How our PR dept should act

[Thomas Hearns]

If you are defending, you’re losing, and the attackers feel emboldened. You simply cannot, in this day and age, answer every negative story. With social media and the number of internet outlets, it is akin to the little boy and the dyke. You will run out of fingers in a hurry (cue the lazy jokes!)

Better to have a POSITIVE media strategy that ignores the dross noise and keeps the output upbeat and positive. Then, when a very big story comes out (latest FFP, for example) simple issue a short, sharp statement and have done with it. Serious people dgaf about negative noise, they care about things that can derail their long term strategic plans and vision. FFP rises to that level, so the CLUB issued a short, definitive statement, that is repeatable, while gearing up behind the scenes for the legal battle that will ultimately be required....whether we see it in the courts or not.

City don’t own the paper or the ink, so they literally just have to get on with it. A good example, possibly taught to him by the club, is Sterling, who has managed to turn the tide on the widespread perception of himself and his attributes, by simply not replying unless absolutely necessary, and then doing it professionally and with courage and courtesy. We should ALL take a lesson from how Mansour/Khaldoon, and the likes of Sterling, and even Pep, conduct themselves in the media.

You make some good points. But if we do have a positive media strategy then it’s not very productive. City articles with a positive slant are few and far between.

 

[CC1]

I hear this quite often and yet the only alternative to the clubs approach that is suggested is to issue stadium bans to some of the hacks which imo would be counterproductive.

There has been a substantial amount of positive stories about the club, players and fans broadcast on our own website. We cannot force the press to regurgitate it.

What suggestions do you have ?

Well do you think our PR people have a “presence”??? They’re supposed to guide the manager & control the press. Not sure they do either but I’ll let you know when I get my PR qualifications :). :)

 

[alib]

banning the journalists who continue to ask the snidey , loaded questions would be a start (just like Ferguson used to do)

 

[urban genie]

Honestly we have a press person who makes an announcement at the start, then says when it's over or changing to foriegn language questions, don't really need anything else.

A load of shite anyway and a fairly modern 24hr news (I expect imported from america) thing, give it 15 years ago pressers were for major anouncements and new signings, I see them from time to time but really are they that important to afan that theu need to see them and who even remembers them the week after.

 

[Thomas Hearns]

I hear this quite often and yet the only alternative to the clubs approach that is suggested is to issue stadium bans to some of the hacks which imo would be counterproductive.

There has been a substantial amount of positive stories about the club, players and fans broadcast on our own website. We cannot force the press to regurgitate it.

What suggestions do you have ?

I don’t understand why banning hacks would be counterproductive. Naturally the paper concerned would play the censorship card etc etc but the average man in the street has such a low opinion of journos that I think a decision to ban a persistent offender would be applauded.

 

[Blue Til Death]

I think Pep should answer all questions from the press with a resounding “Fuck Off you ****” in Spanish, no way he will get banned, PEG didn’t ...!

 

[Graceyboy]

banning the journalists who continue to ask the snidey , loaded questions would be a start (just like Ferguson used to do)

The first out would be Geoff Shreeves. Hes such a snide cretin who wouldn't recognise a football, even if one hit him in the face from a Fellani shot on goal.

 

[aguero93:20]

I hear this quite often and yet the only alternative to the clubs approach that is suggested is to issue stadium bans to some of the hacks which imo would be counterproductive.

There has been a substantial amount of positive stories about the club, players and fans broadcast on our own website. We cannot force the press to regurgitate it.

What suggestions do you have ?

Invite all the journalists to Abu Dhabi and execute them. Might get some bad press in the short term but long term it would work out.

 

[Ric]

I hear this quite often and yet the only alternative to the clubs approach that is suggested is to issue stadium bans to some of the hacks which imo would be counterproductive.

There has been a substantial amount of positive stories about the club, players and fans broadcast on our own website. We cannot force the press to regurgitate it.

What suggestions do you have ?

Yeah, I always think it's a bit naive when people say we should just ban certain journalists or publications from the stadium. The amount of shit we get would be tenfold if we went down that road. Ferguson might've got away with it, but I'm pretty certain we wouldn't.

I think our PR dept are on a bit of a hiding to nothing with some fans who have seemingly become experts in the art of public relations! They can't dictate what the press write about us, but from what I can gather are pretty proactive when they truly overstep the mark. The notion that they do nothing is a bit unfair.

 

[twosips]

Ban The Sun, you ban Sky. It's really as simple as that. It's all Murdoch. Now, I know some of you may think 'Good riddance to them both' etc, and that's fair enough, but City still use papers like The Sun to plan stories, which they then spread out and reach talksport, sky, etc etc. As much as these papers can bring in negative PR, the club also does like having them there to get messages out. They're big, they hit numbers. Look at when the Sun had a piece about the lack of protection for the coach from the police after the Liverpool attack. That came directly from City. A story fed straight from the club... it then reached Talksport and The Sun. It's a double-edged sword sadly. The game's the game.