New Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon, right, with departing president David Smorgon. Picture: Stuart Walmsley. Source: Herald Sun
RETURNING Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon will dig deep into his own pocket to boost the club's flagging football department budget.
The Dogs spent about $15.5 million on players, coaches and support services this season - one of the lowest amounts in the AFL.
But Gordon yesterday revealed "substantial" cash donations had already been pledged to kick-start his second coming at Whitten Oval.
"I have already had talks with some of the long-time, high net-worth supporters of the Bulldogs," Gordon told the Herald Sun.
"I have been excited by those talks ... and I believe that we will be in a position to raise substantial funds.
"We have a great young list, we have the opportunity to draft some of the best quality in the country and we have the best developmental coach in the AFL.
"But however you want to spin it, there is a very direct relationship between the amount of money you've got to invest and the number of premiership points you win. We need to accept that reality."
Another reality is the club's mountain of debt, put by Gordon yesterday at $10.5 million.
Gordon, 55, said plans for new revenue streams would be unveiled in the coming months.
Outgoing president David Smorgon, who will step aside at the club's annual meeting on December 20, told the Herald Sun the plan to bring back Gordon was hatched during lunch at South Melbourne's Centro restaurant in August.
Over a bottle of pinot and grilled flathead tails, the pair discussed the class-action lawyer's interest in returning to help out at the club he left in 1996.
"This was a lunch where Peter came with an idea to find out what my intentions were and where my head was at," Smorgon said.
"And I was sitting there while he was talking, thinking to myself that this guy might be the successor because there's a twinkle in the eye about the Bulldogs and the role.
"We followed that up a few weeks later when Peter hosted my wife Kathy and I to a very nice dinner. There was an even better bottle of red on that occasion, so I knew he was warming up."
On Monday the pair went to AFL House in the Docklands to discuss the succession plan with league supremos Mike Fitzpatrick, Andrew Demetriou and Gillon McLachlan.
They walked away convinced the time was right, but Smorgon said he did not decide to hand over the baton until 11am on Tuesday, before the club's monthly board meeting.
Gordon, too, had spent several weeks poring over the club's finances and action plans.
The pair addressed the staff at Whitten Oval yesterday, but the official handover will not take place until the annual meeting, where director Susan Alberti will be installed as Gordon's deputy.
Smorgon, 65, said the highlight of his 17 years in the top job was the building of new facilities at Whitten Oval.
He nominated the five lost preliminary finals as the low.
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