Nick Columb - Stay away from the Club, we don't want you.

[ledge]

Old ideas like merge the club?

I am not a fan of Nick but i am sure it wasnt an idea Nick came up with, the AFL were the ones with the agenda not Nick.
Nicks mistake was (and we all make mistakes) he didnt think we had the fans or sponsors to get us out of the hole we were in.
Hindsight is easy isnt it.

[bornadog]

I am not a fan of Nick but i am sure it wasnt an idea Nick came up with, the AFL were the ones with the agenda not Nick.
Nicks mistake was (and we all make mistakes) he didnt think we had the fans or sponsors to get us out of the hole we were in.
Hindsight is easy isnt it.

Ledge, the man sold us out, its not hindsight. He had a choice, the whole board did and that was to let the members know what was going on and then resign and let a new board come in like the Save the Dogs Committee. But no, he had to sign the club to a takeover.

If he tries to get on the board, I will personally launch a campaign to keep him out.

[Bulldog4life]

Ledge, the man sold us out, its not hindsight. He had a choice, the whole board did and that was to let the members know what was going on and then resign and let a new board come in like the Save the Dogs Committee. But no, he had to sign the club to a takeover.If he tries to get on the board, I will personally launch a campaign to keep him out.

Now that's the key word. The VFL and the Boards of the Fitzroy and Footscray Football Clubs stated it was going to be a merger. It never was going to be a merger...or a "fair" merger.

It was a takeover. The team would have been the Fitzroy Bulldogs, they would have played in Fitzroy colours, would have had the Fitzroy coach at the time Rod Austin coaching the new team, Fitzroy's Assistant Coach would have been appointed, all their current Administration would have stayed and they would have had a casting vote at the Committee table with Leon Wiegard having the casting vote. A Board of 9 directors with 4 from Footscray 4 from Fitzroy and then Weigard. The "Bulldogs" name could have disappeared at the whim of the Board.
All home games would have been played at Princes Park.
To sign off a so called merger on the above terms shows Columb was at the very least derelect in his duty as President of our Club as well as a hopeless negoiator.

[Happy Days]

So I just went and saw the new Fightback documentary which screened a couple of times at the Sun, which had a Q&A with Dennis Galimberti at the end.

He didn't go so far to outright say it but speculated that Nick Columb wanted to be a Eddie McGuire/John Elliot type figure, and only thought he could do it as the president of a successful club. So he sought out the merger with the hopes of making a super team, with a handshake agreement to become president of the club after its first year. Apparently he also had undertaken a personal financial guarantee for the club's debts, and saw the merger as a way to make sure he didn't lose any money.

Kinda wish this stuff made it into the actual doco but was still an interesting watch. I don't know a ton about the merger on account of not being alive, but was left thinking that Columb was every bit as much of a prick as Oakley or anyone else at the AFL. Reading this thread back I'm not certain that's the case, but not certain it's not either.

[jeemak]

So I just went and saw the new Fightback documentary which screened a couple of times at the Sun, which had a Q&A with Dennis Galimberti at the end.

He didn't go so far to outright say it but speculated that Nick Columb wanted to be a Eddie McGuire/John Elliot type figure, and only thought he could do it as the president of a successful club. So he sought out the merger with the hopes of making a super team, with a handshake agreement to become president of the club after its first year. Apparently he also had undertaken a personal financial guarantee for the club's debts, and saw the merger as a way to make sure he didn't lose any money.

Kinda wish this stuff made it into the actual doco but was still an interesting watch. I don't know a ton about the merger on account of not being alive, but was left thinking that Columb was every bit as much of a prick as Oakley or anyone else at the AFL. Reading this thread back I'm not certain that's the case, but not certain it's not either.

Pretty poor excuse mate.

[jazzadogs]

Thanks for bumping this thread, interesting thread and insights from Galimberti!

What did you think of the actual doco? A friend met the director recently, and that was the only reason I even knew it existed. Not endorsed by the AFL so minimal advertising and couldn't include any official footage from the time?

[jeemak]

Yeah thanks for bumping. I love reading the pre-2016 threads, the tone is somewhat different. Less expectation driven, which isn't necessarily good or bad, just something to observe.

Like you HD I didn't really feel the merger as much as others, even though I was ten years old I was living in the south eastern suburbs near VFL Park. Not a lot of tin rattling out there, and from what I can gather my parents shielded me from it a bit. Even though I copped some mild teasing at school, it wouldn't have been anything compared to the climate over the bridge for all ages of supporters.

[Happy Days]

Thanks for bumping this thread, interesting thread and insights from Galimberti!

What did you think of the actual doco? A friend met the director recently, and that was the only reason I even knew it existed. Not endorsed by the AFL so minimal advertising and couldn't include any official footage from the time?

Yeah they couldn’t include anything archival at all, I assume it was made on a shoestring so understandable, they got by with a series of recreations but was talking heads for the most part.

I really liked it and assume everyone on here would too. He got a ton out of everyone he interviewed and some of Galimberti’s segments were seriously stirring. Could have been a bit more probing into what the merger would’ve looked like had it happened or why the AFL was so determined to make it happen, and maybe a few extra interview subjects, but was still very interesting stuff.