Michael Bailey

[crispeduk 282]

1 hour ago, Jobsworth Canary said:

Indeed the quality of his writings are embarrassing 

cut and paste jobs and stating the screamingly obvious 

But I bet he and his solicitor understand the concept of defamation of character.

[Crispy 4]

People saying they will stick to getting the latest scoop for free and continue to use the Pink'Un for news are missing the point. You are not the target audience.

'The Athletic' is grabbing local talent to make more magazine style in depth articles you might find in a specialist mag. It's not transfer rumours for the masses. As a fan of American sports and fantasy football it's great value for me but if you are looking for Norwich articles regularly to replace your general match news / press conference sound bites this isn't for you.

Also those crying about local news outlets, this is the modern world. This model and style works the same way people are willing to pay for an Uber subscribe to Netflix and spend £3.50 on a coffee.

Personally great value at £2.50 but not convinced at £4.99 but am sure after a year it will have grown and I might change my mind. 

MB is a great reporter looking forward to what he produces with a bit more creative freedom outside of the weekly loop I am sure he was tired of certain aspects of working for a traditional news outlet. 

Edited August 11, 2019 by Crispy

[Branston Pickle 3,634]

I really don’t get the love-in for Bailey - he may be a City fan and a nice bloke but so what? I never found his writing particularly  ‘Stand-out’ and have barely noticed any difference that he’s gone...so the idea of subscribing for it is just an odd one, whether or not that subscription includes other stuff (including tedious American sport...certainly not a ‘pull’ for me).  

[CaptCanary 45]

I've enjoyed the feature pieces so far, but will there be no actual match reports? 

I know that sort of thing is readily available elsewhere, but I was looking forward to seeing a good quality post-match analysis from Michael, as well as from all the other highly thought of journalists for the other teams.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557]

11 minutes ago, CaptCanary said:

I've enjoyed the feature pieces so far, but will there be no actual match reports? 

I know that sort of thing is readily available elsewhere, but I was looking forward to seeing a good quality post-match analysis from Michael, as well as from all the other highly thought of journalists for the other teams.

He is still doing videos, but it looks like the Athletic aren't doing match reports at the moment. Whether that is a conscience choice to avoid a crowded market and to prioritise the 'magazine' style of more indepth pieces or if it is due to being a new company they haven't been able to get match accreditation for the first few rounds of games and they will start doing match reports later on. 

I suspect it is the former to be honest, I don't think people who pay for a subscription are necessarily looking for match reports which are readily available elsewhere. Also, most people with have actually seen the game so a report probably isn't a priority for them. To be honest, I never read match reports as I don't feel they really offer much insight as the writers have to do them in such a rush. 

[CaptCanary 45]

11 minutes ago, Bethnal Yellow and Green said:

He is still doing videos, but it looks like the Athletic aren't doing match reports at the moment. Whether that is a conscience choice to avoid a crowded market and to prioritise the 'magazine' style of more indepth pieces or if it is due to being a new company they haven't been able to get match accreditation for the first few rounds of games and they will start doing match reports later on. 

I suspect it is the former to be honest, I don't think people who pay for a subscription are necessarily looking for match reports which are readily available elsewhere. Also, most people with have actually seen the game so a report probably isn't a priority for them. To be honest, I never read match reports as I don't feel they really offer much insight as the writers have to do them in such a rush. 

Agree with a lot of this, but when a lot of the journalists signed up are renowned for their quality match reviews, it would be nice to see their take on the games - or perhaps an in depth interview with a player or coaching staff? Not just to read about the Norwich game either, one of the nice things about the Sunday papers, or online equivalents, is reading the match reports for the other games, so was hoping for similar I guess.

There was a big song and dance about the infamous quote "“We will wait every local paper out and let them continuously bleed until we are the last ones standing,” but until they offer the whole package of reports and quality features, there appears to be a place for both.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557]

30 minutes ago, CaptCanary said:

Agree with a lot of this, but when a lot of the journalists signed up are renowned for their quality match reviews, it would be nice to see their take on the games - or perhaps an in depth interview with a player or coaching staff? Not just to read about the Norwich game either, one of the nice things about the Sunday papers, or online equivalents, is reading the match reports for the other games, so was hoping for similar I guess.

There was a big song and dance about the infamous quote "“We will wait every local paper out and let them continuously bleed until we are the last ones standing,” but until they offer the whole package of reports and quality features, there appears to be a place for both.

Definitely.

That infamous quote was made a few years back when the Athletic was looking for a bit of venture capital money so I think it was a bit hammed up to be honest. They aren't trying to replace local sports coverage here, but want to have reporters who know in depth about each team rather than farm it out onto a reporter who may have little knowledge and no interest in the team. 

I guess they will be pushing for player/coach interviews, but it is very hard to secure these with teams as they are incredible protective and don't allow many interviews. Why as Norwich would you let Farke do a big interview and draw even more attention to how good he is? Bailey got a good interview with Delia and MWJ, which was a good read.

I didn't subscribe for Michael really, although I always felt he was a writer better than being just a local sports guy, it was the range of writers they have and the greater vision for what sports writing could be - as the season goes on I don't doubt there will be some interviews here and there but the PinkUn is going to be the place day-to-day news on Norwich. 

Hopefully they get someone in soon to do the live tweets of the games, Paddy's view of games is pretty negative. He and MB used to balance each other out a bit- but Davitt alone is hard to take,

[king canary 7,578]

5 minutes ago, Bethnal Yellow and Green said:

Definitely.

That infamous quote was made a few years back when the Athletic was looking for a bit of venture capital money so I think it was a bit hammed up to be honest. They aren't trying to replace local sports coverage here, but want to have reporters who know in depth about each team rather than farm it out onto a reporter who may have little knowledge and no interest in the team. 

I guess they will be pushing for player/coach interviews, but it is very hard to secure these with teams as they are incredible protective and don't allow many interviews. Why as Norwich would you let Farke do a big interview and draw even more attention to how good he is? Bailey got a good interview with Delia and MWJ, which was a good read.

 I didn't subscribe for Michael really, although I always felt he was a writer better than being just a local sports guy, it was the range of writers they have and the greater vision for what sports writing could be - as the season goes on I don't doubt there will be some interviews here and there but the PinkUn is going to be the place day-to-day news on Norwich. 

Hopefully they get someone in soon to do the live tweets of the games, Paddy's view of games is pretty negative. He and MB used to balance each other out a bit- but Davitt alone is hard to take,

Yep, I've enjoyed the variety of coverage so far. I find I'm reading at least an article or two a day which is easily worth £2.50 a month.

Only thing that didn't work was the deadline day Q&A which was more of a UI/software problem than content.

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

The FT had a piece on The Athletic, saying that it was paying high salaries to tempt high-profile reporters, with the likes of Daniel Taylor from The Guardian and Oliver Kay from The Times among the 44 arrivals.

But it went on to say this hiring drive had been "particularly severe" on local papers, instancing the recruitment of Phil Hay, the Yorkshire Post's long-time Leeds United correspondent.

[Surfer 1,547]

Creates an opportunity for the next generation of writers though - the subject remains the same over the decades, those who write about it and comment about it come and go.