Twittergate

THERE used to be a time when you relied on newspapers for all the inside information on your local club. Not now.
With the global rise of twitter you can find out more from about what's happening than by going out to buy your local Evening rag.
While the manager will trot out the same old familiar lines of "the spirit in the camp is still good", "the boys are fighting for everything" and the like in the Press, just a quick click of the mouse can tell you exactly how some of them are feeling.
For instance, while our current man in charge Dave Penney is likely to want to keep the make up of his team quiet from the opposition, our midfielder Chris Lines has already informed us that his toes are "black and blue" and he will be struggling to make tonight's crunch game at Rochdale.
Meanwhile, under-fire fullback Carl Regan, dropped from the team recently, has informed his many "followers" that he is suffering the worst spell of his entire career.
No amount of soundbytes from the boss man in the press is going to be able to gloss over the fact that Regan, for one, doesn't sound in "good spirits".
Even our star striker Will Hoskins admitted in a moment of tweet surrender "I'm not enjoying it any more."
No amount of spin doctors can cover up the sentiments behind those words.
Then you have fans forums on the websites. On these you can get any little bit of gossip you need.
A player is spotted out having a beer and his discretion is already noted by the faithful. He becomes known as the Champagne Charlie of the team and any below-par performance is put down to his late-night drinking exploits.
This is the big brother era, except big brother is the public and they are watching every step their heroes take.
At the same time the only stories you will get from your local media are the ones that have been approved by the club. Interviews have been recorded and put on its official website before they even reach the press. So they amount to positive spin press releases.
No wonder newspapers are dying.
Where are the Woodward and Bernsteins of the football world these days (for my younger reader these are the guys that uncovered the Watergate Scandal that led to the fall of US President Richard Nixon)?
Who is going to delve deep behind the scenes and establish the contacts so that we can find out what is really going on?
Rumours abound that my beloved Rovers are financially desperate. No change there then.
But where is the deep investigation, the thorough analysis of our real plight?
Nowhere to be seen. We are fed with a diet of "We must start winning games", "We are letting too many goals in", "There are still enough games left to survive".
Well, to use that time honoured phrase, "No sh*t, Sherlock!"
Already the natives are getting restless with the new manager. We expected the usual "bounce" you get when a new face takes over, instead we have slid down further into the relegation mire.
And Penney is already getting stick from fans as a "lightweight", who hasn't managed to enthuse the players with the spirit needed to survive.
Highly unfair, but this is the fast moving world we live in.
Ask any manager and they say it takes two years to get the side you want, playing the way you want.
Penney has been here just under a month. Results haven't been good, granted. But he inherited a team low on confidence and shipping goals for fun that were already on a steep decline.
He has brought in players during the transfer window to try to turn things around but luck has deserted him, too. The man he charged with pulling our defence together, Dave McCracken, is out for a month having suffered a hamstring injury against MK Dons.
In a low moment, after our 4-2 loss to league leaders Brighton at the weekend, he admitted the challenge was proving "tougher than I first thought".
Still, Rovers fans should be getting behind the new man and his backroom team. We are all in this together. It can only get worse if we hit rock bottom and, to be honest, that isn't far away.
I keep thinking of all the optimism that I felt at the start of the season and how it has drained away piece by piece.
But teams have got out of worst jams and it is time to keep the faith.
My mate, a Lincoln City fan, was moaning on Facebook three weeks ago that his side had hit the basement of League 2 and were destined to drop out of the league. Their new manager had made no impact.
Since then? Five wins out of five and comfortably in mid table.
We gasheads can only hope that the revival starts tonight at Rochdale.