CONFIRMED: Boycott-buster took SUN cash – blames LFC “rivals” for snitching on him

by Rupert Insider

Yesterday we exposed that Duncan Oldham has been promoting The SUN for money. Today he confirmed it.

Even though he will not allow mention of this blog on his site and bans any paying member who slips in a reference to it, we will publish his statement in full:

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Adverts that appear on KOPTALK.COM are provided by advertising agencies. When they add new client adverts, we only get to see them when they appear. They do not consult us or their other publishers first. Once ads are displaying we can disable them.

We would never knowingly advertise The Sun and if you think we would, you’ve been suckered in by those connected to other LFC websites. The only ads we can disable before they appear are those that fall into certain categories i.e. gambling, adult, tobacco.

If The Sun was to run an online campaign via any of the advertising agencies we work with, then yes, their ads could appear but they would immediately be removed, as they would on any other LFC site I assume.

Google Ads allow you to block certain domains so The Sun’s website is permanently blocked. But the other two agencies do not have this kind of block.

When annoying adverts previously cropped up on here when we had the Insider section which carries ads, if a member asked us to disable an ad e.g. because it was irritating, we simply disabled it.

Thankfully our advertising is minimal now.

Using Hillsborough and the innocent lives of 96 Liverpool fans to try and score brownie points through internet rivalry is disgraceful. Shame on those responsible

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He is the sole owner of his one-man site. The cash that it takes in from advertisers and members goes into his personal pocket. He boasts about his total control. “Dunk knows best”, he says.   If people don’t like it, they can “fuck off”. He claims he monitors his site 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

But today he says he didn’t know that he was promoting The SUN for money. He would never have done such a thing if he had known!

At least he did not say what he usually says when caught out in a lie or with his hand in the cookie jar: “It was a joke”.

The fact is that his SUN banners on Koptalk were first reported more than 14 days ago by a contributor to Est1892. Unfortunately, that poster was not quick enough to capture a screen shot. If you are already registered at Est 1892 the original thread is on the Koptalk Talk Forum

It was only when this blog published the screen shots and only after several other LFC sites started threads linking to the blog’s article and only after the blog article moved rapidly up News Now “Top Stories” that Oldham ducked for cover. He was waiting to measure the reaction to our article.  He was brazen enough to keep running the ads earlier today. He didn’t want to pull them too soon, if it wasn’t completely necessary. Why turn away money?

But he did pull them – and just the SUN Fastclick ads, not the others – which proves he could have pulled them earlier.

In his statement he does not offer to give the SUN cash back. It must add up to a tidy sum by now – at least 14 days of receipts.   He does not offer to donate it to the Hillsborough Justice Campaign – although I doubt that they would want his Judas money.

In the tradition of the Iraq Minister of Propaganda – he tries to revert blame.

He now claims that anyone who thought he was at fault is a “sucker”. They have been taken in by his “rivals”. And it is his “rivals” who are misusing the events at Hillsborough – events he dishonoured in 1998 when he published a photo of himself proudly wearing a SUN promotional hat.

As we have pointed out before – Koptalk is an anti-LFC site. His big project is a phantom book entitled Anfield Exposed. He classifies all LFC supporter sites as “rivals” and LFC’s “official” site as “the other side”.

He didn’t specify this blog as a “rival” – he never mentions us by name. He’s terrified that if he does his few remaining members might look us up. And if they did they would discover his “rival” reference doesn’t work with us. We do not advertise. We do not taken in any revenues directly or indirectly. We do not have forums or any of the other goodies of a supporters site. And we are not “banned former members” with an axe to grind. We have never met him or paid him a penny or had any personal dealings with him. We have free access to his site thanks to passwords donated by some of his paying members.

I will leave to the experts to deal with his claim that he had no control over the advertisements he profited from. Please use the Comments section below. If you have specialized knowledge perhaps you could email me an article for publication under your own name – or anonymously.

There is a larger question. Why was he advertising at all? In his most recent sales pitch he claims he has “thousands on thousands” of members who pay him ₤30 as well as innumerable others who pay ₤40 for an SMS service. He constantly tries to justify the membership fees on the grounds that it means he can eliminate advertisements.

The truth, as always with Oldham, is the first casualty of his bullshit. The fact is he does not have thousand of members let alone paying members. Indeed, perhaps it was because he has so few members behind the locked gates of his site, that he thought it was safe to run the SUN banner ads where only his sycophants would see them. And he did get away with it for 14 days.

He is financially dependent on the traffic from News Now to earn him hits with the advertisers. And that is why he has to steal news items from other sites, or make them up and give them a misleading headline. His Gonzales accident story the other day – for example. He took it from the news wires and claimed it was coming directly from his sources at Melwood. He headlined it “Liverpool midfielder” instead of “Gonzales” just to add a bit more mystery. And anyone who clicked on it was greeted with a pop-up advertisement. Thanks to the Gonzales’s accident, Oldham made a bit of money that day.

It should be obvious by now that every click on an Oldham piece on News Now is a penny in his pocket. He doesn’t give a shit what LFC fans think of him. As he said before “In this internet lark – always look after No.1 first”.

EDIT: For other stories on this issue go to the side bar and scroll down or use search feature.

Scab breaks LFC’s boycott of The SUN for money

by Rupert Insider

Click image to open (For the full page Click here or Here

Well, there can be no doubt about it now!

No amount of twisting and turning by Duncan Oldham, the sole owner of Koptalk, can hide his financial relationship with the SUN.

Money, not principle, is the true reason for his long-standing attempts to undermine the LFC boycott of the SUN.

The boycott is led by LFC, with personal attention from some of its legendary and current players, spontaneously supported by scores of news-agents in Liverpool, most of the people of Liverpool who are aware of it (including many Everton supporters) and, of course, by the Hillsborough Justice Campaign representing the families of the 96 dead and the survivors who were slandered by the SUN.

Click here to go to the official campaign site.

The boycott will continue until the SUN apologises.

The editor of the SUN at the time was Kelvin Mackenzie. A few weeks ago he said he had nothing to apologise for. He said that the fake, slanderous and deeply hurtful report, which still rankles, was the responsibility of his informants, not the responsibility of the SUN.

In their relentless attempts to break the boycott, the SUN knew they could rely on Duncan Oldham. They knew he was not a LFC supporter but a leech on LFC. Money was his only motivation.

He promoted the SUN by wearing one of its hats at the World Cup in France in the summer of 1998 – 9 years after Hillsborough. Coincidentally, he found the money to open his web site shortly after. And it wasn’t long before he brazenly published his treasured Sun photo. At the time, when there were only three or four football web sites, his was the largest. (It is now one of the smallest).

Oldham stalked SUN reporters trying sell his made-up gossip about Robbie Fowler and other LFC players. In fact, he refers to these dirty dealings in the trailer for his phantom book “Anfield Exposed”.

He’s so pathetic he can’t get over the fact that the SUN hacks actually talked to him. Now he wants to sell his account of those shady dealings for ₤10 to Liverpool supporters. And some have been trusting enough to send him a ₤5 deposit. If you were one of them, its not too late to get your money back. Trading Standards is investigating him for illegal practices on this and other matters and he is under pressure to give the money back. Don’t say its not worth the bother. If everybody who paid insists on repayment it will hurt him were he is most sensitive – in the pocket. While your at it, why not cancel your membership in his site and ask for the balance of your membership fee.

He refuses to support the Hillsborough Justice Campaign on his web site. He says it is “too political” and the people who run it “difficult to deal with”. They are so different from the people from the SUN who always bring him a cheque.

Oldham tries to dress up his support for the SUN by claiming that he does not want to pressure any of the users of his site. His users are mature, he says, and can make up their own minds. They are entitled to freedom of speech.

He is a hypocritical liar. We know how he refers to his paying customers as “loons” and “children” and how he bans them when they question his practices or statements, or mention other sites, or post on them, or ask uncomfortable questions or disagree with him. He deletes posts and threads on a whim. He threatens his critics with his “underworld friends” and “hitmen” and uses their personal information, given to him in confidence, to trace their employers. He calls them at work and threatens to embarrass them in front of their employers because of their opinions. He cancelled the PM and email facilities on his site when this blog started to prevent knowledge of it spreading.

This blog has published much about Oldham’s attempt to undermine the boycott of the SUN including his boast that he takes two copies daily and steals its stories to re-sell them as exclusive to his gullible paying members.

But the SUN money connection is only one of the characteristics that makes his rogue site an anti-LFC site.

Happily, it is disappearing. You can help it go faster by supporting a boycott of Koptalk. Its something around which the unofficial sites might consider cooperating.

Use the search feature for previous articles by Insider Insider about Oldham and the SUN. For the most recent Click Here.

EDIT: Thanks to Andy, a blog participant, who submitted these three screen shots of Oldham’s site. They give us a permanent record of the Judas in action. Several other blog participants have testified that they have seen the banners on Koptalk. See “Comments” below.

EDIT:  For other stories on this issue go to Home and scroll down or use search feature.
Note the SUN watermark behind the headlines.

Click image to open

And here’s another.

Click image to open:

Rogue website tries to profit from LFC/Gerrard Rumours

by Rupert Insider

Koptalk is widely regarded as a rogue web-site that preys on supporters of Liverpool Football Club and especially those from overseas whose only contact with the club is through the internet.

It is the exclusive vehicle of Duncan Oldham – a person of low repute among Liverpool supporters.

Today he has published another scurrilous story in his never-ending attempts to trick the unsuspecting into giving him ₤30 for more of the same.

GERRARD RUMOURS SPARKED BY BOARD ROOM BATTLE

The News Now version of today’s false story has attracted the attention of LFC supporters who are alarmed or intrigued by it.

Because News Now incorrectly treats every click on any of its stories as an indication of the “popularity” of the site being clicked, it places Koptalk stories in its Top Stories section and gives them additional emphasis, as it has in this case.

The dishonesty of the story has essentially been explained in the two previous articles in this blog. (It has also been exposed by contributors to other LFC supporter sites).

If any new readers have arrived on this blog today, I would refer them to those two earlier articles. (Go to Home and then scroll down to Earlier Entries) .

If you are looking for information about which LFC supporter-site to consult, you can find a long list of recommended sites at the right of this page under LFC Sites They are all free and truthful.

Koptalk is not free, not truthful and not recommended. If you want to know why please read the Summary in the tool bar at the top of this page.

You can help redress this situation by not clicking on Koptalk links on News Now. Each click is money in Oldham’s pocket. You could also boycott his site. You can find out what is going on there from us. We do not take in any revenues, whatsoever.

Meanwhile, you don’t need News Now to read today’s false story from Koptalk. Here it is:

“Noel White may have resigned from the Liverpool FC board following the disgraceful attack on manager Rafa Benitez, but the issue behind it still rumbles on.KOPTALK understands that White was prompted into speaking out through frustration over the ongoing financial situation at the club.

The Reds continue to speak to new potential investors every couple of months but what about those who have so far been ignored? What about the likes of Bob Kraft? His wealth and proven expertise was really attractive to various members of the board but to date, what he wanted to offer has been ignored, rightly or wrongly.

White isn’t the only key figure at the club annoyed by the situation. There is at least one other former colleague of his who hasn’t fallen into the same trap by speaking out. We doubt he will either but the mistake he is making is he’s fraternising with other potential investors who want in at Anfield and these groups and individuals – although working for their own gain – have loose tongues.

Over the last few weeks Steven Gerrard has been targeted by someone. Rumours concerning his career and his private life have been spreading like wildfire, each with their own twist. Laughable they may be but who is behind it and why are they doing it? We’re not talking about suggestions he’s unhappy about rotation etc, we’re talking about more malicious things that no Red wants to read about.

The Gerrard stuff, the Board Room stuff, it’s no coincidence.

It doesn’t make sense for the dark side of the media to be involved, nor does it make sense for another club to try and unsettle the skipper. If the effort was more low key, maybe, but it doesn’t make sense. There is a deliberate attempt to disrupt things at the club and everything we’re hearing can be traced back to one thing – ‘investment’ and the lack of it.

The same names are cropping up along with the same reasons.

What’s sad about it all is that whatever you favour – if it’s possible to favour anything with so little public information – someone, somewhere, is using underhand tactics to try and corner the chairman and that is something we could never agree with.

The headline is “Gerrard Rumours Sparked by Boardroom Battle”

Noel White may have resigned from the Liverpool FC board following the disgraceful attack on manager Rafa Benitez, but the issue behind it still rumbles on.

KOPTALK understands that White was prompted into speaking out through frustration over the ongoing financial situation at the club.

The Reds continue to speak to new potential investors every couple of months but what about those who have so far been ignored? What about the likes of Bob Kraft? His wealth and proven expertise was really attractive to various members of the board but to date, what he wanted to offer has been ignored, rightly or wrongly.

White isn’t the only key figure at the club annoyed by the situation. There is at least one other former colleague of his who hasn’t fallen into the same trap by speaking out. We doubt he will either but the mistake he is making is he’s fraternising with other potential investors who want in at Anfield and these groups and individuals – although working for their own gain – have loose tongues.

Over the last few weeks Steven Gerrard has been targeted by someone. Rumours concerning his career and his private life have been spreading like wildfire, each with their own twist. Laughable they may be but who is behind it and why are they doing it? We’re not talking about suggestions he’s unhappy about rotation etc, we’re talking about more malicious things that no Red wants to read about.

The Gerrard stuff, the Board Room stuff, it’s no coincidence.

It doesn’t make sense for the dark side of the media to be involved, nor does it make sense for another club to try and unsettle the skipper. If the effort was more low key, maybe, but it doesn’t make sense. There is a deliberate attempt to disrupt things at the club and everything we’re hearing can be traced back to one thing – ‘investment’ and the lack of it.

The same names are cropping up along with the same reasons.

What’s sad about it all is that whatever you favour – if it’s possible to favour anything with so little public information – someone, somewhere, is using underhand tactics to try and corner the chairman and that is something we could never agree with.”

News Now has said it will now carry headlines from this blog. Today’s headline can be the first.

(Edit: I see News Now has linked to the headline of this article “Rogue website tries to profit from LFC/Gerrard rumours“. In the first hour since it appeared we have had an unprecedented number of hits from the News Now link).

Identify the Koptalk Mugs

by Rupert Insider

Click on picture for individual photos.

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Have you ever wondered what the Koptalk stalwarts looked like – the richt71’s of this world? No, neither have I.

But why should we? Oldham posted today that he doesn’t know, nor does Katie. Steve met a few of them recently, but he can’t tell us because he’s missing again.

It is appropriate that the only “prize” that Oldham has actually delivered in recent memory was a dinner at Goodison Park. He got hold of some tickets – probably for nothing – and advertised he wanted to give them away. Originally he suggested he would be there, but he managed to find an excuse not to be, and sent the 17 year old Steve to drink himself silly with men twice his age. (Apparently, Steve spoke at the event and claimed to be 18 years).

Karlj from Cheshire has identified himself as “the second from the right” in the above photograph. My first thought was that he did alright for himself blagging a free dinner considering he has only 220 posts in three years. But then I thought about it – that’s ₤90 in membership fees and its about time he got something back for it.

Richt71 from York admits to being “the slim and sexy one in the polo shirt”. A fat lot of good that description is. He might just as well have said he was the one in Calvin Klein undies. He has also been there three years and has 12,575 posts. It’s impossible to tell whether he paid for his dinner with membership fees because his profile says only “moderator” – oh I get it, that’s how he paid.

It doesn’t look like a polo shirt but I guess this one is richt71 with Steve. Is there something about posting to excess on Koptalk that piles on the calories?

Anyone like to identify the others before KT does?

Shop Oldham

by Rupert Insider

(Draft – work in progress – corrections, additions and links very welcome)   NOTE: THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN SUBSTANTIALLY UPDATED.  THE UPDATED VERSION CAN BE FOUND ON THE TOOL
BAR OF THE HOME PAGE: “5. SHOP OLDHAM”

PART ONE

We have shown that Duncan Oldham’s business success was based on outright begging, and on skimming charities he set up for his relatives, and on various forms of cheating that gave him an unfair advantage over what he calls the “rival sites” – in which he includes LFC’s “Official Site”.

Many believe that Oldham is so addicted to easy money from supporters of LFC he must try to come-back from the serious set-backs he has suffered since this blog began in the early summer of 2006. And because cheating has been characteristic of his entire history on the net, even from 1990’s when he used the name of Del Johnson to sell illegal satellite cards and then not deliver them, it is reasonable to suppose that cheating will continue to be his mainstay. Dunk: The Early Years

We can go on tut-tutting, or we can do something about it. When your grandkids ask you what you did during the Kop v Oldham War – make sure you can say without hesitation “I did my bit”.

Some may be a bit squeamish – about shopping a benefits cheat, for example. We all know needy people, dependent on some form of financial assistance from the state, struggling in life with genuine burdens and disadvantages. And perhaps they “cheat” sometimes when they don’t declare all the minor fluctuations in their circumstances which might result in their losing some or all of the assistance temporarily or permanently. They live so close to the line that perhaps a little fudging is understandable and most of us look the other way.

Don’t confuse that profile with Duncan Oldham’s.

He flaunts his alleged wealth. Whether it’s in the form of his ₤37,000 (?) Mercedes and his Ford and the other vehicles he is talking of buying, and property he says he has bought for cash or is in the process of buying in Liverpool and Malta, and numerous wide-screen plasma TV’s, computers, digital cameras and other accessories, foreign holidays, days betting at the races, overnight stays at 4 star hotels, days traipsing from Newcastle to fool around in the street outside the Melwood training ground, when the rest of us are working or looking for work, as well as cash hand-outs to the family members who helped him carry out his con.

And he taunts his “rivals” that his financial success is all the evidence he needs that his site is No.1 for LFC (when it is actually no higher than No. 10) and he uses his claims to wealth to convince the gullible to pay ₤30 for new memberships on the grounds that if he is doing so well financially he must be supported by many.

What we propose is bringing back Oldham to the same ground-rules that govern other businesses in the UK.

Any attempt to bring him to account must be supported by individuals taking it on themselves to inform the appropriate authorities.

Sometimes, an investigator may start a case but then drops it from overwork, or because it is too difficult finding the information. Sometimes, investigators wait for multiple complaints. So don’t think that because others from the blog are doing it you don’t need to. It is our experience that agencies and businesses sometimes do not respond to the first well-argued cases – but they are affected by them. And then, one day, another complaint comes in, perhaps not so well-argued, but it’s that complaint that triggers them into action. Complaints have a cumulative effect.

In some case the authorities take anonymous tip-offs. So do use that facility if you are nervous.

But it is usually best to give one’s name and contact details. You can always insist that your name and address be kept confidential.

And remember you do not have to produce proof. After all, a swindler is hardly likely to leave proof lying around. In fact, he’s likely to make it as difficult as possible for investigators by failing to keep the records which are a legal requirement, and by using multiple personal names, addresses, and different web sites and by making contradictory statements and outright lies in order to confuse and cover his tracks.

All you are required to do is summarize your suspicion indicating your grounds. You should also make it as easy as possible for investigators to identify and locate him and to find his various claims on the net. Remember they do have superior legal tracking powers and any snippet of information you give them can help.

Many of Oldham’s statements can be found somewhere on this blog. You could always provide the link to the specific page or to this summary.

Your information can be about Oldham’s past practices. We know he has lost a lot of income and members since the blog started. But he has been taking in money for several years. And if he were to be found to have been evading tax and VAT and taking benefits while working in the past he will have to pay in arrears, with penalties.

These are the main suspicions about Duncan Oldham finances and business practices.

 

1. That he may have skimmed donations sent for childrens’ charities.
2. That he may have drawn unemployment benefits while working.
3. That he may have conspired with other family members to allow them to claim benefits while working for him.
4. That as an employer and as a self-employed person he failed to pay National Insurance contributions.
5. That he habitually infringed the Trades Description Act and the Data Protection Act and that he habitually made false representations about the goods and services he sold and the information he disseminated.
6. That he habitually stole copyrighted articles, photographs, videos and live links to broadcasts for profit and sold them as his own.
7. That he may have evaded reporting income for himself or his businesses to HM Revenue and Customs.
8. That he may have evaded the collecting and forwarding of VAT.
   

These are some of the reasonable grounds for suspicion

1. He has conducted business on the web under different names – Del Johnson and Duncan Oldham being just two of them.

2. He claims that Duncan Oldham is not his real name – it is.

3. He claims he does not live in Wallsend, near Newcastle – he does.

4. He claims he lives in Scarborough, Yorkshire – he doesn’t.

5. He claims that his family employees – his mother and his step-brother and wife (in the past) – do not receive a wage – yet they spend most of their time working for him and have no other visible means of support. This also suggests he does not make National Insurance contributions.

6. He claims he does not receive a wage but claims to live a lifestyle that relies on a substantial income to support it. This also has implications for National Insurance contributions.

7. He claims to have a debilitating illness (one which might be expected to qualify him for disability benefits) yet he also claims to work long hours every day seven days a week.

 

 

8. He has claimed that Koptalk has 6,000 members most of who paid subscriptions of between ₤26-30 per year. He offered discounts of 33% (₤10) for payments made in bank notes or other negotiable instruments, with no receipt required.

9. In July 2006 he claimed that recent revenues from betting referrals had increased 10 times in relation to the World Cup.

10. He claimed significant revenues from referrals to Adult Date Finder.

11. He claimed revenues from advertisements based on traffic to his sites, and has claimed that he received hundreds of thousands of hits daily.

12. He claimed significant revenues from the sale of LFC regalia, books, CDs and DVD’s.

13. He claimed revenues from advanced ₤5 “deposits” on his book “Anfield Exposed” payments over a two-year period. He also claimed that indications from these deposits are that the first run of the book will be 20,000 copies.

14. He did not collect VAT on any of these sales of goods and services. He uses many different sites as sales outlets in an attempt to disguse the total of revenues and thereby evade registration for VAT.

15. His public comments on his financial results are self-contradictory. He sometimes pleads poverty for tactical purposes. In September 2006 he closed his free forums on the grounds he could not afford to maintain them and had difficulty finding cash to pay a season ticket at LFC. This was a couple of weeks after claiming to have had record new signings of memberships and other revenues. And since then, he has talked a lot about buying properties and cars and foreign holidays.

16. In his MySpace profile he claims an income of ₤250,000 a year. In other public statements he claims an income in excess of ₤140,000

17. In the spring and summer of 2006 he claimed that profits were so substantial that he could buy vehicles (a Mercedes Clk200 K Sport Auto, a Ford Ka Design and, prospectively, a van kitted out for broadcasting as well as an ex-army Landrover) properties (including a ₤300,000 a house and an hotel in Liverpool and a house in Malta) and plasma TV’s and other expensive audio-visual equipment.

18. To former confidants such as Dj_Sydney he claims his site is worth ₤5 million based on its revenues and membership.

19. He claims to have bought his home with cash and to have removed the mortgage on his mother’s home and to have bought his Koptalk HQ business office with cash. He also claims to be thinking of buying a house for his mother in Malta soon. (However, public records show that one of the houses he claims is his is in his wife’s name and has a mortgage).

 

 

20. He has never denied suspicions that he does not report his income or pay personal income tax

21. He has chosen to “opt out” of revealing the ownership of his many sites with the Registrar. (But contributors to this blog have successfully requested the Registrar to make them public).

22. He has many web sites which are versions of those owned by “rivals” and in some cases he directs their traffic to his revenue-earning sites. They include the address of a charity – the Michael Shields campaign.

23. He always uses PO Boxes rather than street addresses.

24. None of his businesses are incorporated. There are no public records. He is unknown to Companies House.

 

25. He demands detailed personal information from users but is not registered under the Data Protection Act

 

26. He makes use of personal information submitted in confidence to intimidate critical members by contacting their employers.

27. Members who cancel their membership in his sites or are banned by him for asking questions immediately begin receiving large quantities of junk mail, suggesting he has sold their personal information to marketing companies.

 

28. None of his charities are registered with the Charities Commissioner and he closed the web site for his main charity after a report was made to the police and questions were asked about it.

29. He fails to provide receipts or any accounting of donations to charities.

 

30. He draws annual membership fees automatically from the PayPal accounts of members who do not wish to renew and does not repay all of them on request.

31. He cancels life-time, honorary and full memberships on a whim. He constantly creates new classes and levels of memberships in order to force existing members to upgrade for a fee.

32. He claims to consort with “underworld friends” and to consult “hitters” about getting rid of his “rivals.

 

33. He habitually attempts to deceive users of his sites by posting under different pseudonyms, including the names used by his family, and by giving misleading information about his whereabouts.

 

34. He habitually makes false claims about his relationship with LFC and its players and former players, its directors, executives and potential investors.

 

35. He makes false claims about the scope and quality of the services he offers to members and the authenticity of the LFC regalia he sells. He illegally sells tickets to LFC matches above their face value.

 

36. He habitually steals the intellectual property and copyright of others to re-sell to those who buy memberships in his site.

37. He is preparing trip to Malta, making enquiries about internet access from there and declaring his intention to buy a property there, ostensibly for his mother, and in general acting in a manner consistent with someone preparing a bolt-hole should it be necessary to evade investigation.

38. In more than seven years he has never provided the name or address of a bank account for charitable donations or payments to his business or himself. This suggests that he is deliberately avoiding normal business practices in order to evade examination of cash flow and may be mixing charitable, business and personal receipts and expenditures. He prefers to deal in cash.

39. He periodically announces that he lost records. He claims he has no hard copy of records. This suggests that he is deliberately evading accounting to avoid contractual obligations to consumers and that he is failing the legal obligation to maintain records for the purpose of tax assessments and audits.

40.He offers a share in lottery tickets bought for members and other bets and raffles and fails to provide the numbers or other details in advance of the event. He uses raffles and competitions to sell memberships and more often than not never holds the raffle or awards the prize and on the rare occasions he says he has, it was a member of his family who conducted the draw.

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PART TWO

 

Duncan Oldham – aka Del Johnson, Mr.Teflon and Mr. Manchester United

 

DOB: 1974 – July to September (to be supplied)

Married: Maria Hartley – 24th July 1999

 

History: He first appeared on the internet in usenet groups circa 1996/7. In these groups he displayed an interest in police radios, Islam and its paraphenalia, terrorism, acquiring satellite signals illegally, football and advertising for fit young lads as a sexual partner for threesomes with himself and his wife. He then developed an email list of football supporters – especially LFC.

Under his psuedonym “Del Johnson” he was investigated by Mark Lacey, Trading Standards, Standard House, 48, High Street, Northallerton, North Yorkshire DL7 8Y. The issue was his sale of illegal satellite television cards through usenet groups, as well as his failure to deliver them to buyers and his skipping from his creditors.

Oldham used his address list of supporters to introduce himself to Koptalk as a part-time helper circa 2000 assisting Colin Seaman, the founder and designer of Koptalk. They worked together for a few months before Colin left because Oldham was more interested in money than football. Oldham assumed control and ownership and begged readers for free equipment and money. There were about three LFC sites at the time and Koptalk was the largest. (It is now one of the smallest). Its original reason for existence was to provide a free site (but it has since abandoned the free forums and now charges ₤30 p.a. for membership). In those days when distribution of PC’s was not so wide, most users would log in from their place of work and the first generation tended to be professionals, more literate than Oldham, and very influential in the growth and control of the site. By 2002/2003 more than 90% of that first generation had abandoned Koptalk and started other sites or joined the other existing sites in protest against Oldham practice of progressively turning Koptalk into a vehicle for his own personality cult and dodgy money-making schemes.

Prior to Koptalk, Oldham claims to have operated a security and contract cleaning business “UK911″ (details of their web addresses to be supplied). It appears this was himself and his mother cleaning offices and acting as security guard.

Prior to that he claims he was in the army.

Prior to that he attended Scalby Technology College in Scarborough, North Yorkshire until 1991. (His future wife also attended that college and left in 1990).

Address: 5 Swan Avenue, off Bede Crescent, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, NE 28 7JH

Oldham bought it for £29,950 on 15th March 2002. Map Ref:

http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?pc=NE28%207JH

 

However, the current Land Registry records show that it now belongs to Maria Clare Oldham, who it seems to have acquired it on July 22^nd 2003. It was worth “under £60,000” at the time. There is also a reference to Halifax PLC (a bank or mortgage company). The apparent transfer of title to his wife and the assumption of a mortgage may suggest that Oldham was converting some of his equity to cash (the proceeds of the loan/mortgage) while at the same time appearing to hide the rest of the equity in the event of claims from creditors by putting it in the name of his wife. It may have been for less suspicious reasons, perhaps because he did not qualify for a loan or a mortage (his wife was trained as a teacher), and he wanted her to carry the debt, or it may have been a marriage settlement. But herowning the property is in conflict with his published claims to own the property free of debt.

Oldham also publicly claimed that he bought this property from the proceeds of a ₤50,000 judgement with costs that he won in the High Court against “rivals”. As far as we know this was about his conflict with a comapny to whom he sold Koptalk (or some rights to it) and then claimed it back. The legal dispute was about what the original agreement had meant.

Telephone: +44.1912091617 or 44.798004536 or 0905 028 0723

Autos: D1UNK is a Mercedes Clk200 Sports Auto M99ACA is a Ford Ka

Business: Koptalk.com and numerous related internet businesses (see below)

Banking: PayPal (number to be supplied) He has never made reference to a bank, either for donations to his charities or for business purposes.

Position: Sole Owner, Executive Editor

Hours: Claims 7 days a week – 10 hours or more daily.

 

Address: Extension to 5 Swan Avenue, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, NE 28

 

Photo: Ariel Photo of Residence and Kop Talk HQ in Wallsend.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=wallsend&ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=54.999891,-1.516961&spn=0.003545,0.011823&t=h&om=1

 

 

 

PO Boxes:

Wallsend

Koptalk.com PO Box 556 Wallsend NE 28 7WZ

Scarborough

PO Box 145, 1 Princess Terrace, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, YO11 1YD :

PO Box 145, YO12 7XU.

London: One blog contributor remembers that Oldham was using a box number in the West End of London 3 or 4 years ago, possibly in connection with competitions. (Number to be supplied?) Research also produced the following London address, but its link to Oldham is not confirmed. The SP, PO Box 7292, 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5DF

_______________________________________________________

NOTE: Oldham falsely claims to live in Scarborough at Cross Street, North Yorkshire, YO11 (possibly YO11 1BB but not certain yet).

But he actually lives in Wallsend “across the street from me Ma”, where he works full-time on his businesses in the Koptalk HQ which is a free standing shed – like a Portakabin – behind the house in the back garden. (It is clearly visible in the aerial photo above).

 

He sometimes implies that he lives in the same house as his mother, but she may, indeed, live “across the street” as he said, with her husband. Her husband works occasionally for Oldham’s businesses.

______________________________________________________

 

Psuedonyms: He uses various pseudonyms when posting on his sites: Dunk, Kop Talk Daddy, Koptalk.com, Anfield Mole, Wallet as well as co-opting the pseudonyms of his step-brother ST3 and pretending to be him (more pseudonyms to be supplied)

 

Related Duncan Oldham Internet Domains: (To be completed)

 

koptalk.co.uk
koptalk.org.uk
koptalk.me.uk
koptalkblog.co.uk
liverpoolfcplayers.co.uk
caboodlenetwork.co.uk
michaelshields.co.uk

Tottenham Hotspurs Site
http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois.ch?ip=spursarmy.co.uk

Newcastle United Site
http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois.ch?ip=upthetoon.co.uk

 

 

He also “squats” on many sites that are similar in name to “rival” sites as well miscellaneous other sites like “michaelbarrymore.com”

In some cases he directs the traffic intended for sites owned by others to his own sites and in other cases he just deprives the other sites from acquiring the domain names relating to their site. Insider has made a list of 19 of these”stolen” rival sites along with another 6 non-rival sites and it can be found here with a full analysis of what name and address Oldham used when he registered the sites:

http://koptalkinsider.wordpress.com/read-me/cyber_squatter/

To provide a flavour from the article here are the “rival” LFC football sites he has stolen by squatting on them:

http://www.raotl.com/

http://www.liverpoolway.com/

http://www.shanklygates.com/

http://www.lfconline.net/

http://www.themissionstatement.com/

http://www.talklfc.co.uk/

http://www.ynwa.net/ and http://www.ynwa.info

http://www.ttwar.com/

http://www.kraptalk.co.uk/ <– Rather ironic!

http://www.koptalk-insider.net/ <– After someone kindly purchased the .com version for us!

http://www.michaelshields.co.uk <– Yes, he even bought this domain and pointed it to a part of his website containing all of his pop-up ads and the rest of it.

http://www.est1892.org (also est1892.net and est1892.org.uk) <– Bought within days of the launch of est1892.co.uk.

http://www.liverpoolfootballclub.org.uk

http://www.liverpool-fc.net

http://www.liverpool-fc.tv

http://www.tribalfootball.co.uk

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

Steve McNeish aka Steve Oldham

DOB: 1989 – June to July (day and month to be supplied)

Address: Claims to sleep in the HQ office.

Position: Editor, delivery boy, general dogsbody.

Telephone: 07962 475020

Hours: Claims 16 hours a day 7 days a week and night duties

Relationship: Step-brother of Duncan Oldham

_________________________________________________________

 

Jeanette McNeish

DOB: (To be supplied)

Address: 5 Swan Avenue, off Bede Crescent, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear NE 28 (but Oldham claims he lives “across the street” from his mother).

Position: Admin Koptalk membership: PR: Treasurer of Lauren Charity.

Hours: Substantial – possibly 25-40 hours a week at times:

Relationship: Mother of Duncan Oldham and Steve McNeish

_________________________________________________________

 

Maria Hartley (Also presented on the net by Oldham as “Maria Hargreaves”)

DOB: 1974

Address: Scarborough, North Yorkshire (Reserved by us to protect her privacy.)

Position: Admin. – Koptalk membership and general:

Hours: Currently not at Koptalk – but worked 25-40 hours a week for years.

Relationship: Wife of Duncan Oldham – possibly separated.

____________________________________________________

 

Kate

DOB: Allegedly 1988 but probably nearer 1978

Address: Wallsend

Position: Administrator Koptalk, moderator of forums, PR.

Hours: Evenings and nights – perhaps 30-35 hours

Relationship: Not known – possibly cousin.

 

PART THREE

TAX Evasion is Illegal

This is an excerpt from Wikipaedia:

 

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:RzdZK6UQ4qYJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_evasion+tax+avoidance&hl=en&gl=mx&ct=clnk&cd=1&lr=lang_en&client=firefox-a

 

“Tax avoidance is the legal utilization of the tax regime to one’s own advantage, in order to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law. Examples of tax avoidance involve using taxed deductions changing one’s tax status through incorporation or establishing an offshore company, trust or foundation in a tax haven.

By contrast tax evasion is the general term for efforts by individuals, firms, trusts and other entities to evade taxes illegal means. Tax evasion usually entails taxpayers deliberately misrepresenting or concealing the true state of their affairs to the tax authorities to reduce their tax liability, and includes, in particular, dishonest tax reporting (such as declaring less income, profits or gains than actually earned; or overstating deductions).

Tax evasion is a crime in almost all countries and subjects the guilty party to fines and imprisonment.”

__________________________________________________________________

VAT evasion is illegal

This is taken from Winters, Chartered Accountants:

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:QRZWGt6jekAJ:www.winters.co.uk/factsheets/vat.html+vat+regulations+uk&hl=en&gl=mx&ct=clnk&cd=1&lr=lang_en&client=firefox-a

“You are required to register for VAT if the value of your taxable supplies exceeds a set annual figure (currently £61,000).

A taxable person is anyone who makes or intends to make taxable supplies and is required to be registered. For the purpose of VAT registration a person includes:

• individuals
• partnerships
• companies, clubs and associations
• charities.

If any individual carries on two or more businesses all the supplies made in those businesses will be added together in determining whether or not the individual is required to register for VAT”

_________________________________________________________________

Reporting Contacts

This information based on research done by a blog contributor – fat_boy_fat:

Tax and National Insurance dodgers –0800 788887 8am – 8pm Mon-Sun
A hotline for people who have information relating to Businesses or Individuals that are not paying tax and/or National Insurance. You don’t have to leave any personal information about yourself. Just inform them that you suspect Duncan Oldham and possibly members of his family/business are tax dodging or not paying National Insurance. Prepare a short list of reasons for your suspicion. It will take 5-10 minutes of your time.

I should think that in addition to registering information about Oldham and his family as individuals it would also be helpful to mention Koptalk.com as a business with relation to VAT and possibly corporate tax (although none of the business are incorporated).

Statements from Oldham that neither he nor his family employees earn a wage also suggest that he is not making National Insurance payments as an employer and he and his employees are not making them as self-employed.

Note: “Scouse” could not get a response from the above number. If someone can confirm it is not good I will remove it, but as far as I can tell it is good. After searching, scouse found that:

“There is also a specialist Tax Evasion Hotline dealing with income tax, corporation tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, VAT and National Insurance:”

You can complain online at

https://www.taxevasionhotline.co.uk/forms/selfemp.htm

Benefit cheats – Job Seekers Allowance, Disability Allowance , Income Support

Again you do not have to give personal details. Simply fill out the form. Remember to note any suspicions you have about Oldham’s family members, too:

http://www.targetingbenefitfraud.gov.uk/on_to_you.html

Property Tax Assessment: Scarborough

If he is claiming to live in Scarborough when he actually lives in Wallsend, he must have a reason. It is reasonable to suspect that it may have to do with him qualifying for benefits which require him to be living in Scarborough. And such locality-tied benefits could be about housing benefits or property-tax waivers. That is a council matter.

You can inform Scarborough Council of his contradictory statements about his place of residence and your suspicions. Look above under Duncan Oldham to see the Cross Street address he claims as home in Scarborough, and also mention the two Scarborough addresses for the PO Box 145. But remember to mention his Wallsend address, as well.

http://www.scarborough.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=7828

Property Tax Assessment: Wallsend – Tyne and Wear – North Tyneside

If he is being deceptive about his place of residence as between Wallsend and Scarborough it raises suspicions about the possibility that the Wallsend housing authorities may also be affected.

This excerpt taken from the North Tyneside web site:

“In order to allow the public to report their suspicions of benefit fraud in a safe and confidential manner, the council operates a 24 hour Confidential Fraud Hotline. Tel n.: 0191 2006578 You can use this telephone line to report any suspicions of fraud which you may have. The line is staffed during the hours of 8.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. Monday to Friday. At all other times, a Confidential Answering Service is available.”

Planning Enforcement

His “Koptalk Office” in Wallsend would have needed planning permission since it is a very large extension to his house. Given that it is an obvious eyesore in the residential neighbourhood (even seen from satellite photos) and given Oldham’s general disregard for regulations, it might be worth asking the authorities if they are fully aware of the building and its use.

You could inform the Wallsend (Tyne and Wear) local authority that he runs several businesses from the building 24 hours a day 7 days a week. He employees several people there. It houses many computers and televisions and telephones. He uses the building exclusively for business (but one of his employees sleeps there during the night). The businesses are not incorporated or registered in any way. The businesses use at least two vehicles (possibly three) and he claims to be buying a large van fitted-out for broadcasting.

From those premises he sets up unregistered charities for relatives and collects donations, sells an internet broadcasting service, a podcast service and SMS service, football regalia sales and delivery service, adult date-finding services, betting services, pornographic services (his photographic model and his pornographic forums) news services, shares in lottery tickets and raffles and paid memberships (₤30 per annum) in an unregistered football-related club called “Koptalk.com” (he claims 6,000 members) and from where he publishes web pages devoted largely to his personal views about sex, race, immigration and football.

These factors have health and safety, traffic and parking implications not only for the participants but also for the neighbours.

This is an excerpt from the North Tyneside Council web page:

Planning Enforcement

Contact Planning Enforcement for matters regarding;

Potential breaches of planning control, unlawful development, high hedges, development not in accordance with approved plans.

Tel: 0191 219 2167
Fax: 0191 219 2185
email: planning.enforcement@northtyneside.gov.uk

Remember to include the street address.

Trading Standards

The North Tyneside Trading Standards inspectors do not deal with issues of VAT or Tax. They deal with complaints about trading practices.

This would include any false or misleading promotions like lottery tickets and competitions not honoured or not conducted in a fair and transparent manner. It could include any false claims he uses to sell memberships such as his claim to insider knowledge of LFC and contact with its investors, directors, executives and employees (including players). It might also include his stealing of copyright material and re-selling the product to his membership as though it were his own. It would include the issue of Oldham cancelling categories of memberships such as Silver, Insider, Lifetime, Honorary and creating new categories as a means of forcing existing members to pay more money to remain in Koptalk with friends they made there. It would include his cancelling individual memberships arbitrarilly, not observing his own published regulations or his contract with members or not dealing in a fair manner. His failing to pay refunds in whole or part of any memberships he has cancelled or for teh book he had not published. His collecting through PayPal automatic renewal mechanism new annual memberships without giving notice to members that he intended to do this even in cases where the members had ceased being active or had indicated that they did not wish to continue beyond their current annual membership. His refusal to give refunds of these automatic renewals. His failure to issue receipts for charitable donations or for payments for goods and services. His failure to keep proper accounts for his members or the authorities. His losing or misusing personal details, demanding too many personal details and not observing the Data Protection Act. His selling or revealing personal information to marketing companies or in using it to deduce the telephone numbers of the employers of his members and calling members at their place of work to threaten them. His threatening the contributors to this blog and his critics with “hitters” and “underworld friends”. His selling of fake LFC and other fake and pirated football regalia. His taking deposits on his book “Anfield Exposed” for more then two years and his admission that he has not even begun to write it.

In short, anything that smacks of dodgy trading.

It is really important that individuals who have been personally affected by his trading practices report the specific incidents. Others who have not been personally affected should try to give examples which support their suspicions. This can be statements made by Oldham or by other people on the net – including this blog.

Please contact:

Alan Burnett
Senior Trading Standards Officer
Environment, Regeneration & Housing
The Killingworth Site
PO Box 113
Killingworth
NE12 6WJ

Tel:0191-2192634 Fax:0191

-2192642
e-mail : alan.burnett@northtyneside.gov.uk
__________________________________________________________

(This article is a sticky which can be found in the tool bar in the Home Page under “4. Shop Oldham” Hopefully, it will be a collaborative effort between all the blog’s contributors. Readers are asked to check all the information and offer corrections, additions and links. This can be done as a comment at the end of the article or sent in confidence by email to rupertinsider @ gmail.com. Check back regularly to see the updates).

_________________________________________________________

Steve McNeish aka Steve Oldham in the Koptalk Office, Wallsend (his mother Jeannete in background and Kate in foreground)

 

 

Jeannette McNeish (Duncan Oldham’s mother)

 

Possibly Maria Hartley, Duncan Oldham’s wife, and possibly Steve’s father, and Steve McNeish in Koptalk Office

 

FLASHBACK 1 – Delia Johnson – Koptalk Agony Aunt

Flashbacks

We’ll post an old article every now and then.  For newcomers – it will be a taste of what they missed in earlier days of the blog.  For the oldtimers -  a little nostalgia.

If you would like to nominate an article (or comment) for re-publication – please leave a comment, below, or email me at rupertinsider AT gmail DOT com.

Rupert Insider .

________________________________________________________

Delia Johnson – Koptalk Agony Aunt

by Insider Insider
June 30th, 2006

 

We couldn’t believe it yesterday when we saw this special offer from the fat one. His site doesn’t meet “accessibility” standards in any way shape or form so chances are most people who got this discount would actually be unable to use it. Still, at least it’s a different percentage than his usual one.

Perhaps we should get someone from one of the charities for people with sight difficulties to check the offer out, along with his claims to already have blind members.

Dunk KopTalk Editor Posts: 1939
Loc: KOPTALK
29-06-06 09:10 AM – Post#245954

From today anyone who is registered as blind will be entitled to a 50% discount of all Insider & Gold Club subscriptions.

This isn’t a gag… we already have blind members signed-up but we plan to make things a little easier for them, starting by softening the blow on their pockets.

We’re also offering blind members a free email service so that we can email them a digest of reports to save them going through the various topics.

Blind members either use special word recognition software to read the site or they have friends who read to them.

At first we thought it was just a straightforward Duncan Oldham bullshit special. Best to laugh and move on. But now we know why he’s doing it. It seems he talks regularly to girls with eyesight problems. A member of the Insider site was asking for advice on how best to approach a girl he fancied. She works in a bar. Along came the big fat sweaty liar with his words of wisdom on how Dunk “Del” Oldham pulls the birds. (This is the happily married Del of course, who never steps out of line in his marriage.) Why do I keep thinking of “Only Fools and Horses”. Does he think he is a Trotter? He has Trotters instead of feet, but that’s another story. Either he’s making it up (as if) or the girls can’t see him. Fatty’s advice…

First up mate, you need to do your history and find out if she’s a tart. Ok… if she’s a tart nice one if that’s all what you want but if you think she’s better than that, you need to check out her background a little.

You can do this by dropping in the place on a regular basis preferably when it’s not too busy. Now I don’t know what kind of bar it is and this important when you consider your style and approach.

If it’s a good old fashioned pub, nice one. You stroll in with your Mirror newspaper and buy yourself a pint. You sit down and you mill through the paper as if life is just breezing by. “No work today?” she asks… “Nah.. thought I’d go for a walk and have a pint, maybe a bite to eat.”

Now if you get a few lines out of her you should be able to detect if she’s just small talking you like Old Bill sat in the corner with his pipe. As it starts to get busier if locals come in, you’ll get to know if she’s flirt or just a nice lass.

Now if it’s a trendy bar it’s going to be harder. You need to pop in with a mate and have yourself a drink, maybe a bottle. “Get yourself one, hun” and look away while she thinks “awww bless him” or “mug”. Don’t stare at her and get all excited if she says “thanks”, just make out it’s the thing you do when you go out and that it’s no big deal right because you’re a nice lad right?!

Whatever kind of pub, if you go in half a dozen times you should be able to find out what she’s like without having to stalk her.

Now if you don’t want all the bullshit of visiting back and forth, maybe it’s not close to home or work for example, go for the good old fashioned route… flowers. But you have to be careful not to be tacky. Probably the worst thing you can do is sign your name, “an admirer” can be teasing and fun. Leave it a while and then you can, if you’re on talking terms a bit later, make reference to admiriring people etc i.e. get the coincide stuff in (hint).

But you leave yourself open for ridicule if the flowers thing goes wrong so be easy. If it’s a bar you don’t usually go to and nobody knows you, you’re sound with that but if everyone knows you, it’s a bit of a gamble.

Now confidence is obviously a concern and regards looks, don’t put yourself down. Most good looking lads – with the exception of me – are w*nkers. Girls don’t like lads that are up their own a*rse.

I can pull a bird no problem even at 20 stone (blog that ye fecker), especially if in the company of other lads. If we go out in a group, I’m the one that does the talking. Why? I’m not the best looking and I certainly don’t have the body but I have the gift of the gab. I’m cheeky and I use the odd joke etc but not like a loud comedian or it will put them off ya.

Now you see my style is this. I’d get to know her little as a customer. Then when you’re on first name terms I’d lean on the bar and start coming out with “God… if only I was a fit lad… maybe then you’d marry me eh” – I’d then shake me head and look all sad but in a daft way to make her laugh.

Trust me, Dunk knows best…

She works in a bar right so she’s used to d*ckheads so you have to distance yourself from the “get your coat you’ve pulled” brigade. If someone’s been a cocky tw*t and she’s working.. get your drink and say to her (in reference to the d*ckehead) “I remember when I had my first drink”, hopfully she’ll laugh.. if she doesn’t she’s a miserable fecker.

Laugh, mock or put me down… it always works for me. Be yourself. Have a laugh but don’t be so serious. Be a d*ck and she’ll elbow you before you’ve started.

Now if you find out she’s a tart, just give her one if that’s your thing.

I must be getting old because I’d rather have an ice cold pint and a 5-1 winner than have a sh*g.

Although saying that I was in a bar in Durham with a mate a few weeks back… this lovely lass behind the bar… God she was nice.. I says to her “Please could you call the police?”

She asked why I said “Because I’m getting old and I really shouldn’t be thinking the things I am about you… I’ve decided it would be safer all round if I was locked up”.

She wet herself and we had a good laugh and a joke. Now if you carried that kind of line off with attitude you’d come across as a d*ck…. but say it innocently and not seedy i.e. make it fun, and everyone gets a laugh even if it’s at your expense.

If you really think you’re not all that I’d say that to the lasses. I’m a fat c*nt so I poke fun at meself all the time to which I get “awwww… don’t say that you’re lush you” and I just go all daft and say “yeh.. I suppsoe I’m the man really”… be daft and if she can’t take a joke, feck her. That statement applies to everyone in life.

(And another shout out to us. Thanks Dunk. You seem to have a rare form of Tourettes. We’ve never had so many high-quality laughs in one week. Keep ‘em coming. Yesterday was our new record for hits by the way.)

Is the Cockroach Dead or Just Playing Possum?

by Rupert Insider

 

The meteorite that snuffed out the dinousaurs did not get the cockroaches. And just watch next time we have a nuclear holocaust. Everything will be dead, everything! But then the cockroach legs will start twitching and before you know it they’ll be over-running the world.

Which brings me back to Duncan Oldham.

We haven’t exactly nuked him – but he can see it coming and he has darted off to hide in the dark, inaccessible cracks until the nuclear cloud passes.

So do we leave him there or get the exterminator to go in after him?

Perhaps its time to review our priorities?

__________________________________________________________

This is what we have been doing so far:

1. Providing all his “exclusive” copy free.

2. Lampooning his claims to have inside information and contacts with LFC.

3. Exposing numerous scams and lies.

4. Detailing his history and especially his campaigns against players and club.

5. Contacting senior officials at LFC and journalists and players and the managers of news and references services to ensure that they are fully aware of him.

6. Contacting copyright holders to make them aware of his theft of their property in order to re-sell it to his members.

7. Informing the authorities about various potentially illegal aspects of his activities.

___________________________________________________________

The result is plain to see. His claim to represent the No. 1 Fan’s Site is now in tatters. At best he is 9th or 10th – very close to the bottom – down among the smallest one-man sites and the most recent start-ups.

The coup de grace will probably be an official action by one of the authorities investigating him – or by his flight out of the country to avoid them.

But that is not something we can control. And there are some who say we should not rely on it – we should finish off his site ourselves.

And there are some who say his credibility is so exposed to ridicule and his options so restricted that its safe to let him run about behind the skirting boards, just as long as he does not come into the Anfield living room.

Others say the opposite. They suggest that he is playing possum. He is reducing his activities so that the blog has nothing to record or analyse. He is waiting until we all get bored. And then he will launch a free site again – cocking a snoop at those who thought they were buying into an exclusive members-only club – and he will revert to all the unethical and illegal practices which got him prominence on the net in the first place.

Its a practical issue for those who contribute to the blog either as writers of articles or of comments. Clearly Oldham and his broken, 10th-ranking site would not justify the attention of such fine minds if he is no longer a malignant cancer on LFC.

I can understand some might think he is now such a trivial matter he does not deserve any attention. (But not trivial if you are in Thailand and have just spent a couple of week’s wages on a Koptalk membership because it claims to have “official news” and be “no.1 LFc site with insider information”.)

I intend to do Blog that! – Part 4 – The End Times.

But I really think this is a time for the bog’s readers to give some direction.

Comments?

What do you think Oldham’s strategy is now – apart from panic?

How urgent is it to go after him?

Should we tighten the screw with the authorities?

What are the options?