Wednesday 10 September 2014

The #fistedforever files

Update: If you've got too much time on your hands why not enjoy this list in book form? It weighs a lot so when you get upset and throw the thing in the river it will make a satisfying noise.

Below is a list of all the bad luck, self-inflicted misfortune, embarrassing, frightening and depressing things that have happened to Melbourne fans since the last team we played a final. Opposition fans who are keen to tell us how badly they've got it are invited to print it out, put it up on the wall and attempt to reach even 50% of the same debacles.

A reminder before you keep reading - the management of demonblog.com is not responsible for any psychological trauma that you may suffer, I'm not saying I necessarily agree with the stuff that's in here but it has all aggrieved our fans at one time or another.

...and remember we are supposed to be watching football for fun.

Any additions (please don't get me sued, remove names if it's a truly scandalous allegation) welcome in the comments or via Twitter.

2007
  • Go into the season touted as Victoria's big hope for the flag, nearly finish last
  • Brock McLean enters 2007 in career best form then breaks his foot in the first quarter of Round 1
  • The trumpeteer makes his debut
  • Byron Pickett chucks a sickie from being an emergency via SMS because he's too hungover to turn up
  • Coming back from five goals down in the last quarter against North after eight straight losses, briefly getting in front then losing in the last 30 seconds
  • Nine losses in a row to start the season after being considered a premiership contender before the start of the season
  • Our kick-ins
  • 3rd straight year of losing every game at Subiaco
  • 6th straight year of season of losing every game at Football Park
  • Club puts out a fake press release before Queen's Birthday from the 'Victorian Ski Slopes Authority' saying that Melbourne fans would be turned away from the ski-fields that week because "We usually get so many Melbourne supporters up here for the Queen’s Birthday weekend that no one else can find a decent piece of ski space, and you can't get a car park amongst all those Volvos and four wheel drives for love nor money."
  • Neale Daniher quits after being told he would have to apply for his own job
  • Losing Daniher's farewell game to a goal with 11 seconds left.
  • Ricky Petterd suffers serious, briefly life-threatening injury in on-field incident
  • Daniel Bell severely injured by Ben Johnson. Never the same again.
  • Carlton openly tanks in Round 22, nobody cares
  • Jace Bode
  • Colin Sylvia is ejected from Spearmint Rhino, leaving his mate Alan Didak to accept a lift with a bikie/future killer
  • Nobody tells Daniel Ward he's going to be delisted so he doesn't get chaired off the ground after the last game
  • Rumours swirl that Judd is going to announce he’s joining us on the Grand Final Footy Show. We all sit there waiting for any mention of this but get nothing.
  • After teasing for weeks that we were ‘on his shortlist’ and telling us about how he grew up a Melbourne fan Judd turns us down and joins Carlton instead.
  • No players in the 40 man All-Australian shortlist
  • Cale Morton over Dangerfield, Rioli etc..
  • Dean Bailey appointed as coach after answering an ad in the paper then presenting with a Powerpoint put together by his son
  • Chris Connolly appointed as GM Football Ops weeks after losing to Bailey in the race for the senior coaching job
2008

  • CEO Steve Harris leaves in acrimonious circumstances
  • Paul McNamee selected as the replacement CEO over Geelong's Stuart Fox. McNamee sacked after 106 days, Fox goes to Hawthorn and presides over three premierships.
  • Introduction of the silver away jumper
  • Pre-season match against the Bulldogs in Bendigo called off halfway through the last quarter when the lighting fails. In the darkness a man with a microphone tells us it's over but Jason Akermanis was voted BOG.
  • TEAMelbourne
  • Jack Grimes on the long term injury list with a back injury before he'd even played one game
  • Lose Bailey’s first game by 104 points and his second by 95
  • Isaac Weetra
  • Club champions Jeff White and Adem Yze fall out of favour and spend time in the 2’s
  • David Neitz forced to retire due to injury and hardly any MFC fans turn up for his farewell
  • Paul McNamee sacked as CEO four months into the job
  • Jeff Kennett calls on us to move to the Gold Coast
  • Andrew Demetriou lends a hand as league CEO by labelling the Melboune 'brand' as "meaningless"
  • Our kick-ins
  • Russell Robertson blows his Achilles against St Kilda
  • Matthew Lloyd takes mark of the year and kicks eight against us
  • 116 point loss to Geelong after being 53-0 down at quarter time. Cats fans give a warm round of applause when our first score is one of their players fumbling a mark over the line.
  • Paul Gardner resigns as President with the club under a mountain of debt
  • Brock McLean donates $10k to Debt Demolition, then leaves in disgust two years later
  • Cameron Schwab hired as CEO despite previously chequered history at Melbourne and bad reviews from people connected to Fremantle
  • Schwab apparently buys an expensive desk
  • Thrashed in White and Yze’s last game
  • First wooden spoon since 1997
  • Dean Bailey says 'competitive' every week
  • 4th straight season of losing every game at Subiaco
  • 7th straight season of losing every game at Football Park
  • Nathan Carroll decks Ben Holland on Mad Monday, gets the sack
  • Powerpoint presentation by players (including his brother) fails to lure Robert Warnock to Melbourne
  • Major sponsorship with Mission Foods lost due to last minute demands by MFC, they go to the Bulldogs instead and remain a solid sponsor for years
  • No players in the 40 man All-Australian shortlist (2nd straight year)
  • Craig Cameron walks out and joins Richmond even though he has 12 months left on his contract (whether this is actually a bad thing is up to you to decide)
2009

  • Holding a press conference to announce Watts getting #4
  • Rookie Sam Blease breaks his leg in a schoolyard kick around
  • Colin Sylvia being publicly mocked on radio by Neil Mitchell for not knowing who the current PM was during a membership telethon call. Neil conveniently let his membership lapse after a wooden spoon season.
  • Garland suffers mystery season ending injury in R1
  • Nathan Jones’ dad attacked by Collingwood fans outside the ground
  • John Meesen finally debuts after a year out with injury then gets injured again a few weeks later and never plays again
  • Cale Morton seemingly does a runner from a fight against Port Adelaide at Football Park
  • In front of a tiny MCG crowd we kick no goals until the third quarter and only four for the game against Adelaide
  • Fan spends time and money buying and framing 50’s premiership WEG posters signed by Ron Barassi for the purposes of raffling only to see one of them end up in an administrators house
  • Jack Watts debuts prematurely in an attempt to boost the Queen’s Birthday attendance
  • Pre QB speech by Nick McCallum where he was talking up the players who will be the pillar of our glorious premiership future and his voice cracked as he said Warnock.
  • Jim Stynes diagnosed with cancer
  • Our kick-ins
  • The assorted ‘dubious’ coaching moves in the Richmond game, leading to Jordan McMahon’s goal which was cheered by most of the Melbourne fans in the crowd
  • A member of the football department telling a sponsors meeting that we were tanking
  • Chris Connolly’s tanking “gag” which eventually backfired and formed a key part of the Tankquiry
  • Rohan Bail’s blows his quad 30 seconds into his debut, after being injured in the warm-up but still starting the game on the field.
  • Jake Spencer dropping the ball to the ground in the middle of his run-up to goal the same day
  • Only 13,000 people showing up for a win against Freo WITH the crowd having been boosted by a ‘Kick on the G’ promotion
  • Hot rumours before the Freo game that there would be a donated $1m prize under a seat at the ground presumably turned out to be false, but given that there were 87,000 seats free who knows?
  • The ACT government refusing to pay for us to play there anymore after only 7000 show up for game against Sydney
  • The Red and Blue Print
  • 5th straight season of losing every game at Subiaco
  • 8th straight season of losing every game at Football Park
  • 3rd straight season of losing every game at Docklands
  • 3rd straight season of losing every game to Hawthorn and North
  • Dean Bailey’s sporting a horrible Movember moustache on draft night despite the knowledge that he would be all over the media due to us having the first two picks
  • Picking all of Trengove/Scully/Tapscott/Gysberts in the top 25 and not making any trades for experienced players
  • Holding a function on draft night to celebrate having picks 1 and 2
  • A second straight wooden spoon
  • In our first year of alignment with Casey we withdraw almost all senior players from their finals team and they lose by 115 points
  • Turned down by Shaun Burgoyne after being ‘on his shortlist’
  • No players in the 40 man All-Australian shortlist (3rd straight year)
  • Neville Jetta’s mum recommends Lewis to recruiters and is roundly ignored
  • The great Watts vs NicNat debate
  • Brent Moloney takes a thinly veiled swipe at the departing Brock McLean in his Best and Fairest runners-up speech, only to walk out himself three years later
2010

  • Liam Jurrah injures his shoulder in a pre-season game and misses14 weeks
  • This photo
  • Cale Morton injured in a pre-season game at Princes Park and is never the same again
  • Ex-Demon Nathan Carroll arrested in Perth for headbutting a bouncer and spitting blood at police
  • Ex-Demon Simon Buckley arrested for keying his ex-girlfriend’s car
  • Colin Sylvia suffers a broken jaw from a practice match cheapshot by a West Coast player. No action taken.
  • Lose by a point to Collingwood after Ricky Petterd drops the mark in the goalsquare at the end of his best ever game
  • Our kick-ins
  • Petterd suffers a season ending shoulder injury while in career best form. Never the same again.
  • Schwab borrows $140,000 from the club for a property transaction
  • Lost to West Coast who hadn't won at the MCG since 2007 and were 1-24 in their last 25 games outside of WA
  • Fined $15,000 for bringing Matthew Warnock into the side late against Carlton when he hadn't been named as an emergency
  • Opening day of operations at AAMI Park spoiled by players and staff being forced into lockdown due to reports of a mad bastard running around with a gun outside
  • Director Peter Szental passes away after a lengthy illness
  • Whiteboard Wednesday
  • Players forced to drive around in a car with "Yes I play for the Dees" painted down the side as 'punishment' from leadership group. Car is later sold on Ebay at a starting price of $500.
  • Brad Miller chooses to play with Casey instead of a farewell game with the Dees
  • Captain James McDonald forced out the door prematurely
  • Lynden Dunn's moustache
  • 6th straight season of losing every game at Subiaco
  • 9th straight season of losing every game at Football Park
  • 4th straight season of losing every game at Docklands
  • 3rd straight season of losing every game to Hawthorn and North
  • Expensive, long China trip which alienated some players
  • Teetotal Tom $cully allegedly leaves China trip early because Max Gawn threw up on him at the end of a drunken night out
  • Jurrah alleged to have developed drinking problem on China trip
  • MFC blows sponsorship extension with Kaspersky because we wanted more money at the last minute
  • MFC holds a function at the MCG to celebrate our indigenous players only for them to almost all leave within two years.
  • Picking Lucas Cook over Jack Darling
  • Rookie draftee Kelvin Lawrence almost leaves club immediately after arriving. Never plays a senior game anyway.
  • Austin Wonaeamirri's father passes away in car accident
2011

  • Casey recruit Brendan Fevola despite Melbourne’s wishes
  • “Fev to Melbourne” speculation for the whole season
  • The flag raising ceremony before games and after wins being added to the trumpeter
  • Going five goals down against West Coast at quarter time with a record low number inside 50’s.
  • Jack Watts’ Energy Watch ad
  • Brent Moloney quits leadership group after unsubstantiated allegations about urinating on bar from a man who admitted he had to look Moloney up on Google Images to make sure it was him
  • In an interview Colin Garland tries to crack a gag about Jack Grimes becoming a mortician and says: "The only thing stiffer than the bodies would be Jack himself!" 
  • Our kick-ins
  • Jack Trengove suspended for three games for ‘sling tackle’ on Dangerfield
  • Players given 'please explain' by AFL for commenting about the Trengove decision on Twitter
  • Jamar comes off career best year then suffers a serious injury. Never the same again.
  • Jack Grimes' season ending foot injury. Never the same again
  • The Spencil does his knee in a VFL game.
  • The Andrews Report
  • Daniel Bell sues us
  • Juice Newton plays like Jonathan Brown for the first quarter of the game against North then never does anything ever again
  • Austin Wonaeamirri retires midway through the year
  • Schwab/Connolly vs Bailey feud
  • "Bruise free footy"
  • Mick Malthouse accuses Addam Maric of cheating live on the radio.
  • Get 76,000 to Queen’s Birthday (second highest non-finals crowd against Collingwood since 1971), then lose by 88
  • Players cancel a training run because they don’t feel like it
  • Go into a Friday night game against the struggling Bulldogs inside the top eight and lose by 10 goals
  • $cully disappears during win over Port in Darwin. Not seen during the singing of the song and never plays for us again due to ‘injury’
  • Casey losing to Geelong by 128 points. Fev seen leaning against a goalpost with the ball at the other end
  • Melbourne losing to Geelong by 186 immediately after
  • Moloney playing 186 despite being sick then not getting a touch
  • Claims that Bailey had to use his credit card to pay for the team to stay in Geelong the night before because the club wouldn’t pay for it
  • Bailey sacked and Schwab contract extended the day after 186 when the opposite was scheduled to happen
  • Garry Lyon’s alleged role in helping save Schwab and sack Bailey
  • Club makes a last gasp attempt to keep Scully by offering to sack Schwab
  • Sponsor signs behind removed before Bailey spoke at his post-sacking press conference
  • An extremely ill looking Jim Stynes dealing with the 186 fallout
  • Garry Lyon as Football Director
  • Sean Wight dies from lung cancer despite never having been a smoker
  • James Strauss suffers a horrific broken leg
  • Liam Jurrah breaks wrist, only plays one more game in his career
  • West Coast's McGinnity threatens to molest Ricky Petterd’s mum
  • Captain Brad Green starts as sub against Richmond
  • This guy
  • Todd Viney reverses position on interest in coaching job only to lose to bottom placed Port Adelaide in the last game, costing him any chance of getting the job
  • 7th straight season of losing every game at Subiaco
  • 5th straight season of losing every game at Docklands
  • 4th straight season of losing every game to Hawthorn and North
  • $cully messes us around all year then signs for GWS after ‘going to tour the facilities’
  • It's then revealed $cully's dad was already on a lucrative contract at the Giants. Turncoat Tom claims he didn't know.
  • Ex-Demon Scott Thompson wins Adelaide Best and Fairest
  • Hankook walks out as a sponsor, citing the current administration as their major issue
  • No players in the 40 man All-Australian shortlist (4th year out of five)
  • David Schwarz, Daniel Ward and Travis Johnstone are revealed to have had major gambling issues during their career
  • Coaching offers to Alastair Clarkson and Mick Malthouse who both turn us down
  • Coaching selection committee (Schwab, Lyon, McLardy) interview Ken Hinkley and he never hears from them again.
  • Not even getting a crack at Ross Lyon before he is spirited away to Fremantle during the night
  • In his first speech Neeld says he wants us to be "the toughest club to play against", a philosophy which holds up until roughly the end of the speech
  • Neeld sacks player welfare manager after joining the club
  • Sam Blease picked to run for Melbourne in the Grand Final Sprint then realises he had a family function on so couldn't turn up.
  • Colin Sylvia gets picked to play for Australia and is then dumped after drinking the night before the training session then doing a runner when his friend tipped their car over on Kings Way
  • MFC sued by a builder who claimed he was hit with a stray football during a training run
  • MFC announces they're supporting a team in China called the Tianjin Demons with jumpers and training gear. A $1.5 million oval is built (not from on our money surprisingly) only for it to be revealed in 2014 that the ground has fallen into disrepair and the Tianjin Demons never actually formed
  • The christmas video with naked players cavorting around in the shower covered only by placards that read 40,000
2012

  • Members asked to avoid asking questions about 186 at the AGM
  • New coaching team tempt fate by publicly talking up the poor training standards of the past
  • Allegations that the coaches had set the players an off-season training regime and when they came back only two of them had completed it
  • Eddie McGuire threatens us with financial ramifications if we poach their recruiter
  • The blazers
  • The new logo
  • Collars and stars on jumper
  • Max Gawn does knee, misses entire season
  • Liam Jurrah arrested for machete attack in Northern Territory
  • Jurrah then fined $5000 by the club for drinking during recovery
  • Colin Sylvia suffers fractured back in final practice match
  • China Southern Airlines rumoured as sponsor, do not actually sign for another two years
  • Jim Stynes passes away
  • Mitch Clark’s Ultratune ad
  • Shock loss to Brisbane in Round 1, including Neeld spraying the players at half time when they were four points behind
  • Neeld's press conference later used in AFL media training as an example of how not to do it
  • Grant Thomas leaks story given to him by Jason Mifsud about an Aaron Davey complaint re: Neeld's treatment of indigenous players...
  • ... the next day Energy Watch sacked as sponsor after their founder posts racist Facebook messages. We had to put sticky tape over their logo but in the right sunlight you could see right through...
  • ... the next day after that Jordan Gysberts suffers a six week injury and Daniel Nicholson is fined for drinking while in injury rehab...
  • ... then we lost to West Coast by 108 points 
  • Playing without a major paying sponsor for the first few rounds of the season
  • Losing the Jim Stynes tribute game to the fellow struggler Bulldogs
  • Losing a fifth straight game after failing to score in the last quarter against St Kilda
  • Our kick-ins
  • Losing by 101 points to Sydney after scoring 5.7.37 with the otherwise hapless Tommy Walsh playing like John Coleman
  • The impact of Jeremy Howe’s mark of the year ruined by constant replays showing we were 80 points down at the time
  • Ex-Demon Daniel Hughes (the second one) pots us on Facebook
  • "Play Tom Couch" an even more popular Facebook whinge than "draft Fev" was a year earlier. Tom is finally picked, does nothing and is delisted the next year
  • FoxSports falling for the Carowhine Wilson Twitter account and reporting ‘breaking news’ that Neeld was about to be sacked
  • Allegations that a star player was asked to do extra boxing training, told the coach it was going well, then got rolled when the rang up the boxing instructor who revealed the player hadn't been to one extra session
  • "Members Information Night"/crisis meetings held. Mark Neeld's laptop revealed to have a folder on the desktop called TRUE BLOOD.
  • At the information night Neeld says there's no need for a club psychologist because we've got coaches the players can speak to
  • Leigh Williams goes down with viral encephalitis
  • Jamie Bennell does knee, never plays for us again.
  • Moloney feuds with Neeld
  • Hiring the Scotch College Marching Band to play before Queen’s Birthday
  • Morton’s kick on Queen’s Birthday
  • Mitch Clark injured after four first quarter goals against GWS, out for the rest of the season
  • Brock McLean’s comments launch the Tankquiry when he was only on because Nathan Jones pulled out
  • Dunn reported for staging in Round 21
  • Two time rising star nominee Jordan Gysberts only plays one match in 2012 then leaves, never to play another senior game
  • Score of 5.10.40 in Round 22
  • Brad Green allegedly forced out the door
  • Rivers leaves, takes a pot shot at Neeld after he goes
  • Free of MFC, Dean Bailey goes within seconds of a Grand Final in his first year with the Crows
  • Ex-Demon Scott Thompson wins Adelaide Best and Fairest for a second time
  • Not having a recruiter in the 2012 draft and allowing a board member to give advice on selections
  • Jimmy Toumpas over Ollie Wines
  • Schwab gets a three year contract extension
  • Watts vs Neeld feud
  • 13 straight losses at Subiaco
  • 14 straight losses at Docklands
  • 9 straight losses to Hawthorn
  • 10 straight losses to North
  • No players on the 40 man All-Australian shortlist (5th year out of 6)
  • Trading former #4 draft pick Cale Morton to West Coast for pick 88
  • Jurrah quits playing with Melbourne and moves to Adelaide
  • Howe, Frawley, Dunn, Rivers and Petterd pictured at the Boxing Day test making a giant beer snake, then getting into a fight with other patrons and being kicked out. All listed as Melbourne players in the press even though Rivers and Petterd had left.
2013

  • Official 2013 calendar produced so early that about a quarter of the months featured players who had left. Stick that on your wall.
  • The Tankquiry finally wraps up, and while we’re found not guilty we get fined $500k fine anyway
  • Connolly and Bailey suspended for allegedly being involved in the non-tanking
  • Connolly then receives a two year contract extension in May only to be sacked in October
  • New recruiter Jason Taylor alleged to have been in a fight on an AIS tour of Europe.
  • Liam Jurrah arrested for drink driving and attacking a woman in the street
  • Three year contract for Pedersen, two years for Rodan and Byrnes
  • Brad Green dumped as captain after one year and senior players sacked from leadership group
  • Trengove made youngest captain in league history, has skinfold targets changed halfway through pre-season and injures his foot over-exerting himself to try and meet them
  • Jack Grimes changes to #31 to try and take some of the $cully curse off it
  • Constant and misleading references to the book/film Moneyball to describe our recruiting
  • The Harlem Shake
  • Sylvia allegedly pulls out time trial with ‘injury’ only for nothing to be found wrong with him
  • Being implicated in the Essendon drug scandal on the 7:30 Report
  • Round 1, 2013 – lose heavily to Port with fans going bananas over the race after an insipid thrashing. Man with red face becomes internet sensation. Neeld spazzes out at the press conference - not without some justification but it probably didn't help.
  • Our kick-ins
  • Neeld inviting the cameras in for his speech before Round 2 2013, only for it to be broadcast at half time when the team was being thrashed where it showed half the players struggling to remain interested
  • Losing by 148 to Essendon after a score of 5.6.36. Fans seen openly crying in stands
    • Schwab sacked and paid out despite having his contract extended for three years in August 2012
    • Lynden Dunn’s mum rings up SEN and says the coaches should be shot
    • Tom Gillies walks into the worst defence of all time, goes out with an average losing margin of +100 points
  • Constant talk about how we're great trainers
  • The beard growing contest
  • Neil Mitchell making a rare appearance as an MFC 'fan' to declare the club had a 'smell of death' about it
  • One of the Fidge brothers pots us on Facebook
  • Standing ovation for only being 10 points down the next week against West Coast, lost by 94 after conceding 11 goals in the third quarter
  • Being 19 points down at ¾ to GWS
  • Losing by 10 goals to Gold Coast in their first ever MCG win after having 106 missed tackles
  • Reason cited for the 106 missed tackles was that "Gold Coast were stronger"
  • Don McLardy resigns
  • 6.4.40 against Fremantle in a 90 point loss after kicking the first goal
    • Garland and Dunn attempt to mark the same ball with no Fremantle players in sight with James Sellar trying to spoil them
    • The phone lines to the coaching box break down, forcing Neeld to do the job from the bench with some bloke relaying stats on a mobile phone. Already seven goals down at the time so it makes no difference
  • Neeld expected to be sacked at a board meeting before Queen’s Birthday but surviving..
  • … only to be sacked the next week anyway after losing to Collingwood by 83 points on a score of 5.9.39
  • Racial abuse towards Neville Jetta on the MFC Facebook page
  • Brent Moloney makes snarky Instagram “karma is a bitch” post about Neeld getting the sack
  • Tim Harrington sacked
  • Lost $3.1m and had to receive a bailout financial package from the AFL
  • Rampant leaking from board members to the press
  • Three different board members resign
  • Geoff Freeman anointed as the next President then never heard from again
  • Jeff Kennett for President
  • Alan Stockdale leads Melbourne Matters to nowhere
  • Things getting so bad that Mike Brady wrote yet another Up There Cazaly knock off to 'pump us up'. The inspiring song is called "Get out and have a go"
  • Setting a world record for lowest inside 50 count as we kicked 4.6.30 against Geelong
  • Losing by 122 points to North in a ‘home’ game at Docklands where we only kicked 4.4.28
  • Giving GWS their only win of the season
  • Jesse Hogan ‘does knee’ for Casey, sparking panic before he’s passed fit
  • 10 straight losses against Hawthorn
  • 11 straight losses against North Melbourne
  • Streak of 16 straight losses at Football Park only ends because the place is shut down
  • 14 straight losses at Subiaco
  • 16 straight losses at Docklands
  • Rodan does his knee and kindly retires instead of staying around for the second year of his contract
  • Aaron Davey used as the sub seven times in his last sesaon
  • Colin Sylvia leaves as a free agent
  • After Stewart Dew is initially blocked by Sydney from becoming our coaching successor so he signs a long term deal with the Swans instead
  • 2 wins for the year, worst season since 1981
  • 9 game losing streak to end the year, would stretch to 12 into 2014
  • Percentage of 54.1% with an average score against of more than 120 points
  • The delisted Ricky Petterd plays finals for Richmond (and good luck to him)
  • Refused a priority pick
  • No players in the 40 man All-Australian shortlist (6th year out of 7)
  • Dean Bailey diagnosed with cancer
  • Nathan Carroll arrested for street violence, revealed he had been abusing alcohol and ‘other substances’
  • Ex-President Don McLardy falls victim to a Punters Club scam.
2014

  • No Friday night games for the third straight year
  • James Magner writes a snarky tweet about Mark Neeld getting a job at an U18’s club. Quickly deleted.
  • Dean Bailey passes away
  • Mitch Clark retires during pre-season. Later makes a comeback with Geelong.
  • Jesse Hogan does back in meaningless NAB Cup game, misses entire season
  • Good VFL players abandon Casey, leaving our reserves to play in a largely uncompetitive team
  • Kicking 4.6.30 against West Coast in Round 2
  • Jack Trengove gets dropped then suffers a season ending injury
  • Jack Viney initially suspended for bump against Adelaide
  • Kicking 5.8.38 against Sydney in Round 6 and actually being happy about our performance
  • Melbourne Future Fund and Melbourne Business Community seemingly become defunct
  • Our kick-ins
  • Long-term MFC regular Sylvia turns out to be no more than a fringe player at Fremantle
  • Racial abuse towards Neville Jetta from a Western Bulldogs fan
  • President Bartlett says he wants us to be like the New York Yankees
  • Kicking 3.10.28 against Collingwood on Queens Birthday after getting the first goal within 30 seconds
  • Neale Daniher diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease
  • 4.10.34 against Fremantle
  • 5.3.36 against Geelong
  • Stefan Martin dominant in second half of year at Brisbane after being discarded for next to nothing by Melbourne
  • Frawley revealed to be an unrestricted free agent only because of the way we'd structured his contract
  • Rolling over and dying in the last quarter against Brisbane
  • Roos blames our current issues on tanking
  • Losing by 10 goals to GWS in their first ever MCG win despite them being three players down for the whole second half. Total score of 3.16.34.
  • Losing 10 in a row to end the year
  • Jurrah arrested for assault again
  • The 1948 premiership flag that we didn't even know was missing turns up on Ebay
  • Lowest average score since 1920
  • Failed to win a home game all year
  • Lowest top goalkicker tally since the 1960's
  • First time a team didn't kick 100 points in a game at least once in a year since the 1970s
  • Second worst total score ever in a 22 game season
  • First time we didn't have a player kick at least four goals in a game since 1919
  • 11 straight losses against Hawthorn
  • 13 straight losses against North Melbourne
  • 15 straight losses at Subiaco
  • 20 straight losses at Docklands – our worst run at any venue ever
  • Richmond wins one less game in a row than we have in three full seasons
  • Hawthorn fill in coach Brendan Bolton wins one more game in five weeks than we did all year
  • No Rising Star nominees in all of 2014
  • No players in the 40 man All-Australian shortlist (7th year out of 8)
  • Terlich/Georgiou Mad Monday fiasco
  • All back episodes of Whiteboard Wednesday still being on our YouTube channel years later
  • Frawley (presumably) teases us for a whole year then leaves
  • Mitch Clark’s ‘fresh start’, where he is linked to every club but us
  • Refused a priority pick again
Update 9.02pm: I wish I'd had the time to write a proper outro to this post instead of just leaving it hanging in a fashion which made it look like I'd pressed enter for the last time and checked myself into state care. It should be noted for the record that despite everything that has happened in the last few years I will never give up on this club, and if you're an MFC fan neither should you. 

With every bit of sincere respect to Fitzroy fans a similar list for them would be a blank page - because if your club is taken away you might be freed from the bad times, but you also miss out on the chance to ever see good times again. Stay stong, buy a membership and fight for your right to exercise a siege mentality while the experts behind the scenes plot out the changes that will one day give us what we crave - glorious mid-table mediocrity.

30 comments:

  1. I miss the trumpeter.

    But I love watching us play at 3.40 mid-winter on Sunday arvos.

    Go Dees

    ReplyDelete
  2. You make me proud to be a Dees supporter Adam. Sometimes I feel a little like Papillon and want to scream, "Hey you bastards, I'm still here".

    Cheers
    Ross

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bad day for me to pick to give up the booze.

    ReplyDelete
  4. 2014 Additions -
    'Best coach in game' gets paid twice normal rate, wins just 4 games in first season, makes excuses, blames past.
    Won no home games for season.
    Equal lowest 'top goalkicker' of any club, alongside Danny Stanley in Gold Coast's debut season, since 1972 (Doolan & Kekovitch, 19 each for North, in a 1-win season)
    Lowest season score (190.196,1336) by any non-debut team in the 22-game era. Including defunct Fitzroy and Brisbane Bears.
    I really didn't want that last one to be true. Got to thank GWS for having one season lower, I guess.

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  5. Life would be boring if I wasn't a demon supporter.

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  6. WOW. JUST WOW.
    But I will never give up on this club.
    It has to turn, eventually........... Doesn't it?
    Let the good times roll.

    Carn the Dee's

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  7. Oi mate fuggen watz dis???? I didnt do halffa what yer sayin... wanna fight about it?

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  8. I'm not old enough to remember Garry Lyons playing career, for me he will always be the outspoken, under-performing, fence-leaning, friend hiring piece of turd that was instrumental in putting our club in its current condition.

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    1. G Lyon a behind the scenes lurker, corridor whisperer, too scared to stand up and take on official roles for the Dees. Talked J Stynes to president, part of committee that appointed Neeld. Trying to be the godfather but would be better washing dishes.

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    2. Why would G Lyon, self proclaimed superstar club legend and media juggernaut want to jump on the heaving lepper ship that is the MFC?

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    3. Media tarts step aside, the ship will be righted by PJackson.forget P Roos, the gun recruit is Peter Jackson.come on Dees!

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  9. Bennell looks like Wirrapanda at the Eagles

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  10. Draft James Sellar ahead of Alex Woodward and Lachie Neale on Neil Craig's recommendation despite not interviewing him or testing him.

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  11. 2007 and 2008 list the exact same 'achievement' - '7th straight year of season of losing every game at Football Park'

    Not sure whether 2007 is meant to be 6th straight year or 2008 is 8th (meaning the other ones all get an extra years boost).


    Good read from a non Melbourne supporter, hopefully things will eventually turn around for you guys!

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    Replies
    1. Duly noted and updated (the first one should have been 6th). Thanks kind anonymous stranger.

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  12. - Pedant's Corner notes that Blease/Strauss were drafted in '08 rather than '09. As for the '09 set, it's particularly pertinent this week to note that Scully, Trengove, Gysberts & Tapscott were all taken before Nat Fyfe.

    a few more:

    - Lucas Cook given heritage number

    - Bluey's Curse - Bruce ('08) Davey ('09) Green ('10) Moloney ('11) all back up their B & F wins with career-derailing form slumps the following year

    - Mass panic among Demon fans that Davey will depart at the end of '09. Elation when he signs fat new 4-year deal. Scarcely fires a shot in said 4 years.

    - Embarrassing, unrequited overtures to Luke Ball from senior players on MFC website. Ball chooses to take his chances in the National Draft

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for that, will update that line about the draft. The more pedantry the better.

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  13. No mention of the Cale Morton Queen's Birthday Kick, 2012

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  14. Neeld forcing Jurrah to perform punching bag training despite protestations of severe pain.

    Later found to be steel pin from previous wrist injury hitting a nerve

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  15. What about the member's-pack-fading-stickers debacle of 2010? How did we survive that?

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  16. You forget to mention the night you got changeroom passes after a rare win, but missed the excitement of singing the theme song in the rooms, due to your tardiness getting down the lift !!! ;)

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  17. Just sounds like a whiney demon flog.

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    Replies
    1. "Flog" - the mating call of the retarded footy fan.

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  22. How about a 2015 update? there's still plenty of material

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  23. Dees are finally premiers after all the pain and heartbreak. Fair to say we have earned this one :)

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Crack the sads here... (to keep out nuffies, comments will show after approval by the Demonblog ARC)