Les Reid had an article published by the Coventry Observer on March 24th entitled “Coventry City fans call for unity amid Sky Blue Trust ‘anti-Sisu’ Agenda”.
In order to promote fairness and as many sides of the discussion as possible, so that you have the relevant information in order to make up your own minds without wishing to blacken the character of anyone named, we are publishing a response to that article which are the personal views of the author, who is known to Covsupport News Service and named in the article.
"The Coventry Observer published an article on 24th March, (updated version on March 26th) by Les Reid, former political editor of the Coventry Telegraph, entitled “Coventry City fans call for unity amid Sky Blue Trust ‘anti-Sisu’ Agenda”. The article relied heavily on content from Minutes of the latest meeting of the Coventry City Football Club Supporters’ Consultative Group (“SCG”) which had just been published. Mr Reid also included comments obtained from Peter Ward, Chairman of the SCG, notably: “Unfortunately, there are too many who are too confrontational and want to cause trouble and disruption”, seemingly a reference to the members of the Sky Blues Trust. Mr Reid goes onto say that “Other members of the SCG share that view.”
"David Johnson, a long standing Coventry City fan and member of the Trust, wrote to the Editor of the Coventry Observer commenting that Mr Reid appeared to have taken the views of a single individual at the meeting, Peter Ward, and had presented those views as fact. David pointed out that the highly respected Kev Monks, who was also present at the meeting, had written on Coventry Mad that the attack on the Sky Blue Trust by Tim Fisher (Coventry City Chairman) and Peter Ward was not joined in by other members of the SCG who were embarrassed by this row or felt that it should not have been raised at the meeting and that Mr Ward was acting in a personal capacity in this matter, ie not in his role as Chairman.
"Another member of the SCG [Robert Tidmarsh] had remarked on Twitter that: “Mr Ward don't represent my view at all”.
"Mr Johnson also observed that the article appeared one-sided as no apparent attempt was made to contact the Sky Blue Trust members present at the meeting and referred to in the article, Steve Brown and Jan Mokrzycki, to obtain their side of the story. The Trust has published a statement on its own web-site in response to the Observer article and Mr Ward’s comments.
"Mr Johnson received a reply, not from the Editor of the Coventry Observer, but from Les Reid himself. In dismissing David’s comments on the article, the journalist chose to express his personal views of Mr Johnson, which contained a number of factual inaccuracies and misrepresentations.
"In further communications, Mr Johnson has repeatedly asked Mr Reid and his Editor to answer two key questions related to the piece covering the SCG meeting:
* Was verification sought from anyone other than Peter Ward that the Minutes of the SCG meeting accurately reflected the relevant business?
"Despite being given ample time to respond with simple Yes or No answers, neither Mr Reid nor his Editor have been forthcoming with replies.
"Mr Johnson is led to believe that the Sky Blue Trust had asked for changes to be made to the relevant passages of the Minutes, ahead of publication, yet those amendments seem to have been ignored by Mr Ward and the minute secretary.
"Therefore it would appear that, in relying on the Minutes and Mr Ward as the key sources for his story, Les Reid and the Observer have published an article that is probably materially incorrect, or at best, disputed.
"Once again, despite several days having passed since Mr Reid was given this opportunity, he has been unable or unwilling to support his claims.
“The communication I have had with the Coventry Observer and Mr Reid raises in my mind the question: are the same standards of care, rigour and balance demonstrated in the reporting of the last SCG meeting and in Mr Reid’s email to me, the same as are applied by that journalist in covering far more important topics?” asked Mr Johnson."
More reading -
Les Reid's response - http://www.coventrycity-mad.co.uk/news/tmnw/les_reids_response_to_the_response_to_his_article_858241/index.shtml