I'm appalled by what I've just read about how the club are treating Bally. I can't say I'm surprised though, as the club have a track record of heavy handedness.
This is just mistreatment of someone who is clearly an avid fan who is also providing other fans with something of a service. Many of us would love to attend every game at every level as Bally used to, but work and other commitments get in the way. Bally's dedication was unbelievable though, and he let us all know what was going on at every youth game.
I really don't see what harm he was doing. The idea that he was mithering youth players on Twitter is embarrassing, when you see some of the utter ****e that the youth players post on Twitter themselves. They're more than happy to make fools of themselves which reflects far worse on the club than Bally simply congratulating someone or asking how they're doing. It sounds to me like someone's nose at the club was put out of joint. The club have this bee in their bonnet about keeping information close to their chest; their lack of accessibility to outside sources is well known. Everyone has a go at the Liverpool Echo being in the clubs' pocket and it is at times, but it's well known Greg O'Keeffe very rarely gets the access to players he wants. You only have to look at today's exclusive on the Echo website - a story based on an interview that Elstone did with BLUEKIPPER, of all sites. The cynic in me wonders whether the club arranged for that so that they can turn around and say, "We have a good relationship with independent EFC sites - look, we even had the CEO interviewed on Bluekipper".
Paul Tyrell and Mark Rowan have a lot to answer for. Both are well known for being control freaks who have been needlessly rude to fans. Just ask Peter McPartland who runs the Followtonians site and podcast. He's represented the clubs fans for years on tv and radio, yet has been hassled by Rowan at various times for interviewing players for his podcast, and criticised by Tyrell for 'not being a real Evertonian' on Twitter. There are so many horror stories that other people who run independent EFC websites can tell, in regards to mistreatment by the club's communications department.
At a time when other clubs are being more open and co-operative with fans independent sites and groups than ever before, EFC - farcically - I doing the complete opposite and closing ranks. People at the club need to realise it's not the mid-1990s anymore, and pulling tricks like this hurt the image of the club far more than help it.