THE 93:20 NEWSLETTER: ISSUE 5

Hello, and welcome to the 93:20 Newsletter, and to Issue 5 we all go. It’s been another fun week in City land, with discourse revolving around you-know-what, which I will avoid as unlike some others I see little point on commenting on the unknown, or pretending to be an expert. And haven’t we all had enough of experts? Considering most football fans are so dense that they actually think City have committed 115 separate offences, whilst not being able to name a single one, proves that any discourse on the matter is essentially pointless. 

So instead, I decided to concentrate on a couple of other issues around the Inter match, and also talk about something that has been grinding my gears for a while – the invasion of churnalism to all parts of football media, and the curious case of Football 365. As always, what we have done and have planned will be listed at the end, and as always, there’s a lot!

I have little desire to go two-footed into Football 365. I've enjoyed much of their output in the past, and continue to do so. Historically, they've been fair on City, avoiding much of the hysteria that pervades in the club's coverage elsewhere. But they're a perfect case study in how journalism has changed, and how those that purport to be different still have to resort to churnalism to pay the bills.

I’ve noticed the lack of quality control for a while on their Twitter feed, and that’s after you ignore the “woe is me/I detest everything about football” output of John Nicholson, essentially Tommy from Early Doors, who is still happy to be paid for that hatred. Increasingly, you will see articles tediously quoting the asinine opinions of ex-footballers, as everyone does, but there is another strand of their output that is far more curious. And it all revolves around a man called Keith Wyness, and a site called Football Insider.

First up is Football Insider, a site that likes to market itself as an all-rounder in the football sphere, but as their name suggests, they want to be at the forefront of the in-the-knows, with their inside track to stories, usually due to what “sources are telling them”. Another angle they have come up with it via the medium of podcasts, a new format that I personally think has a big future.

And Football365, Football Insider and Keith have got quite the grift going. Keith Wyness – who served as Everton CEO between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – thinks City are “going too far”. That’s his bio, anyway, and he does seem to exist, which surprised me. And how this all works is that he gives uneducated, tedious views on a succession of topics, acting as if he is a renowned expert, and this gets mined for articles, as if his opinions count for anything or are of any interest. The key is that the headline to the articles will never make clear, obviously, that the story they are pushing is not factual, but the opinions of a random no-mark. And Football 365, who hire writers specifically for this purpose, are happy to use his views for cheap content.

This reached a nadir a few months back with the death of Rob Burrow. For those that do not know, Rob was a former (brilliant) rugby league player who came to national attention after his diagnosis with motor neurone disease. He dealt with the illness with class, dignity and a strength I could barely comprehend, and was nothing short of an inspiration both nationally and globally, helping to raise £20m in fundraising to ­support ­people ­living with MND.

Sadly, Keith and Football 365 thought comparing Rob and Manchester City’s actions was fair game. This is the text, and was in response to the news that City were taking action against the Premier League over associated party transactions:

As you would expect, this resulted in a backlash that saw Football 365 delete their tweet, though the article remains online, so clearly they’re not that contrite. Funnily enough, their crass article was not mentioned in their own Mediawatch piece later that day. It was Keith Wyness who used Burrows to make a point about City’s perceived lack of class, not Football365, but that is no excuse for Football 365 to requote it as a basis for a clickbait article.

And so that is where we are right now. Was that worth a whinge? Nothing new, is it? But that final example meant I could ignore it no longer, and it’s been good to get it off my chest. Twitter is enough of a hellhole as it is, without supposedly respectable outlets soiling my timeline with disgraceful content like that. It’s sad, but a natural consequence of the rise of the internet and the decline of print journalism. A race to the bottom for your juicy clicks. How desperate.

Apropos of nothing, please buy my book!

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Elsewhere, back in the real world, it has been a bad week for Champions League viewers, with the loss of a favourite show of mine, and its replacement making me check whether it was April 1^st . I’m referring to the BT Goals Show, or whatever it is called nowadays. TNT No Goals Pointless Chat I imagine. The original Goals Show was my favourite show away from watching actual matches, as it treated its viewers with respect, assuming them to have the intellect to want to be informed about the teams being discussed, a rarity in much of the modern media landscape, where we have to endure Paul Merson employed as some sort of care in the community scheme, struggling as he does to pronounce one-syllable names of any footballer not called Smith. The Best of the Soccer Saturday bunch by a country mile is a woman, Sue Smith, which is an inconvenience for the misogynists, but handy for Merson when referring to her. It’s important I mention this for when Karen Carney shortly surfaces in this article.

Anyway, it was great, coming into its own in the group stages, when there were multiple games occurring at the same time. Often I preferred not to pick out a match, but watch this show instead, with updates, knowledge, and goals as they went in. Yes, James Horncastle would always pronounce names with a flourish to show how clever and multi-lingual he was, but hey, no big deal. All part of the fun.

Sadly the new show is more of an abomination than City’s 4^th kit, and just as likely to cause a migraine. Now we have no goals, presumably because of a rights-issue, with some games on Amazon Prime. Instead, we have four people round a small table, and roving reporters who have nothing of interest to say. Because without seeing any football, it all seems rather pointless. It does not help that Owen Hargreaves has little of interest to say, Karen Carney is somehow worse, offering no insight whatsoever, whilst Julien Laurens sits alongside them wondering if he has made a huge career mistake, and pining for the return of his mates. This is a show for the Goldbridge brigade, for the absolute muppets who are prepared to pay to watch someone sit at a desk watching a football game they are not. It’s hard to know how many more barrels can be scraped.

(Maybe City releasing a 5^th shirt to commemorate the 22^nd anniversary of Dove’s seminal performance at the last match at Maine Road next summer. Look out for it, the rumour is it will have a Lucida Sans font.)

Peter Schmeichel

What a cad. And such an arse, I’m not even going to Google whether I have spelled his name right. If you are not aware, then congratulations, but let me explain that after the match against Inter, he was interviewed from the Etihad for whatever show Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards choose to degrade every week (CBS I assume), commenting on how the atmosphere was non-existent, dead, flat. This is a lie, but the sort no blue will be particularly surprised to hear on a regular basis.

To make matters worse, the simp Micah Richards gave out a fake laugh with no retort as his club was slagged off, as to his right Jamie Carragher gave that smug, snide little semi-grin we know so well. If that was annoying, go watch the segment with David Beckham. Your skin will attempt to crawl away form your body.

I should pay little attention to such ramblings, but what really annoys is this slander, an outright lie from a pampered millionaire who probably hasn't had to pay for his own match ticket in decades, a man so desperate to court favour with United fans who detest him that he felt the need to resort to tired tropes. 

What just as annoying is that there is rarely a discussion had, a sensible, grown-up discussion on why atmospheres may suffer across the board, why games aren't selling out, and the ostracised working classes, priced out of the people's game. Such a discussion would require intelligence and impartiality, plus research, so it's a bit rich of me to expect much from Schmeichel, Richards and Carragher. What is crystal clear is this though: I've seen plenty of legacy Liverpool fans bemoan the poor atmosphere at Anfield, for similar reasons there may be issues at the Etihad. And we all know other grounds are no different. But the one thing that is certain is that the likes of Schmeichel or Ally McCoist, who also had a dig from his comfy seat in the press box, would never, EVER say something similar whilst at Old Trafford or Anfield. I’ve heard pigeons fart whilst watching Liverpool games. As mentioned on the review podcast, what we are seeing and hearing is their own preconceptions and biases playing out live, and a bunch of jaded has-beens desperately waiting for any opportunity to have a dig - it is considered acceptable to question the support of one fan base, and one alone. As Joey Swoll might say - do better, *****. 

For the record, the atmosphere was fine. Been better, been worse. It was entirely as you would expect considering the context and circumstances. I’m no acoustics expert, but I’m not sure noise always travels that well in the ground either. I could see Inter fans chanting to my right at times, but it was sometimes clear to hear, sometimes not that loud. Maybe I need my ears syringed (in fact, I know I do).

Finally….. it turned out that in the end the Inter match did not sell out. Fancy that, eh? That’s due to the pricing, but also the club overestimating the excitement of the first league game, whoever the opposition may be. This is just the start of a long process, with ultimately little at stake, now that there are play-offs as an insurance. There are also big games on a regular basis, there is nothing super special about a game v Inter apart from the only previous occasion being the Champions League final, and I say that despite acknowledging their heritage. We’re used to games like this, it does not merit premium pricing in September in the middle of four consecutive home games. Remember - a well-priced FA Cup 3^rd round home match against Championship opposition will sell out much easier than a tie like this, priced like this. The suits at the club need to sit down and consider why this is. When will those who make such decisions at the club wake up?

What We Have Been Up To

https://ninetythreetwenty.com/9320-player/

Author Interview – Bill Bradshaw

With the release of Francis Lee's autobiography, Howard spoke to ghost writer Bill Bradshaw about Franny's life, honesty, treachery, toilet rolls and much more.

The 93:20 Review:- Panic Stations

Howard, George and Bailey talk 115, look back at the hard-fought win over Brentford, preview Inter and more.

The 93:20 Review:- Firing Blanks

Howard, Ste and Ahsan talk pyjamas, atmosphere, big games and look back at the draw v Inter.

The Hub:- Episode 11

Bailey is joined by the founder of Statsbomb, Ted Knutson, to discuss the formation of the company, the rise of analytics in football, and the role it plays in player recruitment, plus discuss summer transfers which Ted has covered with The Transfers Flow.

What Is Coming Up

The Premier League Show

The usual great fayre, as Ste and guests go around the grounds before another big weekend of Premier League action

The Friday Show

Another bumper episode, looking back and forwards as always, with another huge match on the horizon. You know the score.

Competitions

We are hoping to have a competition for every day next week, with four City books to hand out, and a raft of old City programmes to donate too, so look out for all of that!

Plus of course an Arsenal and Watford review, and a whole lot more…..

As always, thanks for reading, spread the word, and up the blues.

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