KEV MONKS FANZONE ARTICLE
Now that Mr Dhinsa’s exceedingly lengthy bid to buy Coventry City is over for the time being, one lesson everyone can learn from this latest chapter in the club’s history is that talking and listening to supporters is the way to progress.
Despite being pilloried by the main stream media who clearly revelled in the amount of column inches or broadcast time this story has provided, Jojar Dhinsa continued to campaign for support in a style that US Presidential Election candidate John Kerry could have identified with.
Although his interest in taking control of the club, was brought to the attention of the Board in a way that has provoked much debate, Mr Dhinsa made a refreshing change in making himself contactable by City supporters by email, text or phone 24/7.
That is something I‘ve never come across in the 35 years I have been watching the teams that play under the Coventry City FC banner and the fact that I don’t even have an email address for the Chairman or for any other current board member does rather tend to say it all.
His decision to use supporter websites as a means of ensuring that Coventry City supporters worldwide have been kept informed of the latest developments from his camp, is a clear demonstration that websites and message boards can and do provide a service to supporters equal to that of any newspaper or local radio station.
Mr Dhinsa’s patronage of the “alternative media” as another vehicle to convey his message knowing that he could trust them to report this in a unbiased way that allowed supporters to make up their own minds, is also something I find rather refreshing.
As Mr Dhinsa has said on many occasions - “Supporters are the most important thing about this or any club.” And he is right. Without us, there would be no club, no new arena to move to, no sponsors, no media interest and probably no players.
Whilst many club employees already work hand in hand with supporters like myself and those from the Sky Blue Trust, whoever takes control of the club whether in the coming months or further into the future has the chance to bring all the various sections together and work with supporters for the good of the club off the field.
Over the years, too many supporters have been lost not just through poor performances on the pitch so let’s not have any more feel disenfranchised with the club.
If we all make the New Year a new beginning and providing that the fact that we all have an opinion to which we are entitled and are free to voice by whichever form we choose is something that is never lost sight of.
Then everyone can all work together in an open and positive manner to bring the glory days and feel good factor back to a club who has long since forgotten how to smile.
Kev Monks runs the Covsupport website which can be found at http://covsupport.homestead.com/index.html