Can Ronnie Whelan be banned from Roots Hall?!

[keefmoon]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure we have "relaxed the purse strings" to sign The Goat

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

My email to Sky Sports........

Quote[/b] ]Firstly, thank you for scheduling my team, Southend United's match against Southampton in The Carling Cup for live transmission last night. It wasn't the right result from my point of view but it's still good for the club to receive national exposure.

However, can I please complain about Sky Sports continual use of Ronnie Whelan as a studio guest whenever Southend are shown live on Sky Sports. Yes, he used to be our manager but his 2 year reign is looked upon with despair by a vast proportion of the Southend faithful. Is it possible that more thought could be given to who the studio guest is for our league game with Notts Forest to be shown later in the year.

Examples of possible experts with a Southend connection who spring to mind are Peter Taylor, David Webb or Chris Powell. He also may not be seen as "media-friendly" right now but Stan Collymore could provide far more incisive comments from a Southend point of view than the incoherent and unprepared ramblings of Mr Whelan, who basically last night showed himself to still be bitter about his Roots Hall exit. It was welcoming to hear positive Southend comments from both Matt Le Tissier & Harry Redknapp in the post-match coverage.

Thanks and regards,
Richard Reade

 

[keefmoon]

Your reference to their bivvy-wacking tent as a studio is quite amusing.
I hope Ronnie got wet.

 

[DTS]

Dear Sirs,

As a long time subscriber to Sky Sport I can say that I am generally delighted with the package that you offer and I really feel that I get excellent value for money.

However as a season ticket holder at Southend United I feel I must write to complain about your continual use of Ronnie Whelan as a Southend related pundit.
Whelan seems to have little or no grasp of anything that is currently going on at Roots Hall. His comments lack both preparation and foundation. Quite how he can be classed as a Southend pundit is beyond me as he is generally disliked by the Southend public for his shocking management of the club during the late 90’s.

Most other pundits that you produce for teams seem to try to look for positives in a side performance – Where as Whelan seems to specialise in being negative when it comes to the Shrimpers. I am now at the point where I feel that I may cancel my subscription to Sky should you continue with Whelan and his ill informed opinions.

As an alternative to Whelan I could suggest Chris Powell currently of Charlton. A superb ambassador for the club, very media friendly and clean cut to uphold Sky’s pround tradition as a family channel.

I await a satisfactory reply to my letter.

Yours truly,


David Baker

 

[Grayson]

That's the way to do it, threaten to make them lose money

 

[shooter mcgavin]

Quote[/b] (Dave the Shrimper @ Aug. 23 2005,11:26)]Dear Sirs,

As a long time subscriber to Sky Sport I can say that I am generally delighted with the package that you offer and I really feel that I get excellent value for money.

However as a season ticket holder at Southend United I feel I must write to complain about your continual use of Ronnie Whelan as a Southend related pundit.
Whelan seems to have little or no grasp of anything that is currently going on at Roots Hall. His comments lack both preparation and foundation. Quite how he can be classed as a Southend pundit is beyond me as he is generally disliked by the Southend public for his shocking management of the club during the late 90’s.

Most other pundits that you produce for teams seem to try to look for positives in a side performance – Where as Whelan seems to specialise in being negative when it comes to the Shrimpers. I am now at the point where I feel that I may cancel my subscription to Sky should you continue with Whelan and his ill informed opinions.

As an alternative to Whelan I could suggest Chris Powell currently of Charlton. A superb ambassador for the club, very media friendly and clean cut to uphold Sky’s pround tradition as a family channel.

I await a satisfactory reply to my letter.

Yours truly,


David Baker

Well written, polite and to the point.

I didn't think you had it in your locker Dave!!

 

[DTS]

Cheers Gav,

Wait till our next away day and I can talk you through the finer points of letter writing.

ATB

DtS

 

[shooter mcgavin]

Quote[/b] (Dave the Shrimper @ Aug. 23 2005,13:07)]Cheers Gav,

Wait till our next away day and I can talk you through the finer points of letter writing.  

ATB

DtS

Cheers Dave.......here's my effort.



Dear Sirs.

Firstly, I'd like to congratulate Sky for their commitment to lower league and non league football, which appears to be getting better all the time. It's refreshing to see that "proper" football fans are getting some coverage on a national level.

I do however, have a gripe that I feel I must air.

I enjoyed re-watching your coverage of the Southend United vs Southampton match after having been at the game (obviously not the result that we were hoping for, but a reasonable performance from my team). It's rare for the "pundits" used in your telecasts to be so blatantly off the mark, yet Ronnie Whelan appears to have little to no knowledge of what has gone on at Southend United since he departed after his disastrous reign in the mid to late 1990's. I found his comments to be ill informed and often derogatory about my club. Thankfully, Harry Redknapp and Matt Le Tissier appeared to show greater humility, despite their obvious biases to The Saints.

We are in a fortunate position that we are to be televised once more this season in the upcoming game versus Nottingham Forest. I urge you to consider a fairer studio guest, that isn't intent on knocking us down at every opportunity. Peter Taylor or Chris Powell have both worked on Sky Sports productions before, are therefore media friendly and would undoubtedly offer a more constructive critique in my opinion.

Keep up the good work and I hope that this is a blip in what has been mainly superb coverage thus far.

Yours Truly

Gavin McMahon

 

[DTS]

Good man Shooter,

I think you nicked my media friendly comment a bit but other than that a sound effort.

 

[shooter mcgavin]

Quote[/b] (Dave the Shrimper @ Aug. 23 2005,13:22)]Good man Shooter,

I think you nicked my media friendly comment a bit but other than that a sound effort.

All about selling them the benefits of an alternative pundit....no more no less.

See you at an away game soon Dave.....have you got any lined up?

Gav

 

[DTS]

Not sure about Scunny but maybe up for Swindon & Rotherham my son. Other than that not sure.

 

[OlvisIII]

Top letters boys - what e-mail address are you sending them to. I would like to repeat the exercise.

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (OlvisIII @ Aug. 23 2005,13:42)]Top letters boys - what e-mail address are you sending them to.  I would like to repeat the exercise.

Use the feedback link on one of my postings on Page 2 of this thread!

It was the closest I could find to getting a contact address.

 

[shooter mcgavin]

Quote[/b] (OlvisIII @ Aug. 23 2005,13:42)]Top letters boys - what e-mail address are you sending them to.  I would like to repeat the exercise.

I used the link that was earlier in the thread, but it appears to have bounced straight back to my hotmail account.

Suggestions anyone?

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (shooter mcgavin @ Aug. 23 2005,13:44)]

Quote[/b] (OlvisIII @ Aug. 23 2005,13:42)]Top letters boys - what e-mail address are you sending them to.  I would like to repeat the exercise.

I used the link that was earlier in the thread, but it appears to have bounced straight back to my hotmail account.

Suggestions anyone?

Mine was OK & hasn't bounced back.
Perhaps go to the Sky Sports website, go down the bottom of the hompage & find the feedback link then complete that page again.

 

[OlvisIII]

This is my letter to the editor.

I was pleased to see coverage of my team, Southend United, on Sky last night. It is great for the fans of the club to get national exposure. The coverage was excellent apart from one person, Ronnie Whelan. I appreciate that you try to find players that are attached to the clubs involved in some way, but these people should be accurate in their opinions about the club. His comments about the running of the club I found to be innaccurate and unprepared. His criticism of the team even led Le Tissier to show some support towards us. His time at Southend is not remembered fondly by all associated at the club because of his bad man management, which makes it harder to listen to when he is sharing his bitter opinions about us. I noticed we are being shown again against Forest in the next few months and I just ask whether it would be possible to have a representative who will have a more positve outlook of the club. Thanks.

 

[weststander]

Just thought i'd jump on the bandwagon and dro a line to sky as well

Dear Sir,

Firstly may I congratulate you on your continued excellent coverage of the lower echelons of the Coca Cola league, it is the main reason that i subscribe to your service.

May I also thank you for your excellent coverage of my team Southend United in last nights Carling Cup first round even if the result wasnt to my liking.

However, there was one minus point to your coverage and that was the use of one of your 'expert' pundits, Ronnie Whelan.  Now I understand the Ronnie was an excellent player and won many accolades but as a manager he was truly awful and was sacked by Southend United for this very reason, and not for the first time last night Ronnie showed that he is still very bitter about this, he did not have a good word to say about the club, i feel that even if Southend had been victorious last night he would still have found something derogatory to say, whereas, Matt le Tissier and even Harry Redknapp who have no ties to the club were much more magnanamous in their victory.

We are lucky enough that the Sky Sports Cameras will be coming back to Southend in the near future to televise our match against Nottingham Forest.  I implore you and your team to find a more suitable pundit for the match.  May I be so bold as to suggest a few names for condsideration Peter Taylor, another who was not the best manager we've ever had but still makes objects rather than emotional comments, Chris Powell, a much loved ex-player who never has a bad word to say about the club or even Stan Collymore who I know is not that media friendly at the moment but he is passionate about the club and I feel would be an excellent choice.

Once again thank you for your continued coverage my club.

KInd Regards

Adrian Latham

 

[Southampton Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (canveyshrimper @ Aug. 23 2005,08:53)]Whelan highest profile ex manager - I think not.

What about Peter Taylor & David Webb and dare I say it Fry.
What has Whelan ever done as a manager?

Sorry, I should have explained I was thinking in terms of playing careers. Yes, Peter Taylor is vastly more experienced as a manager, Webby has palyed at the highest level and Fry is a big-mouthed yob known throughout the footballing world, but Whelan was the most successful in his playing career. Having moaned on Goals on Sunday last season that he didn't fancy being a manager any more as it was all too difficult and too much hard work for him, he's clearly trying to earn some dosh as a media expert. Except that "expert" is far from the correct word for him.

Unfortunately for me, my Sky box did decide to switch itself off before the game last night, so I have recorded three hours of black screen, but I did manage to catch the end of the game and the post-match interviews on the repeat at 2 o'clock this morning!

I'm very impressed with these letters you're sending to Sky, excellent work. I feel I can't contribute myself, as I haven't been able to witness Whelan for myself. Anyway, maybe my black screen is more entertaining than him?

I can't see David Webb being used by Sky - he's not been used by them before and he is a very quiet person. He never seemed to enjoy interviews much when he was a manager, I think he would prefer to keep himself to himself. The antithesis of Fry, who if Sky take any notice of your emails would be their next choice I think, but I do feel he's only a little better than Whelan in that he's not usually very positive about us. Peter Taylor though would be very supportive and encouraging and Chrissy Powell would likewise be great.

Whelan out!

 

[canveyshrimper]

Understand what you are saying, and yes Whelan with all his league championships & european cups vastly out strips any one in this club in terms of what he has won as a player.

Peter Taylor has been used frequently by Sky as a pundit, and Chris Powell would be I am sure excellent. I have no truck with Fry but at least he knows his stuff and is generally supportive and positive about Southend. Collymore has the high profile but i fear would not be touched by Sky.

I will write to Sky as well and hope that they listen and do not let Whelan darken our doorstep again.

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

We also perhaps need to keep an eye out for when Whelan is next on "You're On Sky Sports" and bombard their switchboard so at least one of us gets to confront him on air.