Same Old, Same Old from The Star

[AvsJohn]

All fair points, however only valid should the Star report and dig up everything from every company to go bust in the area.

Well... no...first Bob is a sports journalist, not a business columnist.

Secondly my local plumber goes bust then only the people who have paid him money for work yet to be done are interested - everyone else has a million and one other plumbers to choose from and also no one would buy a paper to read that Joe Bloggs Plumbers are out of business because John Doe's cheque bounced.

The Sheffield Steelers go bust and financially it affects potentially thousands of fans who have already purcahsed season tickets and the thousands of other fans who are supporters but only go to the occasional game.

Like it or not, Sport is different to any other business. Plumber Fits Toilet (ie does his job) is not news. Jeff Legue Scores Against Nottingham (ie does his job) is.

[John123]

Well... no...first Bob is a sports journalist, not a business columnist.

Well.....yes....because the Star covers more than just sport.

Sheffield Wednesday (a sports club) have just been issued a winding up order, and that has not been dissected nearly half as much as the Steelers have been. They owe a lot more money, to a lot more people than the Steelers do.

Secondly my local plumber goes bust then only the people who have paid him money for work yet to be done are interested - everyone else has a million and one other plumbers to choose from and also no one would buy a paper to read that Joe Bloggs Plumbers are out of business because John Doe's cheque bounced.

The Sheffield Steelers go bust and financially it affects potentially thousands of fans who have already purcahsed season tickets and the thousands of other fans who are supporters but only go to the occasional game.

Like it or not, Sport is different to any other business. Plumber Fits Toilet (ie does his job) is not news. Jeff Legue Scores Against Nottingham (ie does his job) is.

Ok, maybe I should have said Major Company to go into liquidation, or hit money trouble?

If it's just a simple case of reporting what people want to read, surely that was all covered in the first article, if not maybe the second, or third, or fourth, or fifth?? All saying the exact same thing, all full of speculation, conjecture and very little fact.

We have been treated over recent weeks to hundreds of "presumed", "thought to be", "assumed", "The Star understands". Yet hardly any sources have been named, both sides of the story have not been heard in equal measure (the bare minimum for a so called neutral local paper right?) and the same rubbish has been regurgitated time and time again.

At the very best Bob Westerdale can be accused of repetitive, badly written, one sided journalism. I don't expect the Star to run only positive stories, but at the very least I expect them to remain neutral, un-bias and report the facts.

And as for "selling papers", well all the evidence so far points to the total opposite of that happening!

[Doom]

Ok, maybe I should have said Major Company to go into liquidation, or hit money trouble?

If it's just a simple case of reporting what people want to read, surely that was all covered in the first article, if not maybe the second, or third, or fourth, or fifth?? All saying the exact same thing, all full of speculation, conjecture and very little fact.

We have been treated over recent weeks to hundreds of "presumed", "thought to be", "assumed", "The Star understands". Yet hardly any sources have been named, both sides of the story have not been heard in equal measure (the bare minimum for a so called neutral local paper right?) and the same rubbish has been regurgitated time and time again.

At the very best Bob Westerdale can be accused of repetitive, badly written, one sided journalism. I don't expect the Star to run only positive stories, but at the very least I expect them to remain neutral, un-bias and report the facts.

And as for "selling papers", well all the evidence so far points to the total opposite of that happening!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who can see that John, as I've said before....'AGENDA'.

In the past the signing of a multi game NHL coach would have been big news and dominated Star articles for a few days, but now it only seems worthy of a very brief mention.

No doubt when Bob does get an interview with Ben the line of questioning will be all about finance and very little hockey related.

[glovesavebythegoalie]

I think the biggest example is in the report at the start of this thread.

The title refers to season ticket money being lost, most of the article is negative, but there is a bit of positive news...a major bit IMO about a new sponsor. This is actually NEW news but is only giving 1 line...why?.

Why is there no background info on the company, or quotes from the company? Many folk have said how good Bob W has been at digging round for the 'truth' about what is going on but there doesn't seem to be any digging about our new sponsor?????...

You never know he might surprise us and have some more news on the sponsor in todays Star....I won't be holding my breath though!

[Doug]

I'm confused Doom. You talk about AGENDA but, apart from the man whom you refuse to criticise and who is currently being deified on another thread, AGENDA from what quarter?

[Doom]

I'm confused Doom. You talk about AGENDA but, apart from the man whom you refuse to criticise and who is currently being deified on another thread, AGENDA from what quarter?

The Agenda in my opinion is to push Bob Phillips out.

Dissuade supporters from attending games and purchasing season tickets.

Dissuade sponsors from sponsoring the club.

Discourage players from signing.

Keep on reporting the negative and avoid the positive.

If enough people walk away it makes it very difficult for Bob Phillips to continue and as such he's left with no choice but to sell........Unfortunately that doesn't seem to have happened.....Or at least not just yet.

[Doug]

Doom, with the greatest respect, I KNOW what the agenda is, but what I am asking you is this, who is responsible for initiating this agenda? You've already stated your support for David Simms. who's left?

[sully]

I have to be honest now. I feel that someone somewhere has a personal agenda against Bob Phillips. We are all aware of the issues now and they don't need to be continually reported day in day out. I feel that some of the reporting is now being somewhat vindictive and with this in mind I hope Bob Phillips stays and sticks 2 fingers up to his accusers.

The last thing the club needs is to go back to the days of Norton Lea.

I will be at the first game and most home games after that no matter what is reported. Those who seem to be trying to bring the club down should now be ashamed of themselves. You will here on radio and tv shows about balanced reporting. The Star recently have been totally unbalanced - in my opinion and the reporter seems to have a personal vendetta. If this was a footy club he would have been banned from the ground.

[Borussia10]

Doom, with the greatest respect, I KNOW what the agenda is, but what I am asking you is this, who is responsible for initiating this agenda? You've already stated your support for David Simms. who's left?

Are you suggesting that its Dave Simms?

[Doug]

I'm not suggesting that it's anybody! I'm just curious to know from Doom who he thinks is behind the alleged conspiracy. The management team walk out, a local journalist is fed private information from a person or persons unknown, information which probably originates from one source which leads to speculation that said conspiracy exists. As Doom is 100% behind David Simms I was merely trying to ascertain from which other vested interests does he think the stories are coming. I am trying to keep an open mind but looking at it logically the list of potential "suspects" is not that long. What do you think?

[greenbunch]

Same old chestnut. Doom, Doug and I have been banging on about this guys non reporting and labouring his points over and over again. Yawn.... So I looked back and I started posting about this Westerdale guy way back in May. 2 months ago. Now I'm sorry but other sports in and around Sheffield must be of interest to other fans. I. e Sheff Wednesdays plight for example. But this guy is like a dog with a bone.

Now I did apologise to the guy some weeks ago put I think it's high time this Westerdale "reporter" either puts up or Shuts up. Then we can all move on....

[Borussia10]

I'm not suggesting that it's anybody! I'm just curious to know from Doom who he thinks is behind the alleged conspiracy. The management team walk out, a local journalist is fed private information from a person or persons unknown, information which probably originates from one source which leads to speculation that said conspiracy exists. As Doom is 100% behind David Simms I was merely trying to ascertain from which other vested interests does he think the stories are coming. I am trying to keep an open mind but looking at it logically the list of potential "suspects" is not that long. What do you think?

Its clear to me that sides have been taken in this whole sorry affair and the aim of some people is to try and get Uncle Bob P to sell the club...in his own words on Radio Sheffield he felt like that people had tried to run him out of town, who were the people that he was reffering to? I think we all have our own ideas on that and this isn't probably the place to start accusing people of certain things but the thing I get from the Star is every issue is propaganda against Uncle Bob, either Bob Westerdale may want him out or the person feeding Bob W the information wants him gone.

[Doug]

Agreed! Bob Westerdale though may just be reporting what he has been told (from the outside source) as he is paid to do.

[Stewart]

Agreed! Bob Westerdale though may just be reporting what he has been told (from the outside source) as he is paid to do.

Isn't he actually paid to check to make sure his outside source is correct or is it ok to report what you have been told and just cover it with an "apparently"?

[Borussia10]

Agreed! Bob Westerdale though may just be reporting what he has been told (from the outside source) as he is paid to do.

He is indeed.

As Stewart says.