Match man talks about tough time with trolls

THE new BBC Radio Leicester football commentator has opened up to Twitter followers about the messages he gets from City fans.

Owynn Palmer-Atkin said there were “loads of areas” he could improve on in his commentaries and urged City supporters to think before they go online to criticise him. He said the past month had been “tough” for him.

Owynn took over from Ian Stringer at the BBC and has provided the commentary for 11 Leicester matches so far. In the message to followers, Owynn said: “Jumping into the ‘commentary shoes’ for the last month and a bit has been tough.

“Before the Napoli game I’d done less than 10 commentaries but presented probably around 300 shows at Radio Leicester. So this is the longest run I’ve had to do consecutively. And still it’s only 11 games. Number 12 tonight.

“But every day we always work hard to improve our coverage and getting better at commentary and interviewing Brendan is part of that for me in this moment. I know you miss Ian, so do me and Pipes.

“So all I ask is that you just think before you post something.

“I’m just a Loughborough lad trying my best to do good for the Blue Army.”

Responding to his tweet, one of his followers said: “Just crack on lad, the world’s full critics, we do it every Saturday walking home from the match, win lose or draw, some are never happy. Keep going you’re doing fine.”

TalkSport presenter Geoff Peters also had some advice for him: “Never be afraid to use the mute/block buttons.”

Another said: “Trolls exist every day.

“Listen to those who want to help, not to those who don’t.”