Members forum June 2020

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bpowell454
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Members forum June 2020

Postby bpowell454 Tue Jun 02, 2020 2:17 pm

The club is having a very small members forum on Thursday in response to a recent members survey from early May. I filled in the survey and was very honest with the things I was disappointed in and where the club could do better and I was contacted by Nathan Kosmina and asked to attend the forum.

I'll try my best to relay any interesting information back here but let me know if there is any particular topic that anyone is interested in, I'll report back if they mention it or ask the question if the chance comes up.

I'm not sure if this member's forum will be trying to set the record straight or change current perceptions but my main concerns that I voiced in the survey were-

Lackluster recruitment - no replacement for Galloway, Goodwin, Isaias or Regan. Some have stepped up, D'Arrigo has performed well and Marrone and Mileusnic have too but out of position. We've also had to play Troisi out of position to play alongside D'Arrigo. In saying all of that, I understand how difficult it must be with the League growing by 2 teams to recruit players to Adelaide but playing players out of position regularly isn't a good thing in my opinion.

Low return from visa players, wasting a visa spot on Yongbin Chen and then having Verbeek and Djite both speak about needing a 6th visa spot.

I had the perception last season that the new owners had inherited some unwanted contracts (like Kurz obviously and Diawara) and this season would be different but apart from McGree's purchase, I have been underwhelmed.
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Re: Members forum June 2020

Postby blahblah Wed Jun 03, 2020 4:29 am

It sounds interesting. BP. I have many questions though you have enough material to keep the convesation going in a constructive direction.

I am looking forward to hearing the result.
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Re: Members forum June 2020

Postby Jessesdad Wed Jun 03, 2020 4:25 pm

Yeah BP, I'd be keen to hear what happens. I filled out the survey in some detail and then the site crashed on me before I could submit. Couldn't be arsed doing it all again - and to be honest - I have been part of so many fans forums/initiatives and have yet to actually see the club take any of them seriously enough to change anything. But best of luck and fly the flag.
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Re: Members forum June 2020

Postby Stuckey Thu Jun 04, 2020 6:40 am

One aspect of fan forums that is important is that obviously fans are able to hear why things we're unhappy with occur as its often pretty rare for a significant issue fans have the club is totally unaware of.
But also highlight to the club things that the fans are happy with. You never know the club could be for example on the fence about investing in youth and if we are able to highlight how happy fans are to see the Toure bros and D'Arrigo doing well, they may double their efforts in this area.

Good luck BP appreciate any news!
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Re: Members forum June 2020

Postby bpowell454 Tue Jun 09, 2020 11:45 pm

Just an update on the members forum, there wasn't anything too juicy that I felt needed sharing right away so I've been waiting until I had some time to summarise.

The start of the meeting was talking about the club creating a mission statement and some clear keywords that define the club and who the club wants to be moving forward. I really don't get that from an average fans perspective, sure for corporate and sponsors you want to make sure you have aligning values etc but who as the average/new fan is going to care about the 5 buzzwords the club puts forward as a mission statement? No-one is going to have a negative mission statement, so I found that part to be a bit of a waste of time but something they obviously wanted input into.

People were more interested in discussing what more AU could do for the community and increasing fan engagement, getting the local clubs onside etc. People commented on how great the Burundi drummers have been and think the club should focus on promoting inclusivity. There was also a suggestion of acknowledging the traditional owners of the land before games which the club seemed keen to implement.

Members are down, tv viewing is declining (Bruce said the tv ratings have fallen off a cliff 3 years in a row) and the club wanted to know what members think can be done to promote the game better in Adelaide specifically but Australia as a more broader discussion. Most agreed that the atmosphere is the best thing about Australian football and someone suggested that instead of advertising the football being played or one off highlights from a wonder goal, footage of the crowd and the various stages of emotions might be better. A-league will never be the standard of the EPL but live football atmosphere is available here and cheaper than going to AFL etc.

Safe smoke was mentioned and it's going to be looked into, it was initially disregarded due to all the bad press around flares at football at the time.

There wasn't really any discussion about on field issues or recruitment etc. I was able to ask why we signed Yongbin Chen? Has there been any benefits yet? If not, when do they expect to benefit from it?

The answer was that we signed him because we had used the funds left available for a 5th visa player on James Troisi for various reasons (SA player, known quantity), so essentially they weren't going to get a 5th visa player at all and got Chen to try and help open up pathways for sponsors etc to China. Flinders uni in particular are keen on that market so that may help retain them etc. This Chinese player project will continue into the future with the club choosing to focus on South Australian then Australian players before looking overseas.

The club's goal is to have a Louis D'Arrigo/AH Toure/Strain step up into the first team when we sell/release players rather than bringing in older players.

They want long serving players to finish their career at AUFC or overseas, they don't want them going interstate like Galeckovic, Dodd, Carrusca etc. They are very keen to build a good culture where players like Marrone will retire at AUFC or Isaias to return after he retires and move into a different role at the club.

There were a lot of responses from the survey about "jobs for mates" in regards to Verbeek and no transparency with the ownership group. They arent sure why the owners has become such a hot issue for people, they think it is a bit of a media beat up and that they are just a group of businessmen who want to keep their privacy and it is very common all over the world but they are aware of people's concerns and will try and be as transparent as possible. They said that Verbeek wasn't gifted the job by Piet VDP, they knew each other a little but it was just availability and timing.

They made it pretty clear that there were some behavioural issues they do not want with the next coach, things like dressing down players at press conferences and other obvious things they weren't happy with.

Which led onto the other major talking point, the new coach and what they want in a coach. They want to create a succession line of coaches, much like players coming through the ranks, they want the coach to inevitably leave onto better things and then the assistant to step up and so on, like what Sydney have with Arnold leaving, Corica steps up and the players want to play for him because nothing has changed, so they retain their playing group for longer (players like Ninkovic had been offered a lot more money to play elsewhere but he loves the club and the culture there so he stayed).

The survey showed that the Gombau/Amor era was most popular with fans and people commented their disappointment over losing the style and philosophies they brought in to change completely under Kurz, then 2 years later change completely again. They want to find a coach that suits the style of football the club wants to play, an Australian (prefer SA but not necessary), passionate (knee slides optional) and good media presence (rather than Bruce doing so much, which he said he doesn't mind but it's not common in his position).

The meeting went over time by about an hour and a half so there was no time to discuss much else. The discussion was a lot more about off field than on field issues apart from the survey showed that people want players to play for the shirt every week, even though Kurz wasn't playing pretty football, the players could grind out a result, that didn't seem to be the case with Verbeek. The club seem to want to make a big shift towards being a club with a clear direction and style of play that isn't dictated by personnel, if someone leaves onto better things, then it's good for the club and someone steps up into that role.

I think that was about it, if I remember anything else important I'll update.
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Re: Members forum June 2020

Postby blahblah Wed Jun 10, 2020 5:20 am

Thanks for the summary, BP. I like the 'welcome to country' style proposal, it's been something of a bugbear of mine for years.

The club is concentrating more on being a development club for South Australians which is good as we've essentially always been a development club but not always with heavy SA focus that most want to see.
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Re: Members forum June 2020

Postby sevengoals Wed Jun 10, 2020 7:08 pm

Thank you for the summary BP.
I like that the club is looking to create this player /trainer "dynasty" and is thinking long term.


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Re: Members forum June 2020

Postby Stuckey Fri Jun 12, 2020 8:51 am

Thanks for the report BP.

As for the mission statement. I understand it would seem like buzz words that have little meaning. But I agree with the club they are important. If the mission statement is something iron clad that all at the club adheres to its a very important foundation to build things like club culture and future direction.
I would hope to see that all future player signings are made with following the mission statement clearly stated in their contract.
If the club holds everyone from owners, Bruce , head coach, players and even fans to the same set of values then there can never be any confusion as to what is expected on a very basic level from everyone and if individuals aren't following the values its relatively simple to see what needs to occur for them to be in line.
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Re: Members forum June 2020

Postby mcjules Mon Jun 15, 2020 9:40 am

They made it pretty clear that there were some behavioural issues they do not want with the next coach, things like dressing down players at press conferences and other obvious things they weren't happy with.
That's good to hear, I didn't hate Verbeek but he lost me a bit when he did these things.
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Re: Members forum June 2020

Postby MartinAUFC Mon Jun 15, 2020 4:21 pm

They made it pretty clear that there were some behavioural issues they do not want with the next coach, things like dressing down players at press conferences and other obvious things they weren't happy with.
That's good to hear, I didn't hate Verbeek but he lost me a bit when he did these things.

There were a few people on this forum jumping to Verbeek's defence after he gave Kitto that spray, saying professional players should be able to accept being publicly criticized as part of the job.

I'm very glad to hear that the club didn't share that opinion.
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Re: Members forum June 2020

Postby bpowell454 Mon Jun 15, 2020 4:43 pm

At the forum they mentioned Kitto a few times and they said he is not in the top 5 of the team consistently but he is easily the nicest person you've ever met and didn't deserve that. They want nice guys, they don't want huge egos and when the head coach is singling out players and dressing them down very publicly it's not good advertising for the club to retain players or attract new players.

At the time I probably said that he played like shit so he deserved it but looking back that isn't the right attitude to have and was a heat of the moment sort of comment. The coach should have his players backs, especially in the media.
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Re: Members forum June 2020

Postby shinAUFC Tue Jun 16, 2020 3:42 pm

They made it pretty clear that there were some behavioural issues they do not want with the next coach, things like dressing down players at press conferences and other obvious things they weren't happy with.
That's good to hear, I didn't hate Verbeek but he lost me a bit when he did these things.

There were a few people on this forum jumping to Verbeek's defence after he gave Kitto that spray, saying professional players should be able to accept being publicly criticized as part of the job.

I'm very glad to hear that the club didn't share that opinion.
Im highly sceptical of the clubs position on Verbeek and his comments / behaviour if this is true.

They knew exactly who and what Verbeek was prior to signing him, 5 minutes of research on the net would indicate that he was a fiery competitor plus the boss had prior knowledge of Verbeek they the club would have known Verbeek would certainly have his moments with players and media..

Ironically for me this actually makes me trust the club a little less as they are simply distancing themselves from something that was their own doing while hanging verbeek out to dry.

In any case Verbeek is gone now and whats done is done.
Ppl who slap the label of truth on the 1st thing they hear, do it out of ignorance, convenience or cant be bothered picking through a thin layer of falsehood to find the real truth, or possibly even another lie
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Re: RE: Re: Members forum June 2020

Postby bpowell454 Tue Jun 16, 2020 10:35 pm

They made it pretty clear that there were some behavioural issues they do not want with the next coach, things like dressing down players at press conferences and other obvious things they weren't happy with.
That's good to hear, I didn't hate Verbeek but he lost me a bit when he did these things.

There were a few people on this forum jumping to Verbeek's defence after he gave Kitto that spray, saying professional players should be able to accept being publicly criticized as part of the job.

I'm very glad to hear that the club didn't share that opinion.
Im highly sceptical of the clubs position on Verbeek and his comments / behaviour if this is true.

They knew exactly who and what Verbeek was prior to signing him, 5 minutes of research on the net would indicate that he was a fiery competitor plus the boss had prior knowledge of Verbeek they the club would have known Verbeek would certainly have his moments with players and media..

Ironically for me this actually makes me trust the club a little less as they are simply distancing themselves from something that was their own doing while hanging verbeek out to dry.

In any case Verbeek is gone now and whats done is done.
From what was said, the club/Bruce were disappointed that Bruce was NEEDING to do so much media/press. He said he's happy to do it because he enjoys it but it isn't what football directors around the world do. So that's how it came up, I don't think they are throwing him under the bus, more saying- he had too much of this and not enough of that, we want someone who can do both well or can learn.
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Re: RE: Re: Members forum June 2020

Postby shinAUFC Thu Jun 18, 2020 2:54 pm

They made it pretty clear that there were some behavioural issues they do not want with the next coach, things like dressing down players at press conferences and other obvious things they weren't happy with.
That's good to hear, I didn't hate Verbeek but he lost me a bit when he did these things.

There were a few people on this forum jumping to Verbeek's defence after he gave Kitto that spray, saying professional players should be able to accept being publicly criticized as part of the job.

I'm very glad to hear that the club didn't share that opinion.
Im highly sceptical of the clubs position on Verbeek and his comments / behaviour if this is true.

They knew exactly who and what Verbeek was prior to signing him, 5 minutes of research on the net would indicate that he was a fiery competitor plus the boss had prior knowledge of Verbeek they the club would have known Verbeek would certainly have his moments with players and media..

Ironically for me this actually makes me trust the club a little less as they are simply distancing themselves from something that was their own doing while hanging verbeek out to dry.

In any case Verbeek is gone now and whats done is done.
From what was said, the club/Bruce were disappointed that Bruce was NEEDING to do so much media/press. He said he's happy to do it because he enjoys it but it isn't what football directors around the world do. So that's how it came up, I don't think they are throwing him under the bus, more saying- he had too much of this and not enough of that, we want someone who can do both well or can learn.
Ah, thats not so bad then.

Its hard to make much of comments third and firth hand. I feel like AUFC got absolutely what they would have expected from verbeek.
Ppl who slap the label of truth on the 1st thing they hear, do it out of ignorance, convenience or cant be bothered picking through a thin layer of falsehood to find the real truth, or possibly even another lie
The voice in our head is the final judge
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Re: Members forum June 2020

Postby bpowell454 Thu Jun 18, 2020 3:13 pm

True, they probably didn't mind when we were winning often, lifting trophies at home, uncovering future socceroos... when those things stop, the problems are magnified.

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