FourFourTwo - October

[Normal Rob]

I don't know if you are deliberately missing the point or not. I have no problem with a magazine being published with the publication date which represents the majority of the market for the magazine. What I do have a problem with is magazines taking the piss and attempting to appear 'ahead of the game' by printing entirely misleading publication dates on their magazines.

As a point of interest, the 'pre-season' edition was apparently published on 31st July The season starts here - FourFourTwos Inside Track - FourFourTwo
, yet carried the date 'September 2009' so they are hardly the unfortunate denizens of fate with father time working against them.

And my point is that they are not deliberately misleading the public - a cover date would not make any sense whatsover if at any point in the magazines on sale period the cover date was in the past. As i said, they are businesses. And i know exactly when 442 went on sale (1st august - not 31st july)- but it still does not allow you to make naive sweeping genaralisations about th way in which a company goes about it's business. You might as well then start complaining about how they hide cover price increased behind promoted issues. Just like 442 is about to do....


Title: FOUR FOUR TWO
Frequency: Monthly
Category: Football - Adult
Distributor: FRONTLINE LTD

Issue Item -1 Current 1 2
Barcode 9771355027950 9771355027165 9771355027165 9771355027165

Cover Issue SEP 09 OCT 09 NOV 09 DEC 09
Onsale Date 01/08/2009 02/09/2009 07/10/2009 04/11/2009
Offsale Date 02/09/2009 07/10/2009 04/11/2009 02/12/2009
Price £ 4.50 £ 4.20 £ 4.20 £ 4.20
VAT Content £ 0.00 £ 0.00 £ 0.00 £ 0.00


I think you'll find that it was £4.10 prior to the start of season issue.

 

[Frutos]

Get typing Frutos, if you can hit 70wpm you could have the entire article on here by 3pm.

It wasn't a direct Q&A thing, more Slade responding to various comments put to him. Those comments are in normal font, with Slade's responses in italics:

Former Yeovil Town and Grimsby Town manager Russell Slade took charge of The Seagulls on March, with the club facing relegation. But having won six and drawn two of their final 14 games, they finished the season in 16th place. With the stadium at Falmer underway, relegation would have been a disaster.

SLADE: I'm not sure you would be talking to me if I'd not kept the club up but having reached two play-off finals in three seasons and with a good knowledge of the lower leagues, who was better to come in and sort it out? There's no secret; you work hard and you try to get the best out of the materials you have, but time wasn't on our side. Yet we got players back into their rightful positions, put an extra player in midfield, and did enough. Just.

Lifelong Albion fan and poker millionaire Tony 'The Lizard' Bloom becamse Seagulls chairman in May, succeeding Dick Knight after securing a 75 percent share in the club and investing £93m into the new stadium at Falmer. With the inadequate Withdean Stadium acting as home for the past decade, the gaffer says a feel-good factor is now sweeping the club.

SLADE: The new owner brings fresh financial impetus, and as a result the new stadium is now a reality when it was just a dream for so long. The fans haven't had anywhere they've been able to call home for 12 years but that will now change. Everyone is now pulling in the same direction: the fans, the playing staff, the board and the city in general. If we could be in the Championship when we do move in, that would finish the fairytale.

While Brighton's average attendance was just 5937 last year, the new stadium is set to house 22500. While a generation of fans have been lost to the more glamorous Premier League clubs, Albion are confident of seeing a return to the glory days when 20000 regularly packed the Goldstone Ground.

SLADE: One of the reasons I joined Brighton was the huge potential; with a catchment areas of 250,000 we're one of the last sleeping giants of the lower leagues. When I was at Notts County, we played Brighton in the play-offs ay Wembley and they brought 35,000 with them - proof that with a successful team and new stadium, the fans will return. The ones we do have are absolutely fantastic and I really missed them during the close season! They were another reason why we stayed up, and our away support is also terrific. Even when we lost, they stayed behind to clap the lads. They're longing for sustained success and maybe in the next couple of years we can deliver that.

Going up is going to be tough. With the likes of Charlton, Norwich and Southampton down from the Championship, Leeds lurking ominously and the financially buoyant Huddersfield and MK Dons desperate for success, Albion face a battle - but events this summer have seen the club installed as sixth favourites for promotion.

SLADE: There are a lot of big clubs in there - it's a far tougher league than when I first took over at Yeovil, that's for sure. There are 10 clubs desperate to get out - and a top-six finish will be our goal this season.

Leading Grimsby to the play-off final in 2006 and repeating the feat with League One Yeovil, Slade is clearly the man to take Brighton forward. Famous for once keeping his Mariners side on the pitch at half-time, long before Phil Brown's antics, Slade is still yearning for that first promotion success.

SLADE: I still get the same buzz - being driven by promotion and success. You never stop learning as a manager - lots of little things: like when you are tempted to let off steam at half-time, learning to be more analytical, passing on information to them which is going to help. Hopefull that will bear fruition this season.

 

[sten_super]

And my point is that they are not deliberately misleading the public - a cover date would not make any sense whatsover if at any point in the magazines on sale period the cover date was in the past. As i said, they are businesses. And i know exactly when 442 went on sale (1st august - not 31st july)- but it still does not allow you to make naive sweeping genaralisations about th way in which a company goes about it's business. You might as well then start complaining about how they hide cover price increased behind promoted issues. Just like 442 is about to do....


Title: FOUR FOUR TWO
Frequency: Monthly
Category: Football - Adult
Distributor: FRONTLINE LTD

Issue Item -1 Current 1 2
Barcode 9771355027950 9771355027165 9771355027165 9771355027165
Barcode Issue No 09 10 11 12
Cover Issue SEP 09 OCT 09 NOV 09 DEC 09
Onsale Date 01/08/2009 02/09/2009 07/10/2009 04/11/2009
Offsale Date 02/09/2009 07/10/2009 04/11/2009 02/12/2009
Price £ 4.50 £ 4.20 £ 4.20 £ 4.20
VAT Content £ 0.00 £ 0.00 £ 0.00 £ 0.00


I think you'll find that it was £4.10 prior to the start of season issue.

You are obviously in the industry, if not working for 442 or related itself, so you obviously have far more knowledge of these things than I do. But I can tell you, as a consumer, that I resent the completely false publication dates on these monthly magazines.

My company produces quarterly, biannual and annual reports. The publication date on these reports is NOT the last possible date of purchase, but the time at which the report was produced. This is far more informative for consumers. From my exposure to other similar businesses, this is the standard. There is often some generalising of dates (i.e. summer 2009 rather than July 2009) but not the outright fabrications which seem to be standard in the publishing industry.

 

[Normal Rob]

You are obviously in the industry, if not working for 442 or related itself, so you obviously have far more knowledge of these things than I do. But I can tell you, as a consumer, that I resent the completely false publication dates on these monthly magazines.

My company produces quarterly, biannual and annual reports. The publication date on these reports is NOT the last possible date of purchase, but the time at which the report was produced. This is far more informative for consumers. From my exposure to other similar businesses, this is the standard. There is often some generalising of dates (i.e. summer 2009 rather than July 2009) but not the outright fabrications which seem to be standard in the publishing industry.

yes - I am in the industry but I do not work for 442, or Haymarket for that matter. Your point is one that i have heard many times before - but as a business selling a product it makes no commercial sense whatsover to place a date on it that could immediately make that product appear, no pun intended, outdated. Anyhow - there are more important things to be getting on with. I'm checking schedules for our issues on sale in January next year (our March 2013 issues)

 

[sten_super]

All fair points. Especially the last one!

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Good work Frutos, cheers