Knee Jerk Poppies Ownership simply can't stop digging.

I suppose we ought to thank George and Fabian for clarifying their previous statement where they pretty much accused everyone who attends games at Latimer Park of being racist. Even though it was definitely a grudging and pointedly partial climbdown, it was at least a step in the right direction.  It would have been infinitely better had they not instantly jumped in with two-feet in the first place, but what's done is done.  If nothing else, hopefully Fabian has learnt that those in authority releasing statements while angry is rarely a good idea.

Unfortunately, Fabian's borderline libellous tarring of us all has gained infinitely more traction with local and national news outlets that the "clarification" statement ever will.  To the public at large we're still that racist football club being racist again.  And the more we argue with this lazy "fact" the worse we sound.

My favourite paragraph about our new-found status as the "Restore Britain" of the footballing world was this sentence from the BBC's website -

"The incident comes after a match official reported alleged racial abuse at a Kettering fixture last season, and a previous instance of alleged racist abuse against a Redditch player at Latimer Park in 2017."

The word "alleged" is doing an amazing amount of heavy lifting here.  Something that might have happened a while ago, might have also happened an even longer while ago....I mean WTF!

I would be interested to know how many banning orders have been issued to such an obviously racist supporter base in the past couple of years.  Perhaps George can enlighten us?

Last week's "incident" should have been a slam-dunk for the club to name, shame and ban someone.  A barely filled terrace where every face was entirely viewable.  Match officials and players standing around in close attendance.  Opposition supporters on the spot who would have been eager to pint out the miscreant.  And yet, nothing.

Some of those close to the action, including supposedly some of the players have recalled hearing shouts of "fat bastard" at the time.  Could it be that our entire reputation as a club and as people supporting that club is being damaged, possibly permanently, because a footballer mis-heard something?  Could this be the reason we are all getting the proverbial shit kicked out of us by everyone in football and society beyond, including our own club officials?

Unfortunately, our own people turning on us has proved to be the last straw for many Poppies fans who were still prepared to give George and Fabian the benefit of the doubt.  The owners had previously lost the backing of many due to their shoddy handling of numerous off-field matters.  Some checked out as several formerly trusted volunteers resigned, all telling similar tale of behind-the-scenes chaos or worse.  Yet others declared that enough was enough when George put his hands up for seemingly-fraudulently applying for funding towards our new floodlights.  A few even flew the coop over the protracted nature of the sale of the club that George may or may not be responsible for.

Seemingly determined to turn the rest of us against them, the current ownership now throw poisonous, unsubstantiated accusations at them.  I can't quite shake the thought, no doubt an irrational one, that all this racism talk might make for an awfully good smokescreen and narrative for leaving the club and making it sound like they had been hounded out.  Nothing was their fault and all the blame lies with those racist hicks from the Northamptonshire sticks.  I'm probably miles off, but it might be interesting to keep half an eye on the "Watford Observer" in the coming months for an interview with a plucky local footballing-man and his tales of woe....

"Couple of Klondikes please Ken...."