Jen Chang spark fresh image crisis at Anfield

• zocoss

  14 Oct 12, 10:10

   

  Liverpool comms chief denies intimidation claims

  Liverpool director of communications Jen Chang has denied claims that he bullied and intimidated the man behind a Twitter parody account.

   

   

   

   

  http://duncanjenkins.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/such-little-thing-makes-such-big.html

   

   

   

  'Duncan Jenkins' is an inexplicably popular parody of journalists and bloggers, specialising in intentional grammatical errors and supposedly funny other sundry mistakes.

  Jenkins, created by an unnamed blogger who supports Liverpool, would often post 'scoops' about the Anfield club, including news about transfers and team selections, some of which would turn out to be accurate.

  This led many to assume that he was in fact a journalist close to the club, but according to a blog posted by the man behind the account, they were simply punts based on tweets and stories from other journalists, and word taken from Liverpool fan forums.

  Furthermore, the blog claims that Chang, hired in the summer by Liverpool to be the club's communications chief, believed the Jenkins account was harming the club, even to the extent of costing them money in transfer negotiations.

  Chang then supposedly met with 'Jenkins' to ask him to stop, making assorted threats about both him and his family, which you can read about in the blog itself here.

  However, Chang has strenuously denied the accusations, despite admitting to The Daily Mail that he did in fact meet 'Jenkins':

  "I will not be responding to total nonsense," he said, responding to the 'total nonsense.'

  "The contents of my tweets that are included in the blog bear no relation whatsoever to the false accusations made by a fictional character.

  "There was never any investigation by Liverpool over the tweets."

• zocoss

  14 Oct 12, 12:26

  Seeing Red: Liverpool director Chang forced to deny allegations he threatened a supporter

  Anonymous blog claims Chang harrassed an unknown fan for revealing transfer screts on a fake Twitter acount

   

  

  Denial: Jen Chang, Liverpool's director of communications

   

   

  Liverpool director of communications Jen Chang has been forced to deny allegations that he has harassed an anonymous supporter for revealing accurate transfer knowledge.

  Allegations made on an anonymous blog claim that Chang had promised to ban the unnamed fan for life, threatened that supporters would put dog**** through his letter box and make his living a 'living hell' while newspapers would ruin his dad's online business.

  An mystery fan who uses the alter ego Duncan Jenkins claims that Chang made these threats at a meeting in Manchester after details of the signings of Fabio Borini and Nuri Sahin were revealed on a fake Twitter account.

  An anonymous blog also accuses 'paranoid' Chang of  bombarding 'Duncan Jenkins' with phone calls and telling him that the club investigation into the tweets had diverted money from charitable projects.

  The blog states: 'Everything I've written is 100 per cent true. There is not a single shred of embellishment in this account.'

  While Chang confirms he met with a mystery fan, he said: 'I will not be responding to total nonsense.

  'The contents of my tweets that are included in the blog bear no relation whatsoever to the false accusations made by a fictional character.

  'There was never any investigation by Liverpool over the tweets.'

• zocoss

  17 Oct 12, 10:26

  Caught on CCTV: The moment Liverpool chief met the man behind Twitter prankster Duncan Jenkins amid sensational claims of threats and paranoia that could spark fresh image crisis at Anfield
  

   

   

  

  Bully claims: Chang, who joined Liverpool in the summer, denies allegations made by 'Jenkins'

   

  

  Headlines: Duncan Jenkins (L), followed by thousands on social networking site Twitter, posted about Liverpool

   

   

   

   

  HOW THE STORY STARTED...
  

  • Click here to read the full allegations from Duncan Jenkins

   

  This is the first picture of the meeting between a senior Liverpool official and a fake blogger that is at the centre of a potentially-damaging investigation at the club.
  

  Liverpool have started a probe into the background behind the extraordinary claims from a fan - written under the Twitter alter-ego Duncan Jenkins - alleging serious harassment by the club’s director of communications Jen Chang. 

  Chang is pictured on the left in this CCTV image taken from a Manchester restaurant, where he met Sean Cummins - the man behind the Twitter feed that has caused a fresh headache at Anfield.
  

  It is the latest PR crisis to engulf the club after their handling of the Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra race row last season.
  

  Managing director Ian Ayre is due to speak to Cummins as well as Chang and others involved in an unseemly episode which began when Jenkins started publicising information Chang believed must have come from inside Anfield.
  

  Chang describes Jenkins’s allegations about threats made at a genuine meeting in Manchester as ‘fictitious nonsense’ but his position looks vulnerable if Ayre decides otherwise.
  

  Cummins published his version of his communication and meeting with Chang in an explosive blog post on Friday.
  

  In it, he claims that Chang demanded to know who his alleged mole inside Anfield is. Cummins has denied that he has an insider at the club leaking information - instead pointing out that all his information was lifted from fans’ forums.
  

  Chang set up a meeting with Cummins at the Evuna restaurant in Manchester in August - but Cummins alleges this was the start of the meltdown in the relations between the pair.
  

  After accusing Cummins of costing the club £300,000 extra in the Fabio Borini transfer from Roma this summer because of ‘information’ posted on the Jenkins Twitter feed, it is then alleged that Chang demanded he tweet under the fake account to ‘confess’ there was no mole and the whole account was made up.
  

  At this point, Cummins asked Change what would happen if he didn’t agree to the deal.

   

  

  Caught on CCTV: Liverpool director of communications Jen Chang is pictured meeting 'Duncan Jenkins' - fan Sean Cummins - at Manchester restaurant Evuna in August
  

   

  

  Internal investigation: Liverpool's managing director Ian Ayre will now probe the claims

   

   

  According to the blog post, Chang claimed he would be banned from Anfield along with the other man he shares a season-ticket with.
  

  Chang, it is claimed, also threatened to hand over his dossier on Cummins to journalist who could ‘run smear stories on me in the tabloid press’.

  And, perhaps most shockingly, Chang is also alleged to have told Cummins: ‘You know how crazy football fans are. You’ll have dog shit coming through your letterbox, you’ll have to take your Facebook page down, you might even have to move house.’

  Chang, who has confirmed that he did meet the self-styled Slam Dunc in Manchester, has already denied the claims.
  

  He said: ‘I will not be responding to total nonsense. The contents of my tweets that are included in the blog bear no relation whatsoever to the false accusations made by a fictional character. There was never any investigation by Liverpool over the tweets.’
  

  However, that has not stopped Liverpool launching an investigation into their own PR chief.
  

  Chang was brought in to Liverpool this summer to boost their PR drive after last season’s troubles with the Suarez affair. He replaced long-serving Ian Cotton, who was forced out after 16 years at the club.

   

   

   

  

   

  JUST WHO IS DUNCAN JENKINS?

  @DuncanJenkinsFC is an amusing fake Twitter account of a wannabe football journalist.

  It is the work of Sean Cummins, a 35-year-old who lives in Manchester. The Duncan Jenkins character originally started on Facebook - someone who was inept and delusional in equal measure, as well as being obsessed with The Bill.

  Just under a year ago, he relaunched on Twitter as a 'perspiring journalist'. Dotted with misspellings and dodgy cliches, it also oddly predicted the correct Liverpool team well before anyone else ahead of each game.

  Cummins later admitted he just pinched it off a fans' forum and published it instantly, as he had done with transfer gossip.