Jen Chang's very short reign at Liverpool

Even more embarrassing is that the twitter account was fake and obviously so; for example one of his lines was "I'm going to put my head above the parrot pit!".

So our Director of Communications has fallen out with a fake person; it's like someone falling out with Mrs Merton.

I'm normally not a fan of people who just take the piss, as it's easier to take the piss than it is to write engaging serious content. However Jenkins' stuff grew on me, particularly after these articles on Euro 2012.

http://www.talkaloadofbull.com/en/news/2898/euro-2012/2012/06/12/3167291/a-big-blow-to-ronaldos-self-of-steam-duncan-jenkins-reviews

http://www.talkaloadofbull.com/en/news/2898/euro-2012/2012/07/02/3214786/spains-win-ends-two-years-of-hurt-for-los-riojas-duncan

http://www.talkaloadofbull.com/en/news/2898/euro-2012/2012/06/20/3187452/duncan-jenkins-review-of-the-euro-2012-group-stages

I'm not of fan of people who post their own quotes on forums, but this whole thing reminded me of a few things i posted about Chang a while back, pre-JENkinsgate.
A lot of people's views on him aren't reactionary and solely based on this Jenkins thing.

Mine aren't anyway.

Can you give some examples of the PR stuff you're talking about mate?

Can you give some examples of the PR stuff you're talking about mate?

Just the way it's all marketed on Twitter and Facebook, especially during the transfer window. It's not far off one of those spam marketing accounts at times, retweeting paddy power and stuff like that.

The setting up of a transfer rumours section on the official site is a bit strange too.

They're all over Twitter when it suits them, but as soon as it starts going against them they clamp down on a parody account.

I will add that he's done a lot of good regarding the Hillsborough campaign, setting up interviews with local journalists etc, but i don't like the way it's heading with regards to the online communications and marketing. It's like they've handed over the reins of the official site to someone who cares more about followers and likes than actually providing useful information.

Just the way it's all marketed on Twitter and Facebook, especially during the transfer window. It's not far off one of those spam marketing accounts at times, retweeting paddy power and stuff like that.

The setting up of a transfer rumours section on the official site is a bit strange too.

They're all over Twitter when it suits them, but as soon as it starts going against them they clamp down on a parody account.

I will add that he's done a lot of good regarding the Hillsborough campaign, setting up interviews with local journalists etc, but i don't like the way it's heading with regards to the online communications and marketing. It's like they've handed over the reins of the official site to someone who cares more about followers and likes than actually providing useful information.

The transfer rumors were there a good while before Chang took over. Fairly certain on that.

I mean why waste time on this Jenkins fellow and of all places met in  Manchester. Like some said earlier Chang shouldn't have stooped to the level of Jenkins. he has much more important issues to deal with, starting with how to reverse the general perception of Suarez and also the bias FA towards us and perhaps also to get every influential journalist on our side. I'm sure there is not only one Jenkins out there and he has simply set a precedence for others to follow, if he doesn't change his ways. Perhaps, he should spend less time twitting and if he needs to twit get someone else to do it on his behalf. What he twitted, I can already see lots of comments here, why write something on twitter that allows yourself to be commented on unfavorably and he has to now waste unproductive time to counter that. He should have minimal exposure online as whatever he says may be quoted out of context that can be easily abused by some.

I won't condemn him just for this case and I'm sure he has done a lot of good things  for the club since his arrival that I may not know of but as a Director of Communications he should  be more careful in future. In hindsight, I was just thinking, if he had not met Jenkins and alllowed those articles to continue and if situation got out of control,will he also be blamed for not doing damage control by the owner? Chang could be wrong in some ways but that Jenkins fellow is no angel either. I'd say, lesson learnt here, forget about the whole thing and move on.

Liverpool deny evidence of threats to 'Duncan Jenkins'

The pressure on Liverpool to explain their meeting with the creator of the fictional "Duncan Jenkins" Twitter character escalated yesterday after he received personal threats on an internet forum which posted an image of him and his son.

Sean Cummins, the 35-year-old copywriter who created the Twitter character, declined to discuss the matter publicly yesterday, in order not to draw attention from the latest developments in the campaign to establish justice for the 96 fans who died at Hillsborough. But the forum abuse, seen by The Independent, came four days after Cummins claimed the club's communications director, Jen Chang, had told him he would come under personal attack if he failed to make public the fact that @duncanjenkinsFC had no inside track on transfers at Anfield.

Liverpool's managing director Ian Ayre will meet Cummins at some point after Saturday's home game with Reading, when the writer may discover more about whether the club intend to investigate his own allegations that Chang threatened him when the two men met for a lunch lasting one hour and 45 minutes at Manchester's Evuna restaurant on 22 August.

The club said yesterday that there was no evidence of threats. Asked why a director of the club would spend such a length of time with the creator of a Twitter character, a spokesman said that "Duncan Jenkins" had a substantial social media following, including a number of national newspaper journalists, which authenticated him. He also said that the "Duncan Jenkins" account provided no evidence that "he" was a Liverpool supporter. There is no taped recording of the meeting, Ayre confirmed that he had been in contact with the writer but could not discuss the issue at this stage.

There was substantial support for Cummins on mainstream social media yesterday, with minority criticism from some observers on Twitter who feel the story is "one-sided." But no detailed picture of the meeting or the reasons for it has been forthcoming from the Liverpool end, to challenge the immensely detailed log of emails and text messages to and from Chang, which Cummins has preserved. There are no signs that Liverpool intend to sue over the claims.

Some observers maintain the view that Cummins is an attention-seeker, though this seems to stem from the "Duncan" comedy character, who as a fantasist aspiring journalist liked to say he was right, being confused with a real individual. "If I had wanted attention I would have dropped the cover and revealed it was me," Cummins said on Monday.

The Twitter feed of the sporting intelligence website – @sportingintel – yesterday published one of two images Cummins has secured from Evuna, which demonstrate that he and Chang met at 1.03pm on 22 August and parted company on 2.49pm that day. The respected Anfield Wrap website also has evidence that Chang did threaten to remove the Liverpool season ticket Cummins shares. Ayre told the Associated Press at the Leaders in Football conference last week that "in our 10-year plan, digital media is at the forefront of what we do" and the club have started holding dedicated press conferences for writers from beyond the mainstream media.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/liverpool-deny-evidence-of-threats-to-duncan-jenkins-8213971.html

This has now reached levels of all kinds of stupidity.

Madness. Why would people threaten him?

I think the forum he was getting lineups from was est1892

Apparently the forum he posted on was called scouser tommy.com . Can't say I have ever heard of it. Seems that Chang has supposedly threatened a Liverpool forum will be denied access to some meeting or other if they don't toe the line.

Really getting stupid now.   

FFS, talk about mountains and molehills.

Here's to hoping he can fix our terrible PR

Well there you go! hahaha

Well there you go! hahaha

Mate we are doomed to have a future of woeful PR

Haha

Seems that Chang has supposedly threatened a Liverpool forum will be denied access to some meeting or other if they don't toe the line.

I thought that was Ian Ayre threatened the Anfield Wrap Lads for taking the piss out of his shirt ?

I thought that was Ian Ayre threatened the Anfield Wrap Lads for taking the piss out of his shirt ?

Haha yeah he did. Was when we signed Sahin. Nuri was there looking suave, and Ayre was in a checked shirt and jeans.



Jim Boardman mentioned it in this article http://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2012/10/time-to-nail-some-lies/

"We recently passed comment during a podcast on the shirt choice of a certain member of the Anfield hierarchy. That member of the hierarchy didn’t get the best of press from us that week and we were told a short time later that the owner of the shirt was minded to ban TAW because of our criticism."

I'd like to think Ayre was joking, but the way it's worded here it doesn't sound like it.

I know nothing about any of this , apart from what I read on here. The whole thing is ridiculous but I do agree,the club do not need any more bad publicity. We get enough negative press without handing them stories on a plate.
One thing I know for sure , Twitter and Facebook , cause more trouble than they're worth and I'm so glad I made the decision to have nothing to do with either.

He should have sent him this. 

I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you stop tweeting about Liverpool FC now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you. 

ha! Great film. Great line.

El Hadji Diouf should be very afraid right now, Chang is gonna kick his arse!

Can just imagine him opening his boot tonight and Jen Chang flying out 'The Hangover' style.

EXCLUSIVE: Liverpool give blogger written apology for ‘inappropriate’ director behaviour

30 October 2012

Liverpool’s managing director Ian Ayre has apologised in writing on behalf of the club for the inappropriate behaviour of communications director Jen Chang towards Liverpool fan Sean Cummins, the creator of spoof journalist ‘Duncan Jenkins’, during a meeting between the pair on 22 August and in the days afterwards.

Cummins, a 35-year-old copy writer from south Manchester, gained 40,000 followers for Jenkins’ Twitter account, where he tweeted misspelled nonsense, malapropisms, Colemanballs and ‘inside’ information that had actually been picked up second-, third- and fourth-hand from around the internet.

Chang became so concerned about ‘perspiring journalist’ Jenkins, who described himself as a member of the blogging ‘paternity’, that he met Cummins in a Manchester restaurant on 22 August and asked Cummins to tweet as Jenkins that a) ‘Jenkins’ was not real; b) ‘Jenkins’ had no club mole.

Cummins detailed the meeting and the aftermath in an explosive blog post on 12 October, in which he outlined a series of accusations against Chang, including that Chang had effectively threatened to ban him from games by cancelling his shared season ticket.

The full extent of Chang’s alleged threats is detailed in the blog (linked here).

Sportingintelligence has established beyond doubt that the meeting took place; that all the tweets and emails within the blog are genuine; and that Liverpool have seen evidence of the above.

Ayre met Cummins in person in Liverpool last week to hear Cummins’ side of the story. Ayre held a second meeting with Cummins in Liverpool today, when he handed over a letter of apology.

Ayre writes in the letter: “Based on everything I have heard and seen, including information provided by the parties involved in the matter, I acknowledge some of the elements you highlight were not appropriate …

“I would therefore like to apologise to you on behalf of Liverpool FC, for any upset and distress this caused you.

“Clearly it is not appropriate for me to comment on how the club is managing this internally, and I trust you understand this.”

Liverpool have declined to comment on what disciplinary action, if any, Chang might now face.

Sources say that Liverpool’s chairman Tom Werner has already rebuked Chang, privately and verbally, for his meeting with Cummins and the way he handled its aftermath, but Chang has declined to comment on this – or provide any public account of his version of events.

Asked on 12 October whether Cummins’ blog was a faithful account of their meeting on 22 August, Chang emailed to say: ‘No, it’s total nonsense’.
He declined to respond to follow-up emails which asked for clarification about what actually happened.

It has subsequently been proved beyond doubt via CCTV footage, emails, texts and phone records that every part of Cummins’ story that it is possible to verify using that evidence has been verified.

What nobody will ever be able to verify is precisely what Chang said to Cummins during a 1 hour, 46-minute lunch on 22 August (right), but Cummins feels vindicated with the apology and acknowledgement that his concerns were genuine.

“As a Liverpool supporter, I fully appreciate that our great club has got a lot more serious issues to handle than what a spoof character was writing on Twitter,” Cummins has told Sportingintelligence this afternoon.

“It was never, ever my intention to distract from those issues, and I was shocked and surprised things unfolded as they have done, over a made-up character who was always clearly trivial.

“All I ever wanted was an apology and I got one in writing today.”


http://www.sportingintelligence.com/2012/10/30/exclusive-liverpool-give-blogger-written-apology-for-%E2%80%98inappropriate%E2%80%99-director-behaviour-301001/

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