Axe Man
03-08-2018, 06:37 PM
Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon to stay on for three more years (https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/western-bulldogs/western-bulldogs-president-peter-gordon-to-stay-on-for-three-more-years/news-story/8f80bc8f95e7c2e3c0b04cc94be7f952)
https://s8.postimg.cc/s5omc0xkl/image.jpg (https://postimages.org/)
PETER Gordon will remain president of the Western Bulldogs for at least another three years.
It will extend his reign at the Bulldogs across two stints — from 1990-96 and 2012-21 — to 17 years.
Gordon conceded retirement was an option in the wake of the 2016 premiership win, but he was confident in overseeing an improvement in on-field performance.
“I’ve recently agreed to a request from the board to be reappointed for three years,’’ Gordon told he Herald Sun.
“There was a request 12 months ago from board, staff and a number of important external stakeholders and I’m really happy with my decision.
“I didn’t anticipate we’d struggle quite as much as we have on the field this year, but I’m confident we can turn that around in the short term because we have the right people.
“The other priority is the off-field, in particular the Whitten Oval redevelopment and Ballarat.’’
Last Sunday’s Ballarat game, which the Bulldogs lost to Port Adelaide on a cold day in fading light, was a poor experience, Gordon said.
He said the AFL did not let down the club by scheduling a late afternoon start.
“I don’t believe that,’’ he said. “I will say I have no stronger supporter than Gillon McLachlan (AFL CEO) in respect to the Ballarat concept.
“Having said that, I reckon our fans are entitled to a much better match-day experience on and off the field than what we gave them on the weekend.
“I’m terribly disappointed in my own performance and our club’s in relation to that.’’
The Bulldogs will continue to play games at their developing second home venue but “we won’t put our fans through that experience again’’.
Despite disappointing on-field results in the 2017 and 2018 seasons — this year they are 14th with a 5-13 win/loss record — they are set to record a fourth consecutive $1 million-plus profit.
The debt, which at one stage was in the $12 million-$13 million range and seemingly insurmountable, has also been eradicated.
“We’ve never been in a stronger financial position … and in addition to that, we’ve made some historic agreements with the state government that will improve our balance sheet by tens of millions of dollars,’’ he said. “That’s a better position the club has ever been in.’’
A determined Gordon, who this week sat down with the Herald Sun for an extensive interview, denied the club and its staff had “drank its own bath water’’ after the cataclysmic success of 2016, which was the club’s second only premiership.
“It’s nonsense. Everyone was doing the best they could,’’ he said.
“Not everyone was coping with it the right way and some people left (the club).
“But my obligation … my choice … I feel I could leave the Bulldogs now and feel I would be entitled to say I did a pretty fair job over a long period of time in difficult circumstances and achieved a lot of good things.
“But it’s my choice to stay there to make sure we capitalise on the gains as we best we can.
“Have we had setbacks? Yeah, you bet we have. I wish we had done better on the field, but I’m confident we will.’’
He said in coming years he will work on a succession plan and continue to strengthen the club’s AFLW and VFLW teams, its next generation academy and the indigenous academy in Ballarat.
https://s8.postimg.cc/s5omc0xkl/image.jpg (https://postimages.org/)
PETER Gordon will remain president of the Western Bulldogs for at least another three years.
It will extend his reign at the Bulldogs across two stints — from 1990-96 and 2012-21 — to 17 years.
Gordon conceded retirement was an option in the wake of the 2016 premiership win, but he was confident in overseeing an improvement in on-field performance.
“I’ve recently agreed to a request from the board to be reappointed for three years,’’ Gordon told he Herald Sun.
“There was a request 12 months ago from board, staff and a number of important external stakeholders and I’m really happy with my decision.
“I didn’t anticipate we’d struggle quite as much as we have on the field this year, but I’m confident we can turn that around in the short term because we have the right people.
“The other priority is the off-field, in particular the Whitten Oval redevelopment and Ballarat.’’
Last Sunday’s Ballarat game, which the Bulldogs lost to Port Adelaide on a cold day in fading light, was a poor experience, Gordon said.
He said the AFL did not let down the club by scheduling a late afternoon start.
“I don’t believe that,’’ he said. “I will say I have no stronger supporter than Gillon McLachlan (AFL CEO) in respect to the Ballarat concept.
“Having said that, I reckon our fans are entitled to a much better match-day experience on and off the field than what we gave them on the weekend.
“I’m terribly disappointed in my own performance and our club’s in relation to that.’’
The Bulldogs will continue to play games at their developing second home venue but “we won’t put our fans through that experience again’’.
Despite disappointing on-field results in the 2017 and 2018 seasons — this year they are 14th with a 5-13 win/loss record — they are set to record a fourth consecutive $1 million-plus profit.
The debt, which at one stage was in the $12 million-$13 million range and seemingly insurmountable, has also been eradicated.
“We’ve never been in a stronger financial position … and in addition to that, we’ve made some historic agreements with the state government that will improve our balance sheet by tens of millions of dollars,’’ he said. “That’s a better position the club has ever been in.’’
A determined Gordon, who this week sat down with the Herald Sun for an extensive interview, denied the club and its staff had “drank its own bath water’’ after the cataclysmic success of 2016, which was the club’s second only premiership.
“It’s nonsense. Everyone was doing the best they could,’’ he said.
“Not everyone was coping with it the right way and some people left (the club).
“But my obligation … my choice … I feel I could leave the Bulldogs now and feel I would be entitled to say I did a pretty fair job over a long period of time in difficult circumstances and achieved a lot of good things.
“But it’s my choice to stay there to make sure we capitalise on the gains as we best we can.
“Have we had setbacks? Yeah, you bet we have. I wish we had done better on the field, but I’m confident we will.’’
He said in coming years he will work on a succession plan and continue to strengthen the club’s AFLW and VFLW teams, its next generation academy and the indigenous academy in Ballarat.