How big a difference do the fans actually make? - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
These days, the average footballer is a tad precious. Who wouldn't become accustomed to earning a wage well above the national average, being wrapped in metaphorical handwoven blankets to protect you from injury, all the while being treated like some kind of deity by the thousands that follow you on 'Twitter'.
I'm back, and I'm more disillusioned than ever. Now to start my rant I give you the number 22. You
see 22 is a bullshit number. On the show Most Evil, for example, a forensic psychiatrist scales
from 1 to 22, evilness is mentally evaluated – thus making 22 the most evil. Then you have
Catch-22, which doesn't help anyone.
Pat's Win Prizes Patrick Collins has been the chief sports writer of the Mail on Sunday since the
newspaper's launch in 1982, writes Adam Bate. He has won the prestigious SJA Sports Writer of the
Year award five times across three different decades. Thanks for talking to EFW. As we speak, the
Premier League has just got up and running again.
The one Rangers issue to attract more criticism recently than their financial management –
alleged and actual – has been Scottish media coverage of it, especially in Glasgow itself.
Scottish football journalists' inability to comprehend Rangers' current financial woes is already
the stuff of legend.
Nearly two years ago, the Daily Mail's Matt Lawton published a piece under what should
surely be considered one of the most dunderheaded headlines in recent football journalism: "The
best players of the world (and Xavi): Ronaldo crowned king of football." In the wake of Cristiano
Ronaldo's ascension as the world player of the year in 2009, Lawton took the time to cheekily
ridicule Xavi Hernández, a player whose patience, measure, and impeccable sense of the tempo in
attack and defense has helped to make Barcelona the best club side in Europe (arguably) and Spain
the best national side in the world (most certainly).
Have I got news for you?
It's very easy to have a highbrow above the eyebrow opinion about the News of the World. It's
England's biggest-selling newspaper, but even if you don't think it's the best, it's certainly hard
not to have a cursory glance as you hover over the Sunday papers.
So, to lay to rest all our tabloid-broadsheet sectarian fears, we thought we'd dial up the News of
the World's chief football correspondent Neil Ashton for the latest in our series of interviews
with football journalists - even though he does support Crystal Palace.
Oliver Sparrow and Eric Beard had the pleasure of spending an hour with esteemed author and
journalist Jonathan Wilson on the AFR Podcast. Jonathan writes for The Guardian, The Independent,
Sports Illustrated, World Soccer, and FourFourTwo. He is also the editor of a quarterly publication
called The Blizzard, which is filled with content from some of the biggest names in football
journalism.
Mostly the launch of the Blizzard, what that meant for football blogging and whether it heralded a
new page in football journalism, which I hope to talk about in the coming days.
As I hope you've been aware, I've been writing daily posts for The Score's Footy Blog, which has
been an incredibly useful discipline.
...and go buy Issue #1 of The Blizzard. It's a pay-what-you-like model, and I was suspicious of the
£3 (~$5) suggested price for the ePub. But I'm a big fan of Jonathan Wilson, so I took the plunge
and feel richly rewarded for doing so, both in the quantity and the quality of the work included. A
nice stack of non-time-sensitive soccer/football journalism now sits on my phone, just waiting for
those little gaps in the day to appear.
I remember talking about the Carling Cup carnival one year ago after a 4-0 victory against
Newcastle, a match in which we were ruthlessly efficient in the second half after being handed a
lucky lead in the first; a Bendtner curler and two Walcott one-on-ones giving the scoreline much
gloss and splendour as we lovingly clutched the CCQF Cup to our bosom and went through to the last
eight.
I did a run round of the blogs on Friday and was dismayed to see the amount of poison being
directed at Samir Nasri.
Now I have no brief for Nasri in particular, other than he can play a bit and is still an
Arsenal player. To read the blogs you would think he was public enemy number one.
Sunshine Of The North We live in an age where everyone is a de-facto journalist; social media
allows for that, especially Twitter, writes Andy Hudson. While many full-time journalists take
stick via mediums such as Twitter and forums, with many people quick to believe that they could do
better than those employed by newspapers, there are a number of reporters that excel at what they
do.
The Incredible Caulk
For years the North East was described as a football hotbed. Given the recent lack of major success
for our football clubs many fans from outside the region would suggest a sickbed would be a more
befitting comparison. But football is still thriving on Tyneside, Wearside and Teesside - and at
the forefront of that is our football reporting.
I've written a lot on this blog about the woeful state of most newspaper soccer coverage,
particularly in North America, but I've generally treated it as a fact of life like the rising of
the sun and the running of the deer. This practice is, ironically, a glaring example of bad
football journalism. Mea culpa.
I've written a lot on this blog about the woeful state of most newspaper soccer coverage,
particularly in North America, but I've generally treated it as a fact of life like the rising of
the sun and the running of the deer. This practice is, ironically, a glaring example of bad
football journalism. Mea culpa.
Before I get into what a model partnership between football blogs and on-line newspapers might
look like, or whether a such a partnership would be worth the hassle at all, I think it's important
to point out why football journalism in particular could be a leader in fomenting any
further on-line cooperation.
Lately, I find I do not have much to say. In June and July I watched all but two World Cup matches,
read enormous amounts of football journalism, and contributed to the genre in my own way via this
blog and daily podcasts for The People's Game. I loved this - especially the podcasts which gave
me a chance to talk with bloggers I've been reading, who define my "imagined community.
Sam's Town
Deadline-phobia? Pah! Not a problem for Sam Wallace, football correspondent for The Independent.
Off screen set-tos on the Sunday Supplement? Not with a secret stash of Maltesers on the go.
Twitter? Don't be daft lad.
In this - the latest of EFW's interviews with big name football journalists - we get down to the
nitty, and indeed the gritty of the greatest game on earth.
Yes, it's summer, which means most of Europe is on vacation. And yes, it's the silly season when
transfer speculation is rife and the season hasn't kicked off yet. But I don't know about you, but
I've been really disappointed with the level of football journalism post-World Cup. That pertains
to both the blogosphere and traditional news organizations.
Oh Manchester, so much to answer for
Ever fancied being a football journalist? Then think again. Consider covering the World Cup for a
national newspaper to be just about the best job in the world? Then think again - well sort of.
In this candid interview, Daniel Taylor talks about the life of a football journalist, the
willy-waving between fans of Manchester United and Liverpool on forums and, his love of all things
Nottingham Forest.
Barney Ronay, author and football writer for The Guardian, sat down with Laurence
McKenna of EPL Talk recently for a one-on-one interview from the Guardian studos in London. Ronay
discusses several topics including his favorite football manager, his favorite football writer, how
he got into football journalism, what he did before he became a writer at The Guardian and much
more.
Barney's Version Armed with some rubbish questions from EFW and some gems of her own, Lizzy Ammon clicked the
heels of her favourite pair of red shoes together three times before marching off to meet Guardian
sports journalist Barney Ronay...
Thanks for taking time away from Guardian Towers to talk to us.
Mac the Life Lizzy Ammon caught up with journalist, Football Manager addict and Southend United fan Iain
Macintosh.
LA: Hi Macca, thanks for taking time away from playing Football Manager to talk to us. This
might prove to be one of the most testing interviews you've ever done in your life.
Holt. Who goes there.... We all know Oliver Holt. Â We've followed him on twitter, we've read his
columns and we've all got his opinions on him. We might criticise him, we might disagree with him,
but you've got to give the guy credit for sticking his opinions out there and, like all the best
folks on twitter, he's prepared to engage with those who disagree with him, and often to notable
effect.
AC Milan Blog has an exciting announcement to make. World Football Daily, a large American based
football website with over thirty thousand readers per month that has had world famous names in
football journalism such as Martin Tyler and Kris Voakes contribute, is now presenting material
from AC Milan Blog's own, Franky T.
Before I get labeled another Guardianista, back-slapping sycophant for writing this post, I should
say I find In Bed with Maradona deeply annoying. Not the site itself, but the site's need to
constantly self-promote along the lines of tweeting things like "We got four hundred billion hits
today on our piece on underground cockatoo football in Djibouti, we must be doing something right,
or at least so says our buddies at a certain AC Jimbo employing newspaper formerly based in
Manchester!
EFW meets IBWM
You would own a collection of bruised fingers if you clapped every quality article that appeared on
the pages of the delightfully named football blog In Bed With Maradona.
Not many days go by with some form of mutual backslapping and high fiving between European Football
Weekends (EFW) and In bed with Maradona (IBWM).
Yesterday the Courier Mail published one of its best A-League stories. It was written by Marco
Monteverde. He was centre stage to his own story. That brought realism and his passion.
It provided insight into the behind the scenes around the Courier Mail stories at the time of Frank
Farina's dismissal.
Oliver's Army
There aren't too many Englishmen who returned home from the World Cup with their reputation
enhanced. Oliver Kay was one of them though. The Times football correspondent is one of the finest
football journalists there is and, has an army of over 16,000 followers on Twitter.
