Keep Harty Get Rid Of Ward Thread

[Harty]

I never thought my column and its axing would produce such a heated debate. I re-iterate what I said yesterday in thanking eveyone for their support, apart from Lucky Boy Farang who go and play in the traffic, on the part of thread that London Irish has taken issue with I apologise if the point I was trying to make hasn't quite come across the way it should.
Creative writing, whatever the subject is very enjoyable and what I was trying to say in my heavily sub edited last column was that be it Pete Kennard, Roy Chuter, Paul Cammillin or whoever regardless of whether you have 'trained' as a journalist or not if your writing identifies with the readers or in the case of braodcasting the listeners, then you shouldn't be discriminated against because you are not in a union or have had conventional training.
The fanzine movement certainly broke down a lot of that discrimination but to a certain extent it still remains today, and that's what I was trying to convey.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Harty is a hero.

Ward , correct me if I'm wrong started going to watch us the season we won div 2 and then had a season of div 1 football. Hardly been through the crap most fans have over the last 10 years.

I would rather have Harty and " a proper " fan who was as Gillingham for those seasons offering there views or someone like Turkey who would defend BHAFC to his dying breath than Ward.

 

[Yorkie]

Gareth the book was following the Albion when we'd won div 3 and was the story of the season2001/02.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Even worse 2 championship wins and a season in div 1, how hard can that be ?.

 

[Ex Shelton Seagull]

I don't think he went to any 3rd Div games though. The 01/02 season was his first watching the Albion, the first game he went to was the friendly vs Sheff Utd.

 

[Incredigull]

Wasn't the slimline Ward an editor on the original 'Leader' paper ?
He might have a friend on the inside pulling favours.
But saying that,I don't buy the Arsegas anyway,so I'll not see any articles. The crap in the programme is more than enough!!

 

[NMH]

Harty is the people's fan.

I don't care if there are 37 Albion writers, just as long as they don't dump Harty

 

[NMH]

Hey perhaps the argus can write loads of stuff by writers they all love, and have a wonderful 'Argus Wankfest' all for themselves.

Then another newspaper can write for the rest of us, and we'll buy that one.

 

[Turkey]

Harty is a hero.

Ward , correct me if I'm wrong started going to watch us the season we won div 2 and then had a season of div 1 football. Hardly been through the crap most fans have over the last 10 years.

I would rather have Harty and " a proper " fan who was as Gillingham for those seasons offering there views or someone like Turkey who would defend BHAFC to his dying breath than Ward.

Ha ha.

It was a matter of chance that Wardy switched to us in the Div 3 Championship Season. Personally, I thought the book was great.

However I do understand why you might want someone who's been connected with the club a little longer.

Who's to say the new column will be like the book and the programme column though? He may want to do something different with it.

It's not the end of Harty's column, it'll be published by someone else by the sounds of it. So it's not that big a deal really is it.

The Argus gets so much abuse from NSC I wonder why anyone cares because I thought most don't read it anyway!

Anyway, best wishes to Harty & Wardy on there future columns.

 

[bigc]

I didnt used to mind Mike Ward. Occasionaly he was a bit irritating whilst on SCR, but then again, after time, who isnt irritating. However, when in his "gullhanger dossier" for the match programme he layed into vegetarians, called them freaks, then said "guardian reading prat", i then changed my opinion to.
f*** off you fat closed minded prick
wheres Harty is a complete legend, he is brighton. whereas mike ward is simply some fat fuckwit who thinks he's funny when quite obviously he isnt
this has probably been my most angry post on NSC ever, its just cos I feel strongly about this.

 

[Virgo's Haircut]

Whens this new look Anus supposed to start then?

 

[London Irish]

Fair play to Harty for his generous response to my lengthy rant. I don't have the poet's gift for brevity so Attila summed up in one sentence (punk fanzines and print deregulation) what it took me a forest of cyber space to say.

If I may push my luck with Harty on just one more thing. I do feel Ian that you are a bit "chippy" about the manner of your entry into journalism. The fact is, it is quite common (and always has been) for journalists to enter the industry in a million different ways. All have to work hard and show they've got what it takes to make it, and very few look for excuses to fail, like mythical closed shops or having the "wrong" training. I have a friend who works two days a week as a sub-editor on a national newspaper and the other three designing and carving gravestones - so Harty, your mix of professions isn't even that unique! Please, less of the chip on the shoulder, the fact that you work as a funeral director doesn't make you any less of a "proper" journalist, and I don't know any sensible member of the NUJ who would think otherwise. No one lasts as long as you have as BBC broadcaster or a columnist for 5 years without being very good at their chosen profession.

On the substantive discussion of this thread, the Harty v Wardy debate, the problem with this is it is not comparing like with like.

I'm not privvy to what the Argus thinking is, but Harty does a column of Abion and general footy/sporting analysis. That's not what Wardy generally does in his writing. If anyone is replacing Harty, surely it is Garry Nelson, who will presumably cover much of the same ground that Harty did in probably a similar style. I can't see how anyone could object to that, good as Hart of the Matter was. Garry Nelson has written one of the best football books of the last 10 years and we are very lucky that we can now read his thoughts regularly from now on.

Mike Ward has one strength. Jokes based on observational humour. That's presumably what his column will be. As such, that will be an ADDITION to what the Argus is currently offering.

Now I've read 50 million times already on NSC that one of the reasons why Wardy is disliked is that he is presented as the "voice" of all supporters. Can I just ask, who the f*** "presents" him that way? The single running gag of "Gullhanger" is precisely Wardy saying he isn't that, but a fan of about 5 minutes duration (now 2 & half years). There is quite a deft passage at the end of his book where the Albion fans are celebrating the D2 championship in the Eclipse pub, and Wardy says the moment belongs to all the long-established fans and not "Bandwagon Boy". This does show a basic humility. Now apart from stripping off his replica top and ceremonially flogging himself every time he takes his seat in the South Stand, I don't know what more you can expect from him.

The fact is, he has not been given the column by the Argus because he "represents all Albion fans", but because he is an Albion fan capable of telling amusing jokes and stories.

Now, NSC people may argue that Safeway tells funnier jokes than Wardy and it's him that should have the column starting in the Argus next week. I wouldn't disagree. The big problem is Simon Bradshaw probably doesn't have a f***ing clue who Safeway is and I'm guessing the feckless Safeway hasn't sent him his CV and examples of his glittering work. So by default, Wardy gets the job as the humorous Albion columnist. I have no idea whether Wardy's jokes will be funny in the Argus or not, but I'm going to give him a chance to entertain me and not judge him for a little while yet.

If Hart of the Matter does emerge in another publication (I hope it does because it is better than similar-ish efforts by Richard Lindfield and Anna Swallow), then I think things will have turned out pretty good, with much more quality stuff written about the Albion in the local media than previously.

 

[Lush]

Excellent post.

 

[Southy]

On the substantive discussion of this thread, the Harty v Wardy debate, the problem with this is it is not comparing like with like.

I'm not privvy to what the Argus thinking is, but Harty does a column of Abion and general footy/sporting analysis. That's not what Wardy generally does in his writing. If anyone is replacing Harty, surely it is Garry Nelson, who will presumably cover much of the same ground that Harty did in probably a similar style. I can't see how anyone could object to that, good as Hart of the Matter was. Garry Nelson has written one of the best football books of the last 10 years and we are very lucky that we can now read his thoughts regularly from now on.

Mike Ward has one strength. Jokes based on observational humour. That's presumably what his column will be. As such, that will be an ADDITION to what the Argus is currently offering.

Now I've read 50 million times already on NSC that one of the reasons why Wardy is disliked is that he is presented as the "voice" of all supporters. Can I just ask, who the f*** "presents" him that way? The single running gag of "Gullhanger" is precisely Wardy saying he isn't that, but a fan of about 5 minutes duration (now 2 & half years). There is quite a deft passage at the end of his book where the Albion fans are celebrating the D2 championship in the Eclipse pub, and Wardy says the moment belongs to all the long-established fans and not "Bandwagon Boy". This does show a basic humility. Now apart from stripping off his replica top and ceremonially flogging himself every time he takes his seat in the South Stand, I don't know what more you can expect from him.

The fact is, he has not been given the column by the Argus because he "represents all Albion fans", but because he is an Albion fan capable of telling amusing jokes and stories.

Now, NSC people may argue that Safeway tells funnier jokes than Wardy and it's him that should have the column starting in the Argus next week. I wouldn't disagree. The big problem is Simon Bradshaw probably doesn't have a f***ing clue who Safeway is and I'm guessing the feckless Safeway hasn't sent him his CV and examples of his glittering work. So by default, Wardy gets the job as the humorous Albion columnist. I have no idea whether Wardy's jokes will be funny in the Argus or not, but I'm going to give him a chance to entertain me and not judge him for a little while yet.

If Hart of the Matter does emerge in another publication (I hope it does because it is better than similar-ish efforts by Richard Lindfield and Anna Swallow), then I think things will have turned out pretty good, with much more quality stuff written about the Albion in the local media than previously.

Fair point, but I would disagree with you slightly in that since Gullhanger came out, Mike Ward seems to rung up by Radio 5/Talk Sport etc to be intereviewed as 'the fans voice of Brighton and Hove Albion' anytime we are in the national news eg Coppell. This is what winds people up a bit as they obviously dont mention that he has only supported us for 2 years and if I was him, I might say Im not really the right person for this, give Paul Samrah, Attila, Ian Hart a call. No one who has been a fan for 2 years can talk about the Coppell /reading debacle without the perspective of the last 8 years, as it has to have a bearing on how Albion fans feel. As I said in my last post, good luck to the guy and I thought Gullhanger was a good read, but maybe pass the next interview from Talksport on to someone with a bit more perspective. London Irish perhaps, you seem like an eloquent chap?