Here it is CM:
Die-hard Port Adelaide fan 'Chewy316' on BigFooty, has shared the email he sent to Port Adelaide CEO Matthew Richardson after Saturday night's embarrassing loss to the Western Bulldogs.
"Dear Mr. Richardson,
I have been a Port Adelaide supporter since 2001 (I was 9 years old). In the last 20 years I have been a member for over 15 of them including every year since 2013. I lived in Melbourne from 2013 until 2019 but it didn’t stop me buying a full 11 game membership for my family of 3, and I personally would travel from Melbourne to Adelaide for at least 80% of our home games during that period.
I was also there on Saturday night witnessing the debacle at Adelaide Oval.
Our president this morning on FiveAA suggested that Saturday night’s game was an aberration. Was it really? Since 2017 when has this team actually produced consistently high performances against a top 4 opponent? In that time we are 3 wins and 19 losses against top 4 teams - 3rd worst record in the league. Until this team can consistently produce high level performances against the top teams in the competition, the thought of winning a premiership is laughable.
Our senior coach has consistently said all season that we should not be judged on what we do in June or July, but we should be judged by what we do in finals. He said at the start of the year that we were “ready” to go all the way this year. You yourself set out an ambitious goal at the start of your tenure - 3 flags in the next 5 seasons. I applauded it at the time and I still do. It is the type of lofty goals that should be set for a club that solely exists to win premierships. Yet with one season down that goal is now 3 flags in the next 4 seasons. An ambitious goal, yes. Realistic - possibly. But this morning our president said on the radio that we’re a young team and we are still building. The mixed messaging after the fact in an attempt to pacify the supporters is quite frankly a disgrace.
In the last 9 years we have seen our footy department become fully funded. We have turned over the assistant coaching roster - and on many occasions our senior coach has labelled our coaching assistants as the best in the league. We have acquired many players who were supposedly the “missing piece” of the puzzle - Ryder, Dixon, Rockliff, Motlop, Watts, Lycett etc. We’ve also done multiple rebuilds during this time - first at the start of 2013 and again at the end of 2018. As it stands right now, it can be argued that our playing list is as good as any in the league. This might be a team who can still improve through its young development, but the club touted them as a team ready to win this season, which they haven’t, and now the president is seeking damage control without even apologising to the supporter base. The only stone this club hasn’t turned over during this period in an attempt to improve the team is change the senior coach.
If our senior coach stays in charge for 2022, half way through the year he will hold the record for most games coached by an individual at one club without making the grand final. For a club that supposedly exists to win premierships, having that record associated with us is an embarrassment. Nothing about that embodies what the club is about - nor does it make out community proud.
There are some extremely accomplished young coaches available - and some experienced heads, including the most successful coach in the history of the modern game (Alistair Clarkson).
Having been asked to be judged on finals, it is fair to say that the team has not only gone backwards compared to last year’s performance, but they produced a performance on Saturday night that wasn’t too dissimilar to the rubbish we saw when the club was on its knees in the early 2010s at Footy Park.
From 1999 through 2001 inclusive, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were considered an elite team that should have gone to the Super Bowl. They made the playoffs three straight years but were underwhelming in the playoffs. At the end of the 2001 season having done everything they could otherwise to win, they realised they needed a change. They dismissed their head coach and traded for the best young coach in the league at the time, Jon Gruden. In Gruden’s first season as the Buccaneers’ head coach they won the Super Bowl.
Fortune favours the brave - and it is time our club be brave and make some hard decisions - not for the betterment of the people involved, but for the betterment of the club.
I look forward to hearing from you."
Now that's a Review.
