Saints ban press photographers

It looks as if the club is banning all outside photographers from covering matches at St Mary's apart from an agency hired by them. I think it's a revenue-making decision by the club, rather than any sinister attempts to curb press freedoms, as some are claiming (it's a football club, not some shadowy third world government!) but the press are getting up in arms about it, which is funny really, considering the press really don't give a flying sh!t about Saints and haven't since we got relegated from the Premier League - not that they gave a toss about us even when we were in the Prem anyway. When was the last time one of our matches was covered in any detail - maybe excepting the JPT Final?
I don't care much for the club's policy here, as I want to see photos in the Echo (it gives me something to read on Monday lunchtimes during the season and I want to see the match pics as well as read the editorial) but, on the other hand it's funny to see the press getting annoyed when they really don't give two monkey's about us.

Southampton FC ban press photographers

I have to admit I think its a dumb idea. Can't believe it will make much money, not like we are Real Madrid! All it does is give us a bad press and the press are free publicity for the club. They treat us the same as any club not in the premiership, not that bothered

What's the point of not having a sponsor this year as "we don't need to" and then do something like this? Cortese is a control freak and you can see that news on the OS is getting less and soon the only way to keep up to date will be using the iPlayer, oh forgot you have to pay for that! Not all fans have bottomless pockets Mr Cortese

Dont know who has all these ideas, no Ted Bates trophy (no respect for history,) no payment plan for fans, no notice it was coming, Echo banned, and waiting to confirm with BBC Solent a date for fans forum, bet it doesnt happen this season other clubs have had theirs.

Oh dear, the club's upset the Super Soaraway Scum. The paper's printed a childish response entitled Opposition 0, Plymouth 1.

I hate the Sun, that rotten rag one of the things that encapsulates all that is wrong with this country these days, obsession with celebrities, tacky trash and so on, and for them to be upset is amusing. But I don't like the way Cortese is behaving. Why does he seem hellbent on pissing people off? While it's quite funny to see the press chuck their teddies out of prams, on the other hand it's not a good idea to upset them. They are (too) powerful and getting them annoyed is a Bad Idea.

Saints OS have offered this statement to clarify this media rubbish up.
To see what they have said try
clicking here

Even the Echo is allowed in if they bother to get the appropriate licence.

Working in the media I can say in my opinion the club have really shot themselves in the foot. It does not matter whether Saints don’t appear in the Sun or any other newspaper on a regular basis, the fact is that the newspapers have access. Denying access = negative, giving access = positive.

And at my work. If I want to get something on TV or the newspapers, I hold a facility and invite them along. I tell them what the story is and offer them chances to get the pictures both they and I want and to undertake interviews. I get my message out and they get what they want, filling up space with something interesting to their readers, viewers and listeners. Job done, everyone happy. If I just put out a press release with a picture, my chances of success are greatly reduced. It is basic PR. It is very difficult to get a picture published in a national, you are competing with hundreds of other people who want to get in, with PR and photo agencies etc. So you make it as easy for the papers as you can, and if that means letting them take their own, so be it. That’s how it works. It is the Editors job to edit.

From another angle, I’ll cite another example where the club has peed me off. Last year I posted some pictures on this site that I took at St Mary’s. This stopped when the club told me that I could not take photographs unless I was accredited. I approached the Football League and the FA to get certified. To do so I would have to get a number of sports pictures published in my name. And so I have started. Once I reach the target figure, I can then apply for accreditation and presumable pay a fee. Armed with that authorization I could take pictures at St Mary’s – except now I can’t because the club has changed the rules.

Some fresh Sun teddies have gone flying out of their pram this morning: Opposition 2 Bournemouth 0 Grow up, hypocritical rag.
The row was the main item on Radio 4's Media Show this lunchtime. A Sun representative was on there bleating about how hard done by the papers are and another guest, provided a more measured response saying, in effect, that while Saints' stance was wrong, the Sun were over-reacting. Unfortunately the club declined to comment, which is a shame as it just makes them - and by default, I suppose, the fans - look bad.

The thing is bad publicity but what is to stop the press from going to the club and having a dialogue.

Wonder if the press will go to the away games.

Perhaps we should petition the club and tell them we are not happy about this...........and warn them that unless they relent we will tell the press how we feel.

I just don't think that that would be a good idea. nicola would just find a way to curtail things like the images used on all of the fan sites.

I think the only way Cortese will change his mind is if a few of the sponsors say they are unhappy at the bad publicity and while they can understand why he might have wanted to do this unless many clubs follow it leaves Saints out on a limb. It wont be just bias reporting but we all know how the tabloids run any transfer rumour they like so can expect the worse tabloids to keep talking up our players leaving.

Trouble is Cortese does come across a bit like RL in some ways and I don't see him backing down.

On the Swindon Advertiser's website........

TOWN fans will be unable to see any photos in the Advertiser of tonight’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie at Southampton - because the Saints have banned all photographers from newspapers and news agencies.

But we have conjured up a way to beat the ban and bring our readers images of how all the action unfolded at St Mary’s Stadium.

Southampton have chosen to deny photographers accreditation for the new season and, in a ridiculous move which threatens press freedom, have instead offered the opportunity to purchase their own in-house snaps.

But that just isn’t going to happen.

Football clubs need newspapers as much as newspapers need football clubs.

The partnership is mutually benefical.

Clubs essentially receive free advertising, with their team and sponsors splashed across the back pages every single day, while the readership of papers is boosted by those who want to find out what is going on at their club.

But Southampton seem to think they are above that and are greedily attempting to create a monopoly on images. And - regardless of their history - when a club in the third tier of English football starts talking about image rights then you know something is drastically wrong with the game we all know and love.

Swindon Advertiser chief photographer Dave Evans, who has been working at the paper since 1967, said: “It’s restrictive.

“They (Southampton) are essentially telling you what you can and can’t use and it’s bad news for professional photographers.

“What stopped things like this is the past was shirt sponsors, but they haven’t got one this year so don’t have to answer to anyone.”

National newspapers including The Sun have already boycotted coverage of the League One side, while regional publications have been coming up with inventive ways to get around the ban.

The Plymouth Herald used cartoons on the opening day of the season, while the Bournemouth Echo printed black and white photos of the last time the sides met in the mid-1980s to accompany their match report.

We at the Advertiser have put our thinking caps on over the last couple of weeks and come up with a way to ensure we can provide action from the game without lining the pockets of a clearly greedy club.

So get your hands on a copy of the Advertiser tomorrow to see how we cover the match and, hopefully, Swindon’s first win of the season.

I'm getting a bit sick of this newspaper/photography bollocks. It's making the club - and worse, by default, the fans - look stupid and greedy. And the 'Super Soaraway' (as they used to describe themselves, I don't know if they still do) Scum is still carrying on the childish 'South Coast Club' crap. It's not only childish but hypocritical as when was the last time the Currant Bun, or any other national paper, print photos and news on our games, the JPT aside?
Tbh, I'm sick of this season already, but surely it can only get better from now...can it?

It's all over?

From Loughborough Echo website.............

IT SEEMS after only a handful of matches Southampton are willing to let external photographers back into St Mary's.
The club had wound up the media this season by banning anyone bar their own staff photographer from capturing the action in their home ground.
As a result papers had resorted to sending cartoonists to sit in the stands, trawled their archives for stock photos from the '80s, mocked up moves using Subbuteo figures and more to illustrate their match reports, rather than use the Southampton-supplied photos.
And some national papers had refused to name Southampton in their articles, referring to the side as simply "South Coast Club".
But all this handbags seems to have paid off, with reports today suggesting that applications for photographic accreditation from national and regional papers will now be granted.

Apparently Cortese visited their offices at News International the other day.