Latest News - 13/07/08

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Newcastle United and Communication – the two have separated – by John Ingram

We’ve had a summer of wild speculation with no foundation. Why have Kevin Keegan and Derek Llambias stopped speaking to the fans.

Discuss on our fans forum.

Traditionally football clubs were always desperate to get fans through the doors on a Saturday and have always used the local press to generate interest with basic marketing of their product.

Usually the club would be promoting the next match, who’s playing and whose not, they would be giving general information on what’s happening at the club and drop the odd piece of transfer gossip to excite everyone.

Then the players would also have some responsibility by taking turns to give some quotes about how they were feeling about the season, how they were feeling about their own performance, any personal events like photo shoots at visits to local hospitals etc.

A strong relationship with the local paper was always seen as being mutually beneficial as it sold papers, encouraged to go to the match and everyone, club, paper and fan were happy. The local reporter covering the club would be at the ground most days, he would have a relationship with all the players, the coaching staff, the manager, the board. He would know exactly what was going on at the club and there would be an agreement between all parties about what could be published and what had to remain indoors.

A more reserved relationship was usually kept with the area reporters from the National press due to their paymasters in London being less respectful of the “keeping in house” agreements. The national lads would also rely quite a lot on acceptable news from the local press.

But everyone accepted that every day the local paper printed they would have some fresh copy to print be it latest injuries, rumours about team selection, managers views on performance or some general gossip amongst the players.

So what has gone wrong at Newcastle United then ???

Well reading the local Evening Chronicle these days you feel there is definitely something missing. They are managing a few stories every day, chats with staff and players etc but is it informative and enlightening, well I’m afraid not. Basically you don’t get the feeling that the local paper is at the heart of what is going on but more of an outsider peering in somewhat like the rest of us.

So if the local paper has not got the news where does the fanatical Geordie fan go for his daily fix of what is going on at the club.

The official NUFC website is a great place for the club to communicate with the fans and that has it’s own set of writers constructing latest news and transfer gossip. It certainly has a big readership from us loyal Geordie’s. The poll it is currently running on the best match last season has accumulated 24,201 votes, a significant total of which most football clubs could only dream.

The official site however is similarly barren of any real news and even resorts I see to circulating transfer gossip along with everyone else. Highlighting for example the fact that Newcastle were being linked to Steve Sidwell just 2 days before he signed for Aston Villa.

The official club site is offering a weekly newsletter promising “All of the news from the heart of the club will be delivered to fans direct to their PC each Friday.”. Well yes that is what we would all like but why do we feel that news is not going to tell us anything we don’t already know. I think not.

Also offered as a new launch is the re-introduction of the official club magazine where the fans themselves have been asked for contributions about their special stories and news and views. Well very good but I can get that down the local pub or on the internet for that, where are the special stories and the news and views from the heart of the club.

The frustration of all this clearly for me stems from the wild speculation and rumour fuelled principally by the internet. There is a huge number of sites all trying to be the ones to bring the news to Newcastle fans. One item on an RSS feed can find itself bouncing around the world within seconds, posted on hundreds of sites and read by thousands within minutes.

Whilst obviously it must be a bit intimidating and challenging to know that one wrong word will be beamed across the world almost instantly, it does not give the excuse to make no comment at all.

The main items of news all summer for Newcastle fans fundamentally been is Mike Ashley going to sell the club and what is the transfer policy as we are linked to hundreds of players worldwide from Ronaldinho to Arshavin.

Speculation has been running amok on both subjects which has eventually caused the club to issue a statement from Derek Llambias saying people are trying to de-stabilise. Sorry Derek but your talking utter rubbish, there is no de-stabilisation, supporters are just trying to find out what is going on at the club.

As proved at last when Mike Ashley eventually made a statement to the media on the eve of his annual results for Sports Direct. As he said, the club is not for sale but he wants investment partners. Thank you Mike we know now and how hard was it to make that statement which would actually have killed all of the summer speculation stone dead months ago.

It’s time for the club to get back to basics and actually work with the media to inform the supporters what is going on. Not for the traditional reason to fill the ground for each match because it’s full already but to stop the media frenzy of made up speculation that seems to surround Newcastle and greatly frustrates us supporters.

What is evident from the Evening Chronicle, the official club site and the hundreds of websites reporting on the club is the total lack of comment from anyone important at the club. Kevin Keegan has clearly been told not to talk to the press following his outburst after the Chelsea match where admittedly he should not have criticised Mike Ashley but then that is Kevin Keegan and why Newcastle fans love him. Also we have heard nothing from Derek Llambias until his “dark forces are destabilising the club” statement. Get real Derek, we are not stupid and we don’t believe all these rumours, but we do want to know what you are up to.

Most Newcastle fans were glad to see the back of Freddie Shepherd however you have to say he managed the local press and the media in general far better than the present regime. You sensed he had a feel for what the fans wanted and kept them informed on what they are all really interested in i.e. what’s happening on the pitch. (Shame about what was happening off the pitch though Freddie !!)

The fanaticism of the Newcastle fans can often make owners and managers of the club complacent and that is certainly the case now with communication. So come on Newcastle, lets get back to traditional football news reporting and rebuild the position with the local press.

We don’t want 10 dreamed up stories a day telling us we are going to sign Ronaldo and Kaka or that Bin Laden is buying the club. We want to hear from Kevin Keegan, Derek Llambias and other important people at the club. Just ordinary mundane stuff like where we might strengthen the team, who is injured, what are the players up to, how is pre-season preparation going?

The club itself is re-introducing an official club magazine for next season which is welcomed by me and is a great opportunity to improve communication. The club would welcome contributions from fans which you should send to Paul Tully at the official website.

Personally I would also like to suggest some articles from the Senior men at the club to make the new official club magazine of interest to us fans. For example:

Derek Llambias - an introduction
Kevin Keegan - what I'm up to
Terry McDermott - what I'm up to with Kevin
Dennis Wise - my plans to build up the playing staff
Richard Money - my plans for the academy
Jeff Vitare and Tony Jimenez - a day in the life of .............. how we spend our time
Lil Fucillo - how I run the scouting network
Derek Wright - how I run the physio room
David Williamson - how I'm increasing turnover at the club

Can we get back to basics on communication please and those that hold senior positions in the club please communicate with the fans that pay their salaries, it’s not a lot to ask.

Discuss in our fans forum.