[Albion] Naylor and Owen

[Napper]

trust them more than any newspaper or twitter.

Get flack but they are generally spot on 99% of the time

 

[Guinness Boy]

Yep.

I don't rate Naylor as a writer, find his Athletic pieces totally dull and a waste of web space. I also don't like his constant digs at the fans over the years and then the change of tone when he needs subscribers to the Athletic.

But I will trust what he reports, he's very rarely wrong considering the sheer volume of rumours he has to confirm or deny.

Nail hit firmly on the head

 

[Codner's Wallop]

In modern times, the role of the sports journo is largely redundant. Clubs are fully aware fans no longer consume their media from only newspapers and news websites - news is everywhere across the web, social media and fan sites. This is why clubs build their own comms teams, and while in the past the likes of Vinicombe, Millard etc were respected (and feared) by club boards and managers due to their influence among fan groups. This no longer the case. Naylor, Owen and the vast majority of UK sports journos are now only working on the scraps left behind from the clubs which merely means fact checking hundreds of accounts across the web and social media.
Modern day journos have very little power and the days or reading great scoops or exclusives are nearly gone forever.

 

[albionalex]

Are you expecting them to break a story or, more specifically, a transfer target story? How do you expect them to go about that? Which sources should they consult in order to achieve this?

I would hope that as journalists, they would have some network of sources ranging from players, agents, other journalists etc.

 

[Whoislloydy]

They certainly don't get much wrong but, similarly, they very rarely break a story. They hear a rumour, call the club and then either shoot the rumour down or confirm interest...

So you would rather them break a story without checking the facts with the club? For it to be bogus.

Literally the whole point of this thread is that they DON'T do that.

 

[Machiavelli]

I would hope that as journalists, they would have some network of sources ranging from players, agents, other journalists etc.

So would I, but it's got diddly squat to what I was responding to -- which concerned a poster claiming that Naylor and Owen should be the ones to break transfer target stories.

 

[albionalex]

So would I, but it's got diddly squat to what I was responding to -- which concerned a poster claiming that Naylor and Owen should be the ones to break transfer target stories.

Well, how do other journalists break stories but Naylor and Owen don't?

 

[Wozza]

I would hope that as journalists, they would have some network of sources ranging from players, agents, other journalists etc.

Indeed.

Sometimes it's plain BS, but typically there's no smoke without fire. Loads of discussions are had between clubs, players and agents without transfers being completed. Doesn't make speculative transfer stories wrong.

Anyway... anyone who wants 'confirmed' news with no speculation, should just follow the official club news. But, honestly, where's the fun in that?!

 

[Biscuit]

They both have the same contacts and information, yet one of them is able to dispense information without pomposity. I'll let you decide which I'm talking about.

 

[Bald Gull]

So you would rather them break a story without checking the facts with the club? For it to be bogus.

Literally the whole point of this thread is that they DON'T do that.

No I wouldn't - and that's not what I said. I merely pointed out (and I assume you agree from your point above) that they don't break stories. As a journalist, I imagine it may be slightly frustrating but perhaps not. The last time Andy Naylor broke a transfer story (I think) was when he said we were after (and hopeful of getting) Baldock, Clayton and Ward a few years back. I remember the club being pretty unhappy about it at the time, especially as only one of them ended up coming off.

So my point was that they verify the rumours with the club and say yes or no (which is helpful for us as fans) - that it was it. Brian Owen I think actually has some good Spanish contacts and seems to verify things at both ends quite often which is even more helpful.

 

[Bald Gull]

So would I, but it's got diddly squat to what I was responding to -- which concerned a poster claiming that Naylor and Owen should be the ones to break transfer target stories.

The 'poster' which was me said nothing of the sort - he merely stated that they don't break transfer target stories (apart from Naylor a few years back which he got into trouble for)

 

[Swansman]

Well, how do other journalists break stories but Naylor and Owen don't?

They probably had to work for it rather than living on some reputation of being "good old Andy who knows everyone at the club". Try and be an up and coming journalist selling the whole "I know lots of very secret stuff since I have a lot of very secret insider connections, I just cant tell you anything ever" crap and no one will buy it, but it works for Andy, only have to scroll the twitter flow and parrot the most sensible and realistic stuff or say "maybe" and tada, people buy it - literally. No need for him to go through the hassle and get real connections to make real scoops.

 

[Jim in the West]

The articles I'd like to read are the ones which answer the questions loads have been asking on here:

- Why has Caicedo gone to Beerschot? How easy will it be for him to integrate there? What are the club's expectations, and how do they monitor his progress?
- Why has Sima gone to Stoke? What's the plan for him?
- How do BHA choose a loan club?
etc, etc.

This transfer window has been pretty amazing, purely from the number of loan-out transactions to clubs at a reasonable level. It would be great to have more understanding of the way the club select the different clubs, and the whole "journey" that a promising player goes on. There are some great examples in the recent past (Sanchez, White), and obviously many that didn't work so well. But it's a fascinating approach. I'm sure a decent journalist could write some really interesting stories (and apologies if I've missed anything that's been written in the past).

 

[Gwylan]

In modern times, the role of the sports journo is largely redundant.

Eh? Just last year, we saw the launch of a dedicated sports publication - one that hoovered up journos from all over the UK, offering handsome salaries (well, more handsome than working for local rags). It's now looking to expand further. How did you miss that?

 

[So.CalGull]

They probably had to work for it rather than living on some reputation of being "good old Andy who knows everyone at the club". Try and be an up and coming journalist selling the whole "I know lots of very secret stuff since I have a lot of very secret insider connections, I just cant tell you anything ever" crap and no one will buy it, but it works for Andy, only have to scroll the twitter flow and parrot the most sensible and realistic stuff or say "maybe" and tada, people buy it - literally. No need for him to go through the hassle and get real connections to make real scoops.

You quite literally know nothing of the history of what Naylor has done in the past with regards to his work with the Albion. If was not for the work of the Argus Sports department and the Chief Investigative reporter at the time, Paul Bracchi working alongside Samrah, Attilla, Costa etc, you would not have the Albion in the form it is today, a club that you have jumped on the bandwagon of in the last few years.

If you did know anything, you would understand that the years he and other Argus reporters were banned from the ground, were the years that changed the club forever. On one hand Bracchi was revealing all the sordid details of Bellotti and Archer, on the other Naylor was reporting the football side of things from a near impossible perspective. It took years of work by him and the Argus to keep supplying match reports, transfer news and such like, while the club was dying a slow death.

The club (as do a lot of other multi-million pound businesses) now have complete control of what is released, read and told. Unlike you, journalists are, and have been held liable for misinformation, incorrect reporting and stating unreliable claims as fact. The repercussions of the Sun and the Hillsborough disaster set the precedent. The Sun reported losses of 12 million pounds a month from lost circulation income, but more importantly from advertising revenue losses after their incorrect reporting of the disaster. Clubs and media took a long hard look at how they handle the media side of their businesses. All journalists know a lot more than we will ever comprehend, it is fact they can not afford to report on it for fear of being taken to the cleaners financially by very wealthy football clubs.

For you to come on here and constantly whinge and moan about an industry that has changed more in the last 20 years than any industry remotely similar, is not only rude, ill informed and wrong, but you are ultimately becoming extremely tiresome. As someone that worked for Southern Publishing during the 80/90/2000s, I can tell you first hand that your perspectives and views are so far from the truth and reality, that I can not help but find your musings becoming nothing more than that of a troll.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Now Palace have signed Edouard, if there is any truth that we WERE interested / made a bid it will surely come out over the coming weeks.

There's nothing they'd like more than to ram it down our throats that they signed a bloke we were after. Edouard would be a hero if he told the Palace faithful he turned down Brighton to sign for the Eagles.

He'd be lying if he did.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

They probably had to work for it rather than living on some reputation of being "good old Andy who knows everyone at the club". Try and be an up and coming journalist selling the whole "I know lots of very secret stuff since I have a lot of very secret insider connections, I just cant tell you anything ever" crap and no one will buy it, but it works for Andy, only have to scroll the twitter flow and parrot the most sensible and realistic stuff or say "maybe" and tada, people buy it - literally. No need for him to go through the hassle and get real connections to make real scoops.

I assume that it's very difficult for local paper reporters, especially with the unbelievable workload they have these days, having to help produce the paper as well as writing for it, to develop contacts beyond their patch. If you work for a national paper and get around lots of clubs all around the country, it's much easier. And you have colleagues in different areas to give you contact numbers etc. , which the real Andy Naylor should be getting at The Athletic.

 

[Weststander]

Well, how do other journalists break stories but Naylor and Owen don't?

By relentlessly breaking transfer ‘news’ after tips from agents or others, 95% of which doesn’t come to pass?

Even mighty Sky News do this. They spent Sept/Oct 2020 belligerently claiming Sancho was to all intents a Manure player … the palpable anger towards Dortmund from the arrogant Kaveh when it never happened was .

 

[GT49er]

Prime candidates for TalkBollox radio....

They might be an improvement then.





Oh sorry - does that not fit the narrative?