For people who do not understand what club journalism is – I over the past year have tried to really get to the specifics of what the job is, what it entails with those within the industry coming back claiming that “it’s a lifestyle, not a 9-5 job some claiming that every day is “completely different”.
Burnley FC: Alex Waters (Content Producer)
Alex Waters
“every day, no matter what is completely different.”
Image Credit: Alex Waters📸
“My day is always very varied. Every day, no matter what, is completely different.”
“Throughout the week I would be going at nine o’clock in the morning until five and I’ll just be working on all the different projects and content we’ve got going on.”
“So that’s editing, filming. It gets pretty busy.”
Aston Villa FC: Lewis Redmond (Club Journalist)
“So for me, my role is more of the editorial side, so I work with a team of editors on the club’s website. So that’s basically everything. Which includes match-day build up, training previews, match reports, everything really.”
“So it does get extremely busy at times because, at a club the size of Villa (Aston Villa), where we are in the Premier League and obviously we’re in Europe too, there is a lot of content to put out.”
“There aren’t really days at all, when I am struggling for content to post.”
“But what I love about it is that I am in charge almost of basically everything that our fans consume and that comes with such responsibility.”
“People don’t understand just how much a football club means to fans. So then for me, my job is to actively work and make the club’s website and content on there engaging for fans of the club.”
“It’s one of the other best parts about the job, knowing the fact that you’re in control of something that means so much to so many people and has an influence on so many people. Not just locally but also worldwide. There’s interest from so many people.”
“I have responsibility for how people feel as fans and that to me is crazy. And I will never take it for granted.”
Middlesbrough AFC: Dan Prince (Club Journalist)
Dan Prince has been in the Club Journalism industry for 12 years now working with South Shields FC & now with Middlesbrough AFC and still claims that he “can’t ask for a better job”.
“My day-to-day, is a bit varied really, I’m involved with the content creation as well as working out the strategy behind it.
“So, for me – no two days are the same.”
“I’ll be across the social media output and the communications side of it along with most of my colleagues as well as putting the programme together and content for the website.”
“And then the most busy day, matchday — I usually do the Twitter updates during the game, as well as the match report for the website, and then one of my colleagues will take it in turn with myself to do the postmatch interview.”
“So I’ll do one game and he’ll do the next one.”
“So you’ve got to be a little bit flexible — we’ve got kind of a content plan in general week to week where we’ll know which day we’ve targeted to get that sort of stuff.”
“Another thing in terms of the work we do I can add is that — we’ve got this calendar online, where we’ll have all the content that we’ve got for that week.So we can plan in advance and can get a schedule in.”
“Which makes our work much easier and manageable.”
“Obviously I have been doing this for 12 years now and at Middlesbrough, where I am now there probably is more to do in total, in terms of the whole media team.”
“But in terms of my own personal role, I’m probably doing less of a variety of things.”
“Because when you’re at non-league level, you might be the only person doing it, or you might be a team of one or two people. For example when I was at South Shields — on a match day I’d be doing the camera work, filming the game as well as putting out the live updates on Twitter, writing the match report and then doing the interviews after the game.”
“Whereas now, I can think about it a bit more clearly, and put a bit more thought into everything that I’m doing, because there’s more people to do those things.”
“So it is different. But I think what I did at South Shields has helped massively to where I am now, because I feel like there’s nothing that I can be asked to do that I haven’t already done in some way.”
“But all-in-all, I think the phrase that you used in your previous question about not really working a day in your life — is how it feels to me.”
“Even though you are working hard and you do put a lot of hours in. Overall, you can’t really ask for a better job in my opinion.”
Everton FC: Ross Hughes (Content Producer)
“Every day is really different. So for example today we did a bunch of challenges and they were based around the winter olympics. It’s key to latch onto trending topics so that’s the reason why we were doing that today.”
“But then another example was that the day before we were filming with players for world book day. So genuinely, I’m not just saying it, every single day is different and varied and that’s a reason why I love the job so much.”
“At Everton, we have a content board. Which is for the week then for the month and for certain parts in the year, which helps us dictate what we create within that year.”
“What helps is that at those certain times in the year there are topics that are trending and will do well engagement wise. The example right now is the winter olympics.”
Rangers FC: Mark Carrick (Graphic Designer)
“My day today at Rangers is always different, as a designer how it works is that the senior designer gets all the requests from all the different departments within the club. And it’s the senior designer’s job to delegate to me and our other designer who does which piece of content.”
“So, you’re always busy. A club the size of Rangers, you’re always doing something. So, but it’s not, it’s not as simple as always making graphics.”
“There’s things such as making LEDs, the ones around the pitch which are quite fun.”
“Day to day, I’m always in contact with the marketing team. They’re always presenting new projects to us.”
“I work three days in the Ibrox and twice from home. It’s surreal going to Ibrox for your job.” Especially because I’m a huge Rangers fan.”
“So, I’ll be there on a Sunday afternoon watching the game, and then I’m on Monday morning and it’s just unbelievably cool.”
South Shields FC: Sam Jones (Media Officer)
And when speaking to Sam about the behind the scenes and the extra effort that goes into the job.
Sam said: “It’s a lifestyle, it’s not a 9-5 job.”
“I’ll be sitting in bed, not officially working but doing work looking for more content. It takes over.”
“But if you love it you don’t care. And I love my work.”
Carlisle United: James Gates (Marketing & Media Officer)
Similarly to Mark Carrick at Rangers FC, Carlisle United’s James Gates alluded to the idea that in his role as Marketing and Media Officer that “no two days are ever the same.”
“That’s probably the best thing about the job — no two days are ever the same.”
“It really just depends on what’s happening at the club on any given day, whether that’s building up to a match, matchday itself, or something like a signing. It’s always changing.”
“And that’s what keeps it interesting really — it just never stands still.”
“There’s never really a quiet day at Carlisle.”
James too, went on to add:
“It’s important to mention the wider side of the role that people probably don’t always see — working with local media and maintaining those relationships externally.”
“A big part of it is also building trust with players and staff within the club, so that when we’re producing club content, or providing players and staff for press conferences and interviews with local media and broadcasters like DAZN, Sky Sports and TNT Sports, everything runs a lot smoother because of those relationships.”
“It’s not just about what you want to produce — it’s about making sure it works for everyone involved as well.”
“Working closely with the Head Coach is a big part of that too. Mark Hughes has been brilliant to work alongside and learn from.”