Lancashire Telegraph

[Proudtobeblue&white]

Just now, DeeCee said:

Married Bob Geldof?

Then bedded that Aussie sex addict?

Edited November 12, 2019 by Proudtobeblue&white

[Wegerleswiggle]

23 minutes ago, smudge1971 said:

I enjoyed reading that and take all your points. I did not mean that I write to sell papers or generate revenue. The sole purpose of the local newspaper industry nowadays is to do so. I would love to tell what I know. You all know how we got here from there but I would love to explain how we got there from Premiership comfort and who has the money. I can’t. The law is on the side of the rich. 
 

My view is this; the forums are always alight with negativity. Fair play. I see some here are positive and I acknowledge that. 
My view is that we are a middle of the road club and no manager is going to wave a magic wand. So I write that. I am not a happy clapper or owt. I support the club, have been a season ticket holder since I was 6 in 1977. I do give too much leeway but that is because love is blind. 
  I am occasionally furious after a game but my column isn’t written then. 
 

 

Your job is one that I have often wanted and wished I had gotten into it at an earlier age. It's a job in which you are bound to divide opinion and without doubt rattle some cages. 

As somebody pointed out earlier, you do need a thick skin to constantly write about issues that will not sit well with some people. 

I am firmly in the Mowbray OUT camp, but I will admit that when many on here were saying it last season I completely stood by Tony. I don't think I was wrong to, because I believed at the time that he would sort us out in the summer. 

Now if Tony keeps his job, and all of a sudden we go on a run that sees us climb the table, which could happen, then I am sure some of the anti-Mowbray group (which I am part of) will start to feel differently. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

Your job is to write it how you see it!

Our job is to say it how we see it!

I enjoy reading your stuff, just as I enjoy reading everybody's varying opinions on here. Just because you are in the public eye and we(as members of a forum) are not, doesn't mean that your opinions should be attacked anymore than ours.

Keep writing and keep supporting!

 

[tomphil]

13 hours ago, LDRover said:

Well said. I even read on the Facebook group that we are punching above our weight the other day.... What is it? 5 seasons (I think) in the third tier in our 144 year existence.

 

Who brainwashes a lot on there ? I'm sure half of them are bots or something.

Punching above our weight we certainly are not that kind of talk would suit Mowbray and co down to the ground.  What rot !

We've heard plenty about natural levels etc and that might be about 10th place in the championship so come on i wish they'd make their minds up. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but some of them make my piss boil they need some things pointing out to them.

[JHRover]

Natural level based on historical League occupation - top flight

Natural level based on trophies- top flight

Natural level based on where we were before Jack Walker came along - top end of 2nd tier.

Re-writing the record books in an effort to dumb down and reduce expectations is a familiar trait of this regime. 

[tomphil]

Totally agree but giving the benefit of the doubt to the facebookers this seasons budget and squad is surely a comfortable tenth in this league at worst.

They've been rebuilding for 3 seasons now so at very least it should be stable but this year its gone backwards mostly save for the last few months of last season.

[LDRover]

And if we had 20,000 on each week we'd be further up the league cos it's the stayaway fans' fault you see.

It's almost like someone is preparing the narrative for them....

[Sparks Rover]

15 hours ago, smudge1971 said:

My view is that we are a middle of the road club

Shameful post.  We are anything but and you should resign from writing about my “middle of the road club”.

Absolute Charlatan. If you know anything of any note ( which you obviously don’t) a real journalist would take it to the nationals.  

[OldEwoodBlue]

46 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

Shameful post.  We are anything but and you should resign from writing about my “middle of the road club”.

Absolute Charlatan. If you know anything of any note ( which you obviously don’t) a real journalist would take it to the nationals.  

By his own admission / posts, he only does the job to wind folk up, sell advertising and stop Paul Yates getting the gig.

What a super fan & super columnist rolled into one [insert word here].

 

[Miller11]

The personal abuse in some of these posts is bang out of order. Simon has come on here and put his side across - fair play to him. The attacks are unfair and don’t do the image of this forum any good, and at a point in time where there is a fair amount of criticism directed the way of it anyway.

I used to enjoy Simon’s column, I accept his opinion currently differs from mine, but some of the stuff on here is too far. I really enjoy everything he writes in 4,000 holes, where by the sounds of things his hands are far less tied.

[J*B]

Just now, Miller11 said:

The personal abuse in some of these posts is bang out of order. Simon has come on here and put his side across - fair play to him. The attacks are unfair and don’t do the image of this forum any good, and at a point in time where there is a fair amount of criticism directed the way of it anyway.

I used to enjoy Simon’s column, I accept his opinion currently differs from mine, but some of the stuff on here is too far. I really enjoy everything he writes in 4,000 holes, where by the sounds of things his hands are far less tied.

There hasn’t been a single report of personal abuse in this thread. I’ve just seen Simons tweet saying he’s leaving the LET, which brought me to this thread - I’m now trailing through it to find any abuse, then get the context, then start issuing any bans. 
 

Please can we start reporting things that break forum rules? It’s so much quicker and easier. 

[Amo]

1 hour ago, Sparks Rover said:

Shameful post.  We are anything but and you should resign from writing about my “middle of the road club”.

Absolute Charlatan. If you know anything of any note ( which you obviously don’t) a real journalist would take it to the nationals.  

For me, there's no such thing as "natural level". The idea that teams should know their place or be entitled to success based on their catchment area, supporter-base, stadium size etc. is snobby and elitist. A club's current position is exactly where they deserve to be.

[JHRover]

Just now, Amo said:

For me, there's no such thing as "natural level". The idea that teams should know their place or be entitled to success based on their catchment area, supporter-base, stadium size etc. is snobby and elitist. A club's current position is exactly where they deserve to be.

Agree, but if there was such a thing as natural level then by any measure we are below it at the moment.

Sadly it is a common feature that people both inside and outside the club will embrace the opportunity to put the club and town down, diminish its size, stature, standing, achievements. Our manager is guilty of it. Stoke and Middlesbrough are 'huge clubs' etc. but it extends to a large portion of our fanbase who are quick to tell everyone that we are a small club destined to struggle for evermore. 

[Blue blood]

4 hours ago, JHRover said:

Natural level based on historical League occupation - top flight

Natural level based on trophies- top flight

Natural level based on where we were before Jack Walker came along - top end of 2nd tier.

Re-writing the record books in an effort to dumb down and reduce expectations is a familiar trait of this regime. 

Exceptional post. 

I notice that other North West clubs haven't read the memo of natural level. Burnley and Preston, loath as I am to say it, both punching well above any "natural level" that may be bestowed on them. 

 

[Wegerleswiggle]

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/quicktest/18034869.how-long-can-mowbray-can-juggle-expectations-loyalty-/?action=bulletin_click&sent_id=957467447&secret=526471&ref=ebls

Well some people have got what they wanted.

I, for one think it's a real shame.

Good luck @smudge1971 in whatever the future holds for you.

[DE.]

Despite what he says I'd argue his views are more in line with the majority. The views I see on here are not echoed by many on facebook or twitter, or by the sounds of it in the ground either.

[Exiled in Toronto]

22 hours ago, Miller11 said:

The personal abuse in some of these posts is bang out of order. Simon has come on here and put his side across - fair play to him. The attacks are unfair and don’t do the image of this forum any good, and at a point in time where there is a fair amount of criticism directed the way of it anyway.

I used to enjoy Simon’s column, I accept his opinion currently differs from mine, but some of the stuff on here is too far. I really enjoy everything he writes in 4,000 holes, where by the sounds of things his hands are far less tied.

Excellent post Sir, which totally reflects my views. Over the years this site has gone from a home of enlightened, often witty debate where all views were tolerated, to one of “Fuck off Mowbray” and personal attacks. That Simon came on here to engage in debate should have been respected but, as you say, the site lived down to its external image as a home of all too often distasteful intolerance.

I for one hope that posters who were disrespectful to him take a long break from the site as they shame us all.

As Revidge and LDRover know only too well, as do I from doing the same thing in another field, writing a regular PoV column to a fixed word count to a regular timetable when there are editors, lawyers etc involved is a very taxing process that requires a lot of dedicated effort. Writing any bollocks that comes into your head under a pseudonym on here is pretty much the polar opposite.

I’d like to see some of the frequent posters on here throw their hats into the ring and give it a go.

 

[Vinjay]

5 hours ago, Exiled in Toronto said:

 

I’d like to see some of the frequent posters on here throw their hats into the ring and give it a go.

 

Which is why I would never do it or expect to be asked. I have little tolerance for being censored on here on countless occasions never mind elsewhere.

Not to mention I consider the LT to be garbage and wouldn't lend my writing to it. There's no extra prestige to it (or any prestige at all) as far as I'm concerned. It's no more relevant to me than what the average poster on here says. I hardly ever read it. 

Redundant concept in this day and age. Speaks volumes for LT's lack of creativity.

[Husky]

Has someone placed some advertising trackers on this thread? It's all become very clickbait. It might even pay for a new wireless controller for Big Ben's Xbox One.

[philipl]

I have no doubt Simon Smith has always written as a Rovers supporter through and through.

The club needs to look at itself for the footballing reasons opinions are so divided.

Picking up on JH Rovers' fabulous post, in terms of financial support and infrastructure, Rovers "natural" position if we have to play in the Championship is at the top challenging for automatic promotion. We are significantly under-performing that which is dividing the fans and editorially putting the LT into a no win position. Especially as Tony Mowbray's pronouncements have become increasingly befuddling  and the paper has to report them with a straight face..

[Leonard Venkhater]

25 minutes ago, philipl said:

I have no doubt Simon Smith has always written as a Rovers supporter through and through.

The club needs to look at itself for the footballing reasons opinions are so divided.

Picking up on JH Rovers' fabulous post, in terms of financial support and infrastructure, Rovers "natural" position if we have to play in the Championship is at the top challenging for automatic promotion. We are significantly under-performing that which is dividing the fans and editorially putting the LT into a no win position. Especially as Tony Mowbray's pronouncements have become increasingly befuddling  and the paper has to report them with a straight face..

Re no win position etc: if the LT still is a newspaper, why does it have to report such comments without irony or critique?

[47er]

On 14/11/2019 at 23:53, Exiled in Toronto said:

Excellent post Sir, which totally reflects my views. Over the years this site has gone from a home of enlightened, often witty debate where all views were tolerated, to one of “Fuck off Mowbray” and personal attacks. That Simon came on here to engage in debate should have been respected but, as you say, the site lived down to its external image as a home of all too often distasteful intolerance.

I for one hope that posters who were disrespectful to him take a long break from the site as they shame us all.

As Revidge and LDRover know only too well, as do I from doing the same thing in another field, writing a regular PoV column to a fixed word count to a regular timetable when there are editors, lawyers etc involved is a very taxing process that requires a lot of dedicated effort. Writing any bollocks that comes into your head under a pseudonym on here is pretty much the polar opposite.

I’d like to see some of the frequent posters on here throw their hats into the ring and give it a go.

 

I think you're over-egging it. Isn't this why he resigned?

"However, I have grown sick of defending players only for them to show zero desire for the shirt."

 

Edited November 17, 2019 by 47er

[Exiled in Toronto]

Just now, 47er said:

I think you're over-egging it. Isn't this why he resigned?

"However, I have grown sick of defending players only for them to show zero desire for the shirt."

 

I wasn’t talking about why he resigned, just how poor it is was for some people to make the comments they did when he visited the site in good faith. 

[47er]

Ok fair enough but it does seem to me like he resigned because he was fed up of defending the indefensible. He goes on to express views totally similar to the ones that are commonly expressed on here. 

Also, I read the first 10-15 comments from readers following his article. I usually don't bother because they are generally of the "support the team FFS" but this time they aren't.

They  are the same views as are currently overwhelmingly expressed on here about the plight of the Club.

Maybe, fans have finally woken up and realised that we are going nowhere with this manager.

 

[Leonard Venkhater]

Just now, Exiled in Toronto said:

I wasn’t talking about why he resigned, just how poor it is was for some people to make the comments they did when he visited the site in good faith. 

Good faith? Not quite.

Before we get too sackcloth and ashes, he didn't always come to the site in good faith. See his own "Thanks for the love" thread, which was launched as a provocative and antagonistic dig at posters here.

Sure, two or three posts on this thread were OTT, but only a few....and we do have to see the context. 

I agree with Philip that the underlying problem is the bitter divide in the fanbase. Simon has largely taken one side-the loyalist one. I happen to have taken the other side, although, significantly, not in a local newspaper column.

Edited November 17, 2019 by Leonard Venkhater

[Stuart]

Just now, 47er said:

Ok fair enough but it does seem to me like he resigned because he was fed up of defending the indefensible. He goes on to express views totally similar to the ones that are commonly expressed on here. 

Also, I read the first 10-15 comments from readers following his article. I usually don't bother because they are generally of the "support the team FFS" but this time they aren't.

They  are the same views as are currently overwhelmingly expressed on here about the plight of the Club.

Maybe, fans have finally woken up and realised that we are going nowhere with this manager.

Couple of observations from me.

It did seem as though Simon had decided he had had enough. I can totally understand why but it does come across as though he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory by blaming a very small minority of OTT personal comments.

The response comments on Fb and even the LT to the news were almost all just wishing him well. I expected a lot more backlash against the ‘haters’.

I think at this point both sides of the ‘divided loyalties’ are just completely jaded by events at the club. There is definitely a certain amount of helplessness as we all watch the latest aftershock of the Rovers-Venkys car crash.

I really hope rumours of Rovers being almost breakeven are a prelude to Venkys tearing up the debt book and handing over to someone who cares about the club.