tags: Aaron Lennon , Arsene Wenger , blogger , blogging , Bundesliga , David Beckham , Football Anorak , Ligue 1 , Russian Premier League , Twitter , wordpress , writing
The 3 rd of March 2009 it was a simpler time, it was a happier time. Around 2pm on what could have been any other Tuesday I began my own football blog. “Gib Football Anorak” was born. There was no agenda for the site just a place to slap down my thoughts on the game we all love.
The first post had quite a few decent points, regardless of how bad the actual writing was. In one post I questioned whether Arsene Wenger should step upstairs from the dugout. Wondered why Aaron Lennon isn’t constantly practicing his crossing, and how good a keeper Ben Foster is while playing for Man United.
The post then covered games in Scotland, Spain, France and then Italy. On the subject of Serie A I wrote a few lines questioning why Milan was interested in signing David Beckham. Questioning the age of already old squad and whether it was a good move or not, I ended by giving some Milan some better options rather than signing Becks.
Looking back over the subjects that I covered early on there is a significant difference to the way I write now. It seems when my target audience was about five people I felt free to write about pretty much any subject and I would automatically be more informed than the reader, not in a cocky way I just I felt I was educated enough to talk about the subject matter.
Something has changed. I don’t think I would ever write anything about Serie A without watching said team/player 3 or 4 times. With so many excellent writers that cover the Italian league, there is no way I would be able to write anything as informed as writers such as , Adam Bate or
Now that via twitter and the large community the football bloggers have built, any article that we write has a huge audience. The information we put into everything we write needs to be accurate and well thought out. Of course this can only be a good thing; however what happened to the care free attitude I used to have that lead me to write about the Bundesliga or the Russian Premier League without any fear.
Regardless of the subject there is someone out there who is an “expert”. Brazilian football, Belgian football, African, Slovakian and Australian football, it is all covered by someone with great knowledge of that area. The only subject I feel now that I can write about without fear of “being found out” is Ligue 1 in France.
The problem then is the bevy of talent writers and journalists like Tom Williams and Andy Brassell who are the top people in this field. With access to press passes and player interviews they are instantly well versed in any subject related to the league. It’s hard to write informative pieces and make them seem respected with my limited access.
Part of me wishes I could go back to a time where I didn’t know about the experts or the worldwide audience and I felt I had the freedom to write about whatever took my fancy. The question is: Am I the only writer that feels this way? Have other writers changed their style and material after seeing the mass of other talented writers in the blogosphere? Or am I just talking nonsense?
Just something I had to put out there, not sure if it makes any sense…but there you go. I’ll go back to Google translating L’equipe.
I tend to agree. I often think about writing an article about Serie A or other leagues, but never really have the confidence to see it through since there are so many better skilled and better informed writers out there. I can’t match them for writing skill, let alone knowledge.
I think I’m tending to stick to subjects that I believe I know better than most (J.League, Liverpool) and writing in a style that suits me instead of pretending to be something I’m not (e.g. Trying to do tactical analysis, because I’m rubbish at it).
I definitely know where you are coming from. I am pretty new to writing about football but I am an historian by trade and it is a constant concern of mine, if I am truly qualified to write about something. Recently, a student was referred to me where a professor called me an ‘expert’ on a particular subject. That rattled me, because I never considered myself one. But who is to decide what makes you an authority in any subject?
In writing about football, I have felt some hesitation too. But to me, it is that elusive balance of confidence and humility that makes a quality writer. Keep your head up!
Another good article Gib, and one which raises a few questions to myself.
This is exactly why I don’t feel comfortable doing a ‘general’ football blog. I’m not well researched enough, hence I stick to SAFC. A team ingrained to me since I popped out the womb by my Dad.
However, much like you, the site – The Roker Report – started because I wanted to bash out my frustrations. The first post was about Kieran Richardson, and what do we do with him? The answer is still very much up in the air, but even over the space of the 6 months I’ve done this, the site has grown massively, and I look back at those posts thinking I can do much better now.
All good points, and I do indeed feel ‘pressure’ to get things right, all the time.
Keep up the good work Gib, I’m still reading and listening!!
You make excellent point and I have thought the same thing each and every time I write something.
I think to myself what am I bringing to the subject? I wrote a piece about Lucas not so long back and looked around to what had been written before and I tried to add to those piece.
Gareth who I write my blog is a qualified referee its always great to have his thoughts in piece given his education and also a historian (currently doing his PHd) he adds a new angle to his piece. Well researched and he avoids to make sweeping statements without a good level of research going into what he saying.
Though there is plenty of quality blogs out there. Rob Mars, Greg Theoharis and Andrew Thomas all offer something different. Well thought out opinions no matter the subject and a fantastic way of presenting this. They may not be professional journo’s but the cream always raises to the top. This is why we will still always need to professional journo and bloggers won’t be the death of them.
But lastly what the internet has given us is room for everyone to have an opinion. But also room for plenty of to ignore those opinions. We can tailor are coverage to suit what we like, your tastes etc… It should be embraced that the gatekeepers no longer hold the keys.
I have been blogging for just over a year now and, just as you did, i set up my own blog site as a way for me just to spout my opinions.
At that time i just would post my blogs on facebook and it would be viewed by about 50 people at most.
But then i started to tout them around twitter and all of a sudden people were almost expecting blogs from me.
Although i write as much as i can for my own blog, my time is taken up with writing for other sites and papers etc. But as much as i completely agree with your comments on the pressure of getting it right, i also enjoy reading the comments or tweets that correct me.
That way i can learn for next time.
Anyway, good piece mate.
I agree and disagree. It’s made me think twice about doing pieces on football that I’m not as familiar with, because it’d get ripped to shreds if I make some silly mistake like calling a team the wrong nickname.
I’ve had a couple of pieces by other writers on my site get slated on forums because they’ve done things like this, but if anything it’s just made me more conscious of the need to get all the little things right. In taking time to research articles I learn so much more about the content matter that it doesn’t feel like work.
Spelling, grammar and the like are also important – I’ve read many a blog where the article’s OK but let down by poor English. Again, these things will be noticed, if not commented on, and readers won’t come back. I try and get all this stuff right (try being the operative word, I’m still learning) and treat each piece, however light-hearted in nature, as if it were going to be published for real.
At the end of the day though, I wouldn’t get too disheartened if someone criticises a mistake or lack of knowledge – as I just said to Iain Macintosh on twitter, I’d rather get negative feedback than none at all I think. Spurs you on to either not make the same mistake again, or if it wasn’t a mistake, show the bugger how wrong he is.
I often think blogging is the punk to the newspapers’ prog rock.It doesn’t have to be note perfect,the passion and enthusiasm can see it through most holes in knowledge.People may not be an expert on the Belgian 2nd division or Perugia goalkeepers,but a general piece on such subjects can provide insight missed by those seemingly more informed.I think it most important to enjoy what you do as that always shines through.
Great piece,Gib.It sums up how I feel about writing.I set up my blog about a year ago thanks to Gary Al-Smith and it’s taken me quite some time to use it but I’ve realised that it’s better to write about things one knows very well especially when there are experts all around to offer deeper insight.It’s important to say what we know but it’s more important to learn more and improve so we can all be experts one day.People like Gary Al-Smith,the Gib Football Show,Henry Winter,Marcotti,Christopher Opoku and all the other leading journalists,writers and bloggers are the ones who inspire me to get further and higher.
Cheers Nathan, I wish you all the best with your site, and I’m shocked you included me in that list. Thanks
I know exactly the feeling. When I started blogging it was mainly about subjects that I knew (mostly Leicester City). However I had recently taken an interest in Polish Football and felt I wanted to write about that seeing as it wasn’t very well publicised (Michał Zachodny being possibly the only one writing about it).
I do enjoy writing about it, and introducing people to a league which they haven’t normally much interest in, but by doing most of my “research” via Google Translate it does sometimes make me worry that i’m not doing it justice.
I have received mostly positive reviews of my writing which makes me believe that I’m doing a good job, but like yourself it would take me a lot of effort
(…continued due to accidentally hitting “send” on my iPhone)…to learn and write comfortably about another nation.
When I started blogging I knew very little about most leagues around the world (although I thought I knew quite a lot). That is why I decided to ditch the blogging and start a site where I recruited writers and I did all the editing, etc. I still like to write on occasion – but anyone who knows me knows that my writing isn’t exactly “timely” by any means. The best thing about blogging, or running GFT, is that I get to follow and interact with all the other bloggers around the world. I hate considering myself a blogger though (I didn’t spend 10 years of my life studying journalism to not consider myself a professional – even no one is paying me to be a journalist at the moment).
I tend to use the blog world to take in as much knowledge as I can. I feel much more comfortable distributing knowledge through podcast form.
And anyone who reads my previous comment will understand exactly why I prefer to talk about the game rather than write about it. My incoherent babbling is much less when I’m podcasting (although there is no shortage of it).
I haven’t got much to say that everyone else hasn’t already done so, but I think one thing you should bare in mind is the difference between where you are now and where you began.
You might question the nerves and anxiety that come with the added expectation of your work but at the end of the day it makes you a better writer – that’s clear to see from your initial website, to the massively popular website & podcast that you can now happily call your own.
You should remember that football is about opinions and you don’t always need to be hugely informed about your subject area in order to write an interesting piece on it (in fact, I know you don’t).
It depends how you want to position your blog – that’s important. If you’re not a professional journalist then you don’t necessarily need to worry about knowing a subject in depth as having a well articulated opinion is equally as valid and interesting to the reader.
Simon