Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Thierry Henry, Gerard Houllier and the art of the exit interview when you leave a football club. Why should you do it, why most don’t and what it says about modern football
All in Teams
Never change, non-league football
Recently, I watched my first non-league game in 25 years. A lot of things have progressed in the last quarter of a century but the ability of a largely unnoticed local game to arouse the emotions of a couple of hundred people in a small stadium on a Saturday afternoon remains undimmed.
The names have been changed to attracted the interested
What is in a name? How have they been developed in different sports? In MLS, the introduction of St Louis City and Charlotte FC follows the trend towards traditional football names. However, the Seattle Kraken suggests NHL is taking the opposite route. Then there is the Washington Football Team, who have flipped their story by ditching the “Redskins” and are now actively looking for assistance from their fans to frame their future.
The fans who buy players for their football team
I got an email from a Darlington fan: “You're probably not aware, but Darlington FC Supporters Group (the DFC fan-ownership vehicle) has been running a phenomenally successful 'Boost the Budget' scheme for the past four seasons. Despite the economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic, donations towards the 2020/21 playing budget have just passed £100,000.
“Given that Darlington is a predominantly working-class town and DFC's average gate is <1,500, it really is staggering that the fans donate so much money season after season.”
Three lessons from Jesse Cole
Here’s what I learnt from the SportsContentStrategy podcast with Jesse Cole, owner of the Savannah Bananas baseball team and founder of Fans First entertainment
Is this the best sports video ever?
Hibs won the Scottish Cup in 2016 for the first time in 114 years with an injury-time header. After the initial madness had subsided, the fans sang, in my opinion, one of the best songs ever heard at a football game. But the song was too slow and the most popular video of the event on YouTube is terrible quality. So why does it work so well and is the video so popular?
A sporting paradise lost? My favourite interview defined his success his own way
Only 12 men achieved his feat and, in all probability, he will be the last. But his sporting motivations were entirely elsewhere. My favourite sporting interviewee is not anyone you would expect. In fact, you have probably no idea who he is
Sunderland Till I Die: Wear and Tears as a struggling club goes OTT
Sunderland opened their doors last season for another of those fly-on-the-wall sports documentary on Netflix. It was compelling viewing but, unfortunately for them, a horror movie on the pitch. Still, with OTTs platforms continuing to invest in sporting narratives, what did we learn from the tears on Wearside?
What's the story, sporting glory?
Sport is about meaning. Is it often argued that players and clubs have lost sight of this but have content creators developed myopia too?
The Inbetweeners: Why Man City's Amazon series did not live up to its title
All or Nothing: Manchester City was billed as a game-changing documentary series. And not just because it was on Amazon. Fly-on-the-wall shows are often seen as a fly in the ointment for the playing staff. This one was different. Here’s my review.
Global Benchmark: Real beat Barca, Schalke take China, Mexico rise and Man United's YouTube growth
Result Sports’ Global Benchmark data is the most trustworthy followership figures in world football. Here’s the trends I have spotted in the July 2018 statistics.