Sentinel Port Vale News to be a subscription / Baggers

[Granville]

Thinking a bit more about this, I am struggling to think what level of exclusivity it'll have to justify the cost. 

Pre match press conferences?

Uploaded to YouTube already - for free

Post match press conferences?

Uploaded to YouTube and Radio Stoke broadcast the manager interview after the final whistle - again free

Interviews with people at the club?

The club post lots already, plus Radio Stoke do a lot on their Thursday night show too - Michael Johnson the first team analyst was on the other week and that was a good listen. Ale and the Vale has lots of people on too which I find interesting to listen to, the Flitcroft one being the most recent example - again, all that is free.

Fan opinion? 

That's what OVF and social media are here for, as well as actually speaking to your mates and other fans in person - again free.

Q&A with people at the club?

There's now regular fan forums at the club and guests who go to the supporters club meetings - free again bar Supporters Club membership 

So what exactly is in it to justify the cost? As far as I can work out it'll be match reports (which we shouldn't have to pay to read), giveaways for tickets and content we can get for free elsewhere. The only other thing would be a Q&A with Baggers himself and while I like his writing I'm not sure that's worth paying for - especially when The Sentinel do a free one with their Stoke City reporter as well.

To be cynical, it looks like the Sentinel have thought they'll use Baggers as a selling point to get people to subscribe but not actually offer anything which justifies the cost. It's trying to grab money off people at a time when people need it most and they're using Baggers to do it.

 

[JAMO-IN-MEXICO]

Many respected Journalists use Substack. If you subscribe, they write stuff for you and send it direct to your email.  you can also access your substack account via PC and an app on your phone. This has absolutely nowt to do with the Stokinel. Please look more into Substack before deciding whether or not to subscribe. You may consider supporting this and if you give it a year (as mentioned its a tenner) you can close your subscription any time. Many Prem clubs have a substack account operated with exclusive content by a pet journo. This is the same. UTV.

[Granville]

22 minutes ago, JAMO-IN-MEXICO said:

Many respected Journalists use Substack. If you subscribe, they write stuff for you and send it direct to your email.  you can also access your substack account via PC and an app on your phone. This has absolutely nowt to do with the Stokinel. Please look more into Substack before deciding whether or not to subscribe. You may consider supporting this and if you give it a year (as mentioned its a tenner) you can close your subscription any time. Many Prem clubs have a substack account operated with exclusive content by a pet journo. This is the same. UTV.

No its not as Baggers is still working for Reach PLC who own The Sentinel, not the football club or as an independent journalist. Substack is the subscription model they're using, not a separate organisation he is working for.

In any case, like I've said above, why should we pay for content we can get for free elsewhere, and why specifically as Port Vale fans should we pay when The Sentinel offer the equivalent of what will be in this newsletter for free to Stoke fans??

Edited September 30, 2023 by Granville

[Valiant62]

Personally I wouldn’t consider it for a tenner but if they pay me £40 a year I’d consider giving it bandwidth.

[Emile]

I won't be subscribing until they;

Prove value - the Q&A on the sentinel website hasn't given me enough confidence that its better than what is available for free elsewhere (thanks Rob for all your hard work)

Move Stoke City news to the same platform. I won't pay for something they get for free on principal.

[Powerline]

I’ve subscribed after hearing Mike talk about it on ale and vale. Says the reason he came back from wolves was because he was offered this project and he made clear to them he’d only do it if it’s just vale he has to cover this time, not Chester etc. 

I’d personally actually rather have this model than the free coverage. Means Mike can focus solely on vale giving him chance to give good quality stuff. And also means I don’t have to use the sentinels website, which is absolutely unreadable with the amount of times it reloads due to ads.

Tenner for a year is fine. If I like it I’ll stay subbed for the 40 next year. If I don’t I unsub, simple really.

[Granville]

9 hours ago, Powerline said:

I’ve subscribed after hearing Mike talk about it on ale and vale. Says the reason he came back from wolves was because he was offered this project and he made clear to them he’d only do it if it’s just vale he has to cover this time, not Chester etc. 

I’d personally actually rather have this model than the free coverage. Means Mike can focus solely on vale giving him chance to give good quality stuff. And also means I don’t have to use the sentinels website, which is absolutely unreadable with the amount of times it reloads due to ads.

Tenner for a year is fine. If I like it I’ll stay subbed for the 40 next year. If I don’t I unsub, simple really.

I hear what you're saying, but genuinely, how much of what he will do is going to be stuff you wouldn't get for free elsewhere?

[Powerline]

12 minutes ago, Granville said:

I hear what you're saying, but genuinely, how much of what he will do is going to be stuff you wouldn't get for free elsewhere?

See your point, guess we’ll see. If it’s as you say I’ll unsub after a year and it’s only a tenner down. But for now thought I’d support it and give it a go.

[Powerline]

First one was an enjoyable read tbf

[Brian Johnson]

25 minutes ago, Powerline said:

First one was an enjoyable read tbf

For someone that's not subscribed, what was different with what you read to comapared to anything on here, through official Port Vale channels and Radio Stoke?

[Powerline]

3 minutes ago, Brian Johnson said:

For someone that's not subscribed, what was different with what you read to comapared to anything on here, through official Port Vale channels and Radio Stoke?

So firstly you’ll get Mike’s match discussion and ratings, which obviously will be different as they’re subjective. He then discussed some general talking points from the game, such as us being a striker light.

Then gives Crosby’s and Evatt’s post match quotes, which you could get elsewhere, but you’d have to go to watch both videos online so it’s nice to have it collated in one place. 

Discussed a couple of other interesting ‘notes from the press box’, which you wouldn’t really get elsewhere and were just a couple of interesting anecdotes.

Updates on port vale women and Conlon’s injury. And then a small nostalgia picture section which was Lee Collins as it was his birthday in the week.

So overall, you get a few interesting inputs that you wouldn’t really get elsewhere or that are subjective to Mike’s view of the game. Then a lot of the rest of it collates all the info from all around, which personally I find useful. I don’t really have the time to go round searching for updates on Conlon, all the post match interviews, how vale women are doing etc. So I found it nice to just have it all set out in one place. It’s down as a ‘14 min read’ so it’s quite a substantial piece.

And also, must say it was very nice to read on the sub stack app. No ads, looks really clean and easy to read. Pictures good quality and can click in to them to see them better. Far better than the ad plagued sentinel website.

[Fosse69]

6 minutes ago, Brian Johnson said:

For someone that's not subscribed, what was different with what you read to comapared to anything on here, through official Port Vale channels and Radio Stoke?

Based on one read. A lengthy match report  of the Bolton game by Badders similar to what I used to read in the Sentinel. Since I haven't bought a Sentinel this Century and no longer battle through their on line advertising £10 appears a reasonable fee for me. After a year,  whether £40 is value for 50 odd games  plus whatever else is included, can be decided.

[Playa Amodores]

On 29/09/2023 at 22:29, portvaleofbelvoir said:

I used to get my club news by random chats to people in the Railway Paddock toilets and the queue if I mistimed my visit at half time.
Also like the rumours on here and Facebook.
I'll not be subscribing to anything that is connected to the Sentinel though. That is no disrespect to the journalist.

Perhaps that’s the real reason the RP toilets are closed.

[JoeB2]

Before I post this, I want to make it clear that I don't know Mike.

I understand the principles around 'Stoke don't have to pay', but...

Having subscribed and read the post-Bolton piece - it's a bargain for £10 a year, or 20p a week. You're getting 3 pieces a week (4 with mid-week games), so you're looking at 7p per piece. Even next year, with the price increase (though I imagine they will put an offer on in the summer), it's 76p a week, or 25p per piece.

This isn't some freelance journalist doing it - Mike has been reporting on Vale for 2 decades, and understands the history and the fans. I've seen him reporting at EGMs and Supporters Club meetings in the very darkest days. The pieces aren't just 'on the 16th minute X took a shot'. 

In an era when local journalism is in the mud, the idea of having a dedicated, good journalist for Port Vale is excellent. I am pretty confident that this offering will be better than Stoke's, for significantly cheaper than buying a Sentinel every day for £8.50 (almost the same as Mike's annual fee). It will be up to Mike to put on enough to convince us to re-sub.

We can all whine, but the fundamentals are that in-depth reporting on a League 1 club with 6,000 fans is not a profit-making enterprise for a local newspaper, especially when the ads they rely on to survive put people off. This route is the only way we're getting substantive reporting.

I think it's a good deal. If you pine for the days of forking out nearly a tenner a week on the Sentinel to be clearly second fiddle, then fair enough. I'm more than happy with this offering.

Edited October 1, 2023 by JoeB2

[Granville]

2 minutes ago, JoeB2 said:

Before I post this, I want to make it clear that I don't know Mike.

I understand the principles around 'Stoke don't have to pay', but...

Having subscribed and read the post-Bolton piece - it's a bargain for £10 a year, or 20p a week. You're getting 3 pieces a week (4 with mid-week games), so you're looking at 7-8p per piece. Even next year, with the price increase (though I imagine they will put an offer on in the summer), it's 76p a week, or 25p per piece.

This isn't some freelance journalist doing it - Mike has been reporting on Vale for 2 decades, and understands the history and the fans. I've seen him reporting at EGMs and Supports Club meetings in the very darkest days. The pieces aren't just 'on the 16th minute X took a shot'. 

In an era when local journalism is in the mud, the idea of having a dedicated, good journalist for Port Vale, for 8p a go, is excellent. I am pretty confident that this offering will be better than Stoke's, for significantly cheaper than buying a Sentinel every day for £8.50 (almost the same as Mike's annual fee). 

I think it's a good deal. If you pine for the days of forking out nearly a tenner a week on the Sentinel to be clearly second fiddle, then fair enough. I'm more than happy with this offering.

I have no problem with Mike at all, more the principle that he's being used by an organisation who clearly have very little regard for Vale or him (why would they have scrapped his role in the first place?) as a way of grabbing money off a fanbase when, with another club in the same city, they feel its ok to provide for free.

As I say, I really don't see what it can provide that isn't available anywhere else, other than Mike himself, which, as I'm sure he's a nice bloke and good journalist, isn't worth 40 quid a year for rehashing press conference quotes, a match report we should have to pay to read anyway and then the odd opinion piece.

There's never been more ways to access a variety of opinion and information for free, here, social media, Ale and the Vale, Radio Stoke all provide a lot of free Vale coverage and and interviews and opinion, why should I give The Sentinel 40 quid a year for someone else's opinion??