Losing Interest?

[slangman]

I must admit that for the first time in 20 years, i had to ‘will” myself to go to the football today.
Im struggling to stay interested. On the train trip home a few of my mates also said the same.
I have experienced worse teams/players but still showed up with enthusiasm and motivation.
The Tony Shaw years were hard but I went every week no matter what.
2004/05 were difficult years but my passion and expectation was always high.

Today was a realisation that we are a very ordinary side with not much hope to look forward to.
Bulldogs, Melbourne and even bloody Carlton are passing us very quickly.
I’m very despondent and even questioning why i would want to go to many more games.

I know I’m not in the minority as the vast empty seats in the N section (legends Area) are evidence that others are falling away badly.

There are many threads questioning whats wrong or what needs to be done, so I won’t begin with that.

Just need to get this off my chest because its not a feeling that I thought id EVER have.
I have travelled interstate many times, sat through worse weather than today and seen us lose by more than we did today.

But my feeling of emptiness is greater than ever before.

Are others in the same predicament?

[matrix10]

Miserable day- last week sucked the life out of our season- loss and compounding injuries.

I feel ya mate- have a few drinks and back up again next week.

[Collingwood Crackerjack]

To paraphrase Hiss in another thread 'We are becoming the new Melbourne' - although this may currently be hyperbole, it is certainly a sobering, terrifying thought to ponder

[Gonzalo]

Until Eddie goes, the fan engagement will be very poor. We have become a club that is more interested in Toorak Toffs than the average working class supporter.

[Piesnchess]

I agree with the bulldogs analogy, but not the scum and deees, the scum are a much older side than us, and don't have the massive injury list we have, they have four No one picks playing, yet have only just fluked wins against port and freo,when they were both hopeless, a win over the hapless Lions, beat the cats after we softened them up for them, and beat us and the dons at half strength. Nothing too write home about, Norf smashed them remember. The deees are up and down, and we may have beaten the doggies had we not lost four vital players during the game, even the dogs coach said that. Yes, today was a shocker, very poor and disappointing, but I thnk this is the thing with a young team with a lot of very good senior guys out hurt, now we have a vital key in taylor adams out for six more weeks. If we could just get a decent run with injuries, itd really help, but we never get the chance to have a settled side, sad but true.

[HAL]

You and I are on the same wavelength, mr Abbott says Australians must ensure a level of justice for victims whose lives was affected by evil acts.

[Flashman]

I left at 3 quarter time and don't feel the slightest bit guilty.

I'm not missing the comfort and warmth of home to watch that shit and I won't be for some time now either.

I knew we'd struggle to win with injuries but to be so unaccountable, flawed defensively, non functioning forward and show no passion is just not acceptable.

The total lack of crowd, atmosphere and passion at the MCG must be concerning for the powers that be unless of course we are now merely a means to an end for the greater goal of filling the club revenue coffers.

[Piesnchess]

Yeh, the crowd next week for the Deeees pretend grand final, will be a very low affair, I reckon, cant see a big crowd now.

[1970]

Collingwood isn't a Football Club anymore. It's a soulless brand.

People now buy the brand, but don't go to the games.

Buckley sees everything is terms of process. Watch the presser from today's game. He's got all these numbers in his head that explain to him why we didn't win. Therefore, he can make sense of it.

"Next week we get a chance to redeem ourselves... we'll go about it like every other club" etc.

He has convinced the players that by following the process, the results will come. Therefore, when it isn't working, the failure is self-explanatory.

What made Collingwood unique was the 'Kill for Collingwood' attitude - steeped in a working class 'us against the rest of the world' mentality. Past players played for the jumper and often performed over and above their capabilities.

That uniqueness has been slowly eroded. Buckley's dispassionate attitude to coaching is indicative of the fact that Collingwood is now just "like every other club".

We have lost everything that made us unique. That is 'the emptiness'.

[Gonzalo]

Old Jock would be turning in his grave at what McGuire has done to the football club.

He has made it the Toorak Football Club instead of the Collingwood Football Club.

[The_Staunton]

I'll give you my take, love it or leave it...

The 2010 team was "my" team, the team I was most passionate about. I watched the Black and White show on YT, and I loved the members of that team. Guys like Wellingham, and Shaw, and Didak seemed like genuine mates. They were my team, and after all the ups and downs for people like Ben Johnson and the emotion of Presti missing out (plus the absolute swagger and strut on the field we had in 10-11) combined to make it a team that I loved following, reading about.

That bond is broken - the club became a business. They treated their people poorly, particularly Wellingham, and the players weren't respectful to the new coach. So it ended up sour. Footy seems like a bland business. Suddenly we were meant to just suddenly worship people like Jordan Russell and Quinten Lynch...plus Dale Thomas and so on walked out. It seems like a million years ago, but this was a team I loved, and it's broken up. I don't feel the same passion and commitment to the people in my jumpers right now - I hope that makes sense.

I think footy has changed as well, it's a bland experience to go to the footy. Kisscam and the dance troupe and the Holden Roar-O-Meter dulled my senses, plus we (generally) serve up a bland on field product. Time has changed - if a team is rubbish, people don't have the time or interest to watch. Once you are irrelevant, as we are now, you mentally move on to watch the NBA or the UFC or whatever. The passion to go and watch a 4-10 team or whatever isn't going to be there like it was in the old days, due to time.

A LOT of this is fixed by winning of course, I'm not naive to not think that. Right now though, this is a bland club, with bland players, and a bland identity. There's no personality, no zip to it.

[The_Staunton]

[Doc63]

[Piesnchess]

[jatsad]

I hear what you are all saying and I tend to agree. We have just become another club with no real drive pr passion.

But let me also say this.

Put back into the team a few of these:
Swan
Elliot
Adams
Fasolo
Moore
Langdon
Ramsay
Scharenburg
Brown
Williams

and remove:
Blair (lots of tackles but absolutely nothing else)
Frost (too many errors and cannot kick)
Toovey (game has passed him by)

Then we may be talking a different tune.

But there needs to be further change.

Get rid of this coaching panel. Bloody useless.

Harvey (not even St Kilda wanted him)
Rocca (have you ever heard him talk)
Hart (defensive coach. Enough said)
Steve Grice (forward coach. Who?)
Lockyer (failed VFL coach)
Burns (keep him)
Buckley (may have had enough chances now)

Start with some one like Stewart Dew (a coach in waiting if ever I have seen one )

Out Eddie McGuire (been there way to long)
In Craig Kelly (new ideas and won't take any crap)

Different story then.