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[Football] The Athletic
- Thread starter Normal Rob
- Start date
Would agree with this. The issues I had with Naylor's writing in the Argus (he relies on lots of short surface-level statements presented always as fact - this is not overtly critical, but more a feature of the writing style expected in an outlet like The Argus) still persist. It's fine, and when the subject matter is interesting, it is enjoyable nonetheless.
I'd really love to have the kind of coverage that Palace seem to get in The Athletic - Dominic Fifield's pieces on the death of Paul Nixon and Gangsters at a fan forum were great pieces of writing. Having a variety of voices comment on the Albion isn't much of an ask, and it'd be a bonus to get a big hitter in at the same time.
Saying that, whilst it has been worth the £20 I shelled out for a year, I don't think I can justify paying triple that to get it at full price.
ForestRowSeagull
Well-known member
General content on there is great, especially some of the longer pieces which are often quite hard hitting. Naylor's writing and general role there leaves a lot to be desired though. A real shame.
Naylor's writing in the Argus was always pretty basic stuff, short on insight, and bereft of FLAIR - like the written equivalent of Andy Townsend's punditry.
I'm not sure why anyone expected his writing to be any different, under a different banner
I'm not sure why anyone expected his writing to be any different, under a different banner
I imagine each writer for every club is measured on ‘subs’ so will be interesting to see if a lot of Albion fans cancel.
I cancelled mine today to see if I get more offers. FYI they offered a 30 day extension because of COVID so I’m covered until October at least
I cancelled mine today to see if I get more offers. FYI they offered a 30 day extension because of COVID so I’m covered until October at least
Danny Wilson Said
New member
Naylor's writing in the Argus was always pretty basic stuff, short on insight, and bereft of FLAIR - like the written equivalent of Andy Townsend's punditry.
I'm not sure why anyone expected his writing to be any different, under a different banner
There are Albion fans who work in the national press and are better writers, but maybe we were not seen as one of the national brands so they made do with a locally-based guy. Dominic Fifield does not seem to be seen just as their Palace writer, and does bigger stories. But I doubt that Naylor will be doing anything beyond his Albion brief. And you wonder what will happen to him if we go down. .
Is this worth the subscription? Do they get better access to the clubs?
They have some excellent writers and some of them are well connected (Ornstein at Arsenal). However, for us it's just Andy Naylor so you get what you get and with him, and the Albion, that means very little in the way of behind the scenes access or scoops. From memory he almost always comment son other people's scoops/stories rather than breaking news that xyz is going to sign. As others have said, on offer it's worth looking at but I won't renew at full price.
Solid at the back
Well-known member
Nah not worth it. Definitely not at full price. Naylors always plugging old articles. He'll mention in his tweets about a player and then "oh by the way, here is that article from 6 months ago"
They do some good podcasts, but they are free on Acast anyway, albeit with a 30 sec ad at the start that you can fast forward.
I can send you a month free guest pass if you want to check it out? If you dig around you can get a year at 40% off, which is probably worth it. At full whack no way.
It's the DFS of the subscription world, isn't it? No one has ever paid full price for an Athletic subscription.
If you want to subscribe, go to their ad library on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ads/librar...ons_lifetime&view_all_page_id=290323924814214 - and scroll down and pick the best offer.
50% might be the best right now - https://theathletic.com/checkout/?p...SZkzD3E9Z5sfj9auGtMOaOodffq5vFCBYL8ub_fGC6HL8
If you want to subscribe, go to their ad library on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ads/librar...ons_lifetime&view_all_page_id=290323924814214 - and scroll down and pick the best offer.
50% might be the best right now - https://theathletic.com/checkout/?p...SZkzD3E9Z5sfj9auGtMOaOodffq5vFCBYL8ub_fGC6HL8
Yes please
Danny Wilson Said
New member
It's almost worth the (very reduced) price to read the comments on their various Newcastle threads this morning. Almost.
Dorset Seagull
Once Dolphin, Now Seagull
There are some excellent articles if you like reading football stories with a different slant or stories in the news. Will keep my sub when it runs out as long as I can get a hefty discount as top whack is a bit pricey
Not Andy Naylor
Well-known member
Very interesting, in fact. Andy was told that his job didn't depend on us staying up, but I wonder if that meant he would continue to cover the Albion if we had gone down and that the Athletic consider us to have a large enough fanbase to let that happen?
Obviously the Bournemouth case is different as their man there hadn't covered them before, ditto the person doing Southampton. And there would be no point having a dedicated Bournemouth reporter in the Championship.
Surely they could just get a Fulham specialist and give him every other year off?
That was forward thinking by the people in charge, seeing as Bournemouth will never be in the Premier League again.
Change at Barnham
Well-known member
There is some quality writing in The Athletic.
Andy Naylor is competent but not in the award winning category of some of the other writers. I get very frustrated with the amount of statistics he includes in a lot of his articles. It's almost like when I had an O-Level essay to write that needed 1000 words and I could only manage 700 and padded it out with a load of unnecessary stuff.
Saying that, The Athletic is the best place for football articles that I've found.
My renewal is due in September at an amount of £59.99. I won't pay that, but would be happy to pay £40 for the year.
I always find it slightly amusing that in his bio Andy feels he needs to mention the extra half year he spent at the Argus.
Andy Naylor worked for 32.5 years on the sports desk of The Argus, Brighton’s daily newspaper. For the last 25 of those years he was chief sports reporter, primarily responsible for coverage of Brighton and Hove Albion FC.
I'd give Andy (and several other writers 7/10), but there are some authors that are 9/10 stuff.
I'd certainly recommend it.
Andy Naylor is competent but not in the award winning category of some of the other writers. I get very frustrated with the amount of statistics he includes in a lot of his articles. It's almost like when I had an O-Level essay to write that needed 1000 words and I could only manage 700 and padded it out with a load of unnecessary stuff.
Saying that, The Athletic is the best place for football articles that I've found.
My renewal is due in September at an amount of £59.99. I won't pay that, but would be happy to pay £40 for the year.
I always find it slightly amusing that in his bio Andy feels he needs to mention the extra half year he spent at the Argus.
Andy Naylor worked for 32.5 years on the sports desk of The Argus, Brighton’s daily newspaper. For the last 25 of those years he was chief sports reporter, primarily responsible for coverage of Brighton and Hove Albion FC.
I'd give Andy (and several other writers 7/10), but there are some authors that are 9/10 stuff.
I'd certainly recommend it.
Understand getting a mercenary for Bournemouth but surprised they made the absolutely dreadful Carl Anka their man for Southampton. Would have thought they were big enough to get a specialist and unlikely to go down. He is an absolutely appalling journalist and broadcaster, in my opinion like. What are your thoughts on him Nick?
Interesting The Athletic decided to get into Podcasts. I wonder how long it will be before we have to start paying for the Totally Football Show?!