The Athletic

[Sketchead]

I'm sure most people have seen by now that The Athletic [The Athletic] has launched its football arm here in the UK. It's pretty much hand picked some of the UK's biggest names from nationals, particularly from The Times and The Guardian, as well as cherry picking some of the best local journalists, such as Phil Hay to cover Leeds, James Pearce to cover Liverpool, etc. Our Spiers will be reporting on Wolves for them too.

The idea is to share exclusive, in-depth features that readers won't have access to anywhere else, as well as the usual breaking news. It's subscription only, with an introductory offer of a free month's trial then 50% off (£2.49 a month for a year) if you want to carry on.

Wondering if people on here will subscribe to this? I'm interested to see how it goes for them - it's certainly worked well in America for their main sports.

 

[Boss Hogg]

Must admit I’m slightly sceptical about a paywall for sports journalism. If it is really investigative stuff (FIFA corruption, etc) then it might be worth paying for, if it is just click bait headlines to tempt you in without any real substance other than football celebrity gossip then it won’t survive.

 

[WolfLing]

Plenty of journalists that will subscribe, then re-hash the stories for free.

So no need to pay for something like this in my opinion.

 

[cannockwolves]

I have signed up this morning, but Tim is not listed as one of the writers yet.

I have not had a chance to have a good look round at the app yet, there was one article headline that caught the eye. The Liverpool owners saying something about breaches of FFP should be punished. Frighten of the competition by the sound of it!

When anything about the Wolves comes on I will give everyone a bit of a synopsis if I can. But as yet I have not seen any Wolves content.

 

[WasStefan]

I'm sure most people have seen by now that The Athletic [The Athletic] has launched its football arm here in the UK. It's pretty much hand picked some of the UK's biggest names from nationals, particularly from The Times and The Guardian, as well as cherry picking some of the best local journalists, such as Phil Hay to cover Leeds, James Pearce to cover Liverpool, etc. Our Spiers will be reporting on Wolves for them too.

The idea is to share exclusive, in-depth features that readers won't have access to anywhere else, as well as the usual breaking news. It's subscription only, with an introductory offer of a free month's trial then 50% off (£2.49 a month for a year) if you want to carry on.

Wondering if people on here will subscribe to this? I'm interested to see how it goes for them - it's certainly worked well in America for their main sports.

Works out to less than 10p a day. No ads. I'll give it a whirl.

 

[wolvesaywe]

I forecast a spectacular flop. More than enough well established, quality free content out there

 

[Bill McCai]

Seems to do well in the US

 

[TheRetroChief]

I'd only look at the Wolves stuff. Don't see how we'd get anything more interesting than Spiers used to churn out. Why would I start paying for that?? I seriously doubt we will be missing out on anything.

 

[bennymacca]

I'm sure most people have seen by now that The Athletic [The Athletic] has launched its football arm here in the UK. It's pretty much hand picked some of the UK's biggest names from nationals, particularly from The Times and The Guardian, as well as cherry picking some of the best local journalists, such as Phil Hay to cover Leeds, James Pearce to cover Liverpool, etc. Our Spiers will be reporting on Wolves for them too.

The idea is to share exclusive, in-depth features that readers won't have access to anywhere else, as well as the usual breaking news. It's subscription only, with an introductory offer of a free month's trial then 50% off (£2.49 a month for a year) if you want to carry on.

Wondering if people on here will subscribe to this? I'm interested to see how it goes for them - it's certainly worked well in America for their main sports.

To my mind there is no point paying for exclusive scoops as they stay exclusive for only the fraction of a second it takes for the news to be forwarded on to Twitter and the mass media. On the other hand insightful, well written journalism is worth paying for.

 

[MobNet Wolf]

Just signed up for the trial and read the article about how the transfer market works. A very good read.

Still all quiet on Tim. I wonder if he’s still seeing out his notice.

 

[Bill McCai]

Spiers is defo moving there, they Tweeted it earlier.

 

[The Wolf Of Wombourne]

For 2.49 It's not a big commitment, i'll give it a go I think.

 

[Chicago Wolve]

They just posted around 10 articles this morning once it went live. Similar to the baseball and basketball reporting, a lot more in-depth stories than you will see around the traditional sites regarding football. The subscription has been more than worth it as a fan of the major US sports, and if they continue like this but for the EPL I strongly recommend it for those solely interested in football.

 

[Knocker Lite]

They just posted around 10 articles this morning once it went live. Similar to the baseball and basketball reporting, a lot more in-depth stories than you will see around the traditional sites regarding football. The subscription has been more than worth it as a fan of the major US sports, and if they continue like this but for the EPL I strongly recommend it for those solely interested in football.

I wonder if the UK has the quality of sports writer with enough insight to make people wish to spend on such a venture.

 

[Stafford]

Will there be podcasts full of laddish bantz?

 

[Wonder Boyo]

Signed up for a free 30 day trial so will see how it goes. I also closely follow a team in the NFL which makes it a bit more worthwhile. Will probably cancel after my trial but will see how I feel then. Very impressed by the app so far

 

[Chris H]

I forecast a spectacular flop. More than enough well established, quality free content out there

For how long will the established outlets be able to keep their content free though? They seem to be struggling more and more and if something like this does well enough that it damages their viewer numbers it could well force the established outlets to go down the paywall route too, by which time The Athletic will already have a head start on subscription numbers whilst everyone else is playing catch up.

Of course, I could be wrong and it may never take off but in every industry there's usually a person or company that comes along and revolutionises how the industry works and invariable everyone else ends up playing catch up by which time they've already cemented themselves in the market.

 

[Bostin]

Think I'll see what the general consensus is after a few days and maybe try it.

They should've made it free (no trial required) to get as many people on board as possible, surely?

 

[WasStefan]

I'd only look at the Wolves stuff. Don't see how we'd get anything more interesting than Spiers used to churn out. Why would I start paying for that?? I seriously doubt we will be missing out on anything.

To my mind there is no point paying for exclusive scoops as they stay exclusive for only the fraction of a second it takes for the news to be forwarded on to Twitter and the mass media. On the other hand insightful, well written journalism is worth paying for.

you are paying via adverts/ pop ups

 

[Sketchead]

Think I'll see what the general consensus is after a few days and maybe try it.

They should've made it free (no trial required) to get as many people on board as possible, surely?

It is free for a month which you can then cancel at any time, to be fair.

I'll get a login through work so will see how it goes. A lot of the journalists will uncover some really interesting stuff, I'm sure. Unfortunately the Wolves equivalent to the likes of Phil Hay nowhere near cuts the mustard in terms of access and getting info we wouldn't already know. Will be interesting to see if the club opens up to provide more access.

 

[WasStefan]

Think Spiers will struggle without Judah.

 

[WasStefan]

They cover boxing pretty in depth too which is cool

 

[TheRetroChief]

you are paying via adverts/ pop ups

The quality of Spiers' output is not worth paying for directly. I can get better info and higher quality copy on here than from him.
I can't recall ever deliberately clicking on any adverts I've seen online, I have a sort-of mental filter to them in addition to comprehensive pop-up blockers and the like.
I won't be following him, that's for sure.

 

[Deleted at own request (WeAreTheWolves)]

Maybe the Spiers/Dias exclusive has been set up for a ‘read the latest by subscribing to The Athletic’

 

[SakosRightFoot]

To my mind there is no point paying for exclusive scoops as they stay exclusive for only the fraction of a second it takes for the news to be forwarded on to Twitter and the mass media. On the other hand insightful, well written journalism is worth paying for.

I imagine they’ll be pretty tight on copyright to stop that.

 

[Rangiora Wolf]

What will we find out about wolves by paying for it that we cant get for free? Cant see the club giving exclusives to Tim whether its paid for or not

 

[Knocker Lite]

‘When Plan A is sat here, ready to sign, how can you have a Plan B?’ Victor Orta on life as Leeds’ director of football

Harvey Barnes’ last words to Victor Orta were “see you on Monday”. It was a Saturday afternoon in July of last year and Barnes’ loan from Leicester City to Leeds United was almost there. Medical done, terms agreed, squad number allocated. Then on Sunday, as Orta drove home from a friendly at Southend United, his phone rang. Barnes is going to West Bromwich Albion.
Good piece by Phil Hay, giving insight about what might have been. Could Spiers give similar?

 

[Deleted member 5242]

‘When Plan A is sat here, ready to sign, how can you have a Plan B?’ Victor Orta on life as Leeds’ director of football

Harvey Barnes’ last words to Victor Orta were “see you on Monday”. It was a Saturday afternoon in July of last year and Barnes’ loan from Leicester City to Leeds United was almost there. Medical done, terms agreed, squad number allocated. Then on Sunday, as Orta drove home from a friendly at Southend United, his phone rang. Barnes is going to West Bromwich Albion.
Good piece by Phil Hay, giving insight about what might have been. Could Spiers give similar?

I think you know the answer to that. Unfortunately for me, that's the kind of insightful article I like to read.

 

[Sketchead]

‘When Plan A is sat here, ready to sign, how can you have a Plan B?’ Victor Orta on life as Leeds’ director of football

Harvey Barnes’ last words to Victor Orta were “see you on Monday”. It was a Saturday afternoon in July of last year and Barnes’ loan from Leicester City to Leeds United was almost there. Medical done, terms agreed, squad number allocated. Then on Sunday, as Orta drove home from a friendly at Southend United, his phone rang. Barnes is going to West Bromwich Albion.
Good piece by Phil Hay, giving insight about what might have been. Could Spiers give similar?

Phil Hay is one the best local football writers in the country, giving scoop after scoop, who is ingrained within Leeds despite being a fan of a different club. That's the difference. I don't think Wolves in its current set up would be open to giving similar information away.

 

[wolvesaywe]

Paul Berry is writing Wolves articles too

 

[Bostin]

It is free for a month which you can then cancel at any time, to be fair.

I'll get a login through work so will see how it goes. A lot of the journalists will uncover some really interesting stuff, I'm sure. Unfortunately the Wolves equivalent to the likes of Phil Hay nowhere near cuts the mustard in terms of access and getting info we wouldn't already know. Will be interesting to see if the club opens up to provide more access.

I know, and even though it's free, inputting your card details to then have to cancel a free trial is off-putting to some.

 

[Bostin]

Paul Berry is writing Wolves articles too

Former head of media? May have some contacts at the club still

 

[wolvesaywe]

Just gone into it and skipped the create profile part and it's happily allowing me to read all articles.

Maybe a limit or something but I won't be paying based on what I've seen so far

 

[Knocker Lite]

Former head of media? May have some contacts at the club still

He could give insights about some of the targets Wolves missed out on under Jez Moxey, including an 80million defender.

 

[FinnishWolf]

I definitely like the sound of this. Free tabloid clickbait content is freely available everywhere, that's true; but that's exactly why publishing actual in-depth features behind a paywall is just the kind of content I'd be interested in.

The only sports paper I actually pay for is a Finnish paper which always has a number of very good, in-depth articles that aren't even trying to be "this thing happened today" kind of stuff, but rather something where actual effort and research has obviously gone into. I'm hoping this might be something similar, I'd be more than happy to pay for that.

 

[DanishWolf]

Just signed up for the trial and read the article about how the transfer market works. A very good read.

Still all quiet on Tim. I wonder if he’s still seeing out his notice.

Id sign of for articles such as the mentioned. I'd never sign up for exclusive news, as the exclusive becomes non-exclusive quite fast. However I'd certainly pay for some good quality insightful journalism.
As for Spiers, I struggle to see how he can provide either the exclusives (as his source access seemed very limited at Wolves) or the quality read, as the above article, as Ive never seen him do that. But that could be down to the format of E&S, not him.

 

[Wonder Boyo]

I know, and even though it's free, inputting your card details to then have to cancel a free trial is off-putting to some.

That is off-putting but at least it is very easy to cancel in this case, just a click of a button. I always look into how to cancel free trials before signing up as it's often made difficult by having to phone a certain number or request a cancellation in writing. This seems straight forward enough though.

Have to say, what I've read so far I've been very impressed with. Some really insightful pieces on the work ethic of Everton's manager Marco Silva and the fallout of a policy change at Albion's training facilities (they banned all staff other than first team players and staff from their training facilities, canteen and car parks and it caused an uproar with many leaving). It's good having quality writing all in one place and easy to access. The app is really excellent to use.

They know that 99% of football fans are not going to subscribe because it's not their thing and they won't be prepared to pay for it. Hence, I'm sure there will be lots of threads like this on football forums up and down the country with people queuing up to let everyone know that they won't pay for football journalism. They just need the 1%, and as it's a worldwide platform they have more room to manoeuvre. I'm also guessing that as time goes on they will ditch some writers and sign up others based on viewing figures and subscriber feedback.

 

[Sheriff Woody]

I've signed up.

I'm an NFL fan too so I'm keen to see what the content is like, it can't be any worse than that provided by the NFL themselves. My team (Cincinnati Bengals) get very little coverage in mainstream NFL/national media so I'm interested to see what the reporting is like.

 

[Sketchead]

I've signed up.

I'm an NFL fan too so I'm keen to see what the content is like, it can't be any worse than that provided by the NFL themselves. My team (Cincinnati Bengals) get very little coverage in mainstream NFL/national media so I'm interested to see what the reporting is like.

You going to Bengals game at Wembley later this year?

 

[Sheriff Woody]

You going to Bengals game at Wembley later this year?

I am indeed. Missed them last time around against the Redskins as it was only a month after my daughter was born. Now I just want to get out of the house!