Sentinel Port Vale News to be a subscription / Baggers

[Macc Lad]

The problem is we've all become used to reading news and sport for free, but quality journalism costs money and all those infuriating adverts popping up on the Sentinel site simply don't generate enough revenue. Some national newspapers like the Times and Torygraph now charge to read almost all their stories. So it's not surprising that the Sentinel has taken this step.

 

However, it's right to contrast the vast amount of free coverage given to Stoke City with the Sentinel's recently abysmal coverage of Vale. There will have to be a dramatic improvement in the output of Vale stories to attract fans back to the website. It simply won't be enough to charge for the newsletter, the free website element has to be much better, too.

 

Having said that, I have subscribed. I was a regional journalist for almost 50 years, starting at the Sentinel, and believe firmly that communities need and deserve good journalism to keep them informed.

[TJHValiant]

34 minutes ago, CAVALIER said:

I’ve subscribed. One year only for £10. Unsubscribed from SOT Live. 

Don’t. You’re just encouraging them. £10 now..£150 a decade later after they have enticed a small band of mugs to pay.

[Warren]

59 minutes ago, Phil500 said:

Good effort by the Sentinel, but won’t work. £10 for the season.!. That is two pints🤪

Nearly 4 pints of bitter at Wetherspoons.

Edited September 29, 2023 by Warren

[The French Connection]

1 minute ago, Warren said:

Nearly 4 pints of bitter at Whetherspoons.

Depends whether you go to Wetherspoons or not.  If they applied this to Stoke and Vale, and said it was a fiver a year (so Stoke's larger fan base pays the greater share) that would be bearable. 

[valiant_593]

Honestly no idea why you would subscribe to something like this. More up to date info in other places that’s posted much quicker. 

[Warren]

The Port Vale website could be more polished. Good idea, given they have a women's team, to have a drop down section on it!????? For example. But ultimately it provides complete and factual information. The Sentinel is standing outside the room like all of us. So it's just a chatterbox or summariser. 

Edited September 29, 2023 by Warren

[robf]

22 minutes ago, Warren said:

The Port Vale website could be more polished. Good idea, given they have a women's team, to have a drop down section on it!????? For example. But ultimately it provides complete and factual information. The Sentinel is standing outside the room like all of us. So it's just a chatterbox or summariser. 

The worst thing with some of the official coverage is when things are only put on social media and not on the official site. I totally get that social media is more irrelevant and some of the short, fun pieces wouldn't suit the website, but the website, much more than Twitter or Tiktok is the official place for the club to announce things.

It also makes sense to try and get your message (whether it's a fixture change, a club event or whatever) to the widest possible audience so the club really are missing a trick if the big stories don't go on ALL the social media channels AND the website. 

Oh - and please update the youth team profiles. Quite aside from the fact it still says it's the 2022-23 season, I'm sure  we've actually got more than one player on the books!

Youth Team | Port Vale

WWW.PORT-VALE.CO.UK

 

[NellyTheValiant]

13 minutes ago, robf said:

The worst thing with some of the official coverage is when things are only put on social media and not on the official site. I totally get that social media is more irrelevant and some of the short, fun pieces wouldn't suit the website, but the website, much more than Twitter or Tiktok is the official place for the club to announce things.

It also makes sense to try and get your message (whether it's a fixture change, a club event or whatever) to the widest possible audience so the club really are missing a trick if the big stories don't go on ALL the social media channels AND the website. 

Oh - and please update the youth team profiles. Quite aside from the fact it still says it's the 2022-23 season, I'm sure  we've actually got more than one player on the books!

Youth Team | Port Vale

WWW.PORT-VALE.CO.UK

 

Saw that last week Rob when wondering who we had in our youth teams, I thought that maybe it was to do with age appropriateness that the information wasn't available.

[robf]

26 minutes ago, NellyTheValiant said:

Saw that last week Rob when wondering who we had in our youth teams, I thought that maybe it was to do with age appropriateness that the information wasn't available.

Yeah, it may be. If so, it's probably best to delete the page than have it in its present state. 

[Jacko51]

This will not be a subscription to the Senile website which is, let's face it, totally unreadable.  It is to a dedicated Port Vale news service, written by Baggers and sent to your email address.  It won't have garbage adverts interrupting the text like we have now and will, I'm told, have more in depth coverage than we used to get when Mike was having to cover other teams like Chester before.  I subscribe to The Athletic which has a similar format and charges about a fiver a month.  I'm giving it a go.

[Wrex]

1 hour ago, NellyTheValiant said:

Saw that last week Rob when wondering who we had in our youth teams, I thought that maybe it was to do with age appropriateness that the information wasn't available.

https://www.mansfieldtown.net/teams/youth-team/

https://www.mansfieldtown.net/teams/Under-18s/defender/elliot-hartmann/

Mansfield,(a club I picked at random), have their youth player profiles updated.

Are we trying to keep our 16/17 year old academy prospects safe by preventing fans from knowing their favourite film and best quality? Or is it more likely that we just can't be arsed to update the website?

 

[CambridgeDon]

1 hour ago, robf said:

The worst thing with some of the official coverage is when things are only put on social media and not on the official site. I totally get that social media is more irrelevant and some of the short, fun pieces wouldn't suit the website, but the website, much more than Twitter or Tiktok is the official place for the club to announce things.

It also makes sense to try and get your message (whether it's a fixture change, a club event or whatever) to the widest possible audience so the club really are missing a trick if the big stories don't go on ALL the social media channels AND the website. 

Oh - and please update the youth team profiles. Quite aside from the fact it still says it's the 2022-23 season, I'm sure  we've actually got more than one player on the books!

Youth Team | Port Vale

WWW.PORT-VALE.CO.UK

 

You're right about the youth team and the women's team coverage on the main site is similarly patchy to say the least. This season, Vale have recruited well to the women's team who have won their first three games convincingly but it's difficult to get their results and league position without searching through the main FA site. Currently they're second and how many of us knew that this Sunday they have a top of the table clash with Newcastle Town women? Only one team gets promoted so it's a crucial game for the club.

It's not everyone's cup of tea, I appreciate, but you'd think the women's team would be valued enough by the club to have decent coverage on the website. 

And, of course, there's no chance of the Sentinel doing it as they can't even cover the men's team properly!

[Wrex]

1 hour ago, Jacko51 said:

This will not be a subscription to the Senile website which is, let's face it, totally unreadable.  It is to a dedicated Port Vale news service, written by Baggers and sent to your email address.  It won't have garbage adverts interrupting the text like we have now and will, I'm told, have more in depth coverage than we used to get when Mike was having to cover other teams like Chester before.  I subscribe to The Athletic which has a similar format and charges about a fiver a month.  I'm giving it a go.

For a tenner a year why not? If it's a success then maybe they will put the coverage out there for free, or maybe just start charging Stoke fans for coverage of their club. Either way it's a win!

[Guppys left peg]

Honestly if it means that I don’t ever have to click on the borderline unreadable SOT Live website again with all them ads then I’m all in favour of it. I’ve subscribed for the year anyway. Tenner to see how it goes is worth a look IMO.

[Phil]

18 minutes ago, CambridgeDon said:

You're right about the youth team and the women's team coverage on the main site is similarly patchy to say the least. This season, Vale have recruited well to the women's team who have won their first three games convincingly but it's difficult to get their results and league position without searching through the main FA site. Currently they're second and how many of us knew that this Sunday they have a top of the table clash with Newcastle Town women? Only one team gets promoted so it's a crucial game for the club.

It's not everyone's cup of tea, I appreciate, but you'd think the women's team would be valued enough by the club to have decent coverage on the website. 

And, of course, there's no chance of the Sentinel doing it as they can't even cover the men's team properly!

They aren't playing Newcastle on Sunday, they are playing Redditch in the Womens FA Cup!