[Archived] An explanation

[dcbrfc]

For those that don't know, I'm Dan Clough who works for the Lancashire Telegraph and writes a weekly column on the club.

I don't take much notice of comments on stories I write as we got a lot of keyboard warriors who only see the bad in everything and just come on to our website to slag off reporters and the paper.

The blog, however, is different for me, as I am a lifelong Rovers fan. I used to go to odd games when my parents took me. I was a season ticket holder from 1999 to 2005, when I had to stop for three years for university. I went to the odd game for a few years. As many as I could afford. And then a couple of years ago I got a season ticket again and have held one ever since. I sit in the Blackburn End lower tier. I also go to as many away games as is affordable/physically doable - becoming less and less with the rising cost as I'm sure is the case for a lot of people these days.

The opinions I write there are real. I'm not making it up to divide or start a debate. What I write is what I think.

That includes the recent column slamming the protests. That was sparked by the flyover - farcical I thought to fly a plane over during a game. Totally destroying any positive feeling the players may have had. And I know for a fact that I'm not the only person who thought so.

I have, in previous columns, called for Kean to be sacked and had a go at Venky's for being clueless. People forget this when accusing me of backing them. And yes, going further back, I said Kean shouldn't be sacked. Which just goes to show I am capable of changing my mind.

I still think Kean should go. I still think Venky's are destroying our club. And if truth be told, I think we are going down. But I cannot write the same column every week. This week's column, I admit, is a bit weak. This is partly because it's my week off and it was done from home in a rush. It is also because I value my job and cannot afford to go off on one at people every single week.

Assuming nothing major happens between now and then, I know what I'll be writing about next week. And I intend to be pretty damning.

So there you have it. I now hope that no one who reads this will accuse me of 'not speaking for the fans' or 'not being a fan' ... Because I am one, and therefore I do speak for them. I may just have a different opinion.

Phew ........

[Mattyblue]

The reason people gor so riled by your column that week was your tone and the fact it lacked balance.

Kean got away scot free, 'Lady Luck', 'we are improving' and the cause of the protests were dismissed- not just the manner they were being carried out.

But fair play for coming on to explain.

[Jackson]

Only if your next headline is "Christmas Comes Early, the Coot Just Got Stuffed".

[Devon Rover]

Hi Dan

Thanks for this message. Its good that we have such a big fan of the club able to contribute to the LET. I am sure it is a very difficult balance for you and others to strike in reporting your views and not having access to whatever management structure is in place at the club restricted.

I may not agree with you on some of your opinions re protests but it sounds as though in general you definitely share the views (and frustrations) of the vast majority of fellow fans on here.

Thank you for presenting those views and, no doubt, taking some flak for them.

[dcbrfc]

The reason people gor so riled by your column that week was your tone and the fact it lacked balance.

Kean got away scot free, 'Lady Luck', 'we are improving' and the cause of the protests were dismissed- not just the manner they were being carried out.

But fair play for coming on to explain.

But being an opinion piece it doesn't require balance. I was writing about the protesters, not Kean. As I said, I've had a go at Kean before, and I guarantee I will be again!

[Steve Moss]

But being an opinion piece it doesn't require balance. I was writing about the protesters, not Kean. As I said, I've had a go at Kean before, and I guarantee I will be again!

You're correct that opinion pieces do not require balance. However, it is sometimes a very good idea to interject a modest amount of balance on certain issues, such as when ripping into a significant and active portion of the Rovers fan base. That's called good judgement. Without it, a person's opinion isn't worth much.

But thanks for the explanation. I look forward to your unbalanced (for or against) view on Kean.

[Ralfinho]

But being an opinion piece it doesn't require balance. I was writing about the protesters, not Kean. As I said, I've had a go at Kean before, and I guarantee I will be again!

But all our protests mixed in with Kean's comments have now led to the national press being on our side and absolutely slating him over the past couple of days.

[broadsword]

But being an opinion piece it doesn't require balance.

That's true, but then don't be surprised if you get slated for not being balanced.

Simple, really.

(And I appreciate that you cannot write the same thing every week.)

[dcbrfc]

But all our protests mixed in with Kean's comments have now led to the national press being on our side and absolutely slating him over the past couple of days.

If Kean goes and we stay up I'll happily admit to being wrong. I'll even do a column on it.

[ABBEY]

So you think the plane cost us v Chelsea and not kean?

[perthblue02]

Didn't realise the piece you wrote about the flyover was an article thought it was a job application for assistant ghost writer to Venky's apologist Paul Agnew, for his new book "how to ban free speech and cover your tracks".

[beerwins]

I would'nt worry so much about it, your a fan, it's a fans opinion and it's your right to give it but it will never mean that others have to agree with it because it gets published.

There are far too many if's and but's all made by owners because they have not made the right choices and that has created massive divide which is sometimes ended in very heated circumstances.

Before I start to rant and rave about someone else's opinion I stop and think if they sacked Kean tommorow and employed a cracking manager and chairman would we even be having this discussion......I doubt it.

The real culprits that form this divide between fans sit thousand of miles away ignoring or sacking anyone who dares to have a different opinion.

[Mattyblue]

As an opinion piece you don't NEED to provide balance, but as you are insulting a decent percentage of your readers with your main thrust, not detached people like Kean or Venky's, a bit of balance is useful, no?

[Seggie]

If Kean goes and we stay up I'll happily admit to being wrong. I'll even do a column on it.

I can't say fairer than that.

Ive been going 20 years now and it's got to the point were I don't want to go, I won't even ask my boss for time off anymore because I go and I come home feeling depressed. Ive been twice all season and I have a season ticket, The owners and Steve Kean's actions have driven me to this, I don't like the protests but to be honest I see them as a neccessity. My counter argument that protests have a negative affect on the players is that Kean is already having a negative effect on the players so what have we got to lose plus the players and Steve Kean make a lot more in a week than the average person in East Lancashire a would in a year. Kean justified every single protest the other day with that shambolic choice of words whilst trying to put his endless sickening positive spin on another poor performance, that cannot be overlooked and that is what he has been doing from day one, he effectively said "stuff the fans", "Stuff the Carling Cup and Football League", "stuff Cardiff City" and most importantly implied that the players he put out were not good enough to win League games despite him buying a good few of them.

In my opinion as Blackburn's local paper it would do no harm to turn up the heat on the owners and manager. I say this because it is imperitive for the town as a whole that the club survives as BRFC has been a long part of the community. Everybody deserves answers from Venky's and although the papers stance has got tougher recently I think the people of Blackburn deserve the media turning up the heat on Venky's and there is no reason why that shouldn't be the paper that serves the people of Blackburn.

[Lurid Coat]

Didn't realise the piece you wrote about the flyover was an article thought it was a job application for assistant ghost writer to Venky's apologist Paul Agnew, for his new book "how to ban free speech and cover your tracks".

I thought it was Paul Agnew himself who wrote the "article".

[92er]

I hope the start of this reply doesn't sound like damning with faint praise......but on the whole I quite enjoy your articles.

I was rather surprised by some of your comments in this week's article and certainly didn't agree with all of them.

However,well done for coming on here with your explanation. I hope you continue to post.

I'm disappointed you appear to be getting so much criticism

I would also like to add for the people making a point about weak LT reporting, you should read Cryer's article in today's LT.

[barry_]

it doesn't matter what you say, you will be damned. The 'comments' section under each 'story' in the LET is full of people thinking it's okay to be haters and to be abusive for the sake of it.

The fact that you've come on here to try to explain yourself says more than any article could say and I am wondering if you now wish you'd of written the article differently.

You will also of noticed that, whilst you say that your article was an opinion and therefore didn't need to balanced, that you have been advised that if you're not going to write a balanced article you will be criticised for siding with the owners/management.

As a supporter you might've noticed that the atmosphere and attitudes towards kean and the indians has hardened considerably over the last week and it could be said that the time to fence-sit is well and truly over and we, as supporters, are now engaged in a battle not just to save our season (as things stand it looks like we're finished) but to try and do everything we can to save our club.

[AllRoverAsia]

Say what you want, the rest of us do. It's only opinion.