Dear Member

Phew! Now that was a close one!

Boy, am I relieved. That could have worked out really badly for me.

Who would have thought that not being across what goes on in the club I allegedly manage would become a positive?

Can you believe it? My defence of, ‘I didn’t know what was going on’ actually worked! Ha ha!

Those suckers Bailey and Connolly really took the fall for this one but not me.

This is the second time Bailey and Connolly have copped it in the neck while I skate on through, like a CEO version of Stephen Bradbury.

The AFL didn’t even find us guilty of tanking. I guess that’s fair enough, given its not really a thing and they set up the incentives for doing it.

What the decision really means is that if you tank, do it quietly and don’t get caught.

Now that we can leave the tanking issue behind, we can get back to my beloved five-year plan: ‘The Red and Blue print’.

Since launching it in 2008, it’s been nothing but a success.

Our record has been 27-81 and we’ve attracted and lost great talent like Tom Scully.

As a member, you would also have witnessed some of the worst performances by an AFL/VFL side ever. Who could forget the 186-point belting by Geelong! That’s the second biggest defeat in history.

We then hired a new coach who basically admitted the previous coach had omitted any sort of fitness regime and that it would take two or three years just to get the team up to AFL standard.

Mark Neeld has been great and he will have the same level of support I provided Bailey and my old mate Connolly.

The thing I’m most proud of is we demolished our debt, although the $500,000 fine won’t help. The fact it was actually the members who put that money in doesn’t mean I can’t take a lot of the credit.

Sure it was Jim who spear headed it and all but I happened to be at a few of the meetings.

The good news for you as a member is that the Red and Blue print is a catchy title and it sounds like we really have a plan.

Those suckers on the Board still think it’s a real plan. My guess is they only look at the pictures.

Let’s face it, we probably have only four or five more years of being out of the eight before we start to really make a push for the finals.

And look at some of the great things that have happened recently. Scully leaving gave us some great priority picks. I mean, the fact I couldn’t keep him around actually worked out for me!

Then I really caught a break with GWS and Gold Coast passing on Jack Viney. This was all blind luck really, not in the plan at all.

Still, I can point to all the great kids we now have at the club, a club that’s been so good at bringing in high draft picks and developing them into the sort of players you have trouble remembering in a couple of years.

Look at the great job we’ve done with Tom Scully, Jordan Gysberts, Cale Morton and Lucas Cook.

Anyway, the decision yesterday is a great one for the club. There’s a real chance I will get to hang around a bit longer.

I look forward to bringing you first class mismanagement and poor choices and I appreciate the general apathy you have towards me.

Imagine if I tried to pull this nonsense at Collingwood or Richmond! They’d have burnt down my house!

Regards

Cameron Schwab

Melbourne Football Club CEO