Preston Makedonia Football Club

[Bill77]

I am not sure if that's correct Bill, how can they own the club when it was established by the Macedonian community?

Well clubs are formed by communities, if you play socially in a non league comp, the community or who ever formed the club has total ownership. But once you enter a league, you sign away your sovereignty and are dictated to. Gate takings, owner ship of brand goes to those authorities. The club committees are only made to feel like they are in charge. (sounds like the EU and its member nations) And they can only dance to the Federations tune.

Preston Makedonia is in so much debt because. History of fines (majority unfairly handed), Fees to play in such leagues, Corruption with in the club, Past Committee's pillaging. So the community and club suffers.

[Soldier of Macedon]

But once you enter a league, you sign away your sovereignty and are dictated to. Gate takings, owner ship of brand goes to those authorities. The club committees are only made to feel like they are in charge.

Bill, do you have anything you can refer me to, like an official website or document on how all of the above works? I am not necessarily disputing what you're saying, but at the moment it doesn't make much sense to me.

[Bill77]

I will chase something up for you SOM.

[Soldier of Macedon]

Thanks mate, I would really like to be able to pinpoint how and when the club was mismanaged after its amazing success from some time ago. This club served as a uniting force for all Macedonians in Victoria, and in particular helped in facilitating the relations between Macedonians from Belomorsko and those from the republic.

[CrazyMKD]

I am not sure if that's correct Bill, how can they own the club when it was established by the Macedonian community?

In short answer no one owns it, there are directors appointed for taxation purposes and is registered as a company. The directors are appointed by the Life and General members and can voted in or out at Annual General Meetings.

On another note, the club has been left in this unfortunate situation due to many years mismanagement by previous committee members.

The current blokes on board have tried to do some drastic changes in the last 2 years to save the club but have failed due to lack of support from the business and general community.
It sad to see the club in its current situation seems like people lost interest and did not back up the current young committee. Instead some so called businessman even went behind their back to sabotage the new sponsorship deals so they themselves can get back into the committee and run the club to launder money for their businesses.

[CrazyMKD]

Thanks mate, I would really like to be able to pinpoint how and when the club was mismanaged after its amazing success from some time ago. This club served as a uniting force for all Macedonians in Victoria, and in particular helped in facilitating the relations between Macedonians from Belomorsko and those from the republic.

You cannot pinpoint at one reason, there are few i can think of:
1. Lack of unity in our community (churches)
2. The same people running the club for many years (no interest from the younger generation until a year ago)
3. Removing the ethnicity from clubs by the FFV and fines for flags and supporters in the last 10 years have also contributed to it
4. The biggest problem that contributed to the fall of Preston is the introduction of majority Vardarci at committee level , once this happened the Belomorci stopped financing the club and here we are today 20 years later with a $150k debt and facing bankruptcy.

Is there a way out? No, if we don’t pay the tax debt. No one wants to help or be involved with the club, people are too selfish and wait on others to do something about it. To top it off you have people like Stefo Gejorgievski and the AMW newspaper adding fuel to the fire by publishing stories and bagging the young president Pece and discouraging others to help.

[Soldier of Macedon]

CrazyMKD, thanks for the response and information.

In short answer no one owns it, there are directors appointed for taxation purposes and is registered as a company. The directors are appointed by the Life and General members and can voted in or out at Annual General Meetings.

Is there a constitution and org. chart that can be referred to so we can see how the set up of the committee and directors is actually structured?

The current blokes on board have tried to do some drastic changes in the last 2 years to save the club but have failed due to lack of support from the business and general community.

To be honest, I don't know much about the current group who are running things now. I recall that there was some discontent with them too, but that may be just misguided criticism by people that are upset with the current status of the club. Can you cite some of the changes that they have made for the purpose of improving the predicament in which the club finds itself in?

It sad to see the club in its current situation seems like people lost interest and did not back up the current young committee.

I think the lack of interest also has to do with the lack of promotion and marketing. Perhaps in the past it was enough to know it was a Macedonian club for one to be inspired to attend matches and provide their support, but today things are different, and I don't think it is being 'sold' to the public as well as it can be.

4. The biggest problem that contributed to the fall of Preston is the introduction of majority Vardarci at committee level , once this happened the Belomorci stopped financing the club and here we are today 20 years later with a $150k debt and facing bankruptcy.

I generally agree, although the above statement also needs to be elaborated on. It shouldn't matter which part of Macedonia one comes from, what counts is who has the best interest of the club at heart. If they all followed the same principles and guidelines, it wouldn't matter.

To top it off you have people like Stefo Gejorgievski and the AMW newspaper adding fuel to the fire by publishing stories and bagging the young president Pece and discouraging others to help.

Can you refer us to an example, like an article in the AMW where he has discouraged people to help the club? Why is Pece receiving this criticism?

One of my concerns was the fact that there were people in the social club trying to promote the diaspora organisation relating to that moron Ljube Boskovski. Does that still go on?

[CrazyMKD]

CrazyMKD, thanks for the response and information.

Is there a constitution and org. chart that can be referred to so we can see how the set up of the committee and directors is actually structured?

To be honest, I don't know much about the current group who are running things now. I recall that there was some discontent with them too, but that may be just misguided criticism by people that are upset with the current status of the club. Can you cite some of the changes that they have made for the purpose of improving the predicament in which the club finds itself in?

I think the lack of interest also has to do with the lack of promotion and marketing. Perhaps in the past it was enough to know it was a Macedonian club for one to be inspired to attend matches and provide their support, but today things are different, and I don't think it is being 'sold' to the public as well as it can be.

I generally agree, although the above statement also needs to be elaborated on. It shouldn't matter which part of Macedonia one comes from, what counts is who has the best interest of the club at heart. If they all followed the same principles and guidelines, it wouldn't matter.

Can you refer us to an example, like an article in the AMW where he has discouraged people to help the club? Why is Pece receiving this criticism?

One of my concerns was the fact that there were people in the social club trying to promote the diaspora organisation relating to that moron Ljube Boskovski. Does that still go on?

The constitution is not online so i cannot refer you to it. You have directors appointed so the company can exist as a legal entity for taxation purposes and you have the football committee that runs the show. So usually when the committee changes the directors change and people from the football committee are appointed as directors.

Current group are all young professionals that took over a year ago with a plan to reform the club and start fresh. I personally know all of them but they lack business connection and deep pockets to run the club independent without the old generation. As soon as they were appointed some of the older lads saw this as a threat and started to back stab and sabotage all sponsorship deals including the major sponsor for this year.

Promotion and Marketing were the most important goals for this year, social media and e-newsletter were used to promote the club to the younger generation. Preston was also one of the first clubs in Victoria to introduce online payment and membership signup in order to drive membership numbers and this has worked very well.

One of the biggest problems this year was the major sponsors, they promised and agreed to a $50k deal but this deal was broken due to many negative things said in public about their involvement with the club and the rat from the committee that talked them out of the deal so later on he can be the business man that Stefo and AMW is talking about who will take on the presidency and run the club. THIS IS THE TRUTH THAT NOT MANY PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT IN OUR COMMUNITY.

The club needs to stem away from truck drivers and construction workers with 8th grade education as 'businessmen', who think they're presidency is leading the club in the right direction. This was done many times before and has not worked.

In regards to the AMW, stefo is the biggest pot stirrer when it come to the club, instead of helping out and encouraging the young lads he refers to them as "Deca, bez pojma za fudbal"! They have their reasons and don’t want to hand over the club to the new generation and for that reason have sabotaged everything so they can take over again at the end of the year.

Now its a matter of time before the club is wound up and locked up, its shame and sad but these sort of actions discourage anyone from getting involved and helping out. In summary its the same people year in year out that have been involved in the club and done fuk all. As soon as someone else takes over they unite and work against them so the new ones don’t succeed.

Also not sure about Ljube, but i can tell you many organisations use the social club as a meeting venu. Social Club on its own is another story as well, people making money from it but paying zero to the football club.

[CrazyMKD]

Some of the more important reasons why the club is where it is...


* Difficulty in attracting people with strong commercial and business acumen to assume leadership positions at the club;
* Very Limited professional skills at committee level;
* Lack of interest from supporters and members of the community wanting to contribute at committee level;
* Little or no volunteer support to assist committee members on match days and other administrative tasks;
* No working Social Club committee to run fund raising events and help supplement football club income;
* Year-on-year decreases in home game attendances due to results;
* Dramatic reduction in membership numbers over the past 5 years due to results;
* Dwindling sponsorship support from the community due to past mismanagement;
* Lack of community support for club fundraising initiatives;

[Risto the Great]

Is there a way out? No, if we don’t pay the tax debt.

Is it safe to assume the tax debt is valid?

On some of your other points raised, you seem to have a disdain for uneducated people (particularly the ones who used to run the club). Most of my wealthiest clients are not particularly well educated. I find it gives them a certain combination of advantages in the cut throat world we live in. I don't necessarily see the need for many professionals running a community sporting organisation.

The problems you describe are common to most community sporting organisations.

I sincerely hope the new directors have taken a director's insurance policy.

[CrazyMKD]

Is it safe to assume the tax debt is valid?

On some of your other points raised, you seem to have a disdain for uneducated people (particularly the ones who used to run the club). Most of my wealthiest clients are not particularly well educated. I find it gives them a certain combination of advantages in the cut throat world we live in. I don't necessarily see the need for many professionals running a community sporting organisation.

The problems you describe are common to most community sporting organisations.

I sincerely hope the new directors have taken a director's insurance policy.

Tax debt is valid and must be paid by the end of the year.

No disrespect to uneducated poeple, but obiviously if you had people with better Marketing and Finance skills on board past 10 years things could have been different now.

We live in a different world today to 20 years ago, hence the education is a major factor to running a sucessfull sports club. I dont see clubs succeeding without a proper marketing or financial plan today, gone are the days when people came to game to fight the greeks or chant Makedonia and dug deep in their pockets.

Today we have a different generation. We need to make this club a lot more friendlier to Families with young children and Women wanting to come along for an afternoon out watching the local game. There will be a time when pretence will be used when describing the current support of the club. The dads of yesterday won't be there tomorrow. A concrete marketing strategy aimed purely at the Macedonian Community needs to be achieved.

[Bill77]

gone are the days when people came to game to fight the greeks or chant Makedonia and dug deep in their pockets.

Its sad. Those were the good old days. An introduction to a kid in becoming a Patriot. Its where i learn't bravery, unity, passion, and awareness on how bad the Greek diaspora are. A case of Knowing thy enemy.......The Football was exiting aswell.

[dimi28495]

‪Preston Makedonia FC Goal Highlights‬‏ - YouTube
Back in the old NSL days

[Soldier of Macedon]

http://www.prestonlions.com/plfc/club_news_061.php

EURO 2008 Qualifying round: Croatia v Macedonia - LIVE at Preston Makedonia Social Club
Firday 16 March 2007
Watch the live action of the EURO 2008 qualifier between Macedonia and Croatia at the Preston Makedonia Social Club. The bar will be open and the kitchen will be serving breakfast as well.
Please bare in mind that day light savings finishes at 3:00am on the morning of the 25th of March and clocks will go from 3:00am back to 2:00am.

DATE: Sunday 25 March, 2007
TIME: 4:00am (Kick off is at 5.15am)
WHERE: Preston Makedonia Social Club, 231 Broadhurst Avenue, Reservoir, 3073
COST: $25 per person
TICKETS: Contact the Preston Makedonia Social Club on (03) 9469-4842 (or alternatively tickets will be available at the door).

Isn't there going to be some sort of a function at the social club next month? Does anybody know if things are improving there?

[Itze]

LEGENDS COME OUT TO PLAY FOR PRESTON LIONS FUNDRAISER GAME
Sunday 25th March 2012

The Preston Lions Football Club’s new Financial/Fundraising sub-committee will kick off its 2012 fundraising campaign with a Preston Legends Game to be held on Sunday the 25th of March. Past legends from the club’s National Soccer League (NSL) and Victorian Premier League (VPL) eras will come out in support of the club by stepping onto the field in the famous Preston Makedonia jersey one more time.

Those who have already confirmed as starters include a who’s who of Preston greats: Warren Spink, George Petrov, George Jolevski, Ljube Petrovski, Con Opasinis, Steve Smith, George Campbell, Graham Heys, Goran Lozanovski, Gerry McAleer, Bill Piculovski, Robert Spasevski, Robert Stojcevski, Zoran Trajceski, Spase Najdovski, Nick Cuculeski, John Angelovski, David Petkovski, Zlatko Ilievski, Nick Lazarevski, Ivan Filipovski, Tony Neceski, Steven Talevski and several more. And as hype builds and word begins to spread around, we expect many other past players to answer the call.

In a major coup for the event, former Macedonian National Team Coach and twice Preston coach, Andon Doncevski, will lead the Preston NSL Legends team as coach, and he will be assisted by former Preston coach from the mid 80s, Bill Murray.

Doncevski, himself a key member of the club’s new Financial/Fundraising sub-committee, said he couldn’t wait for the day to come.

"“It’s going to be a special feeling seeing all those familiar faces in the dressing room again and renewing friendships with all the boys that I had the pleasure of coaching. Some of my most memorable moments in football have been whilst coaching Preston and the club holds a very dear place in my heart. I hope that as many supporters as possible come out in support of the club on this day and I know that all of the past players will put on a fantastic show for the fans."

Former Preston Makedonia captain, George Petrov, is also looking forward to the thrill of lining up alongside his old team-mates again.

"As a kid growing up following Preston and then to play for the club during the glory days of the NSL, I immediately jumped at the chance to play and give something back to the club at their time of need. The experience of playing for Preston and continuing to support them is something that I will cherish forever, and I know that a lot of the other past players are looking forward to the day too and they can’t wait to catch up with everybody at the club."

The club will also be giving two lucky supporters the opportunity of a lifetime to line-up alongside their heroes and take part in the Legends Game. These two spots will be up for auction online until Friday the 16th of March with bidding to start at $100. Those who would like to make a bid for this once in a lifetime opportunity should email their Name, Address, Phone Number, D/O/B and Bid Amount to [email protected]. We will keep supporters updated with the bidding process via the club’s Facebook page, website and e-Newsletter. As a memento of the day, the lucky winners will also get to keep their jersey which will be signed personally by all of the Preston Legends playing on the day.

We are also delighted to announce that preceding the Legends Game, the current Preston Lions senior team will be taking on Altona Magic for the annual Traianedes-Micevski Cup. Both reserves teams will also play against each other earlier in the day.

All money raised from the gate on the day will go directly towards the club’s Debt Demolition Fund. A crowd of close to 1,000 people is expected to turn out and there will also be a range of children’s activities running throughout the day.

EVENT DETAILS:
Date: Sunday 25th March 2012
Where: B.T. Connor Reserve, 200 Broadhurst Avenue (cnr Radford Road), Reservoir VIC 3073

ENTRY:
$10 Adults
$5 Concession/Children

SCHEDULE:
• 11:00am - Gates open
• 12:00pm - Preston Lions Reserves vs. Altona Magic Reserves
• 2:00pm – Preston Lions Seniors vs. Altona Magic Seniors (playing for the annual Traianedes-Micevski Cup)
• 4:00pm – Preston NSL Legends vs. Preston VPL Legends