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[Insider]

There's more chance of us winning the FA Cup than Cardoza suing anyone for libel (sic).

[DrillingCobbler]

Hi Guys, I am certainly not having a go at Marquis, just the opposite in fact, I am just asking that he doesn't give my details to the club. He has even said on this thread that he has no problem with what I wrote.

The thread was quite long, with many posts but I am pretty sure I said nothing libellous. The only real accusations were of the lack of good business practice, which even that is open to opinion.

Drilling regarding the ticket manager job, I again only asked the question of why did he insist in not having a fan and asked the question of what did he have to hide??  You certainly seemed to have changed your tune in that last post.

Again not sure what all these blatant lies are?  was them saying that the new kit was delayed due to the ash cloud a blatant lie when they wont be here much before the end of June???

I was trying to find out where the future of the club I love is heading under our current chairman. Yes I have inside contacts and I could say a lot more of what happens that would support my arguments (nothing major just lots of little things) but I didn't because I didn't want to damage the club.

I am sorry but I do not know what his intentions are, that is the problem. He came in a blaze or craze of spending, 5 year plan, Championship football and ground development, with ground development his main aim. He is / was a property developer, is that a coincidence. Up until very recently, he did not make a statement without talking about development and trotting out that lovely picture of the whole ground development while only talking of some exec boxes. I understand that development would certainly help the club but to suggest that it is the ONLY for the club to go forward is ridiculous. There are plenty of clubs without exec boxes in higher leagues and there are plenty with them in our league. If the development was so vital to the club, then why not do the development yourself and say to people that you will take the money back from the council, if and when it happens.
To me actions speak louder than words and since it started to become clear that the council would not fund the development, what has happened to the club? DC has put a lot of money in but not since that time.
Indeed the club received a lot of transfer money in, yet little of it seems to have gone back in to helping the club go forward.

This latest response from the club certainly indicates that DC has had enough, he has failed, so is it time that he cuts his losses and steps aside?  















During the last couple of years I have been one of DC's fiercest critics on this board. I stand by everything that I have said...I am certainly not changing my tune. BUT there are two ways of managing a business in our current situation. One is too stop spending, cut the budgets etc...whilst the other is to speculate to accumulate to a certain degree.

IF I was in charge I would not be running the club in the current way thats for sure. on the flip side I would not have recruited Directors of football, had 3 senior keepers on the book all at once and paid ridiculous wages to very average players (Westwood, Jess etc). I have found the last few years incredibly frustrating which started with the 3 years it took us to get out of this league first time round. (DC's era) One dreadful decision has been made after another and quite frankly we are now paying for it! And they were dreadful decisions made that didn't need hinesight. Giving Wilkinson an open check book (arguably the worst manager we have ever had), the re-brand, recruiting an ex-civil servant to run the club (someone with experience in business would have been far better so no offence intended)...the list is endless.

So as you can see my stance hasn't changed. Other than I don't have any issues with him as far as his intentions are concerned. I feel comfortable that he cares about the club. I feel comfortable that he wants us to progress, both on a personal and a business point of view. My stance would only change if someone came of the woodwork and publicly stated that they wanted to take over and plough fresh funds into the club....but would not be prepared to pay DC for it. Because it isn't worth a penny. But unless that happens there is little point in getting wound up about it.



 



 

[Marvo]

How can an opinion be a fact?

If it's a fact, then it's not an opinion.

[saturday banana]

How can an opinion be a fact?

If it's a fact, then it's not an opinion.

Is that a fact John?

[black_army]

Thought this subject wasn't to be discussed on here?

Oh well, just for the record, I think it's daft that NTFC feel the need to get involved with postings on internet message boards, even if what is being said isn't factually true.

In fact, reading that statement, I was beginning to think it was a wind up and they'd be some topic elsewhere laughing at all those taking it seriously.

What next? Libel action the next time someone shouts a bit of abuse from the North Stand?

Ridiculous.

[Deepcut Cobbler]

It's when people pass off their opinion as fact that a problem begins

That includes opinions passed as fact with the word 'allegedly' or with a similar qualification.
Please refrain from both.

If you cannot prove your 'fact' don't pass it as such.

[NTFC1897]

I'm hugely disappointed that this 'current' chairman has decided to take this 'gagging order' action and because of this I shall never spend another penny at Sixfields whilst he is in control of my club. But, hey, just my opinion!

[Positively Mad Mark]

I suppose the lesson to be learnt is "think before you speak" and "only post something that you would say to someone's face."  I try and follow those rules where I can.

[SteveRiches]

This is a public forum, and as such is no different from any other openly published material. I don't understand why people want to be able to libel or defame others on here without facing the consequences. They would not have the bottle, nine times out of ten, to do it face to face with the person concerned.
I'm no spokesperson for NTFC, but I doubt if their objections had anything to do with honestly expressed matters of opinion...but were probably more to do with unfounded personal attacks and various allegations that had no basis in fact. Slinging mud under a pseudonym is plain cowardice.

[guest231]

I'm hugely disappointed that this 'current' chairman has decided to take this 'gagging order' action and because of this I shall never spend another penny at Sixfields whilst he is in control of my club. But, hey, just my opinion!

...........somewhat muddled thinking from a new "one" poster- if you state what you are going to do (not spend another penny) and you have full control over that action it is not an opinion it is clearly a statement of intent or indeed a fact - if you feel so strongly about it pick up the phone and give him a call.

[menscharbeit]

Will you be missed?

[TbananaG]

I suppose the lesson to be learnt is "think before you speak" and "only post something that you would say to someone's face."  I try and follow those rules where I can.

Exactly - if you have the conviction to say something, then it's fine to post it on here, but only if you would also be prepared to write it on paper and add your name, address, telephone number and invite a reply - and accept the consequences of what you are saying. After all, if it's honest, true, decent and accurate, there won't be any negative consequences.
The internet is full of people who want to spout nonsense and abuse then run away and hide. If it's nonsense, keep it to yourself, but feel free to run away and hide anyway.

[DrillingCobbler]

So in other words guys, don't ever post anything 'slightly controversial or opinionated'!! Jesus, when I was slagging Constantine off on here calling him a lazy bastard etc the last thing I wanted was for the clumsy useless bafoon to get in touch with me and ask to arrange a meeting. Its an internet message board, a forum to discuss Cobblers related stuff. There would be no fun in it (in fact it would be pretty dam pointless) if people only ever posted things that they would say to that persons face. I mean, Mark...are you seriously telling me that you would be more than happy to wander up to x player and tell him he's s***, doesn't care etc? Because Im sure that you must have posted derogatory comments in the past at some point? !!

What Manwork and the Random did was totally different. HOWEVER, there is a lot of grey area here and quite frankly this message board will die very quickly if people cannot have a rant on it without fear of being sued. And a lot of people are, that is very very clear. The Sixfields boys site *probably gets very few contributors because the mods are very quick to delete anything that isn't mamsy pamsy pro-club stuff for fear of this. I would hate this to happen to the hotelend.

[saturday banana]

I think Barry Fry is a big fat poo face and heard his mum works in Urban Tiger...as a toilet cleaner!

[guest47]

The only people taking Manwork and Random seriously seems to be NTFC. The glorious fact is that it's just about impossible to claim damages from libel because of what is written about them on an internet message board. No-one takes the comments seriously enough to damage anyone's reputation. No isp is going to give personal details to solicitors representing a football club because they are annoyed at what has put on a message board. Anyone could set up an email and then message on this the board from any internet cafe.
It also seems as if it's only the comments against David Cardoza that upsets the club. It's interesting that all other remarks against Atkins, Calderwood, Gray, Constantine, Low and co. have met with indifference.
The club's heavy handed, bullying tactics against people on here does them no service, we are the fans after all. They should remember that.

[Ralap]

Well said Drilling and Alton, this board seems to be saturated with yes men.

NTFC's heavy handed, paranoid approach to this matter has made them look ridiculous in my eyes

If this is how NTFC respond to some comments on a messageboard I can only imagine how poorly they handle matters of any genuine seriousness. No wonder the club I love has gone so far downhill in the past few years. I never thought I would catch myself wishing for a return of the Stonhill.

Who on here really ever took Manwork seriously?

[Insider]

Alton, yours is the first properly reasoned argument posted on this matter and I couldn't have put it better myself.  Well said, mate. 

[DrillingCobbler]

Its all about a balance though. I can totally understand why DC has got the arse....he's taking certain comments personally and to be fair who wouldn't in his position? But Alton is spot on when he says its only comments knocking the ownership of the club that seem to be deemed as being no go areas. Its ok it seems to slag players off, managers off, OTHER FANS off(!!) etc. I guess that its a power thing. DC is the chairman and oversees everything Cobblers related. He also has a huge financial commitment to the club.

Certain posters on this site do seem to think its a must getting behind the chairman (and that anybody who doesn't should just fcuk off) but its fine slagging off all of the other groups mentioned. Each and every individual has the same basic rights and Im sure that there have been numerous occasions when comments attributed to certain players (example) have been far more strong than anything on the now infamous sinking ship thread.

Is accusing a player of not trying not worse than 'implying' a clubs ownerships recruitment policy had other motives?

[TbananaG]

It's not about being 'yes men' - I would have loved to have a face-to-face conversation with Constantine about his work rate and told him my view of it. I would also like to have a face-to-face conversation with DC about his interests in the club for football reasons and property development reasons and where the balance lies. It's really valuable to the club to know the fans' opinions and we're all entitled to our views. But we all know, really, where the line is and where opinion just becomes abuse - and sometimes it's fun to over-step that line but fun has a consequence sometimes.

[St Edmundsbury Cobbler]

I can't even remember what Manwork and Random even put on here that upset the club that much.

What would be nice is if they stopped bulls***ting about why the shirts are late out though.