In the space of the past five minutes I've been told the following rumours; a high profile Non League club have asked to be demoted two leagues for financial reasons, a long standing manager has been sacked by text and a well respected grassroots Old Hand is about to lose his job after scandalous rumblings on the inter-web.

Now, as much as I love the fact I'm only a text, email or download away from one news titbit or another, the power and influence of the fans in Non League football via the media of the web, is now obscenely dangerous.

Only last week we were bemoaning the effect of "faceless" messageboard users on outgoing Grays manager Mick Woodward. Now this week word reaches me that another non league bastion, Tony Kempster, is considering shutting down parts of his site after "ungentlemanly conduct" from some of the posters.

I say "Time gentleman, and ladies, please." Perhaps before we go headlong bashing out another missive on one website or another we should consider the implications.

The real source of value at any club and especially at grassroots level is the fans, the ones who come hail or high water lugging out the kit, smartening up the stands and cheering on their sides. Unfortunately, they're also the ones who now have an open forum to berate their team and cause merry hell on the Internet with their stories of insider strife.

Goodness knows there are a great many who don't take part in the sport of "trolling", or stirring up the hornets nest from information inside the club, but for those that do a cautionary tale.

Newspaper hacks, us radio wannabes and even league officials all take note of what's read on the forums, and some use it to their advantage; the minute it's up there in print it's very hard to take back.

My Granny was always of the opinion that "no one knows what goes on behind closed doors" and maybe that old adage was for the best. Do we really need to know a club's financial status when there could be all sorts of "behind the doors" meetings we're not privy to, or similarly, do we really need to point out we've got idiots at a club, when previously they'd been kept under wraps?

I'll be interested to note how many reputations of teams, managers, players and even fans the Internet will damage this season. That's one question I'm happy to discuss, albeit over a quiet drink down the pub, rather than on an open world wide forum.

Caroline Barker/BBC Non League Football Show

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