Football Journalist Accreditation Discussion

I wanted to write a short blog on the recent journalist accreditation issues with the Football League. 

For anyone who did not hear about this, just before the start of the football season there were negotiations between newspaper agencies, press officers and The Football League.  Without going in to detail as to who was involved, the negotiations were to discuss the control over how much journalists would be able to update whilst at the match, in terms of live online match reports and social media updates (E.G. Twitter).

The Football League and various clubs were worried that by allowing journalists to provide immediate live updates, that it may deter people from attending the match itself and not spending their money on admittance.

Therefore, my question would be; is news, media and press coverage something that can still be controlled and what effects will this have on not only the league but individual clubs?  Is there already too much happening in the media to limit the amount a journalist or press officer can report during a game? We have the Saturday afternoon Sky Sports News programme which shows instant goal updates and even has live match updates from various reporters.  Commentary is readily available for all games on local radio stations and these are easily accessible on the internet and have been for some time.  On top of this, most fans who now attend games tweet during the match at every goal, tackle and bad refereeing decision!

But, is this a negative? Surely this is only creating a much wider community of football fans and allowing more people to interact with each other? I imagine there are many football fans that have interacted with somebody on Twitter they didn’t previously know and were able to strike a conversation about the game.  I still think people attending matches will continue, regardless of the live media coverage.  The bigger question, is will this hinder the potential growth of attendances at football matches?

I think I could probably talk about this all day, so I’ll stop myself there and would love to hear some views on this…

@Rich__Norton

League Two Round-Up, 6/08/2011

Yesterday saw the return of League Two and extremely close weekend of games it was!  All in all, four draws and eight victories – seven of those winning margins by just a single goal and I think that proves just how competitive this campaign is going to be.

The big day for AFC Wimbledon was spoiled by an impressive Bristol Rovers who looked very good at times but a bit shaky defensively.  After AFC made it back to 2-2, centre-back Johnson threw his arm at the ball and conceded a penalty that decided the match in Rovers favour.  Definitely a moment to quickly forget.

Elsewhere in the division, Swindon looked strongest after a convincing 3-0 victory over Crewe Alexandra and manager Paolo Di Canio appears to be replicating his own personal flair in the team’s play already!  Aldershot took all three points away at Bradford and Gillingham edged a home encounter against Cheltenham.  Dagenham & Redbridge, Barnet, Rotherham and Southend all won their opening matches by a single goal. 

The game of the day was Port Vale at home to pre-season favourites and big-spenders Crawley Town.  Crawley lead 2-1 going into the 77^th minute when Dempster was sent off, leading to an injury time equaliser for Port Vale.  This left Northampton & Accrington, Shrewsbury & Plymouth and Torquay & Burton to play the remaining draws in the league.

I was at Roots Hall for Southend United v Hereford United and I was treated to an enjoyable first half and a nail-biting kick it as far as you can second half! I expect many teams were subject to this considering the seven single goal score lines, but that seems to be what happens in opening games.  As they say – start as you mean to go on – and nobody wants to start with a defeat… 

@Rich__Norton

Predicted Championship Table 2011/12 - @Jake_Baxter

1	Leicester City
2	West Ham United
3	Ipswich Town
4	Reading
5	Brighton & Hove Albion
6	Nottingham Forest
7	Burnley
8	Birmingham City
9	Leeds United
10	Cardiff City
11	Southampton
12	Blackpool
13	Portsmouth
14	Hull City
15	Derby County
16	Middlesbrough
17	Bristol City
18	Millwall
19	Watford
20	Crystal Palace
21	Peterborough United
22	Doncaster Rovers
23	Coventry City
24	Barnsley

Predicted League One Table 2011/12 - @MatthewDStone

1	Huddersfield Town
2	Sheffield Wednesday
3	Preston North End
4	Charlton Athletic
5	Sheffield United
6	MK Dons
7	Brentford
8	Bournemouth
9	Scunthorpe United
10	Notts County
11	Leyton Orient
12	Rochdale
13	Chesterfield
14	Carlisle United
15	Colchester United
16	Oldham Athletic
17	Exeter City
18	Wycombe Wanderers
19	Tranmere Rovers
20	Hartlepool United
21	Yeovil Town
22	Bury
23	Stevenage
24	Walsall

Predicted League Two Table 2011/12 - @Rich_Norton

1	Crawley Town
2	Shrewsbury Town
3	Gillingham
4	Port Vale
5	Bristol Rovers
6	Rotherham United
7	Southend United
8	Swindon Town
9	Oxford United
10	Torquay United
11	Plymouth Argyle
12	Accrington Stanley
13	Dagenham & Redbridge
14	Bradford City
15	AFC Wimbledon
16	Northampton Town
17	Crewe Alexandra
18	Aldershot Town
19	Cheltenham Town
20	Hereford United
21	Barnet
22	Morecambe
23	Burton Albion
24	Macclesfield Town