[Football] The Athletic

[Best Foot Forward]

I’ve signed up to trial and half price. Early days. So far Albion coverage basic and not worth a fee. Other articles can be. On the fence but suspect will sign up only if I want insight on other teams

I read good articles today abut Ben White (sounds the real deal) and Adam Webster. I agree that to date the Albion relate articles have been limited, but am sure that will change now the season is up and running. So far it seems worth the half price deal, but some way to go to convince me it is worth £60 a year

 

[Gwylan]

I stand corrected. So is the content reproduced under license, then? Because, looking at the Ts and Cs on the Guardian, it seems pretty clear:

"3. Use of material appearing on the Guardian Site

Your use of the Guardian Site is for your own personal and non-commercial use only. You acknowledge that, as between Guardian and you, except for user content and advertisements (as discussed below), Guardian is the sole owner of all content on the Guardian Site, including, without limitation, all applicable copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, trade names, logos, and other intellectual property rights thereto, as well as text, images, graphics, logos, audio, video and other material appearing on the Guardian Site (“Guardian Content”). The Guardian Site and the Guardian Content are protected by the copyright laws and other intellectual property laws of the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia and are protected globally by applicable international copyright treaties.

You may download and print extracts from the Guardian Content for your own personal and non-commercial use only, provided you maintain and abide by any author attribution, copyright or trademark notice or restriction in any material that you download or print. You may not use any Guardian Content for any other purpose without our prior written approval. Except as expressly authorised by the Guardian, you are not allowed to create a database in electronic or paper form comprising all or part of the material appearing on the Guardian Site."

I'm no lawyer but I imagine the likes of Netflix, Spotify and the others have negotiated a whole set of agreements to ensure that everything is legally watertight

 

[Greg Bobkin]

I'm no lawyer but I imagine the likes of Netflix, Spotify and the others have negotiated a whole set of agreements to ensure that everything is legally watertight

I'm sure they have, but I bet it isn't cheap! Which means it probably wouldn't be either for a startup who wanted to do a similar thing with sports/football content...

 

[ac gull]

Decent articles on both Webster and Ben White in last couple of days

Terry Connor explains how him and Mick McCarthy first noticed Webster and how they had to trade Clark to get him - Clark was firstly loaned to team that had Webster but couldn't get a game because of Webster - hence us sending Clark to Derby to buy Webster is history repeating itself

Leeds interest in Ben White goes back to Leeds losing to Newport in cup game two seasons ago - Leeds wanted a purchase clause in loan agreement - we resisted this and they gave in and took him on loan without this clause in the end

 

[Hugo Rune]

Leeds interest in Ben White goes back to Leeds losing to Newport in cup game two seasons ago - Leeds wanted a purchase clause in loan agreement - we resisted this

Thank god for that.

They’ll be filling his head with all that ‘top European club shite’ but I’m sure he’ll stay loyal to us.

 

[Gwylan]

I'm sure they have, but I bet it isn't cheap! Which means it probably wouldn't be either for a startup who wanted to do a similar thing with sports/football content...

Maybe but don't forget that people would have spent millions producing a film or TV programmme and they'd want to get some return - sports writers aren't on a par with that. Publishers want to monetise content, a licensing deal that guarantees income would be pretty attractive ... so I'm not sure that such a deal would be that expensive. It wouldn't shock me to see something like this to emerge in the next few years

 

[Mellotron]

I follow a few comedians, stage shows/films/studios, actors, etc. The amount of self promotion (from 'here's a trailer', through 'look at all this praise', to 'please check this out') from them is quite impressive. I have quite the tolerance for it. But for some reason, I had to unfollow Naylor. I don't know if there's some arbitrary line that the others manage to just stay this side of it, or what but I just couldn't suffer it with Naylor. I don't generally have anything against him the way some of our fans do, but it was just too much.

Probably to do with the fact he was very snide towards the Albion fans throughout his time at the Argus, culminating in his "trolling" announcement of "this is the one you've all been waiting for, club legend etc" Dean Hammond on deadline day.

AN was frequently childish in his dealings with BHA fans.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Decent articles on both Webster and Ben White in last couple of days

Terry Connor explains how him and Mick McCarthy first noticed Webster and how they had to trade Clark to get him - Clark was firstly loaned to team that had Webster but couldn't get a game because of Webster - hence us sending Clark to Derby to buy Webster is history repeating itself

Leeds interest in Ben White goes back to Leeds losing to Newport in cup game two seasons ago - Leeds wanted a purchase clause in loan agreement - we resisted this and they gave in and took him on loan without this clause in the end

Does that mean that content is tailored to individual subscribers? With all due respect to messrs Webster and White, can't imagine the content you quote from is of much interest to most football fans outside of the clubs concerned, let alone fans of other sports. Or do they just have thousands of articles that you can dip into as the fancy takes you?

 

[SussexSeahawk]

Does that mean that content is tailored to individual subscribers? With all due respect to messrs Webster and White, can't imagine the content you quote from is of much interest to most football fans outside of the clubs concerned, let alone fans of other sports. Or do they just have thousands of articles that you can dip into as the fancy takes you?

Yes, you are asked what clubs/ leagues /sports you follow when you first sign up. Those are the articles they recommend for you to read at least.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Yes, you are asked what clubs/ leagues /sports you follow when you first sign up. Those are the articles they recommend for you to read at least.

Ah, right, cheers

 

[ac gull]

Ben White article is on the EFL / Leeds feeds - what with them being champions of Europe twelve times and all that

Webster article is on the Premier League / BHA feed - re some tin pot small time team having a lucky break for a year or two!

Amy Lawrence articles are a good read regardless of topic (normally gunners related)

 

[Mr Banana]

Does Naylor's new Twitter profile picture remind anyone else of Enjoy the Silence?

 

[AZ Gull]

The Sports News Site Haters Love to Dunk on Keeps Signing Up Subscribers

 

[Barham's tash]

There’s an excellent article about Matthew Piper [former Leicester and Sunderland player - no me neither but that’s not the point] and his retirement from the game, subsequent spiral into alcoholism and depression then his rehabilitation into society through the Sporting Chance programme.

What stood out to me was the excellent depth and honesty in the article, written by a Leicester equivalent of Naylor, and it’s frank and open comment on all aspects of his situation.

Some eye opening accounts of his handling by various managers the most startling of which was how Peter Taylor dealt with him. Clearly a talented pacy direct winger with lots of admirers at the club except Taylor who gave him a derogatory contract in comparison to other youth players at the time because he “didn’t rate him, saw v little chance of him getting in the team and wanted to move him on to a league one or two club”.

Effectively Taylor played him knowing he didn’t have an agent and pretty much screwed him because he knew he could given that it was this kid’s dream to play for the club he supported and played for since he was 9.

 

[Dorset Seagull]

I have read a few of Naylors free articles as I am not a paid member. To be honest they weren't all that good. When you subscribe and get to see more of his stuff is the quality much better?

 

[Wozza]

Just set a reminder to cancel before payment kicks in.

I'm all for paid content/quality journalist, but there's so much free football content around. And I spend a fortune on football already (tickets, travel, TV).

 

[Mtoto]

I see The Telegraph has launched an annual sports subscription for £20. I think that's a decent idea, I wonder if The Times will follow suit,

What would be interesting would be if someone launched a sports aggregation site so that £15 a year gets you cricket articles from the Times, Telegraph, Guardian (which will surely go behind a paywall soon) etc. That's something I may be interested in subscribing to

Out of interest, why do you think the Guardian will "surely go behind a paywall soon"?

 

[DTES]

Just a heads-up - despite signing up for the half-price offer (confirmed by email), I've had the full £59.99 deducted from my credit card. Worth checking your statement if you've signed up.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

The Sports News Site Haters Love to Dunk on Keeps Signing Up Subscribers

Thanks for that, I do not subscribe yet, its interesting to see the figures and finances behind it and the focus to find the story.

What was interesting was that the subscribers they get in the states are what they called two city fans, i.e ones that like more than one team. I feel I could fall into this as I am a big NFL fan and would happily read articles about that. I would be interested too if they covered cricket.

So it implies you want to capture readers that read more than just about one team. I am all for good and properly paid journalism, so good luck and I will see if an offer comes my way.

 

[blockhseagull]

Just a heads-up - despite signing up for the half-price offer (confirmed by email), I've had the full £59.99 deducted from my credit card. Worth checking your statement if you've signed up.

I got an email saying that I was going to be charged £59.99 despite having signed up in the half price offer.

I was in two minds about it anyway so I’ve cancelled before it’s due. There is some good stuff on there (Not Naylor’s) but not for me.