Premier League chasing Ipswich Town have some huge festive fixtures coming up. Stuart Watson explains what you’ll get if you take advantage of our new digital subscription offer...
On an almost weekly basis someone will ask me ‘how’s that paywall thing going?’, with a slightly cynical undertone, and normally add ‘I used to read your stuff daily, but I don’t bother anymore’. I usually smile politely and utter something pathetically apologetic in response.
We’re all trying to find ways to save the pennies in this tough economic environment and there are other outlets still providing plenty of Ipswich Town coverage for nothing. I get it. In typically English fashion, the conversation quickly moves on to the weather.
So when sports editor Mark Heath asked me to write something around our latest digital subscriptions offer – that's £3 for three months - my natural reaction was to pull a face.
I’m not a great self-publicist. Work hard and quietly go about consistently doing the right things. If people want to pay for the content I/we produce, they will. If they don’t, no problem. Going all Bob Geldof/Jerry Maguire simply isn’t my style.
For some reason, there’s a twinge of embarrassment referring to my job as a ‘craft’. Urgh. Watching football and then writing/talking about it. Anyone can do that. Indeed, many do it for fun.
Then I remind myself I’ve been a sports journalist for 17 years now and covered Ipswich Town for 12 of them. I’ve gained a fair bit of experience and knowledge in that time.
Careful diplomacy, building contacts, being that critical friend of the club, agonising over timing, tone and balance, making sure coverage is light and interactive as well as serious and informative – it's all part of the job.
Paul Jewell, Mick McCarthy, Paul Hurst, Paul Lambert, Paul Cook and now Kieran McKenna. From the Championship to League One and back again, now pushing for the Premier League under ambitious American ownership. It’s been a privilege to document this ongoing soap opera we are all so invested in.
Newspaper sales are, as you can imagine, in terminal decline. This industry has to find a way to stay alive. Rival publishers Reach recently announced that 320 editorial staff were being made redundant. Good reporters who covered the likes of Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield Town were among those to go. We really are in a ‘use it or lose it’ situation now. Why should you care? That’s a fair question. It’s also a question of fairness.
I often go away and stew after those conversations outlined earlier.
This is what I should really say in response... Name me one other product or service in your life that you don’t pay for. Just one. I’ll wait. And how many services do you genuinely use daily in your life? I’d bet not many.
I live and breath Ipswich Town Football Club. I’ve travelled more than 100,000 miles to cover in excess of 600 games. It’s hard to switch off. After long journeys back from games, the laptop goes back on. I was up until 2am writing after Saturday’s defeat at West Brom. It was the same following Wednesday night’s home win against Millwall.
Our team of four – Mark, Alex Jones, Ross Halls and myself – are not just supplying match reports, press conference quotes and transfer/injury news (which all remains free to access, by the way), but also exclusive interviews, in-depth analysis, videos and much more. We hope our Kings of Anglia podcast makes you feel part of a community and offers a peak behind the curtain.
In short, the East Anglian Daily Times produces more content around your beloved football club than it ever has in its 100+ year history and delivers it straight to an app on your phone completely ad free.
What are we asking for that? Right now, as I said, just £3 for three months – that's 25p a week! - followed by £5.99 a month (insert ‘not far off the price of a posh coffee’ here). Alternatively, you can sign up for 12 months for £45 (that’s 20% off).
Oh, and if that’s not enough to tempt you then we also give subscribers the chance to win exclusive prizes. The winner of the new Town third kit will be announced soon, while the next thing up for grabs – handy just before Christmas – is £100 of club shop vouchers.
To the thousands of you who have signed up since April - making us Newsquest’s most successful ever subscription launch – thank you.
To those of you who ‘used to look at your stuff daily but don’t anymore’, my message is this: 'Show me the money!'
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here