Rags Writing City Reports For MEN

[Didsbury Dave]

[The slaughtering City fans got in the run up to the Muniich Memorial match from the Postbag to the sports sections was disgusting, & a lot of Blues stopped buying the M.E.N after that, me included.

In what way can the MEN control the Postbag?

Jesus wept...

 

[Ducky_]

I'm Stuart Brennan (puts on tin helmet).

I don't make a habit of perusing fan forums - as a journo they could send you insane - but a City mate flagged up this debate, and I thought I'd dip in.

Yes, I am the new City man at the Evening News, and yes I do have a Red background.
One poster touched on the truth of it, that Chris Bailey is leaving to work for City, and as redundancies have been made, his successor had to be chosen from within.
The editor and sports editor deemed I was the best choice in terms of experience and ability and I aim to prove them right.
I understand that some people won't be happy with that decision, but there's not a lot I can do about that.
What I WILL try to do is provide a first-class service to City fans, and try to make sure the MEN is seen as an independent source of news about the club which strives for accuracy (won't always happen, but that is unavoidable in today's media climate, unfortunately).
I was born into a Red family and was a home and away United supporter in the 80s, before my job meant I stopped going for a long time. I became number two on Utd after joining the MEN in 1998, but have grown increasingly disillusioned with the club, both as a fan and a journalist.
I have been shunned by United for my coverage of the Glazer takeover and formation of FC United.
And, though I have always enjoyed banter with City mates, and occasionally in the MEN, I have never had a problem with City. In fact, there have always been aspects of City I respected - even as a kid I remember wondering why my City mates who were Junior Blues got a Christmas party at which they met their heroes, when United did nothing like it.
Over the years, I have met plenty of City people, from Joe Royle to Mark Hughes to Jim Cassell and have tremendous respect for them. Being a football journalist alters your perspective on football as a whole, as well as your traditional allegiance and rivalry.

I am enjoying covering the club after years of suffering the Pravda attitude at Old Trafford, and finding everyone friendly and helpful. It is an exciting time to be covering City, and I am excited to do the job, and will do it as well as I possibly can.

I probably shouldn't have posted this, but what the hell - I had to come clean at some time!

Well I'm sure MEN could of found somebody who was a City fan or even impartial. But a Rag ?

They can f*ck right off imo, I won't be reading again.

 

[Nixon_The_Bike_Thief]

[The slaughtering City fans got in the run up to the Muniich Memorial match from the Postbag to the sports sections was disgusting, & a lot of Blues stopped buying the M.E.N after that, me included.

In what way can the MEN control the Postbag?

Jesus wept...

By Editorial discretion ! They ultimately decide which go to print and which dont.

 

[AntonDonJuan]

I'm Stuart Brennan (puts on tin helmet).

I don't make a habit of perusing fan forums - as a journo they could send you insane - but a City mate flagged up this debate, and I thought I'd dip in.

Yes, I am the new City man at the Evening News, and yes I do have a Red background.
One poster touched on the truth of it, that Chris Bailey is leaving to work for City, and as redundancies have been made, his successor had to be chosen from within.
The editor and sports editor deemed I was the best choice in terms of experience and ability and I aim to prove them right.
I understand that some people won't be happy with that decision, but there's not a lot I can do about that.
What I WILL try to do is provide a first-class service to City fans, and try to make sure the MEN is seen as an independent source of news about the club which strives for accuracy (won't always happen, but that is unavoidable in today's media climate, unfortunately).
I was born into a Red family and was a home and away United supporter in the 80s, before my job meant I stopped going for a long time. I became number two on Utd after joining the MEN in 1998, but have grown increasingly disillusioned with the club, both as a fan and a journalist.
I have been shunned by United for my coverage of the Glazer takeover and formation of FC United.
And, though I have always enjoyed banter with City mates, and occasionally in the MEN, I have never had a problem with City. In fact, there have always been aspects of City I respected - even as a kid I remember wondering why my City mates who were Junior Blues got a Christmas party at which they met their heroes, when United did nothing like it.
Over the years, I have met plenty of City people, from Joe Royle to Mark Hughes to Jim Cassell and have tremendous respect for them. Being a football journalist alters your perspective on football as a whole, as well as your traditional allegiance and rivalry.

I am enjoying covering the club after years of suffering the Pravda attitude at Old Trafford, and finding everyone friendly and helpful. It is an exciting time to be covering City, and I am excited to do the job, and will do it as well as I possibly can.

I probably shouldn't have posted this, but what the hell - I had to come clean at some time!

Well I'm sure MEN could of found somebody who was a City fan or even impartial. But a Rag ?

They can f*ck tight off imo, I won't be reading again.

Very harsh imo. It's not his fault he was chosen to do the job, so long as he keeps it neutral i have no problem with it. I don't want to read a city fan writing pieces on us who licks our arse at every opportunity and reports through blue tinted glasses, i want a report that is seen from a neutral point of view and is fair and balanced. So long as he provides that and doesn't slag us off, which it sounds like he won't, then it could be a good move.

Took some bollocks posting that i thought, fair play to him

 

[Didsbury Dave]

[The slaughtering City fans got in the run up to the Muniich Memorial match from the Postbag to the sports sections was disgusting, & a lot of Blues stopped buying the M.E.N after that, me included.

In what way can the MEN control the Postbag?

Jesus wept...

By Editorial discretion ! They ultimately decide which go to print and which dont.

and if they filter out the stuff they do not like then they are doing exactly what they are being accused of...showing bias. Obviously they'll only print stuff suitable for print, but they surely just print either everything they get or a cross-section if they get loads in.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

[The slaughtering City fans got in the run up to the Muniich Memorial match from the Postbag to the sports sections was disgusting, & a lot of Blues stopped buying the M.E.N after that, me included.

In what way can the MEN control the Postbag?

Jesus wept...

By Editorial discretion ! They ultimately decide which go to print and which dont.

and if they filter out the stuff they do not like then they are doing exactly what they are being accused of...showing bias. Obviously they'll only print stuff suitable for print, but they surely just print either everything they get or a cross-section if they get loads in.

No - they put in stuff to suit their agenda. And the agenda is usually to sell more papers or generate more web hits so City fans disrupting the minutes silence was more newsworthy than us keeping quiet.

They also put slants on things to suit their purpose. Therefore that little worm (if you're reading Daniel) Daniel Taylor at the Guardian was told that in an informal poll, City fans were split between Sven, Ramos & Adriaanse, roughly in the ratio 30:34:36. This came out as "70% of City fans don't want Sven", which made better headlines than "City fans split over new manager"

 

[Didsbury Dave]

I remember the Daniel Taylor incident well and you and I communicated it about it at the time.

But didn't a certain (female) individual also give him a direct quote which bolstered his story? I seem to remember the direct quote being "70% of City fans are against this appointment" or something?

 

[Balti]

I remember the Daniel Taylor incident well and you and I communicated it about it at the time.

But didn't a certain (female) individual also give him a direct quote which bolstered his story? I seem to remember the direct quote being "70% of City fans are against this appointment" or something?

There was a poll on the Manchester Online City section at the time showing 70% or more actually in favour of Sven.

 

[Nixon_The_Bike_Thief]

In what way can the MEN control the Postbag?

Jesus wept...

By Editorial discretion ! They ultimately decide which go to print and which dont.

and if they filter out the stuff they do not like then they are doing exactly what they are being accused of...showing bias. Obviously they'll only print stuff suitable for print, but they surely just print either everything they get or a cross-section if they get loads in.

Dave, I agree with you but in the case of the postbag running up to the memorial match there was no balance at all, it was all that we were not going to adhere to it and that it would be a disgrace. I think it may actually have contributed, as did other coverage at the time, to just how impeccable we were that day as even you must admit on that particular occasion we were out to stick two fingers up to everyone as outside of blues it was widely reported and anticipated that we would ruin the silence.
Generally I am onside with what you have contributed to this thread thus far and I agree with 95% of the points you have made but the munich memorial biased for me falls into the other 5% and was disgusting.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

It was an embarrassing situation which angered a lot of Blues.

the vast majority of City fans, when it became apparent that Sven was in the running, wanted his appointment.

Two different sources, the brand new MCFC Supporters Trust and Dave Wallace of King of the Kippax, gave quotes to the press to say that the majority of fans didn't want Sven. So the press for months wrote that he was an unpopular choice. It was not true.