EGP returns after a with a look at recent controversies involving internet messageboards and clubs' reactions to things that displease them.

Internet Message Boards are a funny place. They are the written version of those conversations in the stands or in the pub. They have replaced fanzines, and to some degree murmurings of discontent on the terraces. They are the new tap room domain of the fans, where really only fans are welcome.

A new user name crops up and it’s like a stranger walking into a new boozer only for the pub to hush and look with suspicion at the interloper. Acceptance is only offered if the newcomer can demonstrate that they are part of the family.

Debates rage about the club, the team and a whole host of other topics, often leading to cyber scraps before an older head can bring order to the bucking stags, unlocking their antlers before damage is done.

Rochdale is no different to any other club in this respect. We have our messageboards where fans old and young chew the fat over a pint of cyber with ice. It is quite easy to pick out the knowledgeable ones, the older ones, and the younger ones based on their prose and opinion.

More recently though, throughout the world of football, there has been an alarming trend of the clubs ‘taking on’ these internet sites when things have been read that hurt those reading them.

The most famous recent case involved our friends at Hereford, where their Chairman/Manager Graham Turner banned the site moderator for not removing a post written by somebody else which was found to be offensive.

The post in question raised doubts to Hereford’s ability to give out an accurate crowd figure, suggesting that they were giving out a figure lower than the number of fans present! Let’s be honest…..every fan of every club in the country has questioned that of their own club. Also, many is the time I have travelled away only to find the official following was far less than the number I thought had travelled! The most famous example was at Scarborough in a cup game in 1998 when Dale practically filled 2 sections of the 3 in the away end, and the following was given as 551 despite the stand holding over 1500 overall.

In the end, Hereford saw sense and lifted the ban on the moderator – a season ticket holder for 20 years at Edgar Street, but the ill will the episode caused will have damaged Graham Turner’s relationship with the fans irreparably forever. The trust – at best an umbilical cord in football – has been severed.

There was a recent case at Sheffield Wednesday where the club issued legal proceedings in September against Owlstalk, where several irate owls had been having a go at the club (who had just lost their first six matches of the season) and the ‘suits’ couldn’t take anymore. This high profile case threatens to go to the courtroom as Wednesday are a big club with a fan base not prepared to be pushed around. They have joined forces and are standing up to the top Owls at Hillsborough.

In a recent BBC interview, it was noted that our Chief Executive was quoted saying, “you can’t ignore the messageboards.” Whilst that might be so, it seems baffling that our top brass are huddled round a computer day and night incandescent with rage at anything that maybe said in a public forum. Freedom of speech is as English as roast beef and Yorkshires, but unlike the popular roast, freedom of speech from one man’s mouth, can often stick in another man’s craw.

All of which suggests that our manager reads the messageboards. Following on from the disappointing double header versus Bury, regular messageboard users were up in arms at the flatness of our displays with one or two remarks questioning the professionalism of our staff. It was typical knee-jerk stuff on a messageboard from people who care about the club, but who may have a penchant for using inflammatory rhetoric.

Our Manager has a tremendous upbeat mentality and his PR suggests that he wants everybody believing and pulling together. Yet his interviews surrounding the fine win at Grimsby showed a different side to his nature. There was without question a hint of exasperation towards the fans, and, reading between the lines, his tenor suggested he was not best pleased at certain remarks on a messageboard. That said, it could be argued that the interviewer was also playing a role with leading questions angled craftily to get a reaction, but that is good journalism.

Of course, just about every Manager this club has ever had has found it hard to rise above the fans’ criticism. The previous incumbent often, and with just cause, had a go back at the fans. Graham Barrow looked set to jump into the away enclosure at Darlington after one dreadful performance, and Dave Sutton refused to put anymore than nine words on his programme page for 6 consecutive home matches.

Back then, messageboards were not as prevalent as they are today though, and opinions written as though they were being slurred over a pint in a pub suddenly hit a much wider audience often drawing an adverse reaction. The recent spate of clubs versus messageboards though suggest that clubs do take to heart the views of the fans. On the one hand this is no bad thing if the views are constructive, but on the other hand, it can lead to unseemliness which serves neither the fans or the club any good purpose.
 

Photo: Action Images

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