Fan group not happy with owner, lack of communication and agency ties.
A group of New York Knicks fans, known as KF4L (Knicks Fans for life), are still planning on protesting against owner James Dolan during the clash with the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks are currently on a six-game winning streak and are expected to announce the appointment of former Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson as their new president of basketball operations on Tuesday.
While they appear to be clawing back ground in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, it hasn’t done enough to persuade the fan group to stop or at least postpone their planned protest against the owner.
Dolan has long been criticised for his management of the organisation, while the lack of communication from current president Steve Mills has irked the supporters, as has the team’s ties with Creative Artists Agency.
“The rally is still on,” Mark Griffin, one of the organizers of the protest, wrote in an email Sunday night.
“As a group, we all share the same promise and hope that other Knicks fans have at the hiring of Phil Jackson. This is a good step, but it does not change our skepticism that Dolan will allow Phil the autonomy to bring a real competitor to Madison Square Garden. We’ve been sold the same promise and hope time again by this owner.”
The group were understood to be expecting around 50-100 fans to join their cause, but expectations have been lowered given the current winning streak, which is the longest the team has enjoyed so far this season.
However, there is still anger over how the team has been run previously while there are concerns that Jackson’s arrival doesn’t necessarily mean that he will be handed full flexibility to do the job to the best of his ability.
Griffin conceded that his main aim is to make the owner aware of their expectations which he hopes will serve as a warning moving forward over how the team should be run.
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