Thetownend.com

SWINDON TOWN: Portugal media ban does no one any favours
           
           


  TOMORROW the Swindon Town squad head to Portugal for a week of pre-season training. The media has not been invited.

           

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/headlines/10560656.SWINDON_TOWN__Portugal_media_ban_does_no_one_any_favours/?ref=rss
           
           
           

Bad PR from the club, a bit of an O.G. I am thinking. It's almost like they have something to hide.  :hmmm:

The media aren't always given access to these things but McCrory is always talking about 'community' so I guess banning a local newspaper with a Town bias to a training camp seems to negate that.

Sam's just p*ssed off he doesn't get a free holiday. 

The best bit about that article is his description of blatter

Not an important issue really.  Jed does himself no favours posting on twitter to the arse lickers and abusers as he wishes though.  Went  missing when kmac walked which is no surprise.

This.

For as long as I can remember there has always been an undercurrent of a "love/hate" relationship between the Town and the Adver and it now appears that it is still the case. Once the only way to get information was via the sports pages of the Adver but since the internet and TV coverage such as Sky they are no longer sole impart, but a large amount of people still read the paper and like to know what is happening at the County Ground, so why the ban is beyond me.

This only adds to my general disillusionment with those in control of the Club.

 :no:

Damn it, you rumbled me!

This.

For as long as I can remember there has always been an undercurrent of a "love/hate" relationship between the Town and the Adver and it now appears that it is still the case. Once the only way to get information was via the sports pages of the Adver but since the internet and TV coverage such as Sky they are no longer sole impart, but a large amount of people still read the paper and like to know what is happening at the County Ground, so why the ban is beyond me.

This only adds to my general disillusionment with those in control of the Club.

 :no:

 
:o

Would you care to speculate as to what? I'm going for as the gig being completely run by Spurs as the soft option...rather than Power leaving his cat and bunker in Switzerland to distribute brown paper parcels.

Weirder things than that have happened.

The Adver is a local rag, that employs cub reporters out of necessity these days....nevertheless, because of its longevity, it is still trusted by the fans, so you do something like this at your peril. (Hopefully Sam is employing standard journo tactics and has got McCrory's phone hacked as we speak)

Maybe because we don't have just a cub reporter now, but a guy who is good at his job with more than a smidgeon of investigate journalism to boot ... and we've got Sam too! ;)

Not really my thing, there's a first time for everything though. Out of interest Reg, at what point to cub reporters get to drop the "cub" from their title? Need to know so I can amend my business card.

It's Reg, about 50 years of experience should do it.

Looking at Jed's Twitter I'm not sure hacking his phone would reveal much.

Think it took Clive King 10 years...

It's a bit like the big kids you remember from school who used to terrorise new arrivals and telling them that you had to be there for at least 12 years before you weren't a 'new kid' any more.

I love journalistic lingo...words only used by or about journos.  As well as 'cub', there's also 'swoop' (only newspapers ever talk about a manager 'swooping' for a new signing).  And 'tot'.  As in 'Tot, 2, in Amazing River Rescue'.  Have you ever heard 'tot' to describe a child other than on the pages of a newspaper?  I haven't.

Maybe they want the new manager to have an uninterrupted week with his new team but then that would give us nothing to get our knickers in a twist about so that's probably not it.

Sam, did you cause some mischief on last years tour?  

In all seriousness whats your take on the current board?

Blimey, if it takes that long it'll be "unemployed" reporter not "cub" reporter. Thanks for the heads-up.

My favourite ever Adver headline was

'Motorist Helps Finger Girl'

Cracker!

I don't think I caused any trouble - you'd have to ask those remaining at the club who were there back then if I did.
I'm open to their proposed vision for the club and there have been decent initiatives unfortunately clouded by recurrent miscommunication. Some of the labels they have been given are grossly unfair, some of them are just. It seems as though you have to have an extreme view with this bunch, when really you don't.

Is "recurrent miscommunication" a euphemism for our chairman attempting to goad a certain Town player via Twitter in what turned out to be a fake account instead of doing the sensible thing and making a phone call?

Not specifically no. There have been certain instances where we have been given embargoes or asked to hold fire on certain stories and then been left behind. However, they have still had periods of very open lines of communication and media briefings. Seems a little Jekyll and Hyde at times. In general they have been pretty good with the press although more on-the-record comment wouldn't go a miss.

I'm guessing you won't answer this but do you believe that a) they're a trying to run things on the smallest budget possible because they haven't got a pot to piss in or b) they're trying to do what is best by the club without resorting to their deep pockets?

Closer to b than a.

Maybe Sam can revisit some stories from the Orange hats days next week to fill the pages ;)

Except for the deep pockets bit I assume.

Any idea who the chap was who was due to buy us but passed away Sam.

I doubt he'll be resurrecting the deal anytime soon, so probably not worth trying to dig around for the name.

We are where we are.  If enough fans think the new owners are up to no good, they should get odd their jacksies and offer an alternative, like was patched together a few years ago.  There was a very real threat to the club, fans were passionate enough about it to organise something.  Moaning about it won't do too much good.

I think fan ownership or some sort of funded deal would be a good idea in general, but I see no evidence suggesting the current board are somehow robbing the club or setting up a huge structural problem for years to come like was evident with Diamandis.

Out of interest Rob, are you relatively comfortable with what's happening at the County Ground at present?

of course he is, RobT is the original happy clapper :)

The thread title is sooooooooooo apt. No favours at all to anybody

The relationship between the Club and the local Press (not the national Press so much as they are cynical bast*rds) is always important. Sam knows this because a good relationship with the club gets him news, interviews and occasional scoops, which sells the newspaper. Good for him and good for the paper, as STFC is certainly the single most important topic in the whole of the Adver.

The club should know (but apparently don't) that the relationship is good for them too - keeping the news level, and therefore the fans' interest, high keeps the interest in the club rolling along. This gets bums on seats at the CG, which is what the club needs to achieve their budget.

Bigger crowds and happy fans affects the players. They play better, more as a team, we are more successful, everybody is happy and everybody looks forward to the next game.

It's all positive and works to the benefit of all, the fans, the players and the rest of the club, and the Adver of course. It is a shame that somebody at the club doesn't really appreciate this.

Sorry to be boring and state the obvious, but imo it seems important that somebody at the club ought to know all this..... I will now go and lie down for a while.

 Presumably reports of STFC events in Portugal will be found in the Haringey Independent.....as an aside I see our 1st team game v PdC's mob in the Asia Cup is being shown on Sky

I can confirm that I'm off to Corfu in two weeks and Sam is not coming with me.

I'm coming back for a visit in August and I expect you all to leave the country.


(PS. How do you change the custom title under your user name?)

That Sams quite cute isn't he?!  :girlgiggle:

Bitch

This would make sense....if we had a new manager.

I cant imagine anything of note will happen in Portugal. All the important stories are going to be about the manager which will most probably happen at SN1 anyway (or White Hart Lane)

What I mean is, if the board know who their man is, maybe he'll be out there, kept under wraps and there'll be a big reveal on their return.

I admit it is extremely unlikely and seems far too organised for this lot but I just can't be arsed to get worked up about this to be honest.

It's much easier to say "yeah, come out and chill with us. Watch the training, see who we're giving trials too!" When you know what the fuck is going on yourself.

Otherwise it's "SHIT we've got no manager, no idea what we're doing, signing players randomly ourselves and don't want to ask questions for a week. "

I think both of those are quite difficult to say....

Team bus should be leaving for margate in a min

If I was the club in this situation, I would have my chosen managerial candidate lined up and ready to go out to Portugal and meet the players there. That way, due to the fact we have very little time left before season starts, he gets to work with the players and train them without having to deal with the press and fans taking up time and thinking space with press conferences, interviews, Twitter arguments etc.

Then again if I was in charge of the club the past 9 months of shame and disappointment wouldn't have happened.

Am I over the moon about the fact our squad needs to be completely overhauled in one summer and we don't have a Manager - NO

Am I ready to begin a lynch mob at the magic roundabout because we have owners who cannot pump endless sums of money into the clubs coffers to afford and expensive squad - NO

The facts are:

Our annual spend on players wages had spiralled too high.  It was done so because we had someone who was willing to underwrite it.

The Chariman then agreed to an even bigger spend, which upset the owner who in turn replaced him sharpish and put the wheels in motion for a quick sale  He had already signalled he wanted to sell the club, but his commentary at the time suggests the decided at this time to draw a line in the sand with 31st Jan 2013 as the end date.

New eoners without much by way of funds behind them have purchased the club in the absence of any other offers, or for that matter, a ready and waiting fan ownership option.

The wage bill has to be brought down by a considerable amount.

Innovative ways of achieving that are being attempted (Spurs tie up)

We are not fully aware of how that relationship is designed - that is a concern, something the local press would do well to understand and report on.

By radically reducing wages, replacing players and getting a new manager, the season is shrouded in uncertainty.  It is risky, that is for sure.

As I mentioned elsewhere before, the approach the board have been taking is very similar to Fitton when he first arrived.  Keep costs under control, invest in youth, try building relationships with top clubs to get dibs on talent, seek out new ways of bringing in money beyond season ticket and match day sales.  Fitton got this pretty close to spot on, but got a bit caught up in principles when certain things were not working - agents for example.  As much as he had the best moral idea, by spiting agents when nobody else was joining in, we started to reduce our appeal and seemingly had to pay a little too much to people to get them in.  That lead to our season that ended in relegation.

So, I have no issue with the wage reductions, with the bringing in of youth and the attempts to find new revenue streams.  I am accepting of the fact the board have fuck all cash to thro away at this game, much as it would be if we the fans were in charge.  I am "ok" with the Spurs link, provided we retain autonomy in the deal.  I would like to know what caused KMac to leave so swiftly.

That is pretty much word for word exactly how I feel Rob.

The last two of Rob's sentences sum everything up in a nutshell for me.

Also, assuming Collins and Caddis leave, I don't think our squad is good enough as it stands to hope for much more than mid table mediocrity.  A lot will depend on the quality of any Manager we bring in and the team around him.

Thanks Rob.  As usual a very well thought out post that makes a lot of sense.

It does seem that the uncertainty around the Spurs link is the one that is bothering just about everyone to differing levels.  The Board need to make it clear what the arrangement is and the longer they say nothing, the rumours and unsettlement will persist.

Obviously who is named as manager is pretty key as well!

This is the problem with new boards at football clubs who don't have a big cash pile.  They probably don't even think it is something that needs addressing with the fanbase until they start to see such criticism.  That is part of this groups problem, they keep getting caught out because they do things they see as logical and making sense.  They forget/don't realise a fanbase is much more intertwined with the business than a basic customer is.  Outside of sport, Coca Cola is the closest example of this when they changed their taste to try and combat Pepsi in the 80's.  People actually set-up protest call centres, they completely under estimated the fanbase's interest in this.  All they saw was that Pepsi kept beating them on taste tests so it made logical sense to change it.  Nearly every other business doesn't get presented with this unique problem.

What could they have done? - somehow convince Watkins to stick around.

Raphael Rossi Branco on trial.

Whitehawk defender.

Whatashitto

Was on trial at Brighton last year, even has youtube footage ;)

http://www.northstandchat.com/showthread.php?207175-Raphael-Rossi-Branco

How did BBC Wiltshire avoid the 'media ban' and get into the hotel to interview Wes?

Bloody happy clapper!  :girlgiggle:

Sounds like they wanted to put him into their development squad -

http://www.theargus.co.uk/sport/9150858.Gus_waits_on_boy_from_Brazil/

Sounds like a nutter after reading about the aggressive part.

They recon he was a really skillful player but had problems with his passport/registration or something like that, nobody seems to know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKMPZ4o3PdE&feature=player_embedded#at=254

Looks handy on the ball in this youtube....but then they always do!

Judging from Sam's latest tweet, sounds like the limited media access has been cut to the training camp.

that's beyond ridiculous

unless they've appointed a manager so don't want the players interviewed.

This is a very important week or so for the club. Seems like they're either being very petty or trying to keep some information away from the media.

We've all already worked out they havent got a pot to piss in!

Seems bizarre given there has not even been one interview done yet for it be revoked! Unless the guy who agreed it should not have done in the first place

It's nice to see a highlight reel that includes no nonsense clearances from time to time

In a way, I think I can understand the wish to go behind closed doors at the moment.  It's very possible (although not certain, I know) that the MacDonald resignation took them all by surprise a little and there's a bit of regrouping going on.  If they need a week or so of getting their heads down out of the media spotlight, maybe it's for the best.

I'm sure in the pre-internet age a tour like this would not have been covered intensively anyway.  A few match reports and pre-prepared player interviews, maybe, but a world away from the paper's Sports Writer sitting by the pool (sorry Sam  :D) with a laptop for 12 days and delivering wall to wall coverage.

I would love to know whether this would affect the relationship between the Club and Advertiser, I would imagine the Advertioser pay the club for the advertising boards and programme advertisement which would mean that the club have in effect snubbed a sponsor.

In a previous role I was the Marketing manager for a group of newspapers in the west midlands and one of our titles was the Wal;sall Advertiser and each season we would allocate a certain amount of free advertising space in return for Advertising boards, Programme ads and three matchball packages per season.  The Club Secretary, our Editor and I all knew exactly where we stood with the agreement and this meant we had full access to players, staff etc and we also used the club facilities for corporate functions where possible to boost the relationship.

With this media black out it must have a detrimental affect beyond purely the editorial coverage...

Keep up your good work Sam

Remember what the Sun did to Southampton a few years back referring to them all season as "A south coast club".. please don't resort to that  :)

The adver should just start covering super marine with the same depth as they used to stfc

Yeah that'll learn em. Sales of the paper will rocket too.

Have the club gave any proper reason why the Adver and such were not allowed on tour?

Yeah because of Spurs training our team   :sherlock:

As much as the Adver can from time to time afford a little but of a frosty relationship, cold hard commercial facts mean that a lack of STFC articles means reduced advertising income.  Very few things make local newspapers viable these days.

The club need an experienced press officer, I've known Tom Otrebski for years and he's doing a fantastic job especially as Tanner is no longer there but he's only been there 2 minutes.

The clubs PR is a shambles.

So where does Shah come in

So BBC Wilts reporting a ban on any further player interviews, but it is 'under review'. I misunderstood Sam's tweets yesterday on the matter.

As a complete guess, for a non exec, she will attend board meetings, having been given some papers a few days beforehand, be 'consulted' in the board meeting, and have no decision making power.

What about the story about that woman trapped behind a mattress. Surely that story alone sold thousands of papers!

I see Sam and the BBC Have been summoned to the County Ground. Wonder what for...

Best put some books down the backs of their trousers just in case...

Where've you seen this?? No mention of it on Morshead's twitter!!

Craig Lyus tweeted it.

Craig Lyus ‏@AdverSportCraig 1h
Sam & Beeb have just been summoned to SN1. Hopefully for peace talks.

Nice one! Be interesting to see what comes out of that meeting.

To announce cooperman :sherlock:

You'd certainly hope that the meeting is for something more interesting than the three parties 'hugging it out'.

Haven't heard from them since, think they've killed them

Back in blighty our development team are 3-0 down at fairford.

Where are you getting the score from, can't see anything anywhere!

Was wondering if it was a pure youth team, or whether the outcasts have travelled too.

Fairford's twitter.

No idea re teams.

Sam English has just scored for us. 3-1 now.

Ta.

Although that Sam English tweet was deleted so fuck knows what is happening!

F/T: Fairford Town 3 Swindon Town Development XI 1 #fairford

Boooooo!

Bodin out!!!

Errrrrrrm...


:)

Booooo!

Bodin back in.

Tribunal in bristol re di canio.

Massive massive cunt that bellend is.

When?

Friday.

Story is in the adver tomorrow.

Grrrrrrrrrreat.

Aaah OK, just caught up on Twitter. I thought by "re Di Canio" Tans meant Bodin had a constructive dismissal case against PDC.

In any case we'll see if the club (Jed) or PDC fucked up soon enough.

Sam Morshead ‏@SamMorshead_SA 8m
Positive meeting this evening with Jed McCrory, Steve Murrall and Sangita Shah. We move forward. #stfc


Look into my eyes, look into my eyes, the eyes, the eyes, eyes, not around the eyes, don't look around the eyes, look into my eyes...you're under. You will love the board, write nothing negative about the board. The board do no wrong. And you're awake.

Its the old board he has the gripe with

This :

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/10260304.McCrory_reacts_to_report_Di_Canio_set_to_sue_club/

suggests it was over the sale of Ritchie. Which is on public record as a joint decision between old and proposed new board. Though the new board weren't in.

http://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/news/article/mattritchiesale-630167.aspx

But I bet legally the case is against the club.

Hes a fucking cunt anyway and whoever put those types of clauses in the contract needs a fucking good fisting

We knew this was coming anyway, asides from those that chose to dismiss it.

Is the decision to be made on Friday?

I don't think the manager being consulted on player sales is that unusual. Well I read a story not so long back about it being in at least 1 other managers contract.

That said, what's he go to gain from it now. I guess his reputation got a bit damaged by walking, but he's gone on to bigger things.

If he wins we should tell him he gets the payment subject to Town tattoo - after all he made promises too.

PDC is in Asia isn't he, expect he will send Spencer to court to represent him.

Article says he is going

Probably see his cheerleader Jezza turn up

Any news on how our match against spurs development went?

"@ollietanswell @danjohnson_stfc it's an employment tribunal relating to unpaid wages/payment deductions according to court listing"

In which case go fuck yourself PDC. You walked after preaching loyalty, got a better job, do one.

Rant on Tans, rant on.