I was about to write a blog about Seasonal Affective Disorder but then I saw a tweet that Joe Michalczuk had quit his job as commentator of Pompey games on Express FM. I wouldn’t blog about that if that is all there was but no – he didn’t just quit – he launched into a scathing attack on many people as you can see in his full resignation tweet.
Talk about going out with a bang. He left the gas on and stood at the door for several hours to ensure that the whole place filled up and then lit the torch paper and legged it. I won’t comment on most of it as he is a fan – like everyone else – and is therefore entitled to his opinion but I will comment on a couple of issues that I have real issues with.
Firstly he states that some of those involved in the PST are not real fans – will get bored and go off to support their other teams and then all will be left is ‘us’ which are the real fans. The real fans are those who aren’t the ‘great unwashed of Portsmouth’ – wow talk about a diss at the regular folk of this great city. Calling a group of people ‘the great unwashed of Portsmouth’ and ‘the Dickensian vagabonds who sat at the back of classrooms swinging on their chairs picking up half an O Level’ is just such a crass shot. I just don’t get it.
He makes a point about what would the hundreds of youngsters who want to get involved in media do if it wasn’t for Express FM? Maybe they’ll go elsewhere? I was actually speaking to someone who did some work experience at Express FM just last week and it has given her a taste of radio and it might be something she wants to pursue. Now this is a valid point – a community radio station is good for the community at large and you can’t condone people threatening advertisers but if people want to boycott it for whatever reason – it is a free country.
When he goes on to say, ‘Decent, Pompey folk will be hounded out of their football club by power crazed, half witted, cloth eared, one-handed typists who will spend half their time shouting homophobic, racist abuse at our League 2 players while checking internet message boards for conspiracy theories of why man never landed on the moon,’ it really riles me up. Mainly because it in part speaks about me. I have a minor form of cerebral palsy and therefore type with one hand. Why are you calling out people of my ilk in this? Unless he is saying everyone he is speaking about has all those traits. Man if someone had all those traits then that would be quite something.
Next up, ‘Now that I’ve resigned, my gag has been lifted and I will be speaking up for the masses at every opportunity. I have more followers that the trust has pledges – and I won’t be afraid to use that audience for the good of Portsmouth Football Club.’ Look at the bit I have bolded…Talk about power crazed…’I have lots of followers…look at me…I’m all powerful and I will speak my thoughts and you will listen because I am so popular. Can you hear him wank whilst typing that? Talking about people who are power crazed in one paragraph and then write about how big of an audience you have on twitter is just pitiful and laughable.
I don’t live in Pompey any more and haven’t for many years. However I do still speak to people in the area and read many people’s thoughts on the Portsmouth Supporters Trust and Balram Chranrai etc… Now there are plenty who are skeptical of the PST but I have yet to hear from one person – one person – who wants Chainrai – or any business acquaintance of Chainrai – to have anything to do with the club. In fact the vast majority of people when given the options of Chainrai taking over again and asset striping the club to get his money out – or the club folding and starting again in a Phoenix type situation then they would prefer the latter of the two options.
Portsmouth Football Club has been a glorious old lady but has been neglected more than I neglect my Wii Fit. It has been kicked from pillar to post and no-one has treated it with the care and the love it deserves. Will the PST do this? I don’t know – but I know who won’t – and that is anyone with any links to Chainrai. So it seems that the options are PST or bust – and in fact – they are the only options thanks to the Football League.
Joe Michalczuk is entitled to his opinion. He is entitled not to be threatened for airing that opinion however when you slate a huge section of the people that listen/read your thoughts then you are basically opening yourself up to abuse. We are all human and if someone basically calls another person a bum then it shouldn’t be a shock if the responses they get aren’t all that pleasant. Threats are too far but what Joe has written in his resignation tweet is certainly throwing out a tonne of abuse at a lot of feet so if he gets some of that back then he has made his bed…
I can’t see how he can say that he wants to reclaim the football club for people of his ilk – people whom he refers to as ‘true Pompey fans’ – and not see the power craziness of it. It sounds like he believes he is the pied piper and he will lead Pompey back from the brink and save the club from people who aren’t real fans. Who is he (or anyone for that matter) to determine who is a real fan and who isn’t? Also who is he (or anyone else for that matter) to say that he is the ‘voice of the majority?’
We all speak for ourselves. If Joe Michalczuk comments then he is commentating his personal views like you or I would do. He doesn’t comment ‘for the majority’ because no-one can speak for the majority unless there has been a vote of every single Pompey fan on the issue and if then they say he is speaking for the majority then fair do’s. Until then he is just a fan who comments as a fan.
I back the PST because it is them or bust – and I trust Colin Farmery implicitly. If Colin Farmery tells me that it is the best option then I’ll go with him. I have known him for over a decade now and do not believe he would be associated with anything that he didn’t think was the best way forward. There are others involved that I have known for a long time who say the same.
The facts are it is PST or bust. If you want PFC to survive in its current guise then the best thing to do is work with the PST to make it a better organisation. Pumping up another bidder is just wasting time. The Football League say PFC or bust – and they are not changing their minds. If I were Joe Michalczuk I’d work with the PST to sort out the problems that he sees in the organisation and not just trash it and try and big up another alternative. There is no other alternative. It is a bit like me looking at my fridge when thirsty and saying, ‘I want a cream soda but I only have a cherry coke – therefore I’ll have nothing’ – it is pointless.
How his resignation comes across to me – as someone who has never met him – nor has deep links to the PST – is someone who wants as much attention as possible and doesn’t like that he’s on the outside looking in with regards to what horse he has backed. Also he sounds like someone who craves the attention. Well you can’t argue with him because look at people like Adrian Durham. If you speak loud enough, make enough waves and crazy opinions then you have a real shot at making it in radio. One thing that is evident in radio – certainly talk radio – is opinionated people work. Look at Alex Dyke who was the star of IoW Radio for many many years because he was controversial. It seems to me that Joe Michalczuk sees this as his future and heck – his resignation made me spend an hour or so writing a blog on him so something must be working!
He derides people who ‘shout the loudest’ but maybe that is exactly the position that he wants to be in. Those who shout the loudest get the most attention and as an aspiring radio presenter that isn’t a bad place to put yourself…
With that I’ll return to my usual guff of politics et al…