page_title: Melbourne Football Club
section_title: 2008: Birthday celebrations and financial crisis
hierarchical_section_title: Melbourne Football Club / History / 2008: Birthday celebrations and financial crisis
caption_attribution_description: English: David Neitz, Australian rules footballer
context_page_description: The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club, playing in the Australian Football League. It is named after and based in Melbourne, Victoria, and plays its home games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
  Melbourne is the world's oldest professional club of any football code. The club's origins can be traced to an 1858 letter in which Tom Wills, captain of the Victoria cricket team, calls for the formation of a "foot-ball club" with its own "code of laws". An informal Melbourne team played that winter and was officially formed in May 1859 when Wills and three other members codified "The Rules of the Melbourne Football Club"—the basis of Australian rules football. The club was a dominant force in the early years of Australian rules football competition, and was also a foundation member of the Victorian Football Association in 1877 and the Victorian Football League in 1896, which later became the national Australian Football League. Melbourne has won 12 VFL/AFL premierships, the latest in 1964. Melbourne was a foundation team of the AFL Women's league, entering the competition in the inaugural year 2017.
context_section_description: Off field, the club remained in serious turmoil. In the first sign of troubles in February 2008, CEO Steve Harris resigned. Paul Gardner addressed the media in response to comments from the club's auditors spelling disaster for the club. Gardner reiterated that the club had posted a $97,000 profit at the end of 2007. Harris was replaced by the high-profile former Wimbledon tennis champion Paul McNamee. Despite celebrating the club's birthday with an official mid-season function at Crown Casino, shortly afterward chairman Paul Gardner resigned, handing the presidency to former club champion Jim Stynes who inherited a $4.5 million debt, which media pundits suggested would cripple the club. Hawthorn's president Jeff Kennett caused controversy with remarks about relocating the Demons to the Gold Coast, something which Stynes spoke against. AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou dispelled the notion that the club's future was in doubt, but admitted that Stynes' board faced a huge challenge. Demons legend, games and goal kicking record holder, David Neitz, announced his immediate retirement due to injury on 19 May.
  Stynes wasted no time attempting to change the club's direction and eliminate debt, introducing a drive called "Debt Demolition", beginning with a call for members to sign-up. Under Stynes' direction, the new board sacked Paul McNamee after just four months. During McNamee's tenure, he had drawn criticisms for holidaying in Wimbledon to compete in a legends match and after his sacking an attempt to lure Brisbane Lions star Jonathan Brown was also revealed. A 5 August fundraiser raised $1.3 million. The club raised well over $3 million. Despite the reduced debt, in November new club CEO Cameron Schwab declared that it required urgent AFL assistance to continue, requesting additional funding to its special annual distribution. In December, a fallout in negotiations between the Melbourne Cricket Club resulted in the MCC not committing an expected $2 million to the club and Schwab declared that the club's immediate future was in doubt.
  This doubt was quickly put to bed when the AFL and MCC finalised negotiations. The AFL committed $1 million to the club in 2009, with the MCC matching the AFL contribution.
caption: David Neitz retired as the club's games and goals record holder, along with being the longest serving captain
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