It's upsetting - again - to see the Rochdale Observer dedicating a front page to spinning a negative story about Rochdale Hornets. It's already been said this week that the Ob would rather print a page of bad news than give us half a page of credit - and this latest episode seems to bear that out.

What's even more galling about the Observer's apparent desire to run our club down at every opportunity is that, as their name appears on the front of our jerseys, they're supposed be to Hornets' partners in rejuvenating our club.

Indeed there seems to be a strange double-standard at work, where a publication wants association with a sports team on the one hand, but seeks to demean it on the other.

For a long time supporters have suspected that the Rochdale Observer operates an 'anti-Hornets' editorial policy and this latest piece of sensationalist journalism does us - and them - no favours at all.

When you scratch a little below the surface, it's not hard to see why the Observer goes balls out on such 'non-stories'. Rochdale's a nondescript town where very little really happens beyond a bit of fly-tipping and council infighting. If I were the editor of the Observer, I'd be desperate to whip up a bit of 'real news' too. But at the expense of the team they claim to sponsor? You have to question their strategy - and their sanity.

The real truth about the loan situation is that it's been agreed in principle, but the council needs to see some more paperwork and confirm that the financials are in place to cover it.

No more, no less.

Sadly, the Observer seems hellbent on doing as much damage as possible. They could, if they chose, put a neutral spin on the story - reporting the facts and letting people make up their own minds - but by leading the readers by offering opinion as news - and through the use of aggressive and negative writing - it paints Hornets - quite deliberately - in a very bad light.

And ill-informed quotes from councillors with no real grasp of the facts - or desire to find them - don't help matters.

It's hard enough to attract supporters and sponsors to Rugby League in Rochdale, without the Observer writing our obituary across the front page every three months.

Dozens of people have worked terribly hard to drag the club this far this season. New business ventures, new sponsors, new links with the community, new supporter involvement, a new team with a great attitude, new revenue raised from the share issue - there are major positives everywhere you look at the club. Assuming you'd be prepared to look.

And we're in much better financial shape, but the Observer persists in using phrases such as 'debt-riddled' , 'cash-strapped' and 'crisis-club' - cheap tabloid clichés that are easy to 'fire and forget'.

Whilst the spirit in the club is currently more buoyant than it's been for years, all the hard work is being undermined - by one of the club's own sponsors.

And, ultimately, you have to ask yourself whether this is the sort of 'sponsorship' that Rochdale Hornets needs.