Andy Naylor

[Eddiespearritt]

I lost any vague respect for the guy when in the immediate aftermath of the Poyet affair he disappeared. Apparently on holiday. But even when he came back there was no true independent analysis of the hopelessly mismanaged comedy at the Albion, when the fans were totally bemused for weeks and weeks on end. That is the job of a journalist to be providing quality reporting of a "serious" situation when the official club line is total silence. All the guff about respecting disciplinary measures and legal rights and wrongs, still allowed room for informed, clever investigative journalism. We got nothing from the local mouthpiece, and patronisation from the club - and by the way we still don't know the nature of the supposed "gross misconduct". If he was going to fall out with the club it should have been because he was reporting a real club crisis - not because he's repeating the likely transfer deals that are freely discussed on NSC every day. Neither look good in my eyes - the club for reacting childishly, and Naylor for not doing his job when he really needs to.

I find this board's obsession with Andy Naylor a bit bizarre. He's a journalist, he tries to figure out what's going on by asking questions, doing some research, tapping up contacts. And yes, keeping an eye on a message boards (he's he'd be a bit rubbish if he deprived himself of that option among many). He know a bit more about what what's happening at the club than most of us, and he has to stick his neck out in print. Unlike the poseurs on here - there's comeback for him when he gets it wrong. Which it will do sometime.

But most of all - like us - he's an observer. What he writes has minimal influence on what goes on at the club or who it signs.

It's not his job to be liked by the club. In fact, he shouldn't be. There's an old saying in newspapers that if the local council is happy with your coverage then you're doing something wrong. Asking difficult questions, putting an eye-catching slant on things - that's what makes us read journalists. And, by the way, he's been watching Albion for more years than many of us so don't underestimate what he does know.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

He's a poor journalist left even further behind as the club and the club's PR grows. He's also a poor writer and not liked by other Argus staff. He should go back to Stoke. The season he leaves is the season we make the Prem.

You do realise that he isn't from Stoke or Staffordshire?

 

[mikes smalls]

Wow! Can't believe so many people have been taken in by Bloom's comments at the Fans Forum. Talk about 'passing the buck' for our underwhelming summer of transfer dealings.
Will Naylor be responsible when we limp to a mid table finish this season?
Have we really signed our 'top targets'?

 

[Greg Bobkin]

I am completely behind our board, manager and all staff involved with transfer dealings who are obviously working tirelessly within our relatively tight budget in a highly competitive market BUT from the snippets I have picked up they appear to have found a very handy scapegoat in Andy Naylor during a fairly inactive and unsuccessful transfer period.

If you follow Naylor's Argus reports and tweets he very rarely, if ever latches onto fanciful transfer speculation and has always clarified he'll only publish rumours thst come from sources he deems credible. I'd suggest he was informed of this supposed triple signing from someone inside the Albion and that the source is getting somewhat of telling off behind closed doors whilst Naylor takes the flack from our ever increasingly frustrated supporters.

All of this. People swearing at Naylor and calling him all names under the sun are only doing so because they also knew (whether it was through Bozza, Moose, Naylor, Sky, or whoever) that these players were lined up but something has gone wrong. Maybe it was Huddersfield moving the goalposts in light of the Ulloa cash, maybe it was the player's desire to stay in the North, or maybe it is agents getting involved? I'm pretty sure in these cases we'll never know the whole truth, but the anger is clearly misplaced, IMO...

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Have we really signed our 'top targets'?

Bloom said we have our top targets. Targets as in we are trying to get them, not that we HAVE our top targets.

It's all in the interpretation.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Wow! Can't believe so many people have been taken in by Bloom's comments at the Fans Forum. Talk about 'passing the buck' for our underwhelming summer of transfer dealings.
Will Naylor be responsible when we limp to a mid table finish this season?
Have we really signed our 'top targets'?

I think when he said this he meant "We have our top targets in mind, and we are trying to get them", as opposed to "We've already signed the players we intended to". That's how I took it to read, and, given that we are/were (according to numerous sources, not just The Argus) expected to sign Ward, Clayton and Baldock, I think that IS the case.

For your other points, yes, Andy Naylor seems to be responsible for everything that isn't currently going to plan at the club. I heard that HE was the one that suggested that PB stick up the price of Havery's and scrap the "meal deals"

 

[Peteinblack]

I like this wishful thinking.

Corrected for you!

 

[Bozza]

scrap the "meal deals"

Meal deals are still available this season.

I'm not sure who we thank for that though.

 

[Albion Dan]

Can't believe people are getting so upset at a journo who was clearly reporting on live and widely released info. The fact the club royally f'd up getting a signing over the line, yet again, should be the main concern.

 

[Geriatric Seagull]

Can't believe people are getting so upset at a journo who was clearly reporting on live and widely released info. The fact the club royally f'd up getting a signing over the line, yet again, should be the main concern.

Royally and regularly!

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Meal deals are still available this season.

I'm not sure who we thank for that though.

Ah, my mistake - that's good news.

It was partly in jest, but I'd seen the pictures from the Saints game where it appeared they were no longer an option.

 

[Bald Gull]

I don't have much time for Naylor - he comes across as arrogant and quite often seems to stir trouble unnecessarily - particularly when exaggerating fans' reactions to certain things happening at the club.

However, in this instance, the reaction from the club and fans is ridiculous. As others have said, I would be far more annoyed with whoever leaked this information in the first place. The 3 names have been given out by Bozza and Moose as well who have each sounded confident that they would sign. Someone inside the club has gone against the club's policy of 'not talking about transfer targets until they've signed' and it is this person who has ultimately raised fans' expectations - whether or not this is unrealistically, only time will tell...

 

[Nitram]

I would imagine it's not just a club insider releasing names, players and their agents play a large role too feeding information often to play off interested parties against each other. Rumours are two a penny and the media and Sky Sports especially make a living on the back of it.

 

[father_and_son]

I would imagine it's not just a club insider releasing names, players and their agents play a large role too feeding information often to play off interested parties against each other. Rumours are two a penny and the media and Sky Sports especially make a living on the back of it.

This. There are a number of people who potentially gain a financial benefit from slipping out a little [mis]information to the press/public. This may be agents playing one club off against another, but also the clubs trying to get each other to withdraw and not start a bidding war.

While the public are at liberty to throw this information across the web without a thought, the professional press have a duty to fact-check or caveat the information before they pass it on as fact. To accept it "as is" is naive at best. I personally have no time for Naylor - he seems to look for the negative in everything the club do (like so many on here) whereas I would prefer my local paper to actually support the local club 9 times out of 10 and only criticise when its justified.

 

[piersa]

What is it about his "a cock" that remains unresolved and does he have a "b cock" and a "c cock"??

I actually chuckled out loud at that.

 

[portslade seagull]

Yes, it would be interesting if the reason Clayton went to Middlesbrough was that we dropped out of the race for him because we're finalising the signing of another better midfielder.

Comedian very good

 

[The Large One]

He's a poor journalist left even further behind as the club and the club's PR grows. He's also a poor writer and not liked by other Argus staff. He should go back to Stoke. The season he leaves is the season we make the Prem.

How do you know who well he is liked at the Argus?

What do you mean 'back to Stoke'? He's not from Stoke, he's from Brighton.

 

[durrington gull]

Its a smoke screen for the club to have a dig at naylor to cover their own piss poor efforts during thus pre - season

 

[Thunder Bolt]

How do you know who well he is liked at the Argus?

What do you mean 'back to Stoke'? He's not from Stoke, he's from Brighton.

Be careful, I got a thumbs down for pointing out that fact.

 

[Seagull Crow]

I can't help but feel a little sorry for Andy Naylor over this issue. It's clear that he had a source who he regarded as reliable, but who seriously let him down with the information about these transfers.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that his relationship with the club has deteriorated markedly over the last few months. I can't help but think that he burnt his bridges when he published that story over the summer about why Oscar quit the club. That article sided firmly with Oscar and portrayed the club in quite a negative light - the club are hardly likely to want to do him any favours after that. It does leave him in quite an unenviable position, given his remit at The Argus.