Editing Western Bulldogs (section)

====1989: Proposed merger and fightback====
Discontent between players, officials and fans reached an all-time low during the [[1989 VFL season]]. Club president [[Barrie Beattie]] was replaced by former Footscray board member, businessman and prominent racing personality [[Nick Columb]] in March. Things started promisingly with a 59-point win over a dispirited Carlton at [[Princes Park (stadium)|Princes Park]], with {{WAFL|Sub}} recruit [[John Georgiades]] kicking eight goals on debut.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=208pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DJcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4713%2C3210270|title=Dogs' new litter leaves Blues flat|first=Garry|last=Linnell|work=The Age|page=32|date=3 April 1989}}</ref> However, it proved to be a false dawn; the Bulldogs would only win five more games for the season, with one draw, to finish 13th. The prevailing mood was best captured in Footscray's last win of the season in Round 20 against eventual wooden-spooners {{AFL Ric}}; although the Bulldogs won by 78 points, a meagre crowd of 8,673 turned up to what many believed at the time would be Footscray's last home game at the [[Western Oval]]. [[The Age|''Age'']] journalist [[Garry Linnell]] wrote: "But saddest of all is that the suburb of Footscray has turned its back on the Western Oval and its football team. Without that support, one of the last remaining monuments to the days when Victorian football was a battle of suburban tribes has hit the dust."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gLMyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SZEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1493%2C338779|title=Apathy rules as the West gives up on the Bulldogs|first=Garry|last=Linnell|date=21 August 1989|page=36|work=The Age}}</ref>
 
Faced with the prospect of running a club with declining membership and sponsorship, Columb learned that Footscray's debt situation was poor, and it reached the point when the VFL looked likely to appoint an [[administration (law)|administrator]] to wind up the club's affairs at the end of the year.<ref name="4octms1">{{cite news|newspaper=The Sun News-Pictorial|publication-place=Melbourne|page=72|author=Michael Stevens|date=4 October 1989|title=No choice}}</ref> He decided the best way forward was a merger with {{AFL Fit}}, which was also in a weak financial position, although was not facing immediate bankruptcy. The two clubs announced a merger to form the [[Fitzroy Bulldogs]], but the merger was derailed when the people of Footscray, led by lawyer Peter Gordon and a host of others, rallied to raise funds to pay off the club's debts. In further developments, former club player [[Terry Wheeler]] was named as Malthouse's replacement as senior coach, while champion veteran [[Centre line (football)|wingman]] Doug Hawkins was appointed captain.  While Columb was branded by some as the villain of the story, the wisdom of hindsight shows that had he not instigated the merger, the Western Bulldogs would not exist as it does today.<ref>{{cite web | author=Mark Stevens | title=The 20-year miracle | date=4 September 2009 | url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/the-20-year-miracle/story-e6frf9nx-1225769336965}}</ref><ref>''Unleashed – A History of the Footscray Football Club''</ref>