I’m not going to claim I am any kind of “paragon of virtue”. Nor am I going to claim to be blameless in any way, shape or form.
What I am going to do is ask that we stop all the nonsense. The level of bitterness between the Phoenix and Storm fanbases is rather disturbing. As I said, I’m far from blameless in this situation. The blog posting prior to this on shows just how angry and bitter I was initially. I lashed out, and made a posting that was hasty, and very belligerent. I won’t lie and say I have had a total about turn. I still feel a very real sense of anger and upset over what has transpired over the last couple of months. I have, however, come to realise that my own personal feelings are largely irrelevant. All they have done is further the petty behaviour shown by fans of BOTH teams.
Ultimately, it is futile to live in anger. Whether I like it or not, Silver Blades removed us from the rink, and set up the Storm. There is literally nothing I can do about this. It is a fact. What i can do, however, is hold my hands up and say I was wrong to react in the manner I did. If people are only interested in watching hockey in Manchester if it bears the Storm name, then that is their prerogative. Equally so, if people are only interested in the Phoenix (such as myself), then it is theirs (and mine). No amount of name calling, tantrum throwing, or petty points scoring on forums, Twitter etc will change that. As it stands, both sets of fans have to co-exist, so it may as well be as peaceably as possible.
So I urge everyone, Phoenix and Storm fan alike to just stop. Lets concentrate on our own teams, given that the season is just around the corner. I certainly don’t want to lose any friends over this (although it may be too late for some of my friendships in the wider British hockey community).