The Lexu$ Centre, has it enriched the club?

[Joel]

You may find that there is little co-branding as they want it to seem less Collingwood oriented. I think you'll find that Collingwood runs that website though.

[JBJ]

I totally agree with Clement when he says -

"No one is doubting the good things around the club. They are just asking for a decent meal and a good place to come to when they visit the Lexus Centre.
It is not just me but the wealth of opinion of fellow Collingwood members and supporters on this site.
The quality of the social areas at Victoria Park has not been replicated at the Lexus Taj Mahal and this is a big issue for a number of the people you call friends.
We talk about go forward but the only area that we, as a club, have gone backwards is looking after social club members and people generally visiting the Lexus Centre. "

My "wants" (being a long time Social Club Member) is just that, a Social Club. A place just for the members and their Magpie guests....somewhere to get a decent meal (not pies and sandwiches)...somewhere to watch training without having to pay $10 to park......somewhere to drop in and buy a footy jumper etc. without having to pay $10 to park...ooops, wrong size, have to go back and change it...oh yeah, another $10 for parking...somewhere where you get a smile and a greeting when you go to reception.......somewhere that's just OURS ALONE.....every other club has one, why hasn't Collingwood?

If it weren't for the above restrictions the Collingwood faithful would be more inclined to attend Lexus Centre.

Buying pubs out in Diamond Creek, Brighton (now there's a division) etc. mean nothing to Social Club Members. Anyone can go there - they are all treated the same....We want, NO, WE (the Social Club Members) NEED a Collingwood Social Club. Not a Social Club at the G just on game days but a Social Club we can use every day.

Eddie, when you were selling us the plans for Lexus you told us that there would be plenty of parking (we assumed you meant free...ha). You also promised the Cheer Squad an area of their own...to store gear and to have meetings...were these just politician promises???

The players and staff have great facilities, and so they should, but the Members have been forgotten.

[cobood]

Hear! Hear! JBJ....

[eddiesmith]

Who pays for parking if just visiting the shop? Plenty of free parking outside or across the road

[Northern Pie]

We had a thread recently that was put up by Tess as requested by Eddie himself. So as far as I can tell he takes opinions on this and other Pies BB's pretty seriously. Lexus is a great venue, I agree it is a little soul less but it certainly hasn't got anywhere near the tradition that Vic Park has and probably never will. Me personally I would like to see some sort of development on the Training track that is in the same area? wasn't there talk of that recently? A top class Social Club Facility underneath a Covered Stand, some parking for members much like an RSL or dare I say it something similar to what they have up in QLD for the Rugby League clubs, maybe even a duplication of a covered Terraced Stand @ Vic Park down the wing with the names of some more current Collingwood hero's on top, I dunno but if that can be developed I think that we will certainly build a great new home around the Lexus centre itself, which has to be the best training and administration facility of any Melbourne AFL club.

Cheers

[RudeBoy]

Sorry to spoil the party, but a reality check is needed on this topic folks. Let me preface my remarks by stating that I'm one of the old bastards on Nicks, and I can recall fond memories of playing snooker with my Pop on the big billiards tables at the Vic Park social club in the late 1960s. It was wonderful. However, let's face it, the food at the old social club was very bloody ordinary. Don't romanticise everything out of proportion.

Also, as great as the old social club was - and I was one of those who opposed leaving Vic Park in the early 90s - it was only ever used by a thousand at the most hard core members. The vast bulk of Collingwood members and supporters never used the social club facilities back then, and they don't use them now. While it would of course be great if we could have some decent social club facilities to celebrate our victories in together, I think the club has made the right decision in putting its resources into building the best damn facilities for our players, so that we can win Premierships. hopefully in the near future we can begin to plan to create some better members facilities, but right now our focus should be on doing what will bring us a Premiership or three.

[Slayer]

cam interesting story .... the point ?
I assume your new car doesnt shut down 2 weeks a year for the tennis, or make you walk a block to use it, or run out of petrol (food) - when it shouldnt (lunchtime).
If your new car didnt have seats or a hard top (compare to seating and a cover for our training track) - well then id suggest your new car was a bit of a lemon compared to your old one

nick Appleby - i have no idea who clement (the poster) is - soi cant talkon his behalf. but im guessing what he meant was while u r free to enjoy your choice of eateries, other people are free to choose theirs. We HAD a social club, and someof us CHOSE to use it, now we have sfa. This was never given to us as an option. It was just taken from us.

other clubs have 'traditional' setups - training ground, stadium and social club facilities. our best of breed, world leading, only the best for collingwood - has given us the members zip. And Hell yes its embarassing we dont even have our logo on the front of it.

For all the pro sentiment - not one example of a collingwood communication confirming that indeed there will be light at the end of the tunnel - that better facilities - at lexus forus members - are on the way.

Supposedly club employees read this site - and yet .. yes ...more deafening silence.

I can picture gremlins inside the walls of lexus, laughing at the 'new age' supporter willing to let the club treat em like sh*t.

BTW i feel touched el presidente decided we should wear an away strip aganist Carlton because HE didnt ever want to play carlton in anything else besides their navy blue.........
erm excuse me ?
i dont give a rats wot Carlton wears - i expect us to wear our traditional colors, why do we care about carlton wearing navy blue ?
He even has gone as far as to say he'd allow us to wear our away strip at OUR home game against Carlton - just so they could wear their navy blue.

sighs ......

[Clement]

There is no reason we can't have a focus on winning Premierships (football department) and getting a good social club at Lexus (Facilities Dept). Guess what Rude Boy, we are that big, we have more than one department.

This isn't a competition b/w Vic Park and Lexus. This is about making the Lexus as good and big as it possibly can be, for the social club members who OWN the Collingwood football club.

We were promised a Taj Mahal and at the moment we have a Taj Cafe de Wheels.

[RudeBoy]

[Morrigu]

I (as I am sure did many others) spent many a good night after a game at the SC @ Viccy Park

Would drive there to buy stuff from the shop as it wasn't that hard to get a park nearby

Would often meet friends and have lunch there whilst gazing out the window at just the ground and stands or at times the boys training

Enjoyed wandering around just gazing at the incredible history on display

Enjoyed many an afternoon siitting in the stands watching the lads train

Been to Lexus post game once - pass - never again

Been there for lunch twice - once no admission - due to a private function on (even though we rang before to check this before going) and the second time - well what a shame there wasn't a private function on

Facilities for the staff and players are by all accounts fantastic that's good

Facilities for members/supporters even if you just want to watch training are absolute crap IMO

But that's life and progress I suppose

[Clement]

Progress, it doesn't have to be backwards. Sometimes Progress takes you forward. For all the propoganda that Eddie M spouts at every chance he gets, the one thing he is missed is that the Collingwood football clan is a wandering bunch of minstrels without a home worth coming back to. We talk about using Manchester United as a comparision but we treat our supporters like a non-league club.

It would be amazing how many people would come to the social club if it was a fantastic facility. A lot of Collingwood people just don't bother and as it said, it would be interesting to see if we ever won a Grand Final where we would ever go.

A lot of money was made post 1990 GF day as Vic Park became the Mecca of Melbourne. Could the Lexus hold the type of intensity that was seen after that great day in October 1990??

[Joel]

To be perfectly honest, I don't give a rats what Lexus is about, or what should be improved. All I want is a premiership.

Why spend hundreds of thousands on this, when we could spend hundreds of thousands trying to find the next Martyn Clarke?

[joffa corfe]

[Piepark]

Glad all those world class, first rate, super modern facilities got the boys winning tonight. Part of the reason why Lexus Centre is so good for player development.

[Clement]