MELBOURNE has started the process of reconnecting with its traditional heartland, with the entire playing list visiting schools in the Bayside, Stonnington and Boroondara regions on Thursday.

A high percentage of Melbourne’s supporters live within the heartland and chief executive officer Peter Jackson said the club was re-focusing on the area after neglecting it in recent years.

“I think the club’s lost contact with its heartland over the last few years,” Jackson told melbournefc.com.au.

“I think it’s been distracted on other zones and regions and strategies to build fan bases up there and when you do that, you sometimes just unintentionally forsake your traditions.

“I think it’s very important that we let our heartland supporters know that we need them and that we value them and if you’re not talking to them, not engaging with them and not communicating with them, then they’re not going to think that you do value them.”

Melbourne signed a long-term agreement with the City of Casey in 2008 but in the process of growing its supporter base there, moved away from engaging with its traditional heartland.

Since 2010, approximately 4000 memberships have lapsed within the heartland area and Jackson said “negative sentiment” from supporters was understandable given the club’s performance in recent years.

“The football club hasn’t performed well for the last six or seven years on the field, certainly, and on occasions off the field,” he said.

“That breaches the trust of supporters and when the club does that, supporters and members don’t feel inclined to invest in that club either emotionally or financially.

“So I think in that sense we’ve certainly neglected them and I think what’s important over the next 12 months to two years is to rebuild the relationship so that they do start to trust us.

“Part of that will be how we perform as a football team, on the field, and part of it will be how we build the relationship with the supporters off the field.”

On Thursday, Melbourne players visited primary schools within Brighton, Malvern, Glen Iris and Camberwell, conducting football clinics and sessions of the club’s Read Like a Demon program.

Jackson said the school visits were just “the first part” of an ongoing process of engagement within the area, with Melbourne to have a vastly increased presence at local schools, Auskick centres and local football clubs from 2015 onwards.

“We do want to connect with the kids to start with – there would be a lot of young Melbourne supporters out there and probably a lot of middle-aged supporters out there who haven’t seen a lot of success for the Melbourne Football Club,” Jackson said.

“To see the players and to connect with the players directly is going to help them believe in the club.

“But I emphasise it’s just the first part of an overall program that we’ve got to make sure we keep doing over the next two to three years and throughout 2015 because building a relationship’s going to require us to do that.”