I’ve thought long and hard since coming home from today’s match about making this posting and on balance have decided to make it. It is not my intention to agitate but inform and I will only be making the statement once.
I was approached at today’s match by a supporter, who I will not name, in a somewhat belligerent mood. A request was made for me to play postman which I rejected out of hand. The conversation continued and a few points were made which I discussed, hopefully made my position clear and parted, I trust, on a more amicable basis. The nature of the points makes me feel the need to make my position clear for others who view this forum though I believe many, particularly those who post, will already have no doubts.
JGFC. I have never knowingly met JGFC other than in the written word and regular readers of the forum, not those who rely on very selective print outs of postings, will know that I am certainly not his poodle. If I agree with what he says I will say so, if I believe he is being wound up I will say so and if I disagree with him, and that has happened quite a few times recently, I will say so. I am my own person, independent of any of the factions which regrettably exist and quite simply a Welling United supporter. If your opinion is different then that is just what it is – a different opinion.
Posting on WotW Forum. I post on the forum because it is a place to exchange views on WUFC. I do not boycott it simply because it is maintained by JGFC and he occasionally goes OTT in his negative comments and by no means uniquely, appears to have a problem letting go of the past. I have some moderator rights and indeed I have used them; there have also been several occasions when I have been in two minds but decided against editing a particular posting – it can be a very fine line on occasion. All the while JGFC is happy for me to have these rights I am quite happy to hold them and use them if and when necessary.
Despite what some would have you believe the WotW Forum is well used. Discussion on the forum is substantially reasoned and the exchange of views is carried out without resorting to abuse. By the very nature of fora not all postings are positive but, with the odd exception, critical postings are reasoned as is any debate they generate. I believe that the forum is one of the better behaved forums and had no qualms leaving excerpts, both the positive and negative, with Graham Hobbins (together with my prompt notes) after my recent meeting with him.
I am more than happy to discuss matters WUFC with anybody, and Graham will no doubt confirm if you ask him that I could talk football 24/7. I generally limit my discussion to areas in which I have some knowledge and/or experience though I am much less guarded in matters where the discussion is purely a matter of subjective opinion. On occasion some may regard me as opinionated, arrogant, sarcastic and I have no doubt that on occasion I have been all three and perhaps more but we are all human and none of us is perfect, but the one thing I have never to my knowledge been is abusive. Above all I regard myself as a loyal Welling United supporter of more years standing than I care to remember and find the way I was approached today to be a sad comment on where Welling United supporters find themselves at this point of time.
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YOUTH are the future
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"The worst thing you can do is make a committment and not meet it and I understand that." Barrie Hobbins 14 August 2010
Ive really had enough of all the anonymous crap and stirring and people acting like spoilt little brats putting pressure on people (as seems happened to you yesterday)
Maybe i have gone a wee bit over the top in my condemning of the club for its poor performances and non ability to compete at this the lowest level of football its played in for circa 30 years. Maybe i feel its warranted.
Maybe im pissed off the way the club and its ickle soldiers caused a riot when it comes to the forums (The said they want none and ooh dear the other associates have no forum). Maybe i couldnt really give a flying **** anymore.
IMO the club needs new owners or the (paying and non super )fans will continue to be made mugs of. As ive said before those fans that sold their opinions and souls down the river WILL turn but their words and opinions will be worthless.
Very tedious all this. Fed up with cretins causing grief so they can get glory and superfan status.
As for the friends of welling/wpc or wsu....
Just an anonymous arm of the club to receive money and bestow super fan status.
But its clever by the club, bring a few fans in (whod previously slated the club at games and on websites/forums) get them to cause grief and spread gossip, kill off the wuisa and attempt to kill the forum (choking them) and then have carte blanche and a monopoly. Stifling the fans and controlling them.
WHat does the future hold? Nothing, exactly the same.
Agree 100% with the club and throw all your money at them or you will be bullied and made out to be a problem.
Shambles of a club and many fabs have "fallen for it"
Ive had enough and a gutful of the sh.ite and i guess the club have won. Maybe i will stay around in some form just to "stick it up them".
From viewing the minutes on the WSU site of the last 8 months i can see what theyve done or do...
Simple sign a form saying Hobbins is god, agree to give all your spare money to the club, Agree to agree to everything the club say, DO NOT CRITICISE the club in any way (even if you are right) Sign away your opinions. Do not post under your name on a website forum (use anonymous ones). Look forward to the next 20 years of fighting relegation in this and lower leagues with the most unambitious/un professional club in the UK.
Bruno the club/fans got to TG who spent lots of his own money and time in raising the clubs profile. Its all basically gone tits up since then. In short its bullying, i wont have them bully you either (directly or indirectly). So you can stay and try and build the forum without me around and try to deal with the aggro and abuse or maybe it will all be sweetness and light.
PS ive never seen you as arrogant etc. Its been a blast Bruno. But having been threatened to be hit by ******* edited - bruno at Moor Green(and there were FIVE WITNESSES) ive had enough of the bullying and crap. edited - unnecessary speculation bruno
Why the fck didnt my dad take me to Gravesend/Fisher/West Ham/Spurs when i was 6. I blame him..... edited - unnecessary personal comment bruno
**** it all... over to you Bruno, good luck .
-- Edited by bruno at 14:37, 2006-04-30
-- Edited by bruno at 18:27, 2006-05-02
-- Edited by JgFc at 18:42, 2006-05-02
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Alexander O'Neal 1987 "I'm fed up cos all you wanna do is criticize "
JGFC Take a chill pill mate, count to 100 and take stock and consider deleting your posting.
I can cope with such encounters such as yesterday, and I will tell you it wasn't R*** , especially when they are as ill informed as this was, without raising a sweat. It was important to my way of thinking however to expose what I considered to be a blatant attempt to peruade me to stop posting on the forum purely on the grounds that you are the moderator. You should know me well enough from my postings to know that I can hold my own corner.
You hold opinions which others don't necessarily share but if expressed with a bit less vitriol and personalisation would be regarded as just that - your opinions. Gone Fishing in my opinion summed the situation up very well when he said The website wars have become ‘tales wrapped up in legend’ and I believe should now be consigned to history, Welling is a small club, far too small to be divided like this. I would like to see everyone use this forum, as there seems to be no other one to post on. As for laying the blame at anyone’s door, accept that everyone was to blame and leave it at that and move on.
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YOUTH are the future
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"The worst thing you can do is make a committment and not meet it and I understand that." Barrie Hobbins 14 August 2010
Im not laying the blame solely at Russ. Or saying its him posting anonymous digs. Its moved along way on from there with others involved. Plus its not really his style.
Im just pissed off with it Bruno. TG was bullied away, They tried to do it to me and now theyve tried you . Theyve also bullied a lot of the regulars away. And in my opinion the Club have encouraged and nutured the situation by welcoming that group of fans to an affiliated super fan status and condoned their actions. The club have certainly never sat in the middle and tried to sort any of it or try to unite the fans. Weve all seen certain people post "the clubs opinions" on here with a hint of inside info etc etc. And the club can be seen to have taken sides in no uncertain terms with their treatments to certain people/groups. This cannot be under any confusion, its there for all to see.
Not many can see whats gone on Bruno and i have had an absolute gutful of it. I need a sabatical. WOTW WILL NOT BE RETURNING under any circumstances. I had hoped that a new Radio Wings site would be making an appearance soley for the radio coverage of games with no other content at all, just a link to a forum. Unless things change drastically then thats gone too.
Gone Fishing has posted an excellent comment, it is one i had hoped that the old regs would have adopted.
I hope that a few more fans like him will attempt to put the past in the past where it should be.
The Wings on the Web links and branding have gone from the forum. Maybe that will help. You also can now ban and moderate anyone on here.
I will look on with interest but for now i dont see how things will improve unless people ignore the bullying and start posting about football again.
To those who registered on here and posted from the old WOTW board, i thank you. To the new people who posted, i thank you too. And to the anons and bullys i thank you for making nowhere comfortable for all Wings fans to post.
-- Edited by JgFc at 13:59, 2006-04-30
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Alexander O'Neal 1987 "I'm fed up cos all you wanna do is criticize "
personally I think it's very sad that it has come to this, I have never met you JGFC, although having been coming to welling since the age of 8 on and off I should know your face, I have never called into question your commitment to the club, but think you go over the top at times, which allow your posts to become tarnished by personal attacks. I am also aware that you have indeed been verbally attacked, but as I have stated before. THIS IS A SMALL CLUB, and one that should have no room for infighting.
I hope everyone has a good summer, Come on the Mighty England. I hope everyone visits my new welling picture site at www.paulpettet.net for match pics. It is still fairly new and as such needs updating, but I will be posting pics from the last 6 games and from the excellent awards presentation dinner that happened last night.
I agree totally with your comments about JGFC and am disappointed that things have turned out in the way they have. Whatever his faults JGFC put a lot of time and energy into both the WotW site and this forum. It was his enthusiasm and drive which first brought match videos to a Welling website and brought us Radio Wings, a project I hope will not sink without a trace. If the futile website wars had not broken out and that enthusiasm and energy had been recognised, or dare I say it channelled, the bitterness fuelling his criticisms could surely have been avoided.
Regrettably, Wings on the Web the original supporters website, is no more and what we need to do now is move on.
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YOUTH are the future
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"The worst thing you can do is make a committment and not meet it and I understand that." Barrie Hobbins 14 August 2010
I agree with both JGFC, Bruno and Gone Fishing’s comments but I have a few slight apprehensions about whether the closer of WOTW was just a stunt to draw people to the forum?
How many times have we seen WOTW closed then suddenly reappear again after 6 months, with a “glorious” come back?
I don’t want to start an argument but I just doubt the reasons behind the closer because we have seen it all before.
Phil, I can assure you that as far as I am concerned the closure of Wings on the Web is not a stunt to promote this forum. JGFC effectively ended the website in February when he stopped updating it and it remained in limbo until he actually killed it off on Sunday in the heart on his sleeve contoversial style we have witnessed over the last couple of years. It had the air of inevitability when he disappeared for a spell from the forum too effectively leaving it in what he deemed my capable hands. I eventually made contact with him several days later and he made it clear he was standing back to see what happened without him in the driving seat. He did return, explained his reasons for withdrawing and offerred to hand the forum over to myself, BKK or anyone genuinely motivated to run an independent Welling United supporters forum. He had no takers and continued, though his postings were far less frequent, until last Sunday when he handed the forum to me and told me to do what I would with it.
JGFC and others know I am committed to Welling United supporters having a forum in which to express their independent voice (which doesn't of itself translate as confrontational). Having had a couple of days to take stock I have decided to keep the renamed forum open and meet the demand which I believe exists.
BTW as far as I can recall the only time Wings on the Web website actually shut down and was resurrected was when it was deleted without warning some years ago. It did from time to time lay fairly dormant but it never actually closed.
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YOUTH are the future
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"The worst thing you can do is make a committment and not meet it and I understand that." Barrie Hobbins 14 August 2010
2) I work in a business with a similar number of personnel to Welling's average support.
3) It is unrealistic to expect everyone in either organisation to get along! However, too many are entrenched in their views at Welling to disagree in a controlled manner, which is the real problem. I'd also say that both factions feel slighted and aggrieved and I don't see how that will change, because it has been in people's interests at various times for this to continue.
For good or ill Tom, in the Internet age, you will be associated with Welling. However much you may now want that to cease people will not forget and I hope that you will be able to keep things less confrontational within the wider footballing world because of that (though I am not holding my breath!)
I do find it sad that a drive and energy to be innovative on behalf of the clubs support has been unable to be utilised in a constructive manner for the good of the wider audience but has been marginalised, sometimes by self inflicted wounds.
You know where we agree and disagree, we have been over it enough! With the current regime we are unlikely to emulate Forest Green, however we are also unlikely to emulate Kingstonian and a few others. It is not wrong to want better, sometimes you just have to put up with what you have....
In closing, all I can say for your positve efforts is.....