Editing Carlton Football Club (section)

===Period of struggle (2002–2021)===
[[File:Carlton FC warmup.jpg|thumb|Carlton players during pre-game warmup]]
In 2002, Carlton swiftly fell from being one of the most successful clubs, both on-field and off-field, to one of the least successful. The club had been much slower than others to embrace the [[AFL Draft]] as a means for recruitment, so when its champion players from the 1990s began to retire in the early 2000s, on-field performances fell away quickly, and in 2002, the club won the [[wooden spoon (award)|wooden spoon]] for the first time in its VFL/AFL history; it was the last of the twelve Victorian clubs to win the wooden spoon. At the same time, the club was starting to struggle financially, due to unwise investments under John Elliott – most significantly, building a new [[grandstand]] at [[Princes Park (stadium)|Princes Park]] during the 1990s, at a time when other clubs were finding it more profitable to play at the higher-capacity central venues.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://phorums.com.au/showthread.php?167437-Carlton-till-paying-quot-under-the-counter-quot-money&s=19ae247a96bae8cd23a4dd2c072d68f5|title=Carlton still paying "under-the-counter" money|first=Jake|last=Niall|newspaper=The Age|date=17 November 2005|access-date=30 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312184231/http://phorums.com.au/showthread.php?167437-Carlton-till-paying-quot-under-the-counter-quot-money&s=19ae247a96bae8cd23a4dd2c072d68f5|archive-date=12 March 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> Then, at the end of 2002, it was revealed that Carlton had been systematically cheating the league [[salary cap]] during the early 2000s. The [[Carlton Football Club salary cap breach|scandal]] resulted in the loss of draft picks and a fine of $930,000, which exacerbated the club's poor on-field and off-field positions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/articles/2002/11/23/1037697938617.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021208081050/http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/articles/2002/11/23/1037697938617.html|title=Carlton backs to wall|first=Peter|last=Ker|date=24 November 2002|archive-date=8 December 2002}}</ref>

In the immediate fall-out from 2002, president [[John Elliott (businessman)|John Elliott]] was voted out by the members, and was replaced with [[Docklands Stadium]] CEO [[Ian Collins (footballer)|Ian Collins]]. Under Collins, the club shifted its home stadium from Princes Park to Docklands, with the final match played at Princes Park in 2005. Additionally, coach [[Wayne Brittain]] was sacked, and replaced with Kangaroos coach [[Denis Pagan]]. On-field performances did not improve under Pagan, and overall the club won three wooden spoons and finished in the bottom two five times between 2002 and 2007.<ref name="seasons" />

Carlton's overall position began to improve in 2007, when businessman [[Richard Pratt (Australian businessman)|Richard Pratt]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ajn.com.au/news/news.asp?pgID=2573 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080727223805/http://ajn.com.au/news/news.asp?pgID=2573|title= King Richard of Carlton|quote=Richard Pratt has been appointed the new president of the beleaguered Carlton Football Club|date=15 February 2007|access-date=25 June 2012|archive-date=27 July 2008}}</ref> [[Steven Icke]]<ref>[http://www.carltonfc.com.au/ Official Website of the Carlton Football Club] [http://carltonfc.com.au/Season2007/News/NewsArticle/tabid/4311/Default.aspx?newsId=39119 Steven Icke joins Carlton] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110821161745/http://www.carltonfc.com.au/Season2007/News/NewsArticle/tabid/4311/Default.aspx?newsId=39119 |date=21 August 2011 }} ''"Mr Steven Icke has been appointed the general manager Football Operations with the Carlton Football Club."'' Retrieved on 15 April 2007.</ref> and Collingwood's [[Greg Swann]]<ref>[http://www.carltonfc.com.au/ Official Website of the Carlton Football Club] [http://carltonfc.com.au/Season2007/News/NewsArticle/tabid/4311/Default.aspx?newsId=39967 Greg Swann Joins Carlton] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110821161807/http://www.carltonfc.com.au/Season2007/News/NewsArticle/tabid/4311/Default.aspx?newsId=39967 |date=21 August 2011 }} ''"The Board of the Carlton Football Club today announced that it has appointed Mr Greg Swann as CEO."'' Retrieved on 15 April 2007.</ref> came to the club as president, general manager of football operations, and CEO respectively; although Pratt's presidency lasted only sixteen months, after which he was replaced by [[Stephen Kernahan]],<ref>{{cite news|first=Sam|last=Lienert|url=http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/sport/football-australian-rules/sticks-says-club-will-stick-by-pratt/794752.aspx|title='Sticks' says club will stick by Pratt|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=28 June 2008|access-date=28 January 2012}}{{Dead link|date=June 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> the new personnel stabilised the club's off-field position. Pagan was sacked as coach mid-season after a string of heavy defeats, and was replaced by former club captain and assistant coach [[Brett Ratten]]. Then, prior to the 2008 season, Carlton was able to secure a trade for {{AFL|WC}}'s [[Chris Judd]], one of the league's best midfielders, to join the club as captain. The time spent at the bottom of the ladder also allowed Carlton to secure three No. 1 draft picks – [[Marc Murphy (footballer)|Marc Murphy]], [[Bryce Gibbs (Australian rules footballer)|Bryce Gibbs]] and [[Matthew Kreuzer]] – who helped the club's on-field position. Brett Ratten led Carlton to the finals from 2009 until 2011, but was sacked with a year remaining on his contract after the club missed the finals in 2012,<ref>[https://archive.today/20121230090804/http://www.carltonfc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/4311/newsid/146148/default.aspx Brett Ratten retires] ''"Brett Ratten to coach his final game with Carlton on Sunday"'' Retrieved on 30 August 2012.</ref> and was replaced by former {{AFL|WC}} and {{AFL Col}} premiership coach [[Mick Malthouse]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/more-news/triple-premiership-coach-mick-malthouse-set-to-ink-deal-with-carlton/story-e6frf9jf-1226470925094|title=Triple-premiership coach Mick Malthouse signs three-year deal with Carlton|first=Matt|last=Windley|newspaper=Herald Sun|date=11 September 2012|access-date=11 September 2012}}</ref> Under Malthouse, the club returned to the finals in 2013, but fell to thirteenth in 2014.

Kernahan stepped aside in mid-2014, and was replaced by Mark LoGiudice, who presided over a period of mediocre onfield results. The relationship between Malthouse and the club's quickly and publicly deteriorated; and in early 2015, after giving a radio interview critical of the board, Malthouse was sacked<ref name="malthousedismissed">{{cite news|newspaper=Herald Sun|title=Mick Malthouse sacked: Carlton terminates veteran coach's contract after explosive radio interview|url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/mick-malthouse-sacked-carlton-terminates-veteran-coachs-contract-after-explosive-radio-interview/story-fni5f5nx-1227369211781|author1=Michael Warner|author2=Mark Robinson|author3=Eliza Sewell|author4=Jon Anderson|date=26 May 2015 <!-- 16:34 --> |access-date=26 May 2015 <!-- 16:59 --> |publication-place=Melbourne}}</ref> the club going on to finish last. Former Hawthorn assistant coach [[Brendon Bolton]] took over as coach from the 2016 season,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-08-25/blues-set-to-announce-bolton-as-their-new-coach|title=Blues confirm Bolton as their new coach|last=Schmook|first=Nathan|date=25 August 2015|work=AFL.com.au|publisher=[[Bigpond]]|access-date=25 August 2015}}</ref> leading only into his fourth season before he too was sacked after overseeing the team's decline to another wooden spoon in 2018 with a 2–20 record, the worst win–loss record in its VFL/AFL history, followed by an equally weak 1–10 start to the 2019 season. Bolton's replacement, [[David Teague (footballer)|David Teague]], helped the club avoid the 2019 wooden spoon, but lasted only two years into a three-year contract without a finals appearance.<ref name="permanent">{{cite web|url=https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/carlton/carlton-appoints-caretaker-david-teague-as-fulltime-coach/news-story/5af423c263f4a2060b21e8f57bae4611|title=Carlton appoints caretaker David Teague as full-time coach|publisher=Herald Sun|first=Michael|last=Warner|date=14 August 2019|access-date=14 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-08-26|title=David Teague sacked as Blues FINALLY act on controversial review|url=https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/teams/carlton-blues/afl-2021-david-teague-sacked-carlton-blues-carlton-coach-gone-record-replacement-football-department-review-news/news-story/7a0ccffc790c3ef4c068eb87ee9a8449|access-date=2021-08-26|website=Fox Sports|language=en}}</ref>