Thetownend.com

As seen at the following link from the BBC Football homepage...  :toocool:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19431338

Two fingers up at the Adver?

Gary Rose making good use of his contacts.

[url width=281 height=351]http://images.dailystar-uk.co.uk/dynamic/58/281x351/269580_1.jpg[/url]

Yeah, I've just seen this.  Great bit of exposure for both him and the club.

The Adver must be spitting.... 

Good for Gary Rose as well.

I thought he did very well when he worked for the adver. Kept us all well informed without the need for the sensationalism we have been seeing lately. 

Sam Morshead ‏@SamMorshead_SA
@thewashbag @STGary_Rose Simply couldn't do much about it. The club will allow the BBC to do a column with him but not us. Shame.

so tempted to reply and tell him to stop being such a shit stirrer

I agree, things could have been so different. Sam has obviously been told by those in charge to stir as much shit as possible, or he has taken it upon himself to try and make himself a name out of it.....he has so far....a bad name.

Do it.

His twitter commentary is shit too. 'CHANCE', 'NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT' etc.

wtf

I miss Gary.

Pretty sure it's the former rather than latter.

The adver in general has gone for more shocking headlines recently across the board. It's full of sensationalist stuff daily now. Think their flagging sales may have prompted a change. I used to buy it every day but never do now. That said i don't think their reporting on stfc has been out of order

Morshead has been stirring the shite at every opportunity Arriba. Not just in the paper but also on twitter etc. And his coverage of McCormick was out of order, very much so.

Can't recall much stirring myself either. Perhaps the "make of that what you will" regarding Bensons injury, I took that as a bit of a swipe at the club for lack of access rather than a genuine shit stir attempt.

The Caddis stuff wasn't favourable to the club, but with no info out the club then suddenly he wasn't captain it wasn't unexpected.

There's been loads of sensationalism.

Another example....... Caddis been stripped of the captaincy as front page news, what the fuck was that all about? I'm left wondering whether things may have been sorted if it wasn't for the adver whipping things up.

I don't think you've seen what normally passes for front page news in the Adver: trust me, the Caddis thing was more worthy than most.

In defence of Morshead, I doubt he writes the headlines or decides what goes on the front page.

I have some sympathy with Sam Morshead.  The Caddis story, for example, probably was front page news.  STFC is the only show/institution in town that attracts the interest of 10s of 1,000s of people.  When something important or unusual happens at the club, I think it's probably right that the news shifts from the back pages to the front.

And there's a bit of a character assassination going on.  Sure enough, Gary Rose is a very tough act to follow.  And I had a lot of time for Andy Cryer before him as well...especially with his willingness (at last) to shine a light on the murky dealings of the Diamandis set up.  But Sam is doing things his way.  His twitter feed seems to indicate that he's putting in long hours - and he's innovating as well, with (for example) his Fan Jury sessions in Old Town after home games.  It's not all bad.

It's a culmination of things though....

The 'front page' story, the McCormick coverage, the shit stirring comment about Benson (that seems to have sparked rumours) , other things I've forgotton. Had it been just a one off thing there would likely be no discussion but it isn't just one thing.

I see the TEF (well, some anyway) is still in full-on shoot the messenger mood. If the club, in the shape of its manager, chooses to conduct it's business in public in the way it has over the past few weeks, it can hardly complain when the press report that. The headlines on the BBC have been every bit as "sensationalist" as the Adver and in defence of both, you don't really have to sensationalise Di Canio's interviews, they're pretty jaw-dropping all by themselves. Whether you regard that as refreshingly candid, endearingly batshit, hugely amusing or a bit embarrassing or a combination of all the above, he's going to continue to do interviews like that, and the press will continue to report them.

Whipping up a lynch mob every time that doesn't go well for us is a pretty fruitless activity. And when clubs fall out with the local media, it's rarely the media who end up looking thin-skinned and/or something to hide (Diamandis breaking with the BBC/threatening to ban the Adver; Mitchell banning the Echo at Bournemouth; Ferguson falling out with the BBC etc)

PS In regard to McCormick, it was the BBC not the Adver that broke the story and JW who first said we were taking him on trial
http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/league_two_2011_2012/news_articles/9721156.Wray_explains_McCormick_decision/

Although he dropped that pretty quick in subsequent interviews and the "rehab" line (which was also in this interview) then became dominant. Which may well be what he meant in the first place - the "trial to see where it goes" thing may have been a slip of the tongue. But that's where it started, not with any "sensationalist" reporting

And this wasn't sensationalist reporting?

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/9762987.McCormick_spotted_at_the_County_Ground/

Completely and utterly needless, this was not news. The only thing it achieved was to send social media sites into meltdown, which was no doubt the intention all along. The soul purpose of this was to whip up a frenzy and sell papers.

Adver in reporting controversial player at club shocker. After the nationals related it.

Deary me......

That was not news. It wasn't news. The McCormick story was old news by then, we all new about it already. So why report that he was at the ground? We knew he was at the ground already, so why report what we already knew? What possible reason could they have for that? It was not much worse than the sun writing a story on him having a beer somewhere. It is sensationalist reporting just like we know to expect from the Sun/Daily Mail etc.

The only motive is to whip up a frenzy and sell newspapers and considering the reaction on social media that day, the adver saw a bumper day of sales. Credit where credit is due to Sam, he's doing his job and I expect his seniors are quite happy with the results (sales)

People getting overexcited on social media does not equal a bumper day of sales. I'm sure the Adver and most local newspapers struggling to keep their heads above water wished that it did.

The only "whipping up a frenzy" I see is you getting your knickers in a twist about Sam Morshead. Or anyone else you perceive to be "off-message".

I believe they said he was 'downing' a cider. With ice in. With or without sensitive teeth, that's a pretty hardcore feat and well worth reporting.

I'm glad to say that I am not the only one that can see what is blatantly fucking obvious.

Even the comments on the adver site outlined just how transparent the motives of the reporting is even if others are can't see it or are choosing to ignore it. And I'm not getting my knickers in a twist in the slightest. This is a discussion forum and I'm, errrm, having a discussion. Who'da thunk it?

Pear cider at that, the fucking pansy.

That's practically a babycham. And it wasnt even Christmas.

Stories like Caddis get out of towners clicking on their web pages, and help add to their unique users stats that they give to advertisers.

With the best will in the world, a story about a new community project in Penhill, for example, isn’t likely to attract online interest from out side the area.

The biggest problem for the adver, is the once symbiotic relationship between Town and local press, is weighted much more in the Clubs favour these days. Pre Internet, the local rag was a vital resource for getting info to fans, now they have a myriad of ways of talking to the support directly.

Put simply the ‘adver now needs the Club a lot more than they need them. This wasn’t traditionally the case

"The posters on thisis agree with me". Wow. That's always a slam-dunk. Sorry, couldn't resist :)

The combined weight of the Adver forurms notwithstanding, I'd still venture to suggest (my original point) that you can't on the one hand "love how open Di Canio is" (that's a precis of various people, not suggesting you said that personally FH) and then slate the media for reporting his, let's be honest, sometimes a little eccentric interviews. It's part and parcel of the way Di Canio conducts himself, not saying it's good or bad, it's just something people will have to get used to, because I don't think anyone sees him changing.

I'm so glad pauld is back :-)

I've missed you big guy!

But that doesn't explain the needless reporting of McCormick being at the ground.
It doesn't explain the little comment about Benson that seems to have whipped up rumours.
It doesn't explain the need to put the Caddis story on the front page of the news.

These things have nothing to do with PDC.

But for example the McCormick thing,

Had the adver ignored it and not reported anything, but BBC/ Sky Sports/ national papers had reported it wouldn't the fans have turned around and asked why the local paper was behind these other sources and not reporting on the club?

I think the adver is trapped between a rock and a hard place here...

With that particular example Suggs, the adver 'reported' what we already knew.

Nobody's criticising them for reporting the news, but they are being criticised for reporting non-news with the soul intention of gaining exposure and boosting their coffers. Just like the good 'ole Sun and Daily Mail do on a daily basis.

Local papers are struggling big time. They need sales revenue, unlike the bbc.

I think Sam's doing a pretty good job on the whole. My main gripe with Adver articles is usually the headlines - they ran a headline about Caddis along the lines of "Get in shape or get out of my club", when a cursory glance at the actual quotes from PDC were more along the lines of "Paul has a decision to make and he's still welcome".

The adver have played the midsleading headline game for ages!

For Adver headlines, you will never beat one from the 90s (not sports related)

'Motorist helps finger girl'

Swear to God

I didn't notice Gary Rose doing it. Although my not noticing it doesn't mean it didn't happen.

You realise that journos don't generally write their own headlines, right? I fear the scapegoat you're looking for may be a mischievous sub.

I agree with this, although again I may have missed it if he did.

In which case, whomever is writing the headlines appeared to have changed when Gary Rose left.

Anyway

We know that Morshead writes his own titles. He has admitted on twitter to his headlines being influenced in the past by the TEF.

The best football related headline, by far, accompanied an Andy Cryer article at the start of the 2006/07 promotion season on the day that we had Rochdale at home.  I get to look at this headline every day when I take a pee because it's framed and hanging in my downstairs toilet.  Mentioned a while ago on here...


It's even funnier if your surname is Parkin and your wife is Scottish...as happens to be the case for me.

You do also realise that they usually have different headlines in the actual paper to what they use online? As for sensationalist headlines, it was the BBC who had a headline quoting Wray as saying "Caddis row out of control". Not to mention that it was also they who carried the interview with Caddis where he said "he has been left "hurt" and "disappointed"" by the "captaincy snub" (as the BBC headline had it). I'm not knocking the Beeb, these seem to me to be reasonable summaries given the content of the story. But I'd guess if they were in the Adver, terms like "Out of Control" and "Hurt by Captaincy Snub" would be deemed to be sensationalist?

I've said nowhere that any press or media company is perfect. I have held them all in contempt since about the time of Diana's death. That the others are at it also doesn't excuse the adver though. 

Nor does it explain Morshead stirring the shit with his little Benson remark, for example. That was not made in print. It was a sneaky little comment in a match text update.

I quite liked the one when we appointed Peter Shirtliff as assistant.

Something along the lines of: "Shirtliff ready for rearguard action". Quite cheeky, so to speak.

OK, fair enough. I used the Beeb as an example because others had used them as a contrast to the Adver's supposed sensationalism. And neatly looping back to the thread title, the assumption seems to be that the column has been switched for this reason. Which seems to me to be a bit of a nonsense, and I really don't understand the vendetta against the Adver. But it's not that big a deal in the scheme of things and has probably occupied more than enough of everyone's time.

Time to focus on more important things, like just who is this Pepe Jeans fella we've signed and is he any good?

A skunk signing to throw others off the scent?

He's Argentinian, has a great sounding name and has played for Barcelona c. Therefore he is awesome

That's good enough for me. Where do I reserve my advance booking for the Europa League?

On the subject of misleading headlines

That reminds me of the Teenage Pregnancy Co-ordinator post that was advertised at the Council a couple of years ago! My wife wouldn't let me apply....

I think some of SM's comments appear more like those of a fan expressing his thoughts and feelings on twitter, rather than trying to cause a stir. I don't think he's doing a bad job at all, really.

On the subject of msleading headlines, I opened a thread headed "Shame on the BBC"

Intrigued, I clicked and read

Monthly columns from the pr*ck Dic Anio. The BBC were already obsessed with scumdon now they're having a fascist write for them.  

Glad that this has pissed off someone on the Yellows Forum, unless you pauld have been posting on there? ;)

Nobody would be paying much attention to Di Canio if we'd had an average season - e.g. finishing 9th in League Two and not progressing too far in cup competitions.

But promotion, coupled with a cup final and victories over six or seven higher league opponents, all in the space of 12 months, have rightly drawn some attention to the club. Obviously the Di Canio factor has added to that, but I don't think it's caused it. It's achievement that has brought attention.

TBF to our Yellow 'friends' what else can they do but abuse PdC - they can't pick holes in the team or its achievements and they can see as well as everyone else we are going places they can only dream about.

Must be sticking in their throats

Hope it fucking chokes them

Of course it is Reeves. You're absolutely right.

This is very true, it also seems the case with pretty much every other team in the league, they all are hugely jealous of us and our esteemed leader. Some clubs seem to hate us much more than others, Creepy being a prime example, the only clubs that aren't jealous as such seem to be from higher divisions.

I wouldn't be ecstatic if Oxford United were 'in' with the national press. I'd deal with it and wouldn't throw any social media hissy fits though.

http://www.kumb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=137927&start=460

A Paolo thread from the West Ham forum.  Along but amusing read of there take on Paolo and his antics over the last 15 months.

In a nutshell, most think he's a lunatic but his mental state means he is unlikely to make it to the top of the management tree unless a club is willing to take the mother of risks!

It wont end with him getting poached - it'll be him walking out in a major hissy fit.

Everyone can see it coming.

Lunatic he may be, but he has given our football club the mother of a high profile.

The antics of last season, which were seen by the fans as amusing passion, are now beginning to get on people's tits.

That whole situation got us talking about Paolo and not the poor performance against Preston, and it worked to a degree. No-one has really mentioned the performance in any of threads I've read online.

Spot on..... :clap:

Still lost last night, though.

Maybe the initial effect of his 'methods' are wearing off on the players

Too many players .. He resembles a child in a sweet shop at times.  Does he know his best team?

I reckon we will see at least another 5 coming in, in the January window! And probably a few loans before then!

I think we missed Ritchie last night, didn't sound like we had many crosses going into the box.

Fuck me.

Two losses and it's doom and gloom. Have a word.

Believe DV amongst others has made a similar point before, if it's intentional to any degree it has had the desired effect.

Beat Orient Saturday and he'll be the best thing since sliced bread again to the thisis crowd anyway.

Yep, back to back defeats. Paolo has lost it. Sack him now.

If two losses are now seen as a 'crisis' then we've come along way from the proper crisises of the past. we were never going to win them all.

I don't buy all the positive press that sliced bread gets personally.

I didnt mean to post the link to start up a Paolo out campaign.  More to get a flavour of what the fans at a club at which PDC is a legend make of it, as a club where Paolo could most likely go.

I just found it a change from the attitude of most league 1/2 clubs where he is scum end of.  They came up with a number of PDC pros and Cons from an outsiders view.

Jeez - nobody's mentioned Paolo out - least of all me

Just putting forward a theory on why the players have thrown in a couple of poor performances.

It would be nice for Paolo to reign it in a bit though, bollock players but don't do it in public. Any of you older posters know if Brian Clough publicy bollocked players back in the day? But I think calls to sack him after the season we just had is a bit premature, lets see where this goes first.

Key words there .... 'back in the day'

Time has moved on

That's the point about Cloughie.

There wasn't wall to wall media coverage and Sky cameras up yer arse when he was managing.

He certainly had the same 'my way or the byway' attitude as PdC - telling players to get their haircut and refusing to call Teddy Sheringham Teddy - always Edward)

Imagine he would be a right cunt behind the scenes

Surely its a bit of a good thing as well though, sounded like wes had a good last night and didn't make a mistake (I wasn't there so don't know) If it has a positive effect then why not?

I reckon PDC is a right cunt behind the scenes and he can be as big a one as he wants.  I just would rather it was kept behind the scenes.  I've loved the Di Canio rollercoaster for the last 15 months.  I just want my team to be passionate on the pitch and professional off it.

Fuck that for a game of soldiers.  90 to 93, probably our best period as a club (not old enough for 69), was delightful on the pitch with glorious football and 2 efforts at getting into the top flight.  Same period saw us run like a corner shop, flogging off assets in quick weekend sales to pay off the tax man - ok Kerslake was a bit better than some out of date beer, but you get the point.

With so few good seasons, lets just soak up success, we can worry about being a bastion of all that is holy and good once that is sorted.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2200435/Paolo-Di-Canio-Doing-job-crazy-beautiful-too.html

Now he's been chatting to the Daily Fascist.

Pretty decent article, to be fair.

My favourite bit:

He is brilliant

I thought this was going to be a regular feature but not seen anything since

Seems they do it every month. Here's the new one.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19749668

I couldn't seem to find "The Chris Wilder Column".. Anyone know where it is?

In Chris Wilders pants.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/8160380/Swindon-Town-manager-Paolo-Di-Canio-determined-to-coach-England-in-future

Talking about himself in the third person again.

Could history repeat itself...we've already had one ex manager with questionable views, "graduate" to the England job?