Press Officers – Here is the news

I’ve always tried to keep my reports football related. Sometimes the “line” might be a little quirky or humourous angle on one of the main characters in a game, but that’s the nature of Monday morning papers.

What’s the point in repeating what the fans have read on Sunday or seen with their own eyes ion the box?

As a fan myself, I’ll raise a smile if there’s a bit of footy banter type reporting on my team. It’s harmless fun and, after all, if the players can take some of the abuse they throw at each other as they leave the dressing room, they can live with a little light hearted teasing in the papers.

One thing I’ve never done is stitch a player up – or at least one that didn’t deserve it in my view. The only occasion I can remember this happening was when a West Brom centre half racially abused Reading winger Michael Gilkes a few years ago.

There was a coming together on the pitch, the defender said something and suddenly Gilkes was throwing a punch at someone twice his height, weight and reach – before being sent off. It didn’t make sense as Michael was usually quite well controlled and an easy going lad. After the game he told me what had been said.

I felt obliged to put this in the report – while also giving the other player the right to give a denial, although his face told another story when I spoke to him – and it was published. If we are really going to kick racism out of football the ref should have sent the defender off as well. He was certainly within earshot.

Far from being someone who dishes the dirt, I’ve actually cautioned a couple of lower league players not to mention certain things – getting a girl pregnant, for example, or being caught in a nightclub row involving the boyfriend of someone while the player’s wife was at home putting the kids to bed.

Frankly it’s not the sort of stuff that interests most football reporters (or fans) and there’s still generally a good relationship between most hacks and players. So why do more and more clubs feel the need to appoint press officers to act as a barrier between the players and the media?

On Saturday I was asked by the Brentford press officer; who I was representing and then, what I wanted to talk to Charlie MacDonald about after the striker had scored the opener.

I told him I was with the Sun and wanted to talk about the game unless Charlie had starred in a porn films recently. This seemed to raise a smile from Charlie who is a decent guy and who I have spoken to before on at least two occasions without managing to destroy his or Brentford’s reputation.

Frankly Charlie is smart enough to know what to say and what not to say anyway, but still the press officer sat on my shoulder as I talked to him. I’ve got to admit that it annoyed me so much that in the end I wasn’t concentrating and my questioning was fairly poor. I’d already half decided to concentrate on the Swindon angle given the press guy’s intrusion.

I did send over Charlie’s quotes and used some of them on yesterday’s blog after The Sun cut them due to lack of space.

I’m sure that Charlie MacDonald can live without seeing his wise words in the papers – he doesn’t strike me as that shallow – but clubs like Brentford should be seeing the national press as an opportunity to publicise themselves and generate interest – and, in turn, much needed funds.

It seems to me that a few clubs in the lower leagues do not understand the role the media could play in helping them and all too often employ so-called experts who can’t distinguish between a football reporter, a gossip columnist and a page three girl.

Maybe the press officer in question is under strict instructions from the club and if so I apologise to him, but ironically, I’ve always found it easy to approach and talk to players at Griffin Park in the past and, in return, have given them free coverage/advertising that they would have had to pay thousands for otherwise.

If – or when in my humble opinion – the footballing financial bubble bursts, many of these clubs will find themselves desperate for publicity to draw the punters in. I’m old enough to remember football before the Premier League (yes, younger readers, there was such a thing) and it wasn’t pretty.

If people start drifting away from live football (and it may have already started) and it’s no longer in vogue, do the clubs really think the billions will continue to roll in from TV deals?

They need to re-connect with the real fans and one way of doing this is through the local and national press.

Of course when a reporter finds barriers being put up in an attempt to get a good line, he or she will also start to wonder what the subject has to hide and they might find themselves getting even more attention because of it!

This isn’t a dig at Brentford in particular, but when they and the likes of Hartlepool start worrying about the quality of their press coverage and not the quantity, they’re not seeing the bigger picture.