**CREWE COLCHESTER & FANS FORUM UPDATE**

[Orientoutlookpodcast]

Hi everyone,

Episode 194 of the Orient Outlook Podcast is now available to download on iTunes, www.soundcloud.com/orient-outlook, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and Android Apps.

This week...
We have an exclusive fans forum update from SLO Karen Harrison
We round up all the news and events at the club from the past week
We review Crewe at home and Colchester away
Ross's post match interview
Orient Ladies update
Trust update
Our views
LOADS of fan views 
Positives and Negatives
Hero of the week and more

Up the O's

[gshaw]

Wouldn't it be nice if the club actually updated people on the fans' forum. You could put the minutes up on a central place owned by LOFC for people to read and refer back to. I've heard they're going to call it the interweb or something like that

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

The podcast is pretty much owned by LOFC, to be fair.

Will there be a written update from ‘Karen’ anywhere, for us old fashioned fans?

[gshaw]

The podcast is pretty much owned by LOFC, to be fair.

Will there be a written update from ‘Karen’ anywhere, for us old fashioned fans?

There's very little doubt left of its stooge status that's for sure. Bizarre to not put content onto the brand new website the club put all that work into over summer.

[Thor]

Has Karen stepped down? She has to be the most ineffective SLO ever. What consultation did she do with fans prior to the fans forum......err nothing, so what’s the point of the role if she doesn’t consult with the fans? Also why so secret, nothing released by the club, by the slo, by the fans forum group. Not happy about it to be honest.

[SuperO1881]

The podcast is pretty much owned by LOFC, to be fair.

Will there be a written update from ‘Karen’ anywhere, for us old fashioned fans?

There's very little doubt left of its stooge status that's for sure. Bizarre to not put content onto the brand new website the club put all that work into over summer.

Here he is again, having a dig at the podcast. A bit fed up with people like you having a pop at us for no good reason so having ignored the previous digs I thought i'd respond to this.

FYI we are two fans who do a podcast on our club and despite what you (all) think, we are totally independent of the club. They don't have influence on what we say or do. We need their consent to have a current member of staff on but that's it.

What we have done though, is built very good relationships with the board and staff at the club who are all genuinely good people. This in turn has given us the opportunity to have them on the podcast (them giving up their Sunday evenings to do it which they don't have to do) which gives us a different angle to the clubs official media channels. This is why we get exclusive content and messages etc that you won't get from the club.

Keren is in the process of putting the forum notes into a formal document which will be published. We took the opportunity of asking her if she could give us a quick round up of what was discussed and any outcomes, which she very kindly did in a 5 minute voice message. It's not taking anything away from the club, they will still do what they were always going to do.

Given all the negativity that seems inherent in fellow orient fans, we take a positive approach to Orient, even when things are going against us or we're not doing well on the pitch, because there's usually always a positive to take from a situation. Doesn't mean we're blindly positive as we are critical too, our criticism is more constructive than some of the dross you read on this forum and social media.

I doubt very much this would have changed your mind gshaw or anyone else who dislikes us/the podcast but now you know our position and where we're coming from.

[redintheface]

Please don’t fall into the trap of tarring everyone with the same brush. The “ inherent negativity” you refer to is confined to a noisy minority. I don’t agree with everything the club says and does, nor do I agree with all of the views you may express on the podcast but to quote an old phrase - don’t confuse dissent with disloyalty - most fans just want the O’s to do well. You’ll never be able to please those who , for whatever reason, have their own agenda.

[Thor]

I personally like your podcast although you could cut it down a bit in length! One point you might consider and I guess where the negativity comes from is that you appear to follow what the club says and very rarely challenge anything from the club. That's fine if that's your stance, but make it clear as otherwise some will think that the club owns you, and not that your 2 people putting together a decent update of all club activities of the past week.

I though the SLO update was poor in content and delivery. My views on the fans forum have been aired here this past week and one finds the whole premise challenging If im being honest.

[SuperO1881]

@redintheface - my post was aimed at the minority of fans who have had, and continue to have, a dig at us. Even a now defunct podcast, still continues to have a pop at us despite us never disrespecting them.
I totally appreciate that there is a noisy minority and am certainly not painting everyone with the same brush. More than happy for people to disagree with our views, that's healthy and we very much welcome it. It's why we try to include as many fan views as possible. Some we think are harsh or unfair but that's the balance and that's what someone thinks then fair enough.

@Thor thanks for your feedback. We aim to keep it under an hour but this will very much depend on what has happened that week. This week we had two losses to talk about and of course a meltdown on social media so we discussed that too. Happy for people to make suggestions on how we can improve and how we can ensure it's an enjoyable listen for everyone although we appreciate we can't please all the people all of the time, we'll do our best.

[DuvB]

The podcast is pretty much owned by LOFC, to be fair.

Will there be a written update from ‘Karen’ anywhere, for us old fashioned fans?

There's very little doubt left of its stooge status that's for sure. Bizarre to not put content onto the brand new website the club put all that work into over summer.

Here he is again, having a dig at the podcast. A bit fed up with people like you having a pop at us for no good reason so having ignored the previous digs I thought i'd respond to this.

FYI we are two fans who do a podcast on our club and despite what you (all) think, we are totally independent of the club. They don't have influence on what we say or do. We need their consent to have a current member of staff on but that's it.

What we have done though, is built very good relationships with the board and staff at the club who are all genuinely good people. This in turn has given us the opportunity to have them on the podcast (them giving up their Sunday evenings to do it which they don't have to do) which gives us a different angle to the clubs official media channels. This is why we get exclusive content and messages etc that you won't get from the club.

Keren is in the process of putting the forum notes into a formal document which will be published. We took the opportunity of asking her if she could give us a quick round up of what was discussed and any outcomes, which she very kindly did in a 5 minute voice message. It's not taking anything away from the club, they will still do what they were always going to do.

Given all the negativity that seems inherent in fellow orient fans, we take a positive approach to Orient, even when things are going against us or we're not doing well on the pitch, because there's usually always a positive to take from a situation. Doesn't mean we're blindly positive as we are critical too, our criticism is more constructive than some of the dross you read on this forum and social media.

I doubt very much this would have changed your mind gshaw or anyone else who dislikes us/the podcast but now you know our position and where we're coming from.

I for one, certainly value your efforts very highly and I am sure the majority of fans feel the same. The moaners who are negative, take pleasure in knocking most things Orient and probably most things in life. They are perpetual moaners and probably have miserable and unsuccessful lives.

Experience has shown me that it always best to avoid and ignore these type of people.

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

FYI we are two fans who do a podcast on our club and despite what you (all) think, we are totally independent of the club. They don't have influence on what we say or do.

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

Has Karen stepped down? She has to be the most ineffective SLO ever. What consultation did she do with fans prior to the fans forum......err nothing, so what’s the point of the role if she doesn’t consult with the fans? Also why so secret, nothing released by the club, by the slo, by the fans forum group. Not happy about it to be honest.

Did you put your name in the hat to attend this?

[SuperO1881]

Has Karen stepped down? She has to be the most ineffective SLO ever. What consultation did she do with fans prior to the fans forum......err nothing, so what’s the point of the role if she doesn’t consult with the fans? Also why so secret, nothing released by the club, by the slo, by the fans forum group. Not happy about it to be honest.

Did you put your name in the hat to attend this?

No.

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

Has Karen stepped down? She has to be the most ineffective SLO ever. What consultation did she do with fans prior to the fans forum......err nothing, so what’s the point of the role if she doesn’t consult with the fans? Also why so secret, nothing released by the club, by the slo, by the fans forum group. Not happy about it to be honest.

Did you put your name in the hat to attend this?

No.

How do you know?

[gshaw]

The podcast is pretty much owned by LOFC, to be fair.

Will there be a written update from ‘Karen’ anywhere, for us old fashioned fans?

There's very little doubt left of its stooge status that's for sure. Bizarre to not put content onto the brand new website the club put all that work into over summer.

Here he is again, having a dig at the podcast. A bit fed up with people like you having a pop at us for no good reason so having ignored the previous digs I thought i'd respond to this.

FYI we are two fans who do a podcast on our club and despite what you (all) think, we are totally independent of the club. They don't have influence on what we say or do. We need their consent to have a current member of staff on but that's it.

What we have done though, is built very good relationships with the board and staff at the club who are all genuinely good people. This in turn has given us the opportunity to have them on the podcast (them giving up their Sunday evenings to do it which they don't have to do) which gives us a different angle to the clubs official media channels. This is why we get exclusive content and messages etc that you won't get from the club.

Keren is in the process of putting the forum notes into a formal document which will be published. We took the opportunity of asking her if she could give us a quick round up of what was discussed and any outcomes, which she very kindly did in a 5 minute voice message. It's not taking anything away from the club, they will still do what they were always going to do.

Given all the negativity that seems inherent in fellow orient fans, we take a positive approach to Orient, even when things are going against us or we're not doing well on the pitch, because there's usually always a positive to take from a situation. Doesn't mean we're blindly positive as we are critical too, our criticism is more constructive than some of the dross you read on this forum and social media.

I doubt very much this would have changed your mind gshaw or anyone else who dislikes us/the podcast but now you know our position and where we're coming from.

Well that hit a nerve didn't it?

Too much official club information is being dished out through these random 3rd party platforms now so unless you're willing to sit through hours of drivel for 30 seconds of relevant information we're back to second hand rumour. I've seen it happen on social media where a simple fact (transfer budget spread over 3 years) takes on a whole page of inaccurate rumour because what's been said isn't published anywhere owned by the club.

End of the day if people want to make fan made content fine, there seems to be some audience out there who finds it interesting but anything from T&T or prominent figures at the club should be coming via an official channel. For all the good work the club has done creating the Dream Team content, behind the scenes stuff etc. it's also gone too far allowing a few random individuals to become some sort of pseudo official mouthpiece for the club.

As for being independent, remember this?
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/leytono ... 26767.html

[Thor]

Has Karen stepped down? She has to be the most ineffective SLO ever. What consultation did she do with fans prior to the fans forum......err nothing, so what’s the point of the role if she doesn’t consult with the fans? Also why so secret, nothing released by the club, by the slo, by the fans forum group. Not happy about it to be honest.

Did you put your name in the hat to attend this?

Yes I did.

[SuperO1881]

There's very little doubt left of its stooge status that's for sure. Bizarre to not put content onto the brand new website the club put all that work into over summer.

Here he is again, having a dig at the podcast. A bit fed up with people like you having a pop at us for no good reason so having ignored the previous digs I thought i'd respond to this.

FYI we are two fans who do a podcast on our club and despite what you (all) think, we are totally independent of the club. They don't have influence on what we say or do. We need their consent to have a current member of staff on but that's it.

What we have done though, is built very good relationships with the board and staff at the club who are all genuinely good people. This in turn has given us the opportunity to have them on the podcast (them giving up their Sunday evenings to do it which they don't have to do) which gives us a different angle to the clubs official media channels. This is why we get exclusive content and messages etc that you won't get from the club.

Keren is in the process of putting the forum notes into a formal document which will be published. We took the opportunity of asking her if she could give us a quick round up of what was discussed and any outcomes, which she very kindly did in a 5 minute voice message. It's not taking anything away from the club, they will still do what they were always going to do.

Given all the negativity that seems inherent in fellow orient fans, we take a positive approach to Orient, even when things are going against us or we're not doing well on the pitch, because there's usually always a positive to take from a situation. Doesn't mean we're blindly positive as we are critical too, our criticism is more constructive than some of the dross you read on this forum and social media.

I doubt very much this would have changed your mind gshaw or anyone else who dislikes us/the podcast but now you know our position and where we're coming from.

Well that hit a nerve didn't it?

Too much official club information is being dished out through these random 3rd party platforms now so unless you're willing to sit through hours of drivel for 30 seconds of relevant information we're back to second hand rumour. I've seen it happen on social media where a simple fact (transfer budget spread over 3 years) takes on a whole page of inaccurate rumour because what's been said isn't published anywhere owned by the club.

End of the day if people want to make fan made content fine, there seems to be some audience out there who finds it interesting but anything from T&T or prominent figures at the club should be coming via an official channel. For all the good work the club has done creating the Dream Team content, behind the scenes stuff etc. it's also gone too far allowing a few random individuals to become some sort of pseudo official mouthpiece for the club.

As for being independent, remember this?
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/leytono ... 26767.html

Having been doing this since the 2014/15 season, I'd like to think we are not a bunch of randoms who've just turned up and decided to do a podcast. When we started there were 3 other podcasts and now there's just us. If people can do something different or better then crack on, variety and options are healthy.

If people don't want to listen then fair enough, we've not got a problem with that and your views above are fair enough.

Re: that thread, people took that totally the wrong way. Our intention was to avoid MP seeing the questions so he couldn't come up with prepared answers - end of. But as usual, the noisy minority took their negative views and it all blew up. We know we're honest and aren't trying to fool anyone. If others don't want to see that then that's on them.

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

The criticism here should be aimed at the club for using this method of communication, not at a couple of fans putting a podcast show together.

Given the amount of 'stick' they get on here, I think they've been very restrained and not surprised a nerve has been touched at last.

[SuperO1881]

Thanks Redo but I don't see why anyone should get any stick. We complained when no info was coming out the club and (some) people are complaining about how info is coming out and who's doing it. I take the point that people think some info might be better off coming from the club before us and that's fine.

We think after 5 years of doing this, we'd be viewed as a credible alternative output for club info.