Deafening silence from The Argus

[Thunder Bolt]

Really? A quick scan through Seagulls Player tells me Gus did the pre-match press conferences for Boro, Posh, Blackpool, Wolves and both Palace play-off legs - all post-Reading talks.

It was commented on Nsc at the time. Excluding the playoffs, he missed four games, so only did half of them.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Exactly this. The club is the most locked down I've ever seen it. The chaps at the Argus must be pulling their hair out trying to think up stuff to print. To be honest, I'd prefer little things like they've been putting in there rather than endless cricket boredom.

Since there's nothing coming out of the club, the Argus should be asking bigger questions.

My OP was not aimed at the real Andy Naylor or Brian Owen, both of whom do a good job, but at the Argus editors, who seem to lose sight of the fact that the Albion is arguably the biggest news story in the area most weeks, let alone the biggest sports story. As has been pointed out, if 26,000 attend matches, then many more are potential readers.

I have no objection to the inside piece in Saturday's paper looking back at Wayne Bridge's season with us. But if I was the Argus sports editor, I'd have wanted something far stronger for the back-page lead, and rather than putting Brian Owen at risk of a ban, I'd have written it myself: a top-quality player has left and signed for a rival. Of course Reading's parachute money is a factor, but was any attempt made to find out what it would have taken to sign him? If not, was this because the management team is suspended? If so, shouldn't the club get this sorted a bit more quickly? Is David Burke now in charge of player recruitment then? Is there a left-back in the development squad who can step up? If not, then is it doing its job?

But this has surely gone beyond the sports pages now. Maybe the Argus editor thinks that three weeks at the Albion with the senior football staff suspended doesn't require comment on his part. If I was him, there's be an opinion piece in tomorrow's paper - maybe not on the front, but page 5 or so, and flagged on the front - headlined Ten questions Albion must answer.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

Coincidentally, I did this post earlier and have sent the question to Mr Barber. He might not answer mind..

The questions every Brighton fan wants answered

 

[Finchley Seagull]

This!!

As Naylor (I think!) stated a couple of weeks ago it was an open secret at the Amex that Poyet had fallen out with the board several months ago - this MUST have been known to Naylor and Owen in the intervening weeks but they haven't had the balls to say a word about it!
Fecking cowardly 'journalism' in my book!!

In fairness to the Argus (and I'm not particularly standing up for them), what did you expect them to do. Running a whole section on how the relations had broken down between Poyet and the board when we were pushing for the play offs would not have gone down well and could have cost us a play off place. Who do you think would have been blamed then?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Coincidentally, I did this post earlier and have sent the question to Mr Barber. He might not answer mind..

The questions every Brighton fan wants answered

If the Club don't answer the questions, that's a story in its own right.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

If the Club don't answer the questions, that's a story in its own right.

Exactly...

 

[ditchy]

I think poor Naylor is still upset about Poyet not going to Stoke. He would have been a shoe in for the chief sports writer job at the Stoke Sentinel with his Poyet contacts/relationship and could have finally returned to the grim north where he belongs.

He went to school in Brighton !

 

[GreersElbow]

I'd prefer a full 8 page pull out on why we cannot compete and what is the no bulltit,no accountants speak,laymans easy terms of how we are losing £8m per season..

Also what our Budget will be and how much is our highest wage earner,anything i missed?

In short i agree.

We lost 8 million in 1 SEASON. And If you seriously cannot figure out how, then layman a terms really won't help. A transition to a new stadium is not going to be cheap.

 

[Lenny Rider]

I think poor Naylor is still upset about Poyet not going to Stoke. He would have been a shoe in for the chief sports writer job at the Stoke Sentinel with his Poyet contacts/relationship and could have finally returned to the grim north where he belongs.

But he comes from Brighton?

His affinity to Stoke come from his love of Gordon Banks as previously reported in both the Argus and club programme.

 

[maglers]

I have to agree with Not Andy Naylor. At a time when newspaper circulations are dropping like a stone, this is an ideal time for The Argus to cash in on the big attendances at the Amex by asking difficult questions of the board and the management team. So what if reporters are banned? They are usually banned for getting too close to uncomfortable truths and any editor worth his salt would want his reporters getting banned from clubs now and again. It usually means they are doing their job properly.

 

[Sergei's Celebration]

The amount of interest in the Albion across Sussex is shirley the exact reason why the Argus will not write a piece calling the club into question because they do not want to jeopardise the relationship they have with the club. I think the Argus is as spinless a newspaper you can get, I am sure Brian and Andy are top guys but the paper is weak.

Argus be a local rag and start being journalists and not just reporters.


edit:I am pretty glad my 2000th post was a good rant!

 

[kevo]

Since there's nothing coming out of the club, the Argus should be asking bigger questions.

My OP was not aimed at the real Andy Naylor or Brian Owen, both of whom do a good job, but at the Argus editors, who seem to lose sight of the fact that the Albion is arguably the biggest news story in the area most weeks, let alone the biggest sports story. As has been pointed out, if 26,000 attend matches, then many more are potential readers.

I have no objection to the inside piece in Saturday's paper looking back at Wayne Bridge's season with us. But if I was the Argus sports editor, I'd have wanted something far stronger for the back-page lead, and rather than putting Brian Owen at risk of a ban, I'd have written it myself: a top-quality player has left and signed for a rival. Of course Reading's parachute money is a factor, but was any attempt made to find out what it would have taken to sign him? If not, was this because the management team is suspended? If so, shouldn't the club get this sorted a bit more quickly? Is David Burke now in charge of player recruitment then? Is there a left-back in the development squad who can step up? If not, then is it doing its job?

But this has surely gone beyond the sports pages now. Maybe the Argus editor thinks that three weeks at the Albion with the senior football staff suspended doesn't require comment on his part. If I was him, there's be an opinion piece in tomorrow's paper - maybe not on the front, but page 5 or so, and flagged on the front - headlined Ten questions Albion must answer.

I can't understand why they're not doing that. It must be possible to write a piece about the current situation while avoiding speculation and possible legal ramifications. It can surely only be because they do recognise how important the Albion is to their circulation figures and are worried that any overtly negative criticism will affect the paper's relationship with the club.

 

[Tooting Gull]

I did raise this issue last year. The club was already very 'locked down', and the Argus were getting their stories only from what they were given, Gus and players put forward by the club for press calls.

That is not how it is done, or how you get real stories, virtually none of which come from this source. Local club reporters have to have contacts throughout the club, I mean everyone from the tea lady through the building and training ground.

I have some sympathy for the Argus guys, but equally you have to be ballsy sometimes (including the editors). Where was the story revealing real tension between Poyet and the board before May? It would have been true. But it might have risked a ban from Barber.

If the current episode has shown anything it is that you cannot afford to be seduced by some charismatic manager, and always assume you aren't getting the whole story from any one individual, and work harder to find out what is really going on. Improve the number and quality of your contacts, and get better at trading and. if necessary, threatening. You give me this, I won't run that for a while etc etc.

The club need reminding that the local paper need to be taken seriously, I don't think they are at the moment. That is nothing a decent scoop wouldn't put right, even if it is unwelcome for the club. Come on Andy, shake them up a bit.