Manchester Evening News

[jrb]

Oh dear!

It's made it into today's MUEN Newspaper.

Read it again in black and white. F***ing disgrace.

They, the people who run the MUEN, aren't listening and don't give a shit!( Sorry, but it's true Stuart)

Click twice to enlarge.

JRB, where did you get that copy from ?

Took the picture this Afternoon, Tesco, Burnage.

 

[lust overlord]

I am aiming to quit this thread after this post, as we are acting on concerns - all will become evident in due course.

Don't make a statement like that then fuck off, what do you mean by that remark?

Presumably trying to officially tackle their concerns that they are alienating customers.
Some kind of q&a with the editorial team at the MEN?

 

[aguero93:20]

I am aiming to quit this thread after this post, as we are acting on concerns - all will become evident in due course.

Don't make a statement like that then fuck off, what do you mean by that remark?

Presumably trying to officially tackle their concerns that they are alienating customers.
Some kind of q&a with the editorial team at the MEN?

or they're doing a photoshoot at tescos at 22:00.

 

[Wilf Wild 1937]

Right men , just for clarity.

Are we mounting a "Sun" type boycott (ala the Mickey's) on blue moon (although the subject matter is poles apart).

or

do we just carry on regardless.

I will go with the majority

I vote boycott.
If we do boycott then should we let one of the other papers know that we are boycotting?
That would draw it to the attention of a wider City audience.

 

[jockblue]

So talk of us being booted out by City, or punished in some other way are fantasy, I'm afraid.
I do understand the upset from some fans, but think a sense of perspective is needed here.

Stu - fantasy suggests something that could never realistically happen - however, across the road this sort of thing happened all the time. It's not beyond the expectation of some fans that a similar approach may be considered by our very own..... hardly fantastical...

 

[BertTrautmann'sParachute]

I am aiming to quit this thread after this post, as we are acting on concerns - all will become evident in due course.
But one final point, in answer to several posters - City were made aware of this article yesterday, as I called to check if there were any particular concerns about empty seats, or any possible explanations.
I explained what had gone on, and they were unconcerned about the article, and no-one at the club has come back to me, or to the MEN, with any form of complaint.
So talk of us being booted out by City, or punished in some other way are fantasy, I'm afraid.
I do understand the upset from some fans, but think a sense of perspective is needed here.

Fuck off.
Enough perspective?

 

[Damocles]

I am aiming to quit this thread after this post, as we are acting on concerns - all will become evident in due course.
But one final point, in answer to several posters - City were made aware of this article yesterday, as I called to check if there were any particular concerns about empty seats, or any possible explanations.
I explained what had gone on, and they were unconcerned about the article, and no-one at the club has come back to me, or to the MEN, with any form of complaint.
So talk of us being booted out by City, or punished in some other way are fantasy, I'm afraid.
I do understand the upset from some fans, but think a sense of perspective is needed here.

Not only did they acknowledge in other stories, they have now printed it in their newspaper under the guise of debate. They are aiming to profit from this as much as possible instead of maintaining journalistic integrity. You have no leg to stand on, they've moved directly into the realm of the hit chasing Tribal Football.

You asked for perspective. The Manchester Evening News has decided that the best way to address the challenges of new media are to lose all quality control in a race for hits. They are seemingly unaware that this is ultimately self defeating because as soon as you get that reputation you can almost NEVER lose it and the reputation spreads. I've met you a couple of times and you seem like a smart guy, I cannot believe that you don't understand this.

The editor seems to have the forward looking ability of Neville Chamberlain as you're alienating your target readership and doing it with full bravado under the cop out of comparative stories. Putting a person who believes in lizard people in a debate with a biologist is not comparative debate, it's indulging uninformed speculation for the purposes of sensationalism.

The purpose of the sports section of the MEN is to provide the type of indepth and quality coverage of two worldwide entities that only a local paper can. To be the paper that people point to as reliable when the nationals trash them. To have sources inside each club that can feed information/context that others cannot.

The simple fact is the sports section of the MEN isn't a relevant entity in the internet age unless it maintains a quality and sourcing that the nationals cannot get. The plane story was absolutely brilliant and the type of story that the Bombay Times couldn't get; a source at the airport in air traffic control tipped you off. However, in a race to get the story out as soon as possible you got the details wrong and snatched this defeat from the jaws of victory.

Again I don't want to be harsh here but in the internet age, if you guys are trying to "create controversy" then what exactly is the point of you? There are 20,000 sites out there attempting to get hits this way from Sports Direct News to one kid in his bedroom making up transfer stories. You are competing by imitating, but your people at least have an inkling of journalistic integrity so there's no possible way of winning.

What has happened here is that you have printed a story which has drawn mockery from all quarters. Your editor's response to this mockery is to use it as a short term bump in hits and readership.

You have done the media equivalent of rubbing shit on your own face. Sure, we're going to look out of interest at how daft you are but later when you come and ask me if you can babysit my kids, I'm going to remember that you have rubbed shit on your face.

 

[Plain Speaking]

I am aiming to quit this thread after this post, as we are acting on concerns - all will become evident in due course.

Don't make a statement like that then fuck off, what do you mean by that remark?

TBF to Stuart Brennan I assume he's referring to an article into today's MEN where he tries to put the record straight!
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/stuart-brennan-manchester-city-selling-6676806" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... ng-6676806</a>
Stuart Brennan: City ARE selling out and DO need a new stadium
5 Feb 2014 17:27

In response to a piece on the MEN website, Blues reporter Stuart Brennan has his say on the City's stadium expansion plans

A piece on the MEN website has caused some outrage by suggesting that the Etihad Stadium was a fair way short of capacity for the crunch match against Chelsea, and that this bodes ill for City's plans to expand the stadium to 60,000 in the next few years.

It was unfortunate that the claim came on the night when City announced that the match had attracted the biggest crowd of the season.

The game was sold out weeks in advance, understandably, as it as between the two favourites for the Premier League title.

I noticed a few empty seats in the Chelsea end, which surprised me, but given the distances involved, and that this was a Monday night, it was not entirely surprising.

But if there were significant areas of empty seats in the home areas, they were not evident to the naked eye on the night.

There may have been pockets of empty seats, but that does happen, especially at night matches, when season ticket holders who live some distance from the ground cannot get time off work, or kids have to be up for school in the morning, and so on.

It was also true on the night that kick off was almost delayed due to severe traffic problems. City's coach was delayed, and many others reported serious difficulties in getting to the stadium.

It is not beyond the realms of possibility that many of the empty seats were down to people abandoning their bid to get to the ground.

Whatever the reason, the fact remains that the seats were sold. That might jar on football purists, who like to see full grounds, but it is a fact of life in modern football that the stated attendance never matches the true attendance.

It is not lying or covering up, simply that clubs work off their ticket sales rather than counting how many individuals show up on the day, or night.
But it is ludicrous to suggest that City would forge ahead with plans to expand the stadium had they not done their homework on projected crowd figures.

The fact is that they are selling out for every home league game. What other figure do you need to justify plans to expand the stadium?

City are also turning into a global phenomenon, a process which has accelerate this season thanks to their brilliant, attacking football.

As happened at United and Liverpool, the club now caters for a growing demand for tickets from overseas – if you wander around the ground before matches, you will bump into many fans from all corners of the planet.

City's worldwide television audience is up 133 per cent since 2009, and almost half of the visitors to their website are from overseas.

City are growing, they are selling out regularly, and the odd empty seat is the exception rather than the rule.

 

[The Pink Panther]

Do we ban all talk , all links , all reference so on and so forth.

must remember to call it the "Phones 4 U" arena and not what it used to be called ....... keep making that mistake!

The Nynex!!

 

[gh_mcfc]

I am aiming to quit this thread after this post, as we are acting on concerns - all will become evident in due course.

Don't make a statement like that then fuck off, what do you mean by that remark?

Presumably trying to officially tackle their concerns that they are alienating customers.
Some kind of q&a with the editorial team at the MEN?

Hopefully Stuart resigning with a statement....... "This news organisation is a bag of shite so I am of to work for Viz writing the letter page which has more integrity"

Other wise it could be a Tar and Feathering for Lynch and the Editors in City Square.


If it is some sort of Q&A make sure it has zero Qs. otherwise a MEN "media coup" will follow