[Albion] The Athletic - Brighton content

[Steve in Japan]

I subscribed at the offer rate, but it's certainly not worth it for Albion coverage.

If, however, you had a strong interest in US sport, especially the NFL, then it would probably seem quite good value.

If they offered similar content for Cricket and Rugby, it night have an attractive product. Football only - nope.

 

[Change at Barnham]

I get frustrated at the amount articles that are padded out with statistics which are already available to us.

I want to read about the players personalities, struggles, lifestyles and ambitions. And also the running of the club, the budget issues and plans for future development and growth.
I don't want statistical analysis of what Opta tells us happened last week or how many appearances or goals have been scored.

The Athletic is excellent and I enjoy reading it everyday, but I always wish that the Brighton content was as investigative as for many other clubs.

 

[Terry Butcher Tribute Act]

I think the Albion probably stop anything vaguely insightful going out in the press.

...which means Naylor has to feed on scraps, or write another 1000 words on what Lallana brings to the dressing room, Chris Hughton's return to work, or Stoke.



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[Stat Brother]

They are currently featuring 'under arm throw-ins' as a way to solve the current problem of, errr...






...checks notes....








...conventional throw in's...







... that can't be right.
(narrators voice) "yes it is".

[tweet]1319534545943789569[/tweet]

 

[Danny Wilson Said]

I can't disagree with the OP. But then - I've heard Andy Naylor featured on a few podcasts over the last 12 months or so, and he comes across as...well, dull. If he doesn't have anything interesting to say in person, it isn't a surprise that he doesn't have much interesting to say on paper. It is unfortunate that our correspondent isn't one of our other Albion-supporting journalists, who have much more personality.

I've renewed my subscription though (at an even cheaper rate than the first time) because some of the other writing has been excellent, and I would struggle to find it elsewhere.

I read somewhere that they went for the main writer at local papers that cover the clubs they decided to focus on (ie all Premier League and a few selected Championship ones). So Naylor was the obvious target and I suppose they thought he had a big enough personal following to bring them lots of subscribers. But I suppose there's a reason that he was at the Argus for all that time rather than moving up to a Mail or Guardian. As for the others, Paul Hayward was never going to leave the Telegraph chief sports writer job to become just a local beat writer. I wonder if they approached national paper writers like Tooting Gull or Not Andy Naylor?

 

[MattBackHome]

I will take this chance once more to plug The Blizzard for the very, very best in football writing.

Not Albion related, but it's just superb in every single way.

 

[Nathan]

Like others have said, the Brighton content is OK but no real depth or insight. However, I do like the long reads and have found some of the other content excellent. The detail of some of the analysis is great, stats and quotes to back things up, yet the Brighton reads are a bit limited. Worth the money if you are paying £1 a month or similar, not sure I would pay much more.

 

[Bozza]

Like others have said, the Brighton content is OK but no real depth or insight. However, I do like the long reads and have found some of the other content excellent. The detail of some of the analysis is great, stats and quotes to back things up, yet the Brighton reads are a bit limited. Worth the money if you are paying £1 a month or similar, not sure I would pay much more.

That pretty much describes me, after also being on the £1/month deal for a while now.

It's not a site I visit for a general browse, my visits are always triggered by an email from them. Sometimes it's an Albion piece, but it feels like more teasers are for other clubs or broad footballing industry talking points, and my gut feel is it is the latter that leads me to make the click to read more often than the Albion ones. It feels like it should be the other way round.

 

[ForestRowSeagull]

Longer pieces are great. The albion content is naff. I keep my subscription for the NFL stuff mainly though.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

I can't help thinking this is a bit of a minor witch hunt with some bandwagon jumping going on here. It's easy to criticise from a keyboard from afar but, as someone else has hinted, Albion keep their leaks more tightly controlled than a duck's bottom. I don't read articles on any other club as my only interest is Albion, however every few days The Athletic throws me a bone. The Argus is nigh on unreadable, the general media offer us little and it's often wrong, NSC chat can be insightful and interesting or the opposite, but fortunately covers so much more. But the articles on Tau's future, Roberts, Welbeck, the youngsters and others have been good and I've even commented on some. I wouldn't pay full price and would guess they model on about £30 a year average subscription, so for less than 1p per day, I reckon I get good value.

 

[keaton]

I think the Albion probably stop anything vaguely insightful going out in the press.

So was it their idea to employ Naylor?

 

[Reddleman]

Totally agree, I have read a handful of very good articles but none of them were on Brighton. I won’t be renewing.

 

[sparkie]

I quite enjoy the albion coverage in The Athletic but it is clear from this thread that the majority have a different view lol.

 

[Danny Wilson Said]

To me it has felt like AN is still finding his feet there. Some of his articles have been brilliant whereas others have been a bit run rate. Like others have said, he was at The Argus forever where I doubt he was encouraged to go off on long winded investigations into former players etc.

I signed up when it first went live and did the full year, then got a free month to stop me from cancelling. I cancelled anyway.

I am unsure whether to sign up again, some of the long reads on there are amazing, I spent a great afternoon in the sun reading about baseball, a sport I know very little about. Football, however, is my sport and I am not sure I want to spend much time reading about it, at the moment it appears to be disappearing up its' own arse

Interesting that you should say that. I originally subscribed for NFL and baseball fantasy content because some big-name writers that I followed went there and I got a good deal as a result. But recently I think it has been overtaken by sites such as Fangraphs and Pitcher List, both of which have plenty of really good free stuff but also subscription-only areas that I find more insightful. I suppose in many cases, ambitious and hard-working new baseball and NFL writers are starting out on these sites before being spotted by ESPN or The Athletic, and then others will take their place.

Sadly in British football that doesn't seem to be happening. Who are the young, up-and-coming writers of any talent?

 

[BNthree]

I'm going against the grain here. I've had my subscription for about 3m now and enjoyed a few recent articles about Brighton, particularly the one about Percy Tau. Naylor isn't a perfect reporter, he thought Calamity Wayne Henderson was better than FDM, but at least he's our reporter. In the last two or three weeks, I reckon he has upped his game.

I'm with you. I enjoy The Athletic in general and the Albion content it has. I'm not expecting daily exclusive scoops though and prefer the slower, more in depth approach. I paid £30 for the year and don't feel ripped off at all. That's 57p a week and I read articles on there most days. Seems fair to me.

 

[scoobiewhite]

I quite enjoy the albion coverage in The Athletic but it is clear from this thread that the majority have a different view lol.

You're not alone. I think the coverage is pretty solid. Yes there are better writers but I personally find Naylor better than Brian Owen.

I also think that lots of people have a very poor view of what is good value for money. The subscription for The Athletic is about the same as one newspaper a month and the range of content is far, far superior.

Id hate to ever have to split the bill with people who moan over the value on a subscription of £1-2 per month!

 

[poidy]

You're not alone. I think the coverage is pretty solid. Yes there are better writers but I personally find Naylor better than Brian Owen.

I also think that lots of people have a very poor view of what is good value for money. The subscription for The Athletic is about the same as one newspaper a month and the range of content is far, far superior.

Id hate to ever have to split the bill with people who moan over the value on a subscription of £1-2 per month!

I don’t think the Athletic’s value for money is in question.

I think the overwhelming consensus is the Albion specific content fails to capture the imagination, which is a great shame.

But as others have alluded to, Phil Hay at the Telegraph and Naylor at the Argus is akin to two respective footballers plying their trade at Man City and Southwick FC.

When Naylor announced he was joining the Athletic he spoke about how the Argus limited him in scope and of journalistic license. Sadly, I think 32 years at the same local rag has left him knowing no difference and I can respectfully understand that.


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[albionalex]

It is very apparent that Naylor doesn't have any sources outside of the club. This means all of the articles are very dry with only info the club wishes to be in the public domain.

Overall, the Brighton content is fine but definitely lacking compared to some of the other clubs.

 

[SoggyCabbages]

I've had a full Athletic subscription for a few months now.

I find the Brighton content OKAY, not amazing - but with 'teams like Brighton' you aren't going to get the same headline-grabbing stuff like you would a Manchester United or Liverpool.

It's average Brighton stuff, but I read a lot of their other content and I love that.

 

[stingray]

quite happy with Athletic and its Albion coverage. comments section usually well reasoned .