolve to discard old ideas that have been left to rot away and stink up the place ... to decay.

Here is just a summary of the things that went wrong for us (not in chronological order)

* Kouta's injuries basically cruelling his career
* Being forced to move from Princes Park and copping a poor Dome deal
* Pratt's pricefixing woes
* Elliot's salary cap rorting and subsequent penalties
* Elliot's sexual hush money accusations
* Accusations of rape amid a botched police investigation
* Pagan's whole tenure
* Coaches not talking to each other
* The club going broke
* Wealthy supporters refusing to bail us out because they didn't like the administration
* Collingwood had a resurgence
* Essendon won another flag
* Fev, Houlihan, a fire extinguisher and a dry cleaner
* Fev meets dildo
* Fev rides again, the return of the dildo
* Norman and Angwin - a buzz around training
* Norman and Angwin - what's yours is mine, especially if you are not home
* Norman - thinking of turning my house into a condom-inium
* Board leaks
* Fev leaks
* Wooden spoon
* Wooden spoon II
* Wooden spoon III
* Keeping up with the Whitnall's
* Stevo admits he was basically drunk for the first couple of years
* Scotland altercation with a woman
* Tanking allegations
* Libba tanking allegations
* Fev suspended after insipid Freo performance and off field altercation
* Fevvy Does Ireland
* Fevy Does the Brownlow
* Teague driving transgression
* Walker driving transgression
* Judd suspension
* Police caught taking Betts ... to jail
* Robinson allegations
* Fev altercation with casino security late at night
* Walker and underwear king Houla takes on Crown as well
* Force feeding a new rookie alcohol on a cruise
* Setanta gives Cloke the boot

I've probably missed several but you get the point.

We were cursed at the start of this decade and hopefully now, we can write the whole damn thing off. It truly was the decayed decade.

 

[Bentick's My Man.]

Just a summary of the torment that the CFC has put its supporters through for a decade and yet for most of us supporters, our full commitment and hope has hardly faltered. Well written Skip.


We talk about people giving back to the club and people earning the respect back of the club, mostly transgressing players.

In my opinion it is high time the Carlton Football Club started giving back to its loyal following and earning the respect back of the footballing world through success and discipline. A good showing in season 2010 is now a must for this football club, to show that their is only one direction from our 'decayed decade'.. Up!

Come on Blueboys....

 

[blueblooded]

Will go down as the worst period in the clubs history past and future, a decade to learn from (we're slow learners unfortunately) but one to forget very quickly.

 

[sosos]

hopefully now, we can write the whole damn thing off.

Maybe it can start at the next board election.

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

Maybe it can start at the next board election.

There is more to it than just shuffling chairs. There are people that just need to wake up onfield and off. They are not bad people, they are just slow learners. We can use their passion but they need to be more diligent in ramming home the rules.

 

[The New Blue]

I think we need to look at the top. AFL has changed but we seem to be stuck in the good old days

 

[Erko Blue]

Lest we forget

 

[The Toad]

As they say "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"

 

[invinciBlues]

The knife's been twisted enough times.

Its high time the players realised there are about 40,000 members and an untold number of fans who are not, that have stuck by the club through all this bullshit. Its time they started realising this and start behaving themselves and started earning the respect and loyalty.

Sometime's it feels like the club's culture is still stuck in the 80s I don't mind the vitriol we receive from other clubs, but let it be from onfield success, and not off-field drama.

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

I should hasten to add that this is not an exercise in bagging the club, but recognising the whole decade was as bad as it could get and hoping it is all contained within this decade.

Any players still with an itch that needs to be scratched ... you have a week to get it out of your system.

 

[sosos]

There is more to it than just shuffling chairs. There are people that just need to wake up onfield and off. They are not bad people, they are just slow learners. We can use their passion but they need to be more diligent in ramming home the rules.

I agree. Except for the shuffling chairs bit. I was implying a clean sweep.

Pagan for all his flaws was an attempt at getting in a cleanskin, a person from another club with a perception of being a solid citizen. For many reasons, both personal and external he failed, but one major one was due to the board's weakness.

 

[The New Blue]

Well what is stopping this cancer on the club rolling into the next decade.... Tough measures need to be taken.

We cant let these guys continuely get away with this sought of crap like we let fev do... it didn't do Fev or us any favours giving him the occasional fine. We need to be TOUGH. I say threaten to sack betts if he doesn't sign a new contract now with clauses i it.... infact I want everyplayer to have a clause in it so we can sack them if they muck up. If they want to act like kids then we have to treat them like kids.

Enough is enough.

 

[Dramoth]

There is one really good thing to come out of it for the Blues...

Collingwood entering into their third decade since last winning a flag

 

[blueboy25]

Makes very difficult reading ODN.

Hopefully we look back in a few years time and have a chuckle at how far we have moved on from the bad days.

It will make number 17 all that more sweeter

 

[da_champ]

I should hasten to add that this is not an exercise in bagging the club, but recognising the whole decade was as bad as it could get and hoping it is all contained within this decade.

Any players still with an itch that needs to be scratched ... you have a week to get it out of your system.

That is what scares me the most. There is 8 days to go! And I doubt the drunkenness will just ware off once the clock hits 12:00:00AM next Friday 01/01/10.

 

[sherb]

We have all heard of the term 'annus horribilis' in reference to a terrible year. Well we have just gone through a decade of this.

Decadus Disastrousis.

 

[Bee]

It's as if 10 years ago we went to sleep and woke up as St. Kilda and they woke up as Carlton.
Seriously, it's been like a reversal of fortune.

 

[starchamber]

We have all heard of the term 'annus horribilis' in reference to a terrible year. Well we have just gone through a decade of this.

I recall a comedian talking about his 10 year anniversary followed by the line 'and I have never seen a woman more decayed.'

Like all good marriages, our foray into the Noughties, was exhilarating to begin with, immensely pleasurable.

We had ended the 90s with a Grand Final appearance against the odds, one of our more famous victories behind us in the preliminary final, and a brash young talent booting a lazy dozen goals against the arch enemy on a New Year's Eve to remember. We fairly charged into the 2000s ready for any challenge.

We were making a good fist of it too. A string of victories, and looking to challenge favourites Essendon for the flag. We almost made it through a good year. An injury to surely the best player of that season, the greek god Kouta, another to Silvagni and our season was pulled out from under us in the preliminary final.

We tried to make amends the next year and while not as consistent, surely had the top sides worried, before again crashing and burning, with Kouta again going down, this time more seriously.

What followed was a horror movie. SOS had gone, Ratten soon followed, 3 wins for the year, our first wooden spoon in 105 years of VFL/AFL competition, and the only solace, the prized first two picks in the draft, being stripped away due to salary cap breaches.

2003 we were half a game away from another spoon, this time under Denis Pagan, the great coaching hope. 2004 a slight resurgence due to the efforts of a string of recycled players, before plummetting to further spoons in 2005 and 2006.

We went within a whisker of 3 consecutive spoons in 2007 amidst cries of tanking from the AFL world, and finally finally set about restoring our reputation by beginning the climb back up the ladder, culminating in our 3rd finals appearance of the decade, to go with the 3 wooden spoons of the decade.

In amongst this Dick Pratt returned to the club and gave us hope. Alas Pratt passed away within two years amidst a storm of controversy about his business dealings.

We end the decade almost ironically with the same man who began it, but with a 180 degree change in fortune. The decade of the decayed Brendan Fevola. Two time Coleman medalist, goalkicking freak, larger than life character, flawed genius, who just happened to have his reign in the worst decade of Carlton's existence. He will come to sum up the decade in many respects.

The decayed decade as I have called it refers to the remnants of the past, a club that failed to adapt and never really participated in this decade. A boys club in terms of drinking, hijinx, recruiting strategies, and failure to get people into place strong enough to bring us into the present. I fear that even quality people like Greg Swann might be even money to be dragged down by the ghosts of the past, as opposed to dragging us out of it. Let's hope that he has the resolve to discard old ideas that have been left to rot away and stink up the place ... to decay.

Here is just a summary of the things that went wrong for us (not in chronological order)

* Kouta's injuries basically cruelling his career
* Being forced to move from Princes Park and copping a poor Dome deal
* Pratt's pricefixing woes
* Elliot's salary cap rorting and subsequent penalties
* Elliot's sexual hush money accusations
* Accusations of rape amid a botched police investigation
* Pagan's whole tenure
* Coaches not talking to each other
* The club going broke
* Wealthy supporters refusing to bail us out because they didn't like the administration
* Collingwood had a resurgence
* Essendon won another flag
* Fev, Houlihan, a fire extinguisher and a dry cleaner
* Fev meets dildo
* Fev rides again, the return of the dildo
* Norman and Angwin - a buzz around training
* Norman and Angwin - what's yours is mine, especially if you are not home
* Norman - thinking of turning my house into a condom-inium
* Board leaks
* Fev leaks
* Wooden spoon
* Wooden spoon II
* Wooden spoon III
* Keeping up with the Whitnall's
* Stevo admits he was basically drunk for the first couple of years
* Scotland altercation with a woman
* Tanking allegations
* Libba tanking allegations
* Fev suspended after insipid Freo performance and off field altercation
* Fevvy Does Ireland
* Fevy Does the Brownlow
* Teague driving transgression
* Walker driving transgression
* Judd suspension
* Police caught taking Betts ... to jail
* Robinson allegations
* Fev altercation with casino security late at night
* Walker and underwear king Houla takes on Crown as well
* Force feeding a new rookie alcohol on a cruise
* Setanta gives Cloke the boot

I've probably missed several but you get the point.

We were cursed at the start of this decade and hopefully now, we can write the whole damn thing off. It truly was the decayed decade.

It isn't over yet we still have 1 more year 2010 to finish the decade of hell,lol. 2001-2010.

 

[Chism]

It isn't over yet we still have 1 more year 2010 to finish the decade of hell,lol. 2001-2010.

Ohhh Dear!

You do realise a new decade starts in 2010???

 

[The Toad]

It isn't over yet we still have 1 more year 2010 to finish the decade of hell,lol. 2001-2010.

 

[40yearBLUE]

And one of them can tell the time! Something spuds seem to struggle with!

 

[40yearBLUE]

Cant argue that this decade was the worst. I cant beleive it is 14 years and 3 months since our 95 glory came to an end. Who would have thought that there would only be one more grand final appearance since then, and if things dont improve it could be a while before the next. Could it stretch to 2 decades between flags? Surely not. I think 21 years is the longest between flags in our entire history.

I am still seething about the news this week, but there is one glimmer of hope. Perhaps this was the nadir. Perhaps it happening is the catalyst for change we needed to have. Perhaps without it we would have been .......Collingwood, good but never quite good enough. Perhaps now we really do have the impetus for true change not superficial change and that this was the recession we had to have.

I love this club. I wrote a soppy (but true) heartfelt description of what the club meant to me on a thread earlier this year (and copped my fair whack of digs for it too) and I live in hope that change is finally the only place left to go for this club and that the giant will truly awaken to a new era of glory.

Happy new year everyone.

 

[starchamber]

Ohhh Dear!

You do realise a new decade starts in 2010???

Oh dear you do have it wrong in fact it starts as year 1 not 0. This means 1999 is still classified as the 20th century and 2000 the end of it. 2001 is the start of the 21st century. I even know this and could debate it. I'm not the only person to think this way.I do have a very high IQ and is one that see thing a lot different to what normal people actually view.I tend to think outside the box.I'm literally a deep thinker who does things a lot different to what is the norm while the prankster in me even things out.

http://www.astronomyboy.com/millennium/

 

[40yearBLUE]

Oh dear you have it wrong in fact it starts as year 1 not 0. This means 1999 is still classed as 20th century and 2000 the end of it. 2001 is the start of the 21st century. I even know this and could debate it. i'm not the only person to think this way.

http://www.astronomyboy.com/millennium/

In fact a decade starts at any moment you choose. A decade is simply 10 (deca or deci) years.

and this:

http://www.geek-central.gen.nz/peeves/21st_century_start.html

To sum up: the convention of numbering the years is just that—purely a convention. And a convention only works as long as sufficient numbers of people are prepared to go along with it. Most people would rather number the years from 0 than from 1, with appropriate corresponding numberings for the decades, centuries and millennia. If you disagree with this, maybe it’s time to stop fighting and switch.

 

[twoforjoy]

I agree. Except for the shuffling chairs bit. I was implying a clean sweep.

Pagan for all his flaws was an attempt at getting in a cleanskin, a person from another club with a perception of being a solid citizen. For many reasons, both personal and external he failed, but one major one was due to the board's weakness.

Scary that it failed so badly and you returned to the insular pennisular mentality with Ratten. I agree that this club has not yet entered this century. (Richmond are the same but sadder). If it worked in the past it must still work, hey!! I won't lie I'm enjoying the chickens coming home to roost. You got good kids...why fu** things up around them?