[Archived] Lancashire Telegraph

[rovertakenmb]

I am interested to know how fans feel the Lancashire Telegraph has performed during 18 months of Venky's?

[DE.]

The LT have been put in a difficult position - they need to be the voice of the fans, but they also need to keep an established line of communication open with the club. Difficult to do both when each side is fighting against the other.

First they tried the 'softly-softly' approach where they offered Venky's constructive criticism without being outright critical... then as we hit our lowest ebb they took a fairly dramatic step with this:

Which is the kind of front cover you will very rarely see from a local paper.

I imagine in the wake of Kean retaining the owners backing they now look back at that front cover as a massive mistake. The line now is just 'back the lads' again.

So yeah... difficult situation for them. They've tried to be impartial, came down on the side of the fans when things were at their worst, but like most of the fanbase have now given up.

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

The LT are generally great in my opinion. Don't subscribe to the lazy moaning of many Rovers fans, but also don't suffer fools who are bad for the club. Their stance this season epitomises that and they've taken flack from the national media in order to stand behind Rovers fans. Deserve some major credit and loyalty in future from Rovers fans in my opinion.

[Baz]

I think they have been generally poor. They really have just been a mouthpiece for the club, and not really representing the fans in all this. That front cover asking for Kean to go has not been followed up with any kind of momentum at all. They haven't really asked any tough questions of Kean on his lies, or Venkys on theirs. It seems to me they are scared of breaking the working bond they have enjoyed for decades with the club, and therefore have been very manipulated by Agnew and cronies.

[AndyC]

I dont see why the paper has a fine line to tread in this. what are they afraid of? being banned from the press conferences? theres plenty of other ways to get the stories

[bob fleming]

I posted the below in the 'Coco' thread.

"What would Peter White have done? I think we all know. He'd have asked what he wanted and probably got banned but he wouldn't have stood for this.

Now I fully expect that the Editor at the LT has considered the consequences of this and they've made the decision to tow the line. Why? Is there anyone left that actually wants to read about Keans spin? His deluded view on things, his contradictions and down right lies? The owners won't even speak to the LT so why back them up? Why give them an easy ride?

If they want a story and to shift some papers it should be a case of "today we lift the lid on the scandalous Press Conferences that have been taking place at BRFC.... how we, and the national Press, aren't allowed to ask the questions you want answering....Well no more.... We are here to bring you our readers the news..... Not half a story.... It's a free press, or should be...." or something along those lines. It's the right thing to do. The alternative is that we just carry on as we are - and that is just a waste of trees.

Then again, maybe they're just waiting for the season to finish first? That could well be it."

And by that last sentence I'm saying maybe they don't want to rock the boat at his stage of the season while our fate has yet to be decided, you know, the "Get Behind Them" campaign.

[Parsonblue]

I don't think the LT is as important as it used to be to Rovers supporters. I find I rarely read it these days like I used to do. In fairness to Andy Cryer the Rovers are not really his team and I think that is reflected in his reports. I find he lacks the passion of a Peter White who was Rovers to the core and who was an excellent journalist.

[T.J.Newton]

I think the Paper in general has become pretty redundant and over priced since it became a morning paper, before the web it used to be the number 1 place to get breaking news and only cost like 26p, now its just full of white trash of the day stories.

[gumboots]

I posted the below in the 'Coco' thread.

"What would Peter White have done? I think we all know. He'd have asked what he wanted and probably got banned but he wouldn't have stood for this.

Now I fully expect that the Editor at the LT has considered the consequences of this and they've made the decision to tow the line. Why? Is there anyone left that actually wants to read about Keans spin? His deluded view on things, his contradictions and down right lies? The owners won't even speak to the LT so why back them up? Why give them an easy ride?

If they want a story and to shift some papers it should be a case of "today we lift the lid on the scandalous Press Conferences that have been taking place at BRFC.... how we, and the national Press, aren't allowed to ask the questions you want answering....Well no more.... We are here to bring you our readers the news..... Not half a story.... It's a free press, or should be...." or something along those lines. It's the right thing to do. The alternative is that we just carry on as we are - and that is just a waste of trees.

Then again, maybe they're just waiting for the season to finish first? That could well be it."

And by that last sentence I'm saying maybe they don't want to rock the boat at his stage of the season while our fate has yet to be decided, you know, the "Get Behind Them" campaign.

to be fair to the LT when they did the time to go Kean headline, many of the radio broadcasters slammed them and said it was wrong. They really do have a hard job. At the start of the season and well into it many fans were still saying that things might improve and didn't want to read negatives. I still talk to plenty of fans who think it's all going to be ok, not because they really think it but because the consequences of believing otherwise are too horrible to think about. they feel that as long as they don't know the worst, it isn't happening. So if the paper really goes to town on Kean's incompetence and the way the club has been run into the ground, unless they can back every word with proof, they may find that nobody wants to read it. Now, as many have said I read only the bits that interest me on line instead of having it delivered now, and i suspect many do likewise so how much a campaign of the kind we'd like to see would affect circulation i don't know but they are walikng a tightrope and can't afford to alienate those who do still buy the paper.

[winstonsmith]

As we hurtle towards the abyss, it seems that many fans cannot quite believe that Kean really did once make the extraordinary claim that "We won't get relegated, absolutely no chance" and have been searching the LET archives for confirmation that they did not just dream it but that Kean actually said it.

Well, as a result, the article from Chris Flanagan of 18 November 2011 with the headline 'Blackburn Rovers relegated ? No chance, says Steve Kean' which contains the quote is, in fact, the 10th most read article on there today.

[jim mk2]

Apart from the banner headline calling for Kean to go the LET's stance has been pathetic quite frankly. Old-school reporters would have asked all the hard questions and continued to ask them - even at the risk of a ban. Quite why the editor and sports editor decided to fall in line only they can say but the LET have seriously misjudged the mood of the fans and the town by not taking a stronger lead against Venky's. Local newspaper are losing circulation and struggling financially and with a strong anti-Venky's stance that would have gained national publicity the LET have missed a great opportunity to raise its sagging profile, connect with the fans and readers, and help the town and club get rid of the cancer within.

[Fife Rover]

I think they have been generally poor. They really have just been a mouthpiece for the club, and not really representing the fans in all this. That front cover asking for Kean to go has not been followed up with any kind of momentum at all. They haven't really asked any tough questions of Kean on his lies, or Venkys on theirs. It seems to me they are scared of breaking the working bond they have enjoyed for decades with the club, and therefore have been very manipulated by Agnew and cronies.

Rock and a hard place Baz? Anyway just out of interest would you care to tell us how you would have handled it in their position?

[philipl]

I don't think anybody can complain about Andy Cryer's column this morning- http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/blackburn_rovers/news/9679553.Rovers_column__Fans_deserve_apology_after_Spurs_shambles/

It sits next to Black-Eyed Kean's pathetic rambling arguments.

[Paul]

Andy Cryer

The sad facts are Rovers were good enough. The squad that was in place after the summer transfer window should have been looking forward. That was until a ridiculous culling of so many key figures. The strange thing is Rovers players have shown they possess fight this season. They have rolled up their sleeves and they have threatened to drag the club out of the mire.

Perhaps then the on field debacle of the last few weeks is more a sign of a lack of belief in what they are being asked to do. You get the feeling they have just grown tired of trying to paper over the cracks.

No arguement with this and hard to see waht else the Telegraph can say, other than a headline on the lines of Raos Go Home - which is a bit much to expect!!

Four times we had the chance to get out of this mess, each time we blew it. You have to wonder why and how.

[Baz]

Rock and a hard place Baz? Anyway just out of interest would you care to tell us how you would have handled it in their position?

Actually Fife, I think they should never have gone down the route of agreed questioning. They should ask the questions they want, and let Rovers decide if they don't want to answer. But if they don't answer the questions I'd make a big deal about it, saying Rovers refuse to answer questions.

If the LET had acted in this way, id suggest a larger % of the fan base and other media personalities would be fully aware of what is going on at the club. Agnew has won the media war over the fans voice in all this, because the media have not done their job as well as they should.

I lived in the north-east in my student days, and the media up there would never have succumbed to et questions on very relevant topics. It would have actually rallied the fans and made them fully aware of the situation. Look at their campaigns against any non-Geordie owners at Newcastle, Ashley is still getting stick despite putting a lot of his own money into the club. Imagine if they ever got really bad owners.

If it is a case of being banned from Ewood, I'm sure that the stink caused by doing so, would result in a swift return. I honestly do think that the club needs the LET onside as much as the LET needs rovers.

[K-Hod]

Doesn't a reporter from the LT post on here on occasion? Dan Clough iirc?

Wonder what his take is....

[roversmum]

Dan's latest blog and his previous one.

[Mike E]

I think the LET has done a fair job tbh. It would've been nice to see a bit more gusto in terms of their criticism of the owners and the manager, rather than just this last couple weeks, mind.

[dcbrfc]

The "difficult questions" do get asked, they are just very easy for Kean not to answer. As for asking questions of Venky's, that's very difficult when they won't speak.

I think some people confuse what a newspaper is supposed to do. It is not usually for a newspaper to comment, hence why the "Time to go Steve" splash was a very unusual one-off. The job of the Lancashire Telegraph is to report the news, which is basically what the manager, or the players, or the chairman, etc etc is saying. Even if it is a load of crap.

Our job is to report, not comment (unless it is a comment piece of course - in which Andy and myself have been critical of Venky's and Kean).

While I'm on my soapbox, some have asked on the comments section of the LT website why I haven't "used the contacts I should have made in the London media if I was a journalist worth my salt" to promote the message of Rovers fans' anger at the current situation ... I don't really know who some people expect me to be, but if I had contacts in the London media, I'd like to think I would have a job down there!

The fact is I am Darwen reporter. If it's a local councillor, MP or businessman you want me to get in touch with, I can manage that.

[Baz]

The "difficult questions" do get asked, they are just very easy for Kean not to answer. As for asking questions of Venky's, that's very difficult when they won't speak.

I think some people confuse what a newspaper is supposed to do. It is not usually for a newspaper to comment, hence why the "Time to go Steve" splash was a very unusual one-off. The job of the Lancashire Telegraph is to report the news, which is basically what the manager, or the players, or the chairman, etc etc is saying. Even if it is a load of crap.

Our job is to report, not comment (unless it is a comment piece of course - in which Andy and myself have been critical of Venky's and Kean).

While I'm on my soapbox, some have asked on the comments section of the LT website why I haven't "used the contacts I should have made in the London media if I was a journalist worth my salt" to promote the message of Rovers fans' anger at the current situation ... I don't really know who some people expect me to be, but if I had contacts in the London media, I'd like to think I would have a job down there!

The fact is I am Darwen reporter. If it's a local councillor, MP or businessman you want me to get in touch with, I can manage that.

Dan, nothing personally against you, but you are wrong. A newspaper is not just there to report facts, they would be pretty bland if that's what they all did, and wouldnt differ. Why would a journalist just report what Rovers said if they didn't believe it? That's just the easy part of the job.

To me the editorial pieces should be covered, where relevant, within the other stories on the LET, so rather than 2 articles one saying Keans says blah, blah, blah, and another by Andy Cryer saying I think blah, blah, blah on the same topic they should be covered by one article.

[Andy]

The LT are generally great in my opinion. Don't subscribe to the lazy moaning of many Rovers fans, but also don't suffer fools who are bad for the club. Their stance this season epitomises that and they've taken flack from the national media in order to stand behind Rovers fans. Deserve some major credit and loyalty in future from Rovers fans in my opinion.

Fully agree with this.

[jim mk2]

The "difficult questions" do get asked, they are just very easy for Kean not to answer. As for asking questions of Venky's, that's very difficult when they won't speak.

I think some people confuse what a newspaper is supposed to do. It is not usually for a newspaper to comment, hence why the "Time to go Steve" splash was a very unusual one-off. The job of the Lancashire Telegraph is to report the news, which is basically what the manager, or the players, or the chairman, etc etc is saying. Even if it is a load of crap.

Our job is to report, not comment (unless it is a comment piece of course - in which Andy and myself have been critical of Venky's and Kean).

While I'm on my soapbox, some have asked on the comments section of the LT website why I haven't "used the contacts I should have made in the London media if I was a journalist worth my salt" to promote the message of Rovers fans' anger at the current situation ... I don't really know who some people expect me to be, but if I had contacts in the London media, I'd like to think I would have a job down there!

The fact is I am Darwen reporter. If it's a local councillor, MP or businessman you want me to get in touch with, I can manage that.

This is nonsense. A good local newspaper conducts campaigns, whether it be to save a hospital, build a new school or plead for better rail services. The LET could have campaigned all season on behalf of suffering Rovers fans (the paper's readers) but it chose not to. The LET has been weak in my opinion.

[Sparky Marky]

If weakness is protecting its advertising revenues...Im sure Rovers annual spend with the LET is nothing to be sniffed at.....

[Majiball]

If weakness is protecting its advertising revenues...Im sure Rovers annual spend with the LET is nothing to be sniffed at.....

Aye, I'm sure next year it will go through the roof.

If the LT decided what got printed dependent on who spends the most money with them, well they should hang their heads in shame.

[Sparky Marky]

Give over pal...thats exactly how it works. One call from rovers ad/marketing dept and LET will be licking their boots