Well I've sent my email to the editor:
'Dear Mr. Emery,
I'm writing about an article written by your staff writer, Chris Dunlavy, headlined: 'Swindon: the cheats who really prospered.'
Mr Dunlavy calling the club 'cheats' in massive letters in the headline, then offering absolutely no factual evidence in the article to back this up, is first and foremost just plain bad as a piece of journalism, and secondly potentially damaging and unacceptable libel for the club.
That he follows this headline up with a subheading that says 'They bought promotion by not paying £13m bills,' which anyone that follows this story will know is either proof of factual ignorance or a wilful fabrication on the part of Mr. Dunlevy, since all those bills WERE PAID by our owners, to whom all that debt is owed but who, as our owners, are not in a likely position to call it in, shows he is unqualified to comment on this subject, let alone publish an article voicing such a strong negative opinion that could have an effect on how we are viewed by fans of other clubs in the rest of the Football League.
Our spending is massively outweighed by clubs like AFC Bournemouth, in the same league, with a smaller turnover than us and a bigger squad on higher wages. Our total debt, 13 million (including 8 million carried over from the old regime), only equals the losses Bristol City are making EVERY SEASON!
Altogether, the costs since Andrew Black's takeover of a season of survival in league 1, a promotion challenge, a relegation and a promotion over the last 4 seasons has been £5 million, bankrolled primarily by one owner who has been incurring those losses over that time period with little prospect of repayment. If I was a fan of another club reading that article the impression i'd get is that we'd paid £13 million in one season getting out of League 2 off the back of various other people's money who we'd never intended to repay ('Every time Swindon added to their wage bill, they knew somebody else was going unpaid.' Who exactly are these 'somebody else's' Mr. Dunlavy is talking about, that money was all out of our owners pocket)!
As Swindon fans, we are already carrying with us enough of a burden from the actions of previous owners without being tarnished by articles of the nature of Mr. Dunlavy's that are the result of outright bad and lazy journalistic practice.
As a staff writer for a paper about the football league, it is Mr. Dunlavy's job to be knowledgeable about the football league, and to properly investigate the facts and details of a story before publishing his opinions on it. It is not his job to just bang away at the keyboard at the slightest sniff of misinformation and rumour floating around the football league while holding a superficial understanding of the subject.
As editor Mr. Emery, it is your job to stop articles with as many factual errors and misunderstandings as this going to press, and in the event that they do go to press, and it is brought to your attention it has been written from a position of factual error, it is also your job to offer a retraction.
Almost no clubs are managing survival in the football league without incurring losses. If that is Mr. Dunlavy's definition of 'cheats,' then his vitriol should be directed at the football league as a whole, not in singling out one club.
Thank you for your time,
Yours Sincerely,
(me).
A Swindon fan.'
In hindsight, could have written it a bit more eloquently, but i did enjoy writing the bit 'as a staff writer/ as editor.'
