I sense the club have started to build bridges with him and may have been feeding him info. I think the club realise that he can be influential when it comes to spreading negative vibes and realise that it is better to have him onside and spreading more positive things
This with nobs on. AN has always been a hate figure for a few of us, due to his allegiance to Another Team, primarily, plus a long history of off colour columns. My guess is a lot of the latter is due to lack of info. It makes sense for the club to feed him via a hotline for a while, and see if he can be trusted to avoid putting a destructive spin on his scribblings.
This is all small beer, albeit Communications are important (look how the othjer TB ensured his party elected by schmoozing Rupert Murdock) . . . i