It was brought to my attention recently that a negative comment was made about by KopTalk by whom I assumed was the supporters group Spirit of Shankly, via their Twitter account. As a result of that comment, an anti-KopTalk muppet was latching onto this and spamming our supporters as if to say “SOS has spoken. That’s it, there’s all the proof you need that KopTalk is a very naughty website.” Naturally I had to make some enquiries.

KopTalk has been on the go since the 1990’s. Over the years we have had to remove (ban) many characters from our forums and in recent years our VIP website, because they have ignore repeated polite requests not to be abusive to others. As I have always maintained, people ban themselves, KopTalk does not ban anyone for the fun of it. Thankfully, today, we have a really good group of people on our VIP website and on our free forums, and it’s very rare that we need to escort someone off our website.

So where do these banned members go? They have to go somewhere. Some join other sites, some just vanish forever, others start up their own Liverpool FC website to “rival” KopTalk. It’s petty but it happens. I can think of half a dozen websites that have been spawned as a result of KopTalk and in a way that makes me happy that KopTalk has brought people together. These websites tend to be anti-KopTalk because they have a grudge that they were booted from our site. These sites give a platform to our rejects and that’s why you see the anti-KopTalk vibe on quite a few of them. But don’t get me wrong, there are some bloody good LFC sites out there. Not all of them are run by bitter and jealous editors.

Some of these sites though are obsessed with KopTalk and myself. When we culled a clique a few years back they immediately launched a website to “take me down”. Unable to do that, they then had to start spreading malicious lies about me. They even brought my children into their agenda by contacting the Social Services in England saying I was planning to kidnap my children and take them to Spain. As a result the police swooped on my son’s school, I think he was about 6 at the time. To cut a long story short, the police said it was clear that someone was jealous of whatever I was doing and that they should be ignored.

I live in Spain today. I do so because I went through a divorce and I wanted to get away from my memories. The muppets, they say I moved to Spain as I’m on the run and that I can never return to England as I’m wanted. Hilarious I know as they seem to have forgotten that I return to England every couple of months. Whatever I do, they put their spin on it. It would upset the average person, me, I love it. I hated it at first but I learned how to turn negatives into positives and the fact that my existence hurts them, is enough for me to tolerate them.

I am a controversial character in that I try to get people talking about Liverpool FC and KopTalk. That has always been my style and it has worked for me. To have people out there talking about KopTalk in a good or bad manner is still promotional to me. I have lost count of the amount of people that have come to me saying “So KopTalk, I thought I’d check out your site after reading so much about you”. When that happens you see good in the bad.

There are things that I have done over the years to not help myself but I was in my early 20’s when I started out. I had no experience, I didn’t even plan for a career like this. I’m 35 today and I cringe at some of the things I’ve said in the past. But what I do is I learn from my mistakes and anyone that know me can verify that if I’m approached in a sensible, mature manner by a critic, then I will listen and try and correct anything that may be wrong. Be abusive towards me or any other member of KopTalk and I’ll turn my back on you regardless of your threats. And it’s that manner that has rubbed so many people up the wrong way.

One of my biggest mistakes was allowing people to place a pre-order deposit of my book many years ago. I didn’t get the book out as I expected although I should have some news about that very soon. Naturally the critics said it was all a big scam yet what they didn’t say was that if you placed a pre-order deposit I invited you to claim a refund if you didn’t want to wait and some people did. That still stands of course. But the muppets still put their spin on it.

KopTalk introduced an optional membership scheme some time ago because I knew that the advertising bubble on the internet was going to burst and it did. It was the best thing I ever did. The muppets say it’s a rip off yet we have thousands of members who love what we offer. The muppets claim to know how many members we have and dream up imaginary numbers yet the truth is they have no idea.

All the muppets do is post numerous claims about me and KopTalk and the not so bright people out there get sucked in either because they’re just naive or because they want to try and create further problems for me because they hold a grudge for whatever reason.

Do you believe what you read on the internet? Last week I read that Spirit of Shankly were planning on beating up George Gillett and Tom Hicks. Because that was on the internet, does it mean it’s true or was that just a case of a muppet trying to cause problems for SOS because they’re not a supporter? SOS was furious about the claims. I also remember reading that SOS encouraged the singing of Munich songs at one of their events. Was it true because I read it on the internet or did I choose to believe the SOS statement that followed that they’d never condone such?

I’m a member of SOS. I’m in my 2nd year now. I joined because they’re the only people out there that are trying to do something about the current ownership situation at the club. I don’t have time to protest so I’m happy to make a small financial contribution to people who do have the time to represent me. I don’t agree with everything they do or say but they will probably learn from experience themselves.

I was told recently that the SOS had made a dig at KopTalk on Twitter. Had it not been for the help of one of the muppets spreading this news as some kind of anti-KopTalk endorsement I’d never have known. Did I care that SOS has apparently made this statement? Yes and no. Yes because if they had a problem with KopTalk then they could contact me any day of the week and no because if they had really taken a pop at KopTalk, I wasn’t going to lose any sleep over it because how could such a group be taken seriously if they base their opinions on hearsay and not fact. Had they really made an official statement about KopTalk, I’d have blown them out of the water as a Micky Mouse group because such a move would be just as insane as the claims I’ve read about the SOS planning on beating up Gillett and Hicks. Do you get my point?

Anyway I contacted Spirit of Shankly for clarification on this matter. Had the organisation issued a negative comment about KopTalk? I actually received a reply from the Chairman of SOS, Paul Rice, who said that the negative comment that had been posted by the person who operates the union’s Twitter account had been deleted. It wasn’t an official statement issued by the union. He also pointed out that the SOS didn’t want to be diverted from what the union is about. He also agreed with my stance in life that you make your own mind up about things in life whether you are a supporter or knocker of something or someone.

There are a couple of lessons here:

1) Don’t believe what you read on the internet, be it good or bad. Always make your own mind up based on your own experiences and not those of others as it’s likely you’ll only hear one side of the story.

2) If you read a comment posted by someone who is a member of a union or a website, don’t assume that person is some kind of official spokesperson, even if they claim to be. Get your facts right first before making a complete twat of yourself.

I will conclude by saying that every critic of KopTalk isn’t necessarily one of these muppets. They may have had a genuine bad experience with KopTalk, we may have let them down. They are of course entitled to their opinion and maybe you shouldn’t dismiss them. I’m talking about those with nothing other than an agenda to try and destroy my character and KopTalk.

I have had people assist me on KopTalk before with support matters and they have let me down. I have now moved on such people having become aware of this. It’s possible if you have been let down in the past by KopTalk that I may not even know about it. If that is the case, please contact me, even if I have personally let you down and I will do all I can to put right any mistakes that I may have made. I’m here every day of the week and I can be contacted easily by email dunk @ koptalk.com

If you are one of those people who is doing all you can to smear my name or hurt KopTalk, I will say this. You have been trying for years and while you have made prompted incidents like this, the reality is I’m still here and so is KopTalk. That will only ever change when I choose. It is sad that you claim to be Liverpool fans yet you’re more obsessed with me than the likes of Tom Hicks, George Gillett and Kelvin MacKenzie. What does that say about you? You continue to flatter me and as I’ve said many, many times before, the day you go quiet is the day I know I’m finished.

As for Spirit of Shankly, I’m pleased that the union cleared this matter up for me. I will continue to support SOS on a personal level and KopTalk will continue to highlight their aims, activities and progress.

I do not seek endorsement from anyone, SOS included, and they don’t exist to endorse or oppose KopTalk. The real discussion should be about continuing the battle against the current owners and not wasting our time on petty internet politics created by some Liverpool “fans” who can’t let personal grudges go.

Duncan Oldham

Editor
KOPTALK