This article from the Sunday Mercury was shown to myself today and it is the usual Doug Ellis stuff that they often wheel out when we do well and the kind that is quickly chip wrappings.

However I have to correct this statement the Sunday Mercury have printed and I can only conclude that Ellis himself told them.

Groups of supporters mounted high-profile campaigns to oust him and even attacked his plush Midlands’ home.

I was someone who was involved at the time and you may remember AVISA was set up in 2000 to gain a much better recognition for the supporters and the unrest we had against Ellis. I was also lucky to meet many of those involved in the £ sign protest and the subsequent VFC protests that Jonathan Fear organised.

I totally and utterly refute the above statement from the Sunday Mercury and any implication that they got from Ellis or other sources we ever organised protests to be either illegal or violent is totally wrong. As no time during the protests did we hear of any illegal activity against Ellis, I do not even remember any suggestion from the club back then of any attack against Ellis’s house.

On behalf of myself or any other supporters involved in the protests I want this statement retracted by the Sunday Mercury and I have emailed the Editor David Brookes, Deputy Editor Paul Cole and Head of Sport Lee gibson asking for a retraction, I will publish any correspondence recieved.