[Albion] Andy Naylor - Dedicated Journalist

[Thunder Bolt]

What happened to Ferret?

He’s still around but just doing his day job.

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

I dont have a problem with him personally and he is probably a decent enough bloke. However some of his articles on the Athletic read like they have been written by a 5 year old.

Unfortunately for Andy all the other Athletic journalists tend to write more interesting and better crafted articles.

But I'm sure as long as they are paying him a decent wage and he doesn't have to work for the Argus he must be delighted.

This and this.

 

[elwheelio]

I think Naylor does ok. He's spent 20+ years reporting on us as a 2nd, 3rd and 4th division team so it's not that surprising that he doesn't perhaps have a direct line to the sort of agents and clubs we deal with now days. He's reliable though, just a wee bit sanctimonious sometimes, although there's noticeably less of that since he joined the athletic.

 

[brighton_tom]

I dont read the athletic as cant be bothered with paying the fees. But Andy certainly is a useful person to monitor on twitter with regard to transfer rumours. He's not always ITK but far more reliable than 99% of the other trash on twitter from fake click bait 'journalists'.

 

[Machiavelli]

Hi Andy

Oh, I thought it was Swanny's second account

 

[Danny Wilson Said]

Largely agree re The Athletic, though I prefer the American coverage.

I actually got The Athletic just for the American stuff before it came over here. I then got all the UK stuff as an added bonus so I was quite happy even though I don't share some of the enthusiasm on here for its content. Some of it is very repetitive and they are so desperate to be doing things that are different that I don't think they stop to ask themselves whether they are interesting or not.

As for the quality or not of Naylor's writing, I read something that explained that they poached some big-name writers writers from the national papers (but not, I notice, the really top men like Paul Hayward) then offered the local 'beat' writers who cover individual clubs for local papers more money than they were earning where they were (which usually wasn't a lot). Where they couldn't tempt them, they got cheap kids fresh off journalism courses.

Now most of us don't read the stories these people write about Leicester, Wolves, Southampton etc. We read* the stories by the likes of Stuart James, Adam Crafton etc . Of course a former local hack like Naylor is going to suffer by comparison as a stylist. But I'm sure he knows more about Albion transfer stuff that the twitter guys or your Romanos.

(* or rather I used to. They put the price up so I decided I could get most of the American stuff I wanted for free or close to it)

 

[Bozza]

Andy will be as about ITK as anyone is.

The club have long had a philosophy of not commenting publicly on transfer rumour in any way. (The only exception I can think of is the tweet about Cucurella's exit not being complete) However, it is very useful for the club to be able to allow comment on transfer news to be released into the public domain for a number of reasons, including the management of fan expectations.

So, it works very well for the club to have Andy Naylor - someone with a long and largely positive relationship with the club (again - there are some exceptions and I don't know if Lewis Dunk has ever fully forgiven him) - to be able to release solid information on transfers when it's in the club's interest to do that.

And, of course, it works very well for Andy too. He gets news from the horse's mouth that allows him to be *the man* on twitter for most Albion transfer news. If Andy says "no" to a rumoured deal, it is because he's been given the nod by the club, and been told that can be shared.

That;'s not to underplay Andy's work. I'm absolutely not suggesting he's merely a voice piece for the club - he's undoubtedly put in a huge amount of effort over a number of years to build up the trust to be in the position he is.

It's a relationship that, from the outside at least, looks like it works very well for all concerned.

 

[Javeaseagull]

I take the Athletic when it’s on offer. I find Andy Naylor is not very proactive with the fans. I assume this is because he is an old fashioned journo and that’s no bad thing.
Let’s face it he got lucky with the timing. The Athletic was launching, he was the main local journo and got the gig. Fair play to him, he deserves it after all those years on the Argus. He must think all his birthdays and Christmas’ came at once.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

He's not one of our own.

 

[macbeth]

certainly see why people might not like him, he's not an 'exclusive' or 'breaking news' type of journo, and he can be quite condescending towards fans on twitter sometimes, irrespective of whether or not I agree with what he's saying.

but as some have said, he's an old school journalist, and it is refreshing knowing in a world of clickbait we can rely on him to give us facts and no bs. if naylor stopped reporting on us and someone with less dedication to the truth and nothing but the truth came in, people would soon notice and start complaining.

and ultimately, he's been (to me anyway) synonymous with our incredible rise over many years. not in the sense that he's contributed as part of the club, but much of the best coverage of that rise has come from him, surely that must be worth something? and lets be honest, no transfer window would be complete without the 'naylor says no' mantra, as frustrating as it can be.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Andy Naylor is spreading our footballing philosophy across the world and we seem to have some issue that he has no inside track on our recruitment.No one does. It’s upsetting that someone who has so much heart, intelligence, straightforwardness and passion about our club results in ambivalence, at best.

He’s a very thorough journalist. He’s a good man. He supports our philosophy. Why don’t people like him?

Might be time to like his posts. He supports us in a very balanced way.

Great club with an excellent journalist.

Oh well, I'm pretty sure the club will limp along somehow with or without Naylor's input

 

[Muzzy]

I write this as a journalist who doesn't know Andy. I've had a small number of Twitter interactions, but we've never met or worked for the same organisation.

Right: that's the conflict of interest dealt with.

The man's a legend. If you look at what has happened to local papers in the time that he worked for the Argus, many of them died on their arse. He kept the Argus full of relevant Albion news during the most turbulent, and then triumphant, time the club has ever known. Albion coverage was the only thing that remained interesting in the Argus or on its website. The paper itself had about a thousand editors and multiple rounds of staff cuts. Andy stayed, until he left, and then he left for a job where he could cover the Albion more. We owe him for that. It's bloody, bloody hard to get that sort of coverage out of a club unless you know it, its people, and its fans inside out. My career in sports journalism lasted about a month and ended when I realised I had to interview the manager of Carlisle United twice a week and it had to be made into something interesting for days and days. I failed. Andy will properly go down in history as one of the last great newspaper football reporters. No arse-kissing. I mean this.

Best post I’ve seen on here for a long time.
I’m sure Andy has found reporting on us a tough challenge since the club decided to conduct their affairs exclusively in house.
I don’t envy the job he has to keep himself earning a living.
Fair play to him for how he has reported during what has been challenging times. It must be like trying to get blood out of a stone, but the guy has continued to work tirelessly to carry out his career reporting what he can.
I don’t envy his role at all.
You only have to read 99% of what gets posted on here to see how much anyone knows. AN works on limited scraps of information most of the time.
Obviously the clubs model is working, and I love how well the club secretive philosophy is making us the envy of many others.
I wouldn’t want to have to try and print news on 2nd guesses.
Constructive criticism is fair enough, but don’t harangue the guy for not knowing everything all of the time.

 

[Baldseagull]

No idea if he has improved since moving on from The Argus, but back then I found his pieces were not very well written, and the relationship he had with the manager of the day reflected the slant he would give the report. He has a position at The Athletic and he fulfills the role adequately I assume, I don't miss him from The Argus though, and prefer Brian Owen as a writer.

 

[Mr Banana]

Suppose I have a mild conflict of interest but I reckon if people who personally criticise him appreciated how hard his job can be, they woudn't do it. Also plenty of other good alternatives to read about the Albion.

 

[Guinness Boy]

No idea if he has improved since moving on from The Argus, but back then I found his pieces were not very well written, and the relationship he had with the manager of the day reflected the slant he would give the report. He has a position at The Athletic and he fulfills the role adequately I assume, I don't miss him from The Argus though, and prefer Brian Owen as a writer.

Yep. Naylor is one of the most boring writers I've ever read. And I don't mean compared to Rushdie or Bill Bryson or Shakespeare. Nor compared to fantastic football writers like Barney Ronay, Brian Glanville or Sid Lowe. I mean compared to Vignes, Hayward and our own Not Andy Naylor. And, for me, far duller than the Gulls Eyes back in the day.

But, worse, he digs out Albion fans routinely and used this place as a source for fans' opinions unashamedly, without ever contributing to the community.

However, he has immaculate connections, decades of experience and a deserved Twitter following. When it comes to club news, delivered in Tweet form there's no one I'd trust more and I trust him every time over a Romano. Just don't ask me to read anything that exceeds 100 words when he's authored them.

 

[GT49er]

Isn't ne supposed to be a Stoke fan himself? So what? - or who cares if that matters? His job, for years, has been among other things, reporting on the Albion. OK, so that's what he's done, isn't it?
Back in the days when my only real contact with the Albion was my brother giving me a postal subscription to the Monday Argus as my birthday present (I was living in Edinburgh at the time, when even the Daiiy Mirror was not sold north of the border) so I could read Johm Vinnicombe's columns, I lived on what John Vinnicombe wrote. Was he an Albion supporter any more than Naylor?
Don't know!
Vinnicombe OK, Naylor OK - end of (IMHO). What's the beef?

 

[Swansman]

Andy Naylor is spreading our footballing philosophy across the world

 

[Justice]

I find him arrogant he’s like a know it all NSCer.

 

[Barnet Seagull]

I like the fact that he's not a fan. He plays things down and keeps the club and fans expectation in check. Some of the other club journalists pander and play to the crowds and inflame situations. I like the lack of sensationalism and think it fits the tone of the club and our support.
In short, we could do a lot worse.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

 

[Danny Wilson Said]

Yep. Naylor is one of the most boring writers I've ever read. And I don't mean compared to Rushdie or Bill Bryson or Shakespeare. Nor compared to fantastic football writers like Barney Ronay, Brian Glanville or Sid Lowe. I mean compared to Vignes, Hayward and our own Not Andy Naylor. And, for me, far duller than the Gulls Eyes back in the day.

I have always assumed that Vignes, Hayward and NAN are probably more ITK than Naylor as they have worked with the club. Vignes contributes to the programme and Not Andy to the website. But unless I've missed something, none of them seems to get involved in transfer gossip, which is probably wise on their parts.