"1892 Insider" - 1892.insider @ gmail.com
"Koptalk Outsider" - koptalk.outsider @ gmail.com
"Insider Insider" - Koptalk.Insider @ gmail.com
by Rupert Insider
27th August 2006
The Blog started in its original experimental form in March, 2006. It was a one-man operation by Insider.
Its readership grew spontaneously without advertising. But a critical-mass did not develop until the beginning of June. Effectively, the Blog started then.
I discovered the Blog when Oldham made several contemptuous references to the “numpties” who were writing about him. He claimed it did not bother him: on the contrary, it brought him valuable publicity.
He would not name the Blog on KT and banned anyone who did. He disabled the Private Messages and email features to prevent the Blog being discussed behind his back – but he made frequent, indirect references to it. It was always on his mind. For example, whenever he let slip an oafish remark – and then realised it might be controversial – he took to saying – “Blog that!”.
So we did.
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Different contributors to the blog object to different aspects of Oldham and KT.
A common objection is his central claim to have privileged and exclusive access to Anfield, Melwood and the Academy and to be a trusted confidant of players, ex-players, and serious journalists.
Others objected mainly to his disrespect for the Hillsborough 96 and LFC boycott of the S**.
Many are uncomfortable with his charities – especially those for family members – and his total failure to register them or produce receipts and accounts.
Some object to his shady business practices, such as selling fake LFC memorabilia with fake Certificates of Authenticity, using competitions to promote his site and then failing to announce the winners or to deliver the prizes, or to his constant creation of new categories in the hierarchy of his members, as an excuse for charging additional fees, or his charging for articles and photos and videos which he has stolen, without attribution, from the LFC Official site or other media, or his charging for the downloading links, rumour and gossip provided free by the members of his site.
Many objected to his unfair methods of competing with and undermining other sites set-up for LFC supporters including his squatting on their domain names, his ridicule of them and his false claims that KT has been voted the World’s No. 1 Site and the No.1 LFC site.
Some object to his recurring personal attacks on the LFC Board and senior officials and his mockery and name-calling and malicious gossip about certain players.
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By June, Oldham was preparing for what he expected to be his best-ever summer of transfer rumours. It would bring him new riches. He talked of moving the site to larger, faster servers to handle the anticipated increase in traffic.
He talked about his plans to extend ownership to similar or “sister” sites for supporters of Newcastle, Spurs and Forest and the shell-sites he was already constructing for them. He boasted of his new stand-alone KT headquarters, his plans to buy new photographic, computer and television equipment and an ex-military Landrover,a van and other vehicles to go along with his latest second-hand Mercedes.
And if anyone was still in doubt about the financial success of his business – which he valued at five million pounds, according to a post on TLW by his confidant and moderator, DJ_Sydney – he also spoke about plans to buy a house overlooking Melwood (one prospective property had a 300,000 pounds asking price). He enthused about his plan to buy a hotel in central Liverpool to convert to a Kop-theme and to make it available free-of-charge to visiting Gold Club members. And all of these new properties and possession were additional to the purchase of his own house and the mortgage he had removed from his mother’s house – all with cash received from KT.
At the same time he was promoting his new internet broadcast service, his podcasts, and a new paid SMS service, as well as advanced sales of his proposed book in which he would expose Anfield and tell the story of his struggle against “the suits”. And all these expansion plans were the justification for his urging readers to click on Google ads and the Adult Date Finder and to place bets with the firms who paid him generous commissions for referrals.
In his MySpace profile, he boasted of an annual income of 250,000. He claimed repeatedly that his personal wealth justified his business model, his values and his opinions and anyone who questioned them were simply jealous of his success.
It appears that all this talk of financial success was intended to convey the impression of an unstoppable force, supported and approved by thousands of fans and all the interested institutions, including LFC.
Despite his alleged wealth he continued to beg for money for various causes, including some associated with his family. He directed that the money be sent to his or his mother’s bank account. He presented himself as an enlightened do-gooder. He was pained that anyone could be so disrespectful as to ask for an accounting. If they did he complained that they were as good as “attacking” the children who were the alleged beneficiaries of his appeals.
Ever since Oldham gained control of the KT site from its original founder, he has tried to develop a cult based on his personality. This summer those cultic aspects intensifed. He started several new forums on KopTalk devoted to his personal views as well as a new blog to detail the minutiae of his daily life. He deliberately set out to make his obesity, his appetite for pies and peas and his drinking of Woodpecker cider a recurring theme.
He also made constant written and photographic references to his family, including his young children, his wife, his 16 year-old step-brother and his mother.
He used his site and its “radio” arm to rehearse his views on the state of Britain, immigration, pornography and the rape of young girls. He canvassed his readers on their taste in pornography and discussed his dealings with the photographic model featured on his site as well as discussing his conquest of girls he allegedly met on the internet and his bar-room dating techniques.
He lectured his readers on why his site did not support or feature the Hillsborough 96 and the Michael Shields campaigns – because they were “political” and “difficult to deal with”. His site, he said, was about “entertainment”. He admitted to taking the S** daily and went to great lengths to argue that the Hillsborough/ LFC boycott of that rag was questionable.
He swaggered around the forums, frequently imposing his views on the deficiencies of the LFC “top brass”, the feasibility and timing of investment in the club, the merits or otherwise of this player or that. He intervened in the threads, elminating some, suspending posters on a whim and often overuling the moderators. Any who questioned him were classified as “whingers” and reminded that it was his personal site and he need not justify his actions or his views. If they didn’t like it, they could “fuck off”.
He sacked moderators whose loyalties he suspected. And he never seemed to be short of applicants to fill the vacant postions. According to him, there were many who wanted to work for free in return for the privilege of access to his “boardroom”.
Indeed, he often suggested that his main problem was containing the unwashed, huddled masses trying to gain access to his site.
So at the beginning of this summer he seemed to be on top of the world – crowing like a cock. A few numpties scribbling on a blog would not disturb his sense of well-being.
It’s now less than three months since the Blog developed critical mass.
Is the cock still crowing?
Let’s have a look.
To be continued….Blog that! – Part 2 -
