Are You Watching Mr Barber?

[Acker79]

Paul Hayward just tweeted this link to an article.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/spor...ews/newcastle-united-reveal-plan-make-6394831

 

[leigull]

Who was the lower league club recently that barred the local paper from reporting at the club until they paid a fee up front? Ridiculous idea, it's free advertising and publicity for clubs, would be stupid to push them away. Maybe different for Premier League clubs but certainly for clubs lower down the leagues whose interest is mainly confined to that town

 

[Westdene Seagull]

What an absolutely idiotic idea - Ashley has obviously forgotten he has a product to sell and free press helps. What a moron.

 

[leigull]

Ahh it was Port Vale: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-24743660

 

[BBassic]

And the greedy, money-grabbing behemoth that is the Premier League trundles on.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Yeah. BARBER. Are you WATCHING, as you sit in your underground cave, counting your pennies and plotting your next dastardly move to fleece poor unsuspecting Albion fans?

Oh wait. It's nothing to do with him.

 

[Billy the Fish]

It works both ways, the arse-gas would probably go bust if it couldn't print Albion stories.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Be funny if the press start to refer to Newcastle as something undefinable like "That northern team" or "That nearly Scottish team"

 

[Postman Pat]

Ahh it was Port Vale: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-24743660

Southampton tried to charge the photographers didn't they? The Sun only referred to them as South Coast Club in the paper to retaliate.

This isn't a bright move if the media stop showing Newcastle, they will lose all they make from advertisers pulling out.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

This isn't a bright move if the media stop showing Newcastle, they will lose all they make from advertisers pulling out.

On the bright side, at least when it all goes tits up, Ashley will know where to go for a handy payday loan, to tide things over.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

I'm not entirely sure if its a bad idea. I mean, I hate the monetisation of the sport, but if we fans have to pay more I'm not going to feel sorry about the newspapers. Many will refuse to pay but that's really meaningless to the newcastle supporters, they won't change clubs and the paper that breaks ranks will get the business.

It might feel wrong but I'm not about to jump onto the newspapers side in this.

 

[Acker79]

Yeah. BARBER. Are you WATCHING, as you sit in your underground cave, counting your pennies and plotting your next dastardly move to fleece poor unsuspecting Albion fans?

Oh wait. It's nothing to do with him.

I knew I should have added a smiley...

 

[Monkey Man]

We laugh at this idiocy now, but all it takes is for a few clubs to get together and impose a similar regime and it will become the norm. We talk about the bubble bursting in the football industry but I just can't see when or how it will happen. The problem is that fans (including me) are proving that we will pay more and more to get our fix, both at the game and through the media. Until we stop forking out, clubs will continue to find new ways of raking in the money they need to compete in an increasingly silly transfer market, and to pay wages that have risen to levels that are pretty grotesque.

 

[leigull]

Why should the press get a free ride? They are not exactly the most honest and moral bunch and will do anything to sell a story and make money.

Because in times of need they can be quite useful to have on side. How would our campaigns against Archer and the Falmer saga have gone with no, or negative coverage even, from the Argus? How much was the Argus publicity worth to BHAFC during the dark days? Again this is probably aimed more at smaller clubs rather than the Premier League clubs and national papers.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

What an absolutely idiotic idea - Ashley has obviously forgotten he has a product to sell and free press helps. What a moron.

But also clubs help newspapers sell. I don't see the problem personally. If he wants to control rights to his product, let him. He's a clever business man and there are probably lots of benefits we can't think of that he has considered. If it all goes tits up he only really has himself to blame, and the damage can be fairly easily undone if the contracts are short term.

 

[SurreySeagulls]

It works both ways, the arse-gas would probably go bust if it couldn't print Albion stories.

No it wouldn't, it gets' all of its' stories from NSC

 

[nwgull]

Why should the press get a free ride? They are not exactly the most honest and moral bunch and will do anything to sell a story and make money.

Because the local press are an effective marketing tool for the club. The albion on the back pages everyday almost certainly puts bums on padded seats.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Is this really workable though? I mean, then can obviously ban non-preferred reporters from the club's premises but good reporters will have others ways of getting news.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

First of all, let me say that the Albion are exceptionally helpful to the media and I can't believe they would consider following this unbelievably short-sighted example.

Okay, Newcastle are a basket case in so many ways that it's not terribly surprising that they would be the first to make such an idiotic move. It's one more step towards total control of all output, with only the club's official outlets allowed to talk to players - completely uncritical, with no difficult questions. Perhaps that's what some fans want, but if they think about it, they probably don't.

NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball teams all regard British football's relations with the media with disbelief and can't understand why our clubs turn away free publicity. The US media grants almost unfettered media access, with every training ground having a dedicated media room that's in use every day except game day. There's locker-room access before and after games - the sort of thing that would give media directors here heart failure. And yet somehow the NFL and the rest have limped along ... oh no, wait, they make fabulous profits, don't they? Without charging the print media a penny for access - in fact, the reverse: they lay on great facilities.

The media, willingly or not, are part of the promotional machine that helps to make Premier League clubs and players rich. Asking them to pay for the privilege is insane.

 

[Vegas Seagull]

First of all, let me say that the Albion are exceptionally helpful to the media and I can't believe they would consider following this unbelievably short-sighted example.

Okay, Newcastle are a basket case in so many ways that it's not terribly surprising that they would be the first to make such an idiotic move. It's one more step towards total control of all output, with only the club's official outlets allowed to talk to players - completely uncritical, with no difficult questions. Perhaps that's what some fans want, but if they think about it, they probably don't.

NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball teams all regard British football's relations with the media with disbelief and can't understand why our clubs turn away free publicity. The US media grants almost unfettered media access, with every training ground having a dedicated media room that's in use every day except game day. There's locker-room access before and after games - the sort of thing that would give media directors here heart failure. And yet somehow the NFL and the rest have limped along ... oh no, wait, they make fabulous profits, don't they? Without charging the print media a penny for access - in fact, the reverse: they lay on great facilities.

The media, willingly or not, are part of the promotional machine that helps to make Premier League clubs and players rich. Asking them to pay for the privilege is insane.

Er they did ban John Vinecombe