Aldi our new sponsor? A perfect fit.

[GregPackhamsHeadband]

So another season of promise finishes in abject disappointment. Saints' supporters are the Charlie Browns of the competition and the club is Lucy Van Pelt. Every year in the preseason, we are persuaded that this is going to be our year. Every year, Charlie Brown was convinced he was finally going to place kick the football out of sight for the first time. Every year, Lucy Van Pelt, offers to hold the ball for him. Every year, just as he's about to kick it, she pulls it away at the last second, sending Charlie Brown crashing to the ground, crushed by disappointment. Yet every year he comes back for more, hoping for the best, but fearing the worst. A Sisyphean task that involves endless effort, without reward. Is this sounding familiar?

So here's my strategy. It's time to adjust our expectations and align them with reality. We pretty much deserve to be where we are, about 11-12th. That's a harsh reality. Our list is no better than that. Our coaching and administration is no better. The results of the last two years confirm it. We have no current champions, once Roo goes. It's hard to see where the next really special player is coming from. We need a miracle from within. As per usual, our officials are preparing us for disappointment next year. Matt Finnis was quoted as saying we need two 800K per year players, rather than one 1.5 M player. In other words, forget about Martin and Kelly, we're looking at cheaper alternatives. Typically mediocre thinking and strategy. We have a history of going for what we can afford, rather than what we need.

In keeping with this, I'm pitching to Aldi to be our next major sponsor. Like us, their products are ok, they represent reasonable value for money, offer a no frills facility without any ambition to be elite, or anything special in the market. Sound value for cheap and average standard products is the strategy. The punters keep coming, convincing themselves they are getting a bargain, when in fact they are being dished up a limited range of adequate products. Good sometimes, mediocre at most, terrible at other times. As a sometime Aldi shopper, I go there for cheap, reasonable quality staples such as toilet paper, flour, sugar, milk, deodorant etc. When it comes to the stuff that really matters, fresh fruit and veg, meat and domestic materials that need to last, I go elsewhere. Aldi is rarely top of mind for the shopper who is seeking high quality and variety. It serves its purpose well and has found its niche.

We are the Aldi of the competition. Mediocre, average and doomed to never be a high quality, elite member of the market. Sometimes, you find a serious bargain, a surprise that really delivers, much like finding a Chanel dress in an opp. shop. Most of the time, though, we're average and represent some value, just enough to keep the punters interested and coming back. We overrate our players, coach and administration, in the vain hope that of we believe enough, the ultimate will materialise. It is a fool's errand while we have just 40,000 members, limited sponsorship and facilities and most importantly, limited thinking and strategies.

So, I believe Aldi is the perfect fit for us. We are everything they are and what we stand for. Fierce brand loyalty despite lack of quality, an important player in the market, if only to keep the elite honest. Making up the numbers. If Aldi knocks us back, we could always try NQR (Not Quite Right). Don't get me started on the marketing "synergy" of that move!

[stevie]

Nothing wrong with the meat, fruit and veg, cheese etc from my Aldi

[ralphsmith]

The vegetables are pretty dire, so is the fruit.

[GregPackhamsHeadband]

Are we dire?

[thejiggingsaint]

New sponsor? " medicinal compound R us " ( dot com) discuss!

[St Lenny]

St Kilda dire, we are sh..

[Waltzing St Kilda]

Do you really buy Chanel dresses, WW?

[Waltzing St Kilda]

But you're right.

The first St Kilda team since -- when? the 1940s? - to field not one superstar.

A coach who's as inspiring as a wet weekend at Rye.

A recruiting staff who'd be better off being replaced by a kid taking notes from the phantom drafts.

A "development staff" with about as much to show for their effort as a mountain climber who's conquered the You Yangs.

An administration that seems mighty chuffed with not much at all.

[thejiggingsaint]

But you're right.

The first St Kilda team since -- when? the 1940s? - to field not one superstar.

A coach who's as inspiring as a wet weekend at Rye.

A recruiting staff who'd be better off being replaced by a kid taking notes from the phantom drafts.

A "development staff" with about as much to show for their effort as a mountain climber who's conquered the You Yangs.

An administration that seems mighty chuffed with not much at all.

Medicinal compound, colleague?

[evertonfc]

The first St Kilda team since -- when? the 1940s? - to field not one superstar.

Riewoldt
Harvey
Lockett
Barker
Neale
Baldock
Howell
Roberts
Bray
Mohr
(bit of a gap to Eicke and McNamara)

[The OtherThommo]

The first St Kilda team since -- when? the 1940s? - to field not one superstar.

Riewoldt
Harvey
Lockett
Barker
Neale
Baldock
Howell
Roberts
Bray
Mohr
(bit of a gap to Eicke and McNamara)

I reckon the Waltzer might have meant TODAY!

[GregPackhamsHeadband]

Do you really buy Chanel dresses, WW?

Only when I'm identifying as a female. Just one of my many personas. I was James McEvoy's body double in the movie, Split.