Tomorrow's Worcester News

[kward]

Evening all

Tomorrow's Worcester News (a snip at 35p!!) will be worth a look.

I could tell you more but I'd have to shoot myself. ;D

Cheers

Kevin Ward
Editor
Worcester News

[Deleted]

Whilst you've got the gun Kevin, there's a little chap at SGL who quite a lot of people want to take a pop at

[gobby cow]

Could this be Booby's big news item?? He has finally decided to stand down and take his cronies with him?

That's the only news I want to read regarding WCFC.

[gobby cow]

Besides 35p is outrageous for such a rubbish paper!

[Deleted]

Be nice to them Gobby. I'm hoping they're on the case.

[prestonwcfc]

Please can you tell me where I can get a copy in Preston ! ;D

[tim]

online?

[Croc]

Is it a voucher for a free Big Mac at the Foregate Street branch of McDonalds?

Please say it's true...

[almasno9]

I have a sinking gut feeling that he is going to announce us sharing Evesham's new ground with the long term plan that the two clubs will merge.
With a track record of unsuccessfully merging clubs he probably thinks he can eventually get one right.
I could be miles off track but I am intrigued what Billy Bulls*****r has told the press.

[Deleted]

Mmmm not sure. Why would the WN flag that on here?

[Croc]

if that did happen - all hell should break loose

[Deleted]

I'm hoping they might be starting to investigate the situation.

[tim]

Yes, that's what I am starting to think it might be, which could be good. Don't think Kevin would have come on here to advise us of some more spin!

[dave]

Read it online and save yourself the 35p!

The Q&A session does not appear to put any definite timescales on anything once again. More of the same I am afraid. If that is Dave Boddy on the offensive, then it was pathetic.

[Deleted]

Jam tomorrow, Jam tommorow.

This bit

When will a planning application for Nunnery Way be submitted?
We are hopeful of announcing a date with St Modwen for the pre-planning consultation meeting shortly.
This meeting is a legal requirement before the planning application can be submitted.
The planning application will then be submitted shortly after that meeting.

If that was the case, which I'm sure it is, then how could David Boddy stand up in front of shareholders in May and proclaim that the planning application would be submitted in June??? Its now September, and the a**e end of it too, so 3 months later, and we are no further forward in the planning application, does anyone believe that this will happen this side of the New Year???

[Mark]

Which new year did you have in mind?

[birdfeeder]

Maybe Kevin Ward could chair a proper Q/A session by calling a public meeting where the honest Chairman of WCFC could answer all our concerns.

[suv]

Sept 19, 2008 9:51:33 GMT birdfeeder said:

Maybe Kevin Ward could chair a proper Q/A session by calling a public meeting where the honest Chairman of WCFC could answer all our concerns.

Good idea Mr Birdfeeder,
maybe he'd also be available to chair the meeting with "IDIFF" & Kevin Peake" that was planned for sometime in August

[cg]

It is hard to disagree with any of the above responses.

It would have been nice if the Worcester News had made the effort to conduct a face-to-face interview and probed Boddy on his inadequate, vague responses and, in WH’s case, obviously untruthful answer, instead of lazily sending a Q&A list of pre-compiled questions with no obvious clarifications sought afterwards.

You hardly need to be Jeremy Paxman to ask a follow up question like why the club may have chose to change its auditors so soon before the accounts were due to be published?

Or to suggest the real reason they won’t call an AGM is because the remaining gang of four fear they could be out on their ear.

Or ask whether the new directors are actually registered with Companies House?

Or to quiz DB’s claims that he has some sort of corporate magical power to select his predecessor?

And is it too much to ask for Steve Carley, or whoever sent the email, to do even the most basic cursory research on the state of the club’s finances?

When Boddy claims the debts are £800,000 – well, hey, that is a substantial improvement of the last set of figures released in 2006 which listed the debts as £855,159.00. Did they seek to clarify this figure or whether he is suggesting the ever-worsening year-on-year financial plight (stemmed only briefly by the 200-06 FA Cup run) has not only stopped but been turned around and how this miracle has this been achieved?

Or why didn’t they simply do as I so often do in pre-recorded interviews: ask interviewees if that is the answer they REALLY want to give because it doesn’t seem to stack up?

Dare I suggest, they have simply taken his response at face value and that, in turn, kind of looks like he might not be telling the truth? And anyway shouldn't he be revealling these figures to shareholders first?

If he has that figure wrong – why should anyone believe the others he quotes or anything else he says in the article for that matter?

Oh well, as long as he has given some answers that will suffice….to the WN and the ‘football not politics’ brigade maybe. I fear the bank and other creditors may not see things quite the same way.

[tim]

Can I ask, Kevin, whether you honestly think that the "worth a look" is all that appropriate to us? There's no answers in this vaunted article, just more bluster and smokescreens. No way are any of us going to be appeased by this - everyone went to bed last night expecting something tangible, maybe the right questions being asked, searching questions that demand answers, not your typical Carley half-job that fails to achieve anything positive. There will soon be no club to write about unless the right questions are asked and the answers sought. The Worcester News are in a unique position in that they can genuinely influence the public and be a vehicle for communicating change, but wishy-washy doesn't get anyone anywhere.

Do the Worcester News intend to follow up on these non-answers? Are the relevant questions going to be asked? You have a unique opportunity - please use it before there is nothing to report on.

[creaner]

I've felt that recently we much more balanced media coverage and in depth reporting fromTrevor Owens & Bradders at H&W and The Standard. The Worcester News seems very wary of asking relevant questions. Perhaps their version of investiagtive journalism is different.
Worcester News: "What's all this Watergate business Mr Nixon?"
Richard M Dixon: "Nowt really"
Worcester News: "Oh, OK then."
The End

[Croc]

After reading that "article" this morning - I can but only have the opinion that it was an effort worthy of Pravda, Neues Deutschland or România Liberă

[Mr T]

I can imagine that Mr boddy and his cronies are quite happy today in their ivory tower. What a hard hitting, in depth interview that was, not.

They have spoken to the unwashed masses and their word is the truth - therein is our problem - how many of us look at the banterboard on a regular basis and understand the skullduggery, how many just go to the matches because that is "what I do on a Saturday afternoon". I think we are in the minority and Mr boddy has done enough to appease the majority of "fans".

How much longer can the club survive on 500 ish through the gates? I think that Mr boddy's tower will soon be crashing down around his feet - and it hurts me to say that - a supporter of WCFC for far too many years to than I would like to admit.

Can the last person out please turn off the lights, if the bill has been paid of course.

[birdfeeder]

What you all need to remember is the W/N is a small time local paper,who have reporters just out uinversity or college, who are still wet behind the ears and have never been to Worcester before they started working for the paper, do not know there Warndons from there Ronkswood and after 2 or 3 years will be off to pastures new.

[Mark]

I get an overwhelming feeling of helplessness about all of this.

It seems as if no matter what the likes of us say by way of trying to alert people to the catastrophe that awaits WCFC, Mr Boddy and the rest of his crew are just going to carry on stalling and stalling, fobbing people off with these jam tomorrow stories until the whole lot crashes down around everyones ears.

Then, and only then it appears that others might get that chance to rebuild the club - unfortunately, it's a long way from Brikkies park on a Sunday morning even back to the lowly position we now occupy.

[creaner]

Sept 19, 2008 14:24:00 GMT birdfeeder said:

What you all need to remember is the W/N is a small time local paper,who have reporters just out uinversity or college, who are still wet behind the ears and have never been to Worcester before they started working for the paper, do not know there Warndons from there Ronkswood and after 2 or 3 years will be off to pastures new.

Berrows Journal at this rate.

[Mr T]

Exactly what qualities is Mr boddy looking for in his replacement, I'm pretty sure that Superman is not interested in non-league football. Mr Blobby may be of a equivalent status to the current man.

Three posts in one day, I must be pissed off!!!

[kward]

I have to admit to being somewhat bemused by the reaction to our reports today. A number of you have criticised the Worcester News in recent weeks for allegedly not asking questions about the situation at Worcester City. Now we have done so, they weren't the right questions! In truth, of course, you don't like the answers - but we cannot be held responsible for that.

You'll forgive me if I reserve the right as editor to determine the way in which my staff go about their jobs. Our job is to report in a balanced and objective way - not to serve the interests of any particular group, lobby or organisation.

I've taken the decision that a useful way to advance the issues surrounding the club was to offer Dave Boddy the opportunity to respond to a series of set questions that I hoped summed up the majority of supporters' concerns. We have printed his responses as we received them without editing. That way we could not be accused of spin and people could make up their own minds about whether the answers to our questions were satisfactory.

We will, over the coming days, publish the reaction to Mr Boddy's answers from supporters like yourselves and continue to ask questions about the way in which the club is being run.

In the meantime, might I suggest that one or two of you might try thinking before typing. You have every right to rubbish what we do if that's your view - but if your reaction to anything you don't like or agree with is to lob insults then don't expect me to react favourably to it.

To be specific:

cg - please feel free, as the fine journalist you believe yourself to be, to conduct your own investigations. I await your reports with interest.

Birdfeeder - when you know nothing about a subject, in this case my newspaper and my staff, it really is better to keep quiet.

Clearly I made a mistake in attempting to engage with people on this messageboard. Lesson learned.

Kevin Ward
Editor
Worcester News

[si1268]

So the ground is definately sold... subject to planning permission being obtained by Carey's for whatever housing project they want to put forward. As house builders are now going bust or srcrabbling around for cash to complete projects I can't see it's in the interest of Carey's to complete this deal. They certainly aren't buying up anymore land. If I were Carey's I would put in a planning application which would be thrown out. Then renegotiate a lower price on the ground or walk away from the project altogether.

[Croc]

wow - nice bit of hard hitting journalistic reaction there - someone (or in this case several) people tell some uncomfortable home truths about what has been printed being just plain inaccurate in places without questioning it - and said journos go scampering back from whence they came - afraid of the inevitable critical reaction for basically conducting what could be termed as a crucial interview by what amounts to post - without any kind of probing or real analysis.

It's the modern equivalent of a schoolkid mindlessly copying stuff word from word from a textbook in the vain attempt to keep teacher happy.


Clearly we all made a mistake in attempting to try to get the local press to properly highlight the circumstances of the death of a once great football club. LESSON. LEARNED.