We met with BBC journalist Simon Stone on Sunday evening via Zoom to discuss his article that appeared on the BBC Football website last week, before being taken down by the BBC.
The meeting was a very amicable one and one which allowed us to portray our views and knowledge on the events of the past few months. We spoke to him about our concerns over the article that aside from what we felt were inaccuracies, it portrayed the same narrative that had been used by Morton House and Matt Southall in that the club would struggle to survive both from a footballing and financial perspective.
We talked at length about why we disagreed with that, and why a Fans Owned club is the best way for Rochdale AFC. We said it wasn’t for any political reasons or for personal ambition for the Trust, but just rather that it was a model which had worked successfully for us as a football club and had led to the most successful period in the Club’s history. We stated that this had all happened at a time where pretty much every other EFL Club along the M62 corridor had suffered financial problems leading to administration, and that if anything, other Clubs should look to follow the Rochdale model rather than the short termism of an over reliance of an individual owner.
Stone said that he had written the piece with no pre-judged opinion, and had been surprised by the reaction to it. We stated that we felt what was surprising was that given the events of the Summer, he hadn’t sought out the opinions of the Supporters in his research for the piece given the active role that Supporters have played – something apparent within five minutes of googling.
He said that it was his intentions for a follow up piece which would address the viewpoint of the supporters, and he would keep us in the loop on that.
We have invited Simon Stone to Saturday’s game with Sutton to allow him to seek out any supporters to discuss their views on the ownership of the Club and see the stance that supporters have against those behind the hostile takeover. Obviously as a sports journalist, he says he might not be able to attend this weekend’s game but he would look to take the opportunity as the earliest possiblity and he would let us know.