Worst Report We’ve Ever Seen (Amy Lawrence’s 652 Word School Essay From West Ham)

[Yorkie]

Maybe that's all the more reason to make a fuss. She hasn't even included the scoreline.
Just because we're the little guys doesn't mean we have to be doormats.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

It is because West Ham are in turmoil, hell, they even roughed in the Championship for a small while.

 

[Wozza]

Maybe that's all the more reason to make a fuss. She hasn't even included the scoreline.

The scoreline was in the paper, so that the web editors' fault.

Maybe write another letter to complain about them too? :thud:

 

[blueandwhitearmy]

I can see where she went wrong. Above the article it says she was at Upton Park on Sunday 7th January meaning she can't have seen the match.

 

[Albion Rob]

The scoreline was in the paper, so that the web editors' fault.

Maybe write another letter to complain about them too? :thud:

I hope you're not implying that it's all a bit pathetic complaining about the lack of coverage in one article and remembering when we were plucky little Brighton of ramshackle Withdean and had a goal machine up front meaning we were much sexier to write about then our opponents of the day - Bury, for example - and were often the beneficiaries of such reports.

If so, naughtly, naughty.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

The scoreline was in the paper, so that the web editors' fault.

Maybe write another letter to complain about them too? :thud:

Dunno about anybody else, but I didn't mail The Observer to complain directly. I just pointed out to them the piece that was in the match programme - overlaid with a healthy layer of sarcasm. Obviously.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

I complained.



I am an avid reader of the Observer, as I genuinely consider it to be the King of the Sunday papers. However, I was bitterly disappointed to read the article written by Amy Lawrence that failed to mention a single Brighton player or even the name of our team! I realise that you probably have far more West Ham United subscribers than Brighton readers, but I fail to see the logic in a match report that was so one sided.



Should I feel sorry for West Ham United who are enwrapped in this period of ‘turmoil’? Heaven forbid they should have to spend their entire £20m transfer kitty to pull themselves out of the relegation zone! Heaven forbid they should have to rough it in the Championship, rubbing shoulders with a team like Brighton, should we return to the league. I suspect the 3-0 defeat of Brighton helped to heal the wounds of our victory at the Boleyn Ground some two years ago.



Meanwhile, Brighton were dragged back to reality, having rubbed shoulders with the multimillionaires, with a return to Withdean Stadium. A scarf day was organised for the visit of Millwall, to generate some sort of atmosphere. Alas, 8 years at a rented athletic stadium with only one of the six stand being covered has meant that our faithful has dwindled to the 5/6,000 mark. The ongoing battle for our stadium continues and the money received from the West Ham tie will help to fend of the vultures that have so far raided our club of the likes of Bobby Zamora, Adam Virgo, Gareth Barry, Darren Currie and others. Another defeat was inflicted upon our youngsters (the majority of the team are youth graduates with an average age of around 20), dragging us ever closer to the trapdoor leading to League Two. At least it didn’t rain.

 

[Albion Rob]

At least it didn’t rain.

Are you sure? I'm pretty sure it was chucking it down.

Seriously, it's not the Observer's fault though. The problem lies with the fact that millions of people have forgotten football exists outside the Premiership. All those plastic fans would have looked at an even match report and asked why a side like Brighton warrented so much coverage when West Ham are in turmoil (please note turmoil now means new owners, a run of bad results and a chnce of relegation. Our type of turmoil just doesn't even register because we do not play Premier League football. It's like a perverse form of trumps).

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I complained.



I am an avid reader of the Observer, as I genuinely consider it to be the King of the Sunday papers. However, I was bitterly disappointed to read the article written by Amy Lawrence that failed to mention a single Brighton player or even the name of our team! I realise that you probably have far more West Ham United subscribers than Brighton readers, but I fail to see the logic in a match report that was so one sided.



Should I feel sorry for West Ham United who are enwrapped in this period of ‘turmoil’? Heaven forbid they should have to spend their entire £20m transfer kitty to pull themselves out of the relegation zone! Heaven forbid they should have to rough it in the Championship, rubbing shoulders with a team like Brighton, should we return to the league. I suspect the 3-0 defeat of Brighton helped to heal the wounds of our victory at the Boleyn Ground some two years ago.



Meanwhile, Brighton were dragged back to reality, having rubbed shoulders with the multimillionaires, with a return to Withdean Stadium. A scarf day was organised for the visit of Millwall, to generate some sort of atmosphere. Alas, 8 years at a rented athletic stadium with only one of the six stand being covered has meant that our faithful has dwindled to the 5/6,000 mark. The ongoing battle for our stadium continues and the money received from the West Ham tie will help to fend of the vultures that have so far raided our club of the likes of Bobby Zamora, Adam Virgo, Gareth Barry, Darren Currie and others. Another defeat was inflicted upon our youngsters (the majority of the team are youth graduates with an average age of around 20), dragging us ever closer to the trapdoor leading to League Two. At least it didn’t rain.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Are you sure? I'm pretty sure it was chucking it down.

Seriously, it's not the Observer's fault though. The problem lies with the fact that millions of people have forgotten football exists outside the Premiership. All those plastic fans would have looked at an even match report and asked why a side like Brighton warrented so much coverage when West Ham are in turmoil (please note turmoil now means new owners, a run of bad results and a chnce of relegation. Our type of turmoil just doesn't even register because we do not play Premier League football. It's like a perverse form of trumps).

I know it did, but they won't know that and it seemed like a good ending to the email.

It is very sad that clubs are ignored. Numerous times when I get in to work, I get asked how Brighton did at the weekend. I tell them and they then go into detail about the [INSERT TEAM] (Arsenal/Pompey/Charlton/Man Utd fans at the office), I usually say, "Yes, I know. I read the reports/saw them on TV. Even last season, when we beat took four points off mighty Leeds (with such a huge disparity in the budgets) barely an eye brow was raised. English football would be in a dire state without the blubs outside of the Premiership. Where are the young English going to get games with so many foreigners dominating proceedings in the Prem.

 

[Jesus Gul]

I complained too.

'All teams are equal...but some teams are more equal than others'

 

[Tooting Gull]

I understand that it was largely a West Ham story, with all that is going on there, coming after the Reading 6-0 and let's be honest not helped by the fact that on the day Brighton did virtually nothing of note. But at least a paragraph of quotes from Dean Wilkins was appropriate, and maybe a mention of the name of the goalkeeper who was beaten three times...

There were at least two other Sunday papers that day who committed exactly the same sin of not mentioning a single Brighton player/the manager by name, so as it turned out this writer wasn't alone.

The obvious trick I believe she missed, especially as we were so unmemorable on the pitch, was to point out that 5,500 away fans was the best argument for Falmer.

 

[Wozza]

Whaaaaaaaat?

Name the papers Tooting, then everyone can do a quick search and replace on their letters before dashing to the postbox...

 

[eastlondonseagull]

She may look like a bloke, but don't be fooled, she knows NOTHING about football.

Funnily enough, she was the person who first got me into journalism. I shadowed her for a week when I was at school, during a few days' work experience on the Times during the 1990 World Cup.

She helped me write my first published headline - "Timofte's Two-Step Misery", following the Romanian's penalty miss against Ireland.

Shame she's no longer very good at her job

 

[Les Biehn]

I did read that report and about 2 paragraphs in started to skim read it to see if anything Brighton related was mentioned. When it wasn't I thought I must be going mad so I re-read the report and couldn't believe it when there was no mention of the Albion at all.

I think she should be made to wear a pair of Albion 'I scored at the Withdean' knickers for at least a week.

 

[3gulls]

Sort of fixtures, but this was in the match programme yesterday:

‘Congratulations to Amy Lawrence of The Observer, who may well have broken a record. Amy’s 652-word report following the West Ham United game last Saturday failed to mention the name of any player other than a West Ham one, or even the name of the team that the Premiership thoroughbreds were playing’

That's women at football for you! I guess none of our lads had nice legs or buns!

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

Slut.

 

[SW17]

In Amy Lawrence's defence, she did once right a cracking piece about Brighton back in March 1997 after we beat Cardiff at home, saying that we had a hell of a fight on our hands to survive but it was a fight worth winning. Surprised some of you 'avid observer readers' managed to conveniently forget about that. And I doubt the paper received many complaints from Cardiff fans in the week that followed.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

In Amy Lawrence's defence, she did once right a cracking piece about Brighton back in March 1997 after we beat Cardiff at home, saying that we had a hell of a fight on our hands to survive but it was a fight worth winning. Surprised some of you 'avid observer readers' managed to conveniently forget about that. And I doubt the paper received many complaints from Cardiff fans in the week that followed.

Why would I want to read a newspaper on a Sunday, as a 17 year old!? She also wroter a very good piece on Brighton in 2001, however, that does not excuse her of failing to mention us, even just an acknowledgement would have done!

Edit: I have managed to dig it out... http://football.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,619397,00.html

 

[SW17]

I was 16 and I read it. Suppose you should take the rough with the smooth though