Below is the view of Coventry City supporter John Dawkins.
The views expressed are the personal opinion of Mr Dawkins and his alone and have been run in a bid to purely present many sides of a story, not to blacken or sully the character of anyone named in his personal comments.
Mr Dawkins' comments are as follows:
"This one "GOES ON" too Alan - spin it whatever way you want again, at least you will get a bit of traction off the back of me again.
A couple of weeks ago i wrote a piece on my own personal facebook page about Coventry City and certain things i saw going on during a game and what i heard from current playing staff and other players who have since moved on. I voiced MY OPINION because i can see the state the club i have supported 29 years is in and the oblivion in to which it is spiralling. The piece was then picked up by various sites and fans forums and went "viral" for whatever reason. A few days later Steven Pressley acknowledge it in his press conference and i was called a Liar. Firstly its embarrassing and shows the plight of the club that he would even firstly acknowledge it, interesting how the coach i dug out has since left......
The next day, Alan Poole took it upon himself to write an article about myself in the Coventry Evening Telegraph trying to mock and undermine my claims and get personal which i didn't understand baring in mind he doesn't know me or has never met me. I sent Alan an email where he replied he was to busy to talk to me, I left it there.
However having read his more recent piece where he attacks fans for having an opinion about their club, enough is enough!!!!
The article is misguided, foolish and hypocritical, a man in his privelaged position as a sports writer think its acceptable to berate me as a fan.
He has now took it upon himself to attack all fans who pay good money to watch our team and when we raise issues, tactical inabilities and question quite frankly awful performances of OUR club and team, WE'RE apparently misinformed and out of order, says the man who doesn't pay to go the games and in fact gets paid to go. A man who freely admits he has never sang a song at a football game, what kind of a fan is that?? I have even heard you are a Spurs fan,
No wonder you don't understand us. Its quite laughable either way that a man deemed "very strange" by those within his own company when i asked questions about him can make sweeping statements about us FANS who pay hard earned cash to support this shambles of a club. This isnt BILE Alan, it is passion and a fear that nothing is being done to stop the cancerous rot and inevitable free fall of our once great club!
Alan, you said you didn't know my credentials, as if to say i don't have a clue! In turn you write about music for the Telegraph also something i know far more about than you if you want my CV or want to ask any of "celebrity circle" about, does that mean i shouldn't allow you an opinion on that? well anyway here are my credentials! I have played for and represented the following sides through the 90's and early 00's - Nuneaton Borough, Hayes & Yeading, Shrewsbury Town juniors, Birmingham County & Midlands Captain, Coventry city u14s, Warwickshire captain u12-16, so without sounding arrogant ive played to a good enough level to understand the game..... and Mourinho is case and point of that myth that if you weren't a pro you 'don't know' theory, admittedly 'The special one' is something of a phenomenon, but What level did he play too? Despite all of that, if you pay your money you have every right to question your side. And to cement i may know what i'm on about is that i had stated we lost pace and never replaced it and also lacked width, since my piece both have been acquired.....
You also tried to mug me off regards selction changes. My point was about young defender Willis who had a superb game against Walsall away only to be dropped to make way for Webster. What message does that send to a lad who had waited his turn, trained hard, then got his chance and was arguably man of the match only to be subsequently dropped. Pathetic management!!! I am privy to a lot of inside knowledge at CCFC with the contacts I have as well as scouts and other pros at other clubs that hear and see things, and i can assure you from what i have seen on the pitch, by the dugout and from some of his own playing staff he has to change it quickly or go. A good friend of mine is a scout for a club in the same league and his quote is very concerning "Covs football style is far to predictable at this level and im amazed it hasn't changed considering the position you are, If you lot continue in this manner from Sheff Utd onwards then i think its curtains for them considering the run in". Clear indication that our play does not indicate we are in a relegation battle as all us FANS can see, and you can ask any scout a similar question and receive a similar answer. From what i'm told Lee Burge has had a murderous time since his nightmare against Worcester, granted some of it deserved for petulance, but i've been told Pressley has barely spoken to him since that game. Surely Pressley should be dealing with this better than just blanking people, after all didn't he leave Coventry under a dark cloud due to poor disciplinary!!!
The part in your piece where you state " I’d back Andy Turner’s sources above Mr Dawkins’s alleged snitches any day of the week and he’s reasonably comfortable that we’re in no immediate danger of a Ryton insurrection" is laughable. At what point do you think any player would speak openly and honestly about any gripes they have with the management or other players to the hacks from the local paper. Surely your not that daft? Interesting to see how Murray left under 2 weeks after my piece, family reasons wasn't it? certain players were delighted to see the back of him. I think Pressley's alarm bells went off when he read my piece....internal investigation maybe? .......
Surely Alan you can see that we as fans in the last few years have put up with more than most clubs do in a lifetime and have every right to kick off about it and say what we know from our sources. I saw one fan say that Our club is on life support waiting to be turned off, and it really is that bad. We drop another division and its the next Wimbledon waiting to happen. We've stood by Pressley because of the situation and he has had it difficult at times and as a man hes a good person, but at the same point he is making glaring errors in recruitment both in and out of the door and mind boggling tactical errors, and his former coaching staff were alienating him from his playing staff. The argument of how bad hes really had it though is blown apart by the WORCESTER CITY game, no matter how hard you have had it, to be over ran by a non league side the manner we were that first half was inexcusable. 3/4-0 at half time would not have flattered them
So lets get down to business - THE ROLE OF A JOURNALIST is to provide a balanced article and deal in facts and figures. Not attack fans, sit on the fence and bottle asking the proper journalistic questions to Pressley that need answering. As for Pressley lets get a few things straight, I like Elvis & I love how he takes the time to talk to fans & I really do believe that he has the best interests of the club at heart. But Pressley is getting a smooth ride because our fans are too obsessed with SISU to actually realise how bad we are. Any other period in our history you would of heard Pressley out chants a long time ago - he's got away with it because of SISU, the fact that he talks an incredible game (which unfortunately doesn't translate to the pitch) the fact you guys don't squeeze him harder with questions that need answering and give him an easy ride!!! You say in your piece that.
I mean this line in your piece - "With one infamously emotional exception, he invariably champions his players, even on those occasions when the media centre’s proximity to the dressing rooms have enabled us to eavesdrop on some ferocious tongue-lashings" - This sounds like big news to me, as a journalist why is it the first we have heard about this from you? Surely you should be reporting this type of thing to us?
FACT - 1 home win in the league since september 11th - 5 months and 5 days
FACT - 11 wins in 53 league games in the last 13 months - win percentage of - 20.75%
FACT - we are in 20th place & due to Leyton Orients 101st min winner we will fall into the relegation zone should they win their game in hand.
FACT - Even if we beat Sheffield United this week we won't move up the table and if we lose to them and Leyton Orient win we are in the relegation zone
Those figures are facts & are inexcusable – so when I hear the statement ‘lets get back to winning ways’ what winning ways?
Against Preston Pressley said we were the better side because we retained the ball for long spells. That's cool?!?! but whats the point in retaining possession in non threatening areas – and when we lose we get thrown stats at us like were naive enough to be thrown off the scent – 'we had X amount of possession, X amount of efforts on goals etc etc or in your words "better-balanced, more constructive football" " city's work rate was impeccable" - ZERO POINTS THO. Stats in football are bollocks. Look at Everton the first half of the season, passed the ball in to oblivion but now find themselves in trouble or the classic Sunderland game where they got smashed 8-0 - Doesn't matter though as they had something like 65% Of possession ..... Oh thats alright then, dont worry about the 3 points as long as the stats look good!. Its simple - GOALS WIN GAMES. The only time people use stats to their advantage is when they are trying to conceal failures
To be in contention of going up you need to score 70 goals a year and you need to be able to look around your changing room and see where those goals are coming from. Ok he lost Wilson, Clarke ( who hammers pressley to anyone who will listen to him) and Moussa not from choice so essentially he had to replace 50 goals. So with that in mind why let go of Baker a creator and scorer of goals and a talisman for the club go, why did he bring in 7 forwards that he begged for only to play one up front and not give 3 of them a consistent run in the side. He constantly bring in players and then quickly pies them off saying there not the answer like both Tudgay and Barton who had rotted away but now all of a sudden ARE THE ANSWER - smells of someone who is panicking. What does this say about the recruitment policy. Baker, Adams, Mchseffrey, Chuba Akpom (who went out the door quickly for answering back) billy daniels etc are all better than what we currently have, but Elvis chose to let them go.The following players have come and gone proving that his recruitment policy and spotting of a player is awful - McGeouch, Denzel Slager, Leon Lobjoit, Coulibaly, Petrasso, Chris Dagnall, Mark Marshall, Rory Donelly, Delfounso, Madine....
The post match interviews have now got beyond laughable with certain players being TREMENDOUS or OUTSTANDING and THE GROUP have done well which was used after the latest 1-1 draw where we got out of jail massively!!! All these words regularly used – Bottom line is we lie just outside the relegation zone in the third tier of English football, thats a FACT
Us Coventry City fans must know nothing and you must be the oracle Alan despite national journalists saying we are prime for the drop, even the Soccer Saturday pundits can see that our club are in grave danger of relegation - The outsiders can see it, we can see it, you cant!!!! You chastise us with your nonsense piece and paint a rosy picture in the darkest times of the clubs history. Just start publishing some facts alan like a good journalist and start asking the right questions as you CAN affect things, or are you also on the SISU gravy train on the side? Pressley has an 18 months severency package in his 4 year deal, and good for him, hes been clever, but he is taking us down!!!! If he didn't have that package and the fans weren't so obsessed with SISU all this time he would be long gone!
Alan i'm sure your a good man, and you come across as one in your videos, but rather than wasting time digging me out, why don't you Grow a pair of bollocks and stop giving Pressley an easy ride. I'm actually surprised at you as i actually think your a good journalist reading some of your other pieces.
Go and be a hero Alan not a fence sitter!!!
Just my opinion Mr Poole, thats if im allowed one of course!
PUSB