MUEN - what's gone wrong?

[stuart brennan]

Re: MUEN -whats gone wrong

tell the muen they are pro city and you lot shit it and all over the twat.

Any evidence for this, at all, or just another bland statement with no back-up? As I said, we seriously pissed off Fergie (me in particular) over our coverage of the Glazer takeover, and his subservient part in it.
How did we "shit it" and be "all over the twat" in that case, then? I was blackballed at OT over that coverage, and the paper lost several "privileges" at United.
Over the years we have done many pro-United and pro-City stories, and a fair few anti-United and anti-City stories (The latter two always with good, constructive intentions). What happens is that paranoid fans from both clubs notice the anti ones, and see them as an all-out attack, and don't notice the pro ones at all.

 

[Bill]

Re: MUEN -whats gone wrong

someone at the MUEN has wrongly assumed that as trafford united are the worlds biggest club the vast majority of fans in Manchester must be rags

and that sort of poor business decision has been made in all areas of industry for years and just like the Men they are wrong

and one other thing if all your readership thinks your are anti them your rag is doomed

you need a city fan writing about city who is openly biased and the same for the rags

also if your paper isn't anti city how come the rags are always listed first ?

if you were like any other business alphabetically city would be listed first but it never is a small point but it goes to the small mindedness of the rag fans who seem to be in charge of your rag

and I used to read it and use it for company advertising i no longer do either so rightly or wrongly your paper is loosing paying customers because of your anti city stance which is another poor business decision.

To address your points:
1. No-one has assumed anything. We do market research, like any company, and we know that our two biggest selling points are United and City. I haven't got the figures, but the sports desk is under no illusion that Utd and City take precedence over everything else, and that we have to try to retain a balance in coverage between the two. To do anything else would be a poor business decision.
2. As de niro said, City fans have said for years we are pro-United (at least 45 years, he says), United fans have said for years we are pro-City, so, if we are doomed, we are clinging on pretty well! The truth is there is a large market of non-paranoid fans of both clubs out there, and they keep us going.
3. Even if we did think the vast majority of people in Mcr are Utd fans, couldn't we still be pro both clubs? We see ourselves as somewhere between the propaganda of the official website, and the excess of the national press. I have written loads of articles defending City against nonsense written in the national press. How does that fit in with our "agenda"?
4. You want a biased reporter rather than someone who tried to be objective, and offers criticism when it is warranted/ You just need the official website, fella.
5. No idea why United are listed first - if we follow your logic, which appears a bit paranoid to me, Bury should be first. To alternate the order in which the clubs appear on the website would be a big job every day, simply to keep paranoid supporters of both clubs happy.
6. Talking of poor business decisions, you say you stopped advertising because you think we are pro-United? So you were advertising in it out of benevolence, rather than because you thought it benefited your business? How long ago did you stop advertising, because deniro says our pro-United bias is at least 45 years old.

my guess is your gaffer has told you to get on there and ffs get our circulation up, win us friends and that. in other words the tick has tocked and you now need city fans back on board. to be fair you are not alone, sky will be next.

 

[TCIB]

Re: MUEN -whats gone wrong

 

[bobmcfc]

Re: MUEN -whats gone wrong

All you can ask of any paper is that they deal in facts. I've always found that the majority of M.E.N articles to be ok factually.
This is all abit "you love them more than us" it's abit silly tbh


Popcorn cat breezes in.....

 

[stuart brennan]

Re: MUEN -whats gone wrong

The day I logged onto this site was the last day I ever posted, or read anything on the men site. The articles were ridiculously negative towards anything City related, and whenever I tried to respond to a rag supporter that was slagging off City, my post was not shown. I soon became tired of seeing all the arse licking that utd were getting, a polar opposite to the City related articles. It was unfortunate actually, as I had been a poster on there for probably around five years or so. P.S, the negativity actually started just before I left, and was around the same time that a new guy started writing the City articles.

United fans say the exact opposite. As someone who has, in the past, moderated posts on the MEN website, the only reason they used to get pulled is if they use bad language, or were libellous. In my experience, just as many Utd posters were barred as City posters.
The lad who has done 90 per cent of the moderating since the website was set up is, as I have repeatedly said, a City fan, and he is not told what to allow or not to allow over and above what I have said.
Maybe you could go on the MEN website right now (go on, you know you want to), and detail exactly how Utd arses are being licked, and how we are being negative about City?

 

[Shirley]

Re: MUEN -whats gone wrong

This is the second time I have read posts from Stuart Brennan on Bluemoon so I can only welcome his comments and I reckon his current City articles on the MEN are excellent.

But.....

Stuart, can you honestly refute when you first started reporting on City you made a point of adding a subtle piss take in each article.

I need to know otherwise I am one of the polaroids you refer to.

 

[stuart brennan]

Re: MUEN -whats gone wrong

my guess is your gaffer has told you to get on there and ffs get our circulation up, win us friends and that. in other words the tick has tocked and you now need city fans back on board. to be fair you are not alone, sky will be next.

You can guess as much as you want, but what you have said is utter bollocks. No-one has told me to get on here - in fact we get advised not to go on forums, or get into Twitter rows, but I prefer to engage. So you think Sky have an anti-City agenda as well?
It seems your points are guesses and paranoid assumptions, rather than any hard facts.

 

[bobmcfc]

Re: MUEN -whats gone wrong

Don't get them started on sky Stuart.

It's like a red rag to a erm city fan

 

[Balti]

Re: MUEN -whats gone wrong

Don't get them started on sky-mutv Stuart.

 

[stuart brennan]

Re: MUEN -whats gone wrong

Stuart, can you honestly refute when you first started reporting on City you made a point of adding a subtle piss take in each article.

I need to know otherwise I am one of the polaroids you refer to.

I can totally and utterly refute that!! I started in the summer of 2009, so if you wanted to go on our archive and dig out one if the things to which you refer, I'd be happy to explain it. Again, I'd have to be an idiot to start inserting sly digs.
People who know me, and there are one or two who come on here who know me from school days, and from friendships since, will tell you I am pretty straight, and don't do sly digs. If I wanted to say something about you, or about City, I'd give it between the eyes, believe me.

I think my favourite complaint from a City fan came in the build-up to my first derby as City reporter. He complained that I had mentioned United several times in the article I had written - I asked him how you are supposed to write a piece about the derby without mentioning United!!!
He was an extreme case of paranoia - you suffer from a mild form- you'll get over it, I hope ...