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Eclectic Blue Column Vol 4

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They say there are two things that are certain in life: death and taxes.

I think there are three, the other one being that when I write something for this website, someone will post a link to it on the Rovers official forum and the moderator will remove it.

Why would he (or she?) do that?

Is it because he (or she?) is frightened of what I am saying? Is he (or she?) desperate to ensure that only one point of view appears on the internet? Or is there a more innocent explanation? In all honesty, I could not care less but someone is obviously very worried.

Maybe it all comes down to the old saying, the pen is mightier than the sword – and much easier to write with!

I think it`s all quite sinister really.

Firstly, they sack the ‘troublemakers` (a term given to some of us by certain Supporters Club officials many years ago) from the matchday programme and then, after being asked to write a column for the ‘Green Un` section of the Bristol Evening Post, I found myself fired just six weeks later!

And you know what? No-one cares.

I could get all diddums about it but what`s the point?

The ordinary punter on the terraces wants to see the team doing well. If a couple of programme contributors get axed, or a couple of fans get booted off an opinion column in the local rag, well so what?

I don`t hear people saying, “Isn`t it terrible how those blokes were sacked from the programme and were then, by a complete coincidence, sacked from the local newspaper by, incidentally, a Rovers supporting editor. They`re more worried about how the team does this week against Bournemouth. And quite right too.

I was the same.

Long before I got involved, I really didn`t care about the people who actually ran the club. They were usually local businessmen with too much time on their hands, was how I looked at it.

Perhaps they still are.

I have nothing in common with the people who run the club, other than supporting the same team. I doubt whether they would get out of bed for the sort of money I earn.

They are certainly supporters of the club and no-one can deny that. You might question certain aspects of the way they run the club but that`s different.

The people who run the club are, in my opinion, a million miles away from the ordinary punters. Communication is not so much poor, it`s virtually non existent. Where our neighbours and former rivals, Bristol City, communicate almost full time with the media through their chief executive Colin Sextone, everything that comes from the Rovers seems fragmented.

Chair Ron Craig is the quiet man in the media, Vice Chair Nick Higgs rarely utters a word in public and apart from ordinary director Geoff Dunford, the rest of the board says nothing at all, apart from the elected fans director David Brain who, on the club`s official internet fans forum, speaks on behalf of the board! Go figure! It`s a bit like the Trade Union Branch Secretary speaking on behalf of the employer!

The media offers precious little opportunity for a real debate on the Rovers. Forget anything officially connected to the club, forget the local newspapers. The freedom extended to the refusniks does not extend very far. If Lenny 1883 did not run this site just where would I express a point of view?

The money men have it sussed, they have it all covered.

It`s a shame that some people deny others the chance to read an alternative point of view but maybe football clubs are merely a microcosm of the wider picture.

It`s still a free country, as long as you can afford it.

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Up The Gas

5 comments

  • Ashton Gas says:

    Good stuff again EB, Just looked on the OF and its not been deleted ………………………….Yet!

  • longwellgas says:

    The board needs a shot in the arm of reality. In modern day football its all about PR regardless of how the team is performing on the pitch.

  • one team in bristol says:

    Well said Longwell and what a shock its been deleted off the OF!

  • westongas says:

    i cant see anything wrong with this colum

  • pandapops says:

    takes the preverbial p*ss if you ask me, they could say something after deleting it like “redirection of fans to another site is against the forum rules” at least then you would have an explanation. albeit a fake one at least its something. Another Great Read EB

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