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Thread: The guardian articles

  1. #1
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    The guardian articles

    Every time he writes about the Bennell case I always find myself thinking the same few things.

    1. Our public relations department (if we have one) is awful

    2.If we did know and didn't take appropriate action to stop it we deserve to be sued, those people who weren't protected and could have been deserve to be heard.

    3. There obviously does need to be an investigation into that time, but one conversation an ex board member remembers is not proof that the board or Gradi knew anything. Everything else is circumstantial and as an investigation piece reads like there's not much proof there was knowledge. It seems a bit like someone saying "but they must have known" rather than proof.

    4. It seems unbalanced and written in the context of now when everyone knows what a monster he is. I don't know how I'd react if someone I knew well was accused of something but I do know that once I knew if they were guilty I could tell you how I should have reacted.

    5. I don't get why Man City aren't as much the focus as we are. They are accused of a cover up and having the knowledge as well as not passing it on to Crewe. There also seems to be accusations that his abuse may have been connected to suicides. I'd normally say that our poor handling of the media and silence is to blame but City don't seem to be talking too much either.
    It's important to remember that the guilt or innocence of City has no real bearing on ours, but it does seem that this journalist is being a bit cowardly and going after the team without the huge media and law machine backing. It's a shame really as those victims from City must feel fairly brushed under the carpet by this reporting.
    Last edited by thnhouse; 25-02-2018 at 11:34 AM.

  2. #2
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    I think it worth repeating that the police found nothing to suggest anyone at the club knew of Bennell's wrongdoing. There seems a determination in the written media to tarnish DG in this sordid business in spite of numerous people having only good things to say about this man whilst at Crewe. Don't get me wrong, if it subsequently comes out that others at Crewe are implicated it will be sickening to be associated with a club who can stand by and let this happen in full knowledge. But as it stands, it is a bloody big "if"

  3. #3
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    thnhouse has hit the nail on the head. I have thought all along that that reporter and his newspaper were too timid to take on the big money clubs. It's also annoying that this has to be the kind of story that will get full page coverage for the Alex. This compares with the fact that Chelsea and Man City get saturation coverage normally but seem to be being left out at the moment on this issue.

  4. #4
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    Here is another one just out...Difficult to say he hasn't got a point though...

    https://www.theguardian.com/football...-barry-bennell

  5. #5
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    but the trouble with this article, like others, is not WHAT is said but HOW it is said and WHAT is NOT said. This article is selective in its reporting of detail and leaves out information that is known, which might cast some light on some situations. We have to ask, WHY do these people continually not provide all the information? In my opinion, it can only be that there is an agenda. In line with the Guardian's 'usual' line on 'balance', I assume that there will be a right of reply. However, I'm not holding my breath!

  6. #6
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    I also wish to stick my neck out here and say that the SOME of the issues here are not so cut and dried. Not everything is a stark black and white despite the modern social media frenzy for it to be so.

  7. #7
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    This was my public reply, via Facebook, to one of the Guardian articles:
    " It's indicative of the times, that the police advised an employer to 'move on' a suspected *****phile. 'Move on' to whom? Today, quite a number of years into a 'safeguarding' era, the very least such a suspect would receive is a suspension pending further enquiries; back then, on the basis of hearsay, what to do? It seems to me, there are far too many people, journalists included, making judgements upon a time they don't properly recall. It really would be helpful if the media would examine those times in which the likes of Jimmy Savile, Barry Bennell, Stuart Hall were able to hide their crimes seemingly - in retrospect - 'in plain sight'. "

    I take the Guardian, and Daniel Taylor has written some excellent pieces on the sports pages. On this matter he's 'like a dog with a bone', which may well be his journalistic instinct, but I agree with gazan on here, that he is being purposely selective. Victoria Derbyshire is also a fine presenter; as is Adrian Chiles, who I've heard interview Andrew Woodward on the radio. Unfortunately, the common theme within all their work, is this issue of "they must have known" (meaning our board, and Dario of course). Everybody nods their heads, as if in agreement, but that aspect is never further explored. What exactly did people 'know' or 'suspect' or hear about? How was it possible for the likes of Barry Bennell, as well as Jimmy Savile, and Stuart Hall, to commit their crimes undetected/unproven? Maybe because they were constantly covering their tracks, planning ahead, noticing who 'might' suspect them. This is how such people operate. Bennell was even able to 'fool' Woodward's family in that he went on to marry his sister.

    I've been a season ticket holder since the early 80's, just prior to Dario's years. As Dario became entrenched, and developed his youth training, I do remember some of the innuendo, stemming presumably from the fact that he was a single man, and dealing with a whole load of young kids. I could never take such stuff seriously, and this type of jibe tended to come from opposition fans, but I've noticed over the years since messageboards developed even some Crewe fans slipping in such trite remarks. I don't remember at all (pre-match / during the week), ever discussing such innuendo, nor do I recall any discussion of Barry Bennell, until he left the club. In the years when I worked in Crewe, football wasn't a hotbed of discussion in my particular places of work, but maybe in places where football, and Crewe Alexandra, was a natural topic of conversation, Bennell might have been a topic? I don't know.
    Like gazan says, lots of grey areas here. The press, in the last 15 months, have dug up a few stories of incidents at games at which Bennell was present, some from before he worked for Crewe; but we don't have 'names to quotes'; nobody in those days went to the police, including Hamilton Smith, who - in his interview on the Victoria Derbyshire programme - also suggested to his fellow board members at the time, that they 'move him [Bennell] on'; as indeed Manchester City did, to Crewe.

  8. #8
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    Excellent response. The articles against Dario are bordering on a witch hunt.

  9. #9
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    I see the club have released statement 2 re investigation. I wonder if these so called journalists will publish it?

    I mean surely a police investigation has more weight than an internal one

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by out0lunch View Post
    I see the club have released statement 2 re investigation. I wonder if these so called journalists will publish it?

    I mean surely a police investigation has more weight than an internal one
    A Slater Gordon lawyer said it was an abdication of responsibility not to hold in house enquiry --- f**** h*** how? We cooperated fully with Police and their findings are with FAm Man City can hire a QC with the small change to write a white wash and look good. We've been cleared and are expected to do it again at our own cost??

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