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danielneeds

Kick-Ass
May 5, 2004
24,179
48,764
Has anyone seen the thread on The Athletic website taking a massive load of the leading UK footie writers and they’ll stick them behind a paywall?



They’ve got David Ornstein, Daniel Taylor, Oliver Kay, and loads of others.

Gonna be quite the shake up of football reporting. I’ll be interested to see what their subscription package is like.
 
D

Deleted member 27995

They've been doing it in the U.S with many beat reporters that cover Baseball and the NFL if memory serves. Since I can no longer read the likes of the Chicago papers for sport coverage online, it will certainly shake things up as you say.
 

'O Zio

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2014
7,405
13,785
Not sure it'll make that much difference to be brutally honest. There are obviously some journos who I like more than others, but ultimately I'm not going to go out of my way and pay for a new subscription just to read what one specific journalist makes of a story.

How many people are realistically going to say "I've read what they've said about Frank Lampard in the Guardian, but I absolutely MUST know what Amy Lawrence thinks about him! I'd better get a year's subscription to The Atlantic as well just in case". Maybe I'm wrong, but the impression I get is that people read the stories for the stories, and who specifically wrote them is a bit of an afterthought most of the time. Obviously every know and then there'll be a really good article by someone or other, but if it's that groundbreaking then it'll be shared and talked about all over the place anyway so there's not really much reason to specifically subscribe to The Atlantic really. For me anyway.
 

danielneeds

Kick-Ass
May 5, 2004
24,179
48,764
Not sure it'll make that much difference to be brutally honest. There are obviously some journos who I like more than others, but ultimately I'm not going to go out of my way and pay for a new subscription just to read what one specific journalist makes of a story.

How many people are realistically going to say "I've read what they've said about Frank Lampard in the Guardian, but I absolutely MUST know what Amy Lawrence thinks about him! I'd better get a year's subscription to The Atlantic as well just in case". Maybe I'm wrong, but the impression I get is that people read the stories for the stories, and who specifically wrote them is a bit of an afterthought most of the time. Obviously every know and then there'll be a really good article by someone or other, but if it's that groundbreaking then it'll be shared and talked about all over the place anyway so there's not really much reason to specifically subscribe to The Atlantic really. For me anyway.
Possibly, but if they have a really good Spurs coverage with a few articles a week on players, tactics, stuff like that, on top of loads of great writers doing interesting writing, it may become something people will think about.
 

King of Otters

Well-Known Member
Jun 11, 2012
10,751
36,093
I'd be happy to pay a few quid a month for quality football writing. I'd have to cancel my sub if Spurs went shit again though.

I already pay for the Times but I'd happily cancel that if it meant I didn't have to read about nonce sports like rugby and cricket anymore.
 
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Marty

Audere est farce
Mar 10, 2005
39,885
62,561
Reading the article I'm most concerned about the Grauniad losing everyone who does actual journalism and leaving only Max, Barry and Lars from the Football Weekly roster. Don't get me wrong I don't mind them but it would get tedious very quickly if it were just them all the time.

I certainly won't be a subscriber to the Atlantic unless they manage to do something really revolutionary that you can't get anywhere else.
 

robertgoulet

SC Resident Crooner Extraordinaire
Jul 23, 2013
3,610
12,552
I have been a subscriber to The Athletic for a bit over a year. I love it. No ads, no flashing lights. It's great. Football coverage is still growing but per the article looks like they're making a big push into it.
 

danielneeds

Kick-Ass
May 5, 2004
24,179
48,764
You've also got to think if they've gone for Ornstein they're gonna do something big during transfer windows. I reckon at least daily write-ups, podcasts and other stuff.
 

'O Zio

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2014
7,405
13,785
You've also got to think if they've gone for Ornstein they're gonna do something big during transfer windows. I reckon at least daily write-ups, podcasts and other stuff.

I hope they don't go into the podcast market as well. Personally I think the old Football Weekly was far superior to both new Football Weekly and Totally Football Show, that's not a dig at Max (who I actually really like) but they both suffer now mostly because the good guests are now split between the two shows. If another rival comes along it'll just have the effect of spreading the good journos even thinner IMO.
 

tobi

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose
Jun 10, 2003
17,445
11,564
I've come close to subscribing because of certain NBA writers and podcasts a few times, I'll probably give in and subscribe if the football stuff is of a similar quality.
 

danielneeds

Kick-Ass
May 5, 2004
24,179
48,764
I hope they don't go into the podcast market as well. Personally I think the old Football Weekly was far superior to both new Football Weekly and Totally Football Show, that's not a dig at Max (who I actually really like) but they both suffer now mostly because the good guests are now split between the two shows. If another rival comes along it'll just have the effect of spreading the good journos even thinner IMO.
They do podcasts for most teams in the NBA, NFL, MLB in the US, so chances are they’ll do individual ones for most of the bigger teams here. That’s part of their brand in the US is that they will deliver you loads of content for the team you follow.
 

absolute bobbins

Am Yisrael Chai
Feb 12, 2013
11,649
25,962
Just signed up, £65ish for 2 years is a pretty sweet deal.

I normally don’t trust venture backed media startups but a. This is Y Combinator backed and b. They clearly understand content is king
 
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Dougal

Staff
Jun 4, 2004
60,345
129,920
I imagine they’ll be trawling through the match threads in Spurs Chat scooping up all the insightful minds. It’ll be a ghost town.
 

barry

Bring me Messi
May 22, 2005
6,505
15,345
Just signed up, £65ish for 2 years is a pretty sweet deal.

I normally don’t trust venture backed media startups but a. This is Y Combinator backed and b. They clearly understand content is king

Looks like we got ourselves a reader.
 

mpickard2087

Patient Zero
Jun 13, 2008
21,886
32,513
Cant see what the fuss is about really. People who can give a slightly more reasoned and thoughtful opinion on football and make an attempt to analysis and breakdown a game are ten a penny. And as hard as they try, 99% of it is still complete bollocks. What renowned and revered names are there to sign up?
 

VegasII

Well-Known Member
May 14, 2008
9,750
16,670
I imagine they’ll be trawling through the match threads in Spurs Chat scooping up all the insightful minds. It’ll be a ghost town.

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robertgoulet

SC Resident Crooner Extraordinaire
Jul 23, 2013
3,610
12,552
Just signed up, £65ish for 2 years is a pretty sweet deal.

I normally don’t trust venture backed media startups but a. This is Y Combinator backed and b. They clearly understand content is king
I was just happy to find a place where I could go click on a link to an article and not have 13 videos start playing.
 

allatsea

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
8,865
16,053
They've been doing it in the U.S with many beat reporters that cover Baseball and the NFL if memory serves. Since I can no longer read the likes of the Chicago papers for sport coverage online, it will certainly shake things up as you say.
Click bait will be even worse with these reporters having to justify the paywall and earn a living.
 

Spurger King

can't smile without glue
Jul 22, 2008
43,881
95,147
Couldn’t give a shit to be honest. A lot of football journalism is transparently written by people who didn’t even watch the match. Can’t think of a single football journalist I rate highly enough to pay actual money to read their opinion on something I’ve seen with my own eyes.

I suspect it will be prone to people getting annoyed by some random piece, and cancelling their subscription.
 
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