I read the Red Passion independent fans web forum daily. If you’re an avid follower of Wrexham FC you have to. If you don’t you’ll miss out on truth, lies, gossip, rumour and the views of a pretty large number of people with varied WFC opinions. l use other sources for Wrexham news but RP is indispensible. It can claim a great significance in the battle for ownership of our club, probably never more so in rallying supporters to raise the bond money, when the then owners appeared unwilling to. The forum has been a force for good and still is in some areas, but does it have a negative impact as well?

Here’s a sample of a typical interaction :

Mr Angry -Terrible performance today

Mr Very Angry – Agreed, the worst performance I’ve ever seen in my 20 years of watching Wrexham, clueless.

Mr Reasonable – Not great today, thought X played well and we need a bit of luck to get us going.

Mr Incandescent – What!!!!! X is the worst player to have ever played for Wrexham. Lazy, slow, alcoholic, wife-beater with acne. Not worth a wage

Mr Angry – Agreed, shame we don’t still have public hangings.

Etc, etc,etc.

A lot of people using the site are conscious something isn’t right about the overwhelmingly negative tone. There are comments saying that the players could read the posts and be affected. I completely reject this notion. In this age of social media, protection from abuse is no longer available. Get used to it, or get work in a very deep cave.

My view is that the there can be no high expectation that any open forum for fans opinions will also be a positive advert for the club, or a safe haven for discourse between those with its best interest at heart. Red Passion fails to provide a friendly and community spirited forum for the clubs owners, potential owners and potential fans. I think this service is needed.

The club website has a forum, to be honest this feels like a remnant of past regimes. The supporters trust also has a forum, inhabited by tumbleweed and dry answers to dry questions. I would love to see this invigorated with better software and some clout from some Trust heavyweights. I would be delighted to have a space to share views with people who have one eye on the club’s image rather than solely focusing on the clubs failings. The beauty of the Trust’s forum is that you have to put your money where your mouth is to contribute.