Social media accountability and using an hour wisely

 Social media and the impact it can do to individuals has been highlighted again this week. Monsieur Henry of Arsenal fame and not Monaco management fame, quit social media due to racists and bullies. 

His interview in the current bun this week with Troy Deeney was an insight into his long term concern about social media and not just recently during lockdown. His comments about people on social media being allowed to be anonymous and say things that they would get arrested for in a cinema, pub and any public place is powerful. Anybody in social media world can say what they want it seems without punishment and for the social media giants to ignore this and explain that its not always possible to capture these types of post, just you try to load a video that you have no permission for and you will see it disappear quicker than Karl Robinson can call police to the Stadium of light! Celebrities and sportspeople use twitter to be closer to the fans and of course, promote things they are doing to help their career, however that does not open them up to unlimited, anonymous abuse. I would support any sportsperson quitting social media until these companies start monitoring and regulating their platforms. 

We at the https://9yrspodcast.org/ launched an hour silence from the final whistle with the hashtag #sixtyminutesilence and it was pleasing to see some fans join us, including Haydon the Womble. The background to this followed on from a Mental Health in football podcast Mental Health and Football - Part 1 & Mental Health and football - Part 2 that I recorded recently with people from around the club. We had Jane Lonsdale & Hanna Kitcher from DTB, Mat Haylock - Retail Manager at AFW Wimbledon, Mikey T from Radio WDON and Joe Palmer - Chief Executive Officer at AFW Wimbledon as guests During the discussion I was shocked by a post Mikey T had received on social media that I really don’t want to repeat, however it was totally unacceptable and I still remember the faces of everyone on the Zoom call when he mentioned it. Mikey T and Rob Cornell have a thankless task as they are now commentating to fans that can no longer be in the stadium and they are our eyes and ears. They may stay positive, when us at home can’t find anything to cling on to, however I would think for their mental health, they need to remain positive along with the away travel which must now be lonely adventures with hardly anyone using public transport. I can only talk from some personal experiences I had going to Plough Lane for some games and I felt so lonely. I didn’t post anything on social media as I didn’t want to be seen as boasting that I could go to games, yet I couldn’t really communicate with anyone on the way to the game or at the games as my friends and family were at home. 

I also read a column from Martin Samuel who I really enjoy his viewpoint on sport and he wrote a piece on a quote from England Manager Gareth Southgate, that managers up and down the country are concerned that after games players are on their phones scrolling through their timelines on social media. It's a vulnerable time for players as they are tired, fatigued and they are listening to voices that they might not even know. It's now common place for high profile sportspeople to have media companies managing their social media, however in the lower leagues sportspeople are real and they are human like the rest of us and want to read positive things about them, but after a defeat or even a draw nowadays, social media in the aftermath of a result can be toxic. Managers have a cooling off period after games before they can speak to a referee and that was the meaning of our hour silence for us all to calm down and use social media in a positive way if that’s possible. Personally I am not going on Twitter or Facebook and will only use it for match days and that will be an hour before a game and for an hour, one hour after the final whistle. It's simply not healthy and I really don’t know what benefit I get from it, except to feel frustrated by people who never see the good in anything at the moment. 

The SGM to vote for London Broncos was held this week and the online provisional vote was 92% in favour. This wasn’t really a surprise to me but I personally voted no to this ground share as I am childlike and don’t want to share Plough Lane with any other team. Yes it's selfish and it's my heart voting rather than my head, but I can’t help but think this dream of returning to Plough Lane is not going to be as euphoric as I first thought. We already have just over £5m of debt in bonds and a bridging loan of around £4.5m that we have used £1m I believe. Over the last month I have heard many people talk about this vote being a no brainer as we need the money, but is it just £200k minimum we need and that will set us up for the future, or will we need more. It was good to hear from Joe Palmer at the SGM talk about we need to be creative and explore other income opportunities away from matchdays. One big concern I have is the turnout for the SGM compared to the temperature test carried out previously was low. No official figures have been released yet but it looks like no more than 25% of the people who participated in the temperature test voted on Thursday. That could be down to people not being members voting as I can’t recall if this was for everyone or just Dons Trust members, but either way we continue to struggle to get all Dons Trust members voting and we apparently had double the people online this Thursday than we normally get at in-person SGM’s at Kingsmeadow. For votes like this we need to have a bigger percentage of the Dons Trust members turn out for these votes or is it just demonstrating that the majority are only really interested in what happens on the pitch and put their trust in the people they vote to be on the Dons Trust Board? I wish that was the case, however turnout for yearly elections do well to get anywhere near 35% turnout it seems.

Easter had a disappointing start to it with a 1-0 reverse at Plymouth on Good Friday. An early goal from Plymouth during a dominant first half hour was enough for the three points.  As I discussed in a previous blog, this time of the season is a results business so just as much I was happy with a late winner against Northampton, I am frustrated by the loss at Plymouth. I felt we played well from the half hour mark until the final whistle, but we just didn’t have that killer instinct in front of goal or that little bit of luck that all teams need sometimes. We still sit in the last relegation place and have Swindon, Northampton and Burton in our sights to replace them in the safety zone. Form wise from the last six games, we are ahead of Rochdale, Swindon and a troubled Bristol Rovers side with Joey Barton already displaying signs that he doesn’t know how to save them from relegation. Barton has picked up 7 points from a possible 33 and lost 8 of his 11 games in charge, losing the last 5 on the spin. I think they are gone when you look at their remaining fixtures, however could do us a favour by beating Northampton Town a week today.

The post match interview with Robbo yesterday was interesting. It's the first time I have seen Robbo look frustrated and not happy with the result. In last week’s, Sunday Night Live - 28th March 2021 Ashley Bayes said Robbo is the calmest person on the bench and doesn’t get emotional too often, however with 27 points left to play for this season, would it be unreasonable for him to get a bit emotional after 3 points were lost with so many decent chances. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be in your first league Head Coach role and to have no fans at games. We all need a lift sometimes and we know that the celebrations after the final whistle last week at home to Northampton would have been epic and also the Good Friday travelling support would have really lifted the team and Robbo yesterday. 

I have been fortunate to get a ticket for the test event at Plough Lane on 18th May and I for one will be singing “Robbo, Robbo, give us a wave” and then giving him a proper Wimbledon welcome. That night I am confident that two thousand fans at Plough Lane will sound louder than any sellout we had at Kingsmeadow.