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Michael Grant - The Herald


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He's written an article this morning entitled "From the Herald to the third division . . . where did it go wrong for Traynor?"

Fuck sake there are more people interested in Rangers than there are in reading the Herald

Mr Traynor would do well to pen him a letter advising him and his dying newspaper that they are no longer welcome at 5 star Ibrox stadium

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He's written an article this morning entitled "From the Herald to the third division . . . where did it go wrong for Traynor?"

Fuck sake there are more people interested in Rangers than there are in reading the Herald

Mr Traynor would do well to pen him a letter advising him and his dying newspaper that they are no longer welcome at 5 star Ibrox stadium

Yep, it's a step up for Traynor.

That newspaper has rapidly gone downhill over the years.

Michael Grant is a knobend anyway.

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Reminds me of the George Best story

Best had spent time playing the casino tables at a hotel where he was staying along with a former Miss World.

The former Manchester United star had a run of very good luck and upon retiring for the night Best and his young lady decided a champagne night-cap was in order.

Room service was contacted and shortly after a waiter arrived with said champagne.

Upon entering the room the waiter, a soccer fan, was met with the scene of thousands of pounds strewn across a bed that also framed the half naked former Miss World.

As the bell-boy received a healthy tip he could not help but ask Best, “George, where did it all go wrong?”

Welcome to Rangers JT - where did it all go wrong?

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Article from the Herald

Doubtless some readers may wonder whatever happened to him, and might even worry about whether he has been able to carve out a living since leaving these pages many years ago. Those who lost track of his movements may have picked up on the hubbub created by the confirmation of his latest career move at the weekend, having ditched the Daily Record and BBC Scotland to become director of communications at Rangers.

This was never likely to pass off without an avalanche of reaction encompassing intrigue, criticism, abuse and humour. The latter produced some fine, savage wit as supporters of just about every team other than Rangers alluded to his back catalogue of Ibrox coverage. On messageboards and Twitter they went to town. "It's nice when a man starts to get paid for his hobby." "He completed the longest job application in history." "He's being paid in lamb." "Why are the papers only now reporting that Jim Traynor has taken charge of PR for Rangers . . . this story must be 20 years old at least?"

This sort of stuff comes with the territory. Traynor has been accused of surviving on a diet of "succulent lamb" – ie being fed stories from Sir David Murray in return for compliant coverage – since before some of the current Rangers team were born. It's never bothered him before and the current flurry of jokes won't cause him any sleepless nights now.

The weekend reaction was predictable. What's far more interesting about this appointment by Rangers is the role he's going to have there and why the club felt he was the best man to do it. Those Rangers supporters who believe he has been appointed to "sort out the press" or "tell the club where its enemies are in the media" are in for a disappointment. Rangers have a chief executive, a manager and a director – Charles Green, Ally McCoist and Walter Smith – who all can be experienced and forceful voices for the club without having to hire Traynor as another.

In fact, there is every reason to suspect that they have appointed him not because they want their equivalent of The Thick Of It's Malcolm Tucker – a volcanic PR pitbull with reporters' numbers on speed dial to deliver expletive-laden condemnation – but because they want fewer dealings with external journalists altogether.

Rangers' share issue is now live for fans to invest, and the prospectus makes it clear that Green and his fellow directors envisage the club making far more money than before from internally-generated media content.

Imagine how Green's eyes lit up when he first realised the size of the audience at Rangers' disposal. Their website averages 437,000 unique users per month, the highest in Scottish football and fifth highest in British football. As the prospectus says: "The directors believe that the combination of the club's brand and modern media create significant financial opportunities for the company which have been underutilised in the past. At the heart of this strategy is media – particularly video – and the development of services and partnerships that recognise and leverage the consumption of Rangers matches and player videos on the internet."

Clearly, what Green and his board are driving at here is exclusivity over as much Rangers "content" as they can, as well as generating more of it and making it attractive and interesting to ensure that their supporters will be prepared to pay for access. Traynor's description of bloggers (and some journalists) as "despicable, pathetic little creatures" didn't exactly sound like a man harbouring much respect for new media but it came in a valedictory newspaper column which was widely-discussed (and criticised for its tone) last week.

Traynor is undoubtedly a big "name" which Rangers can commercially exploit. By promoting "Traynor interviews Green" or "Traynor interviews McCoist" and putting it behind a paywall on the club's website or on pay-per-view Rangers TV, the club would generate its own content and raise new revenue. And that's Green's language.

Only time will tell how well this goes for Rangers. Perhaps Green and Traynor will prove to be incompatible, conflicting personalities pulling in different directions to Rangers' detriment. Maybe the latter will have far less control within Ibrox than he had at his two media outlets and will find that hard to accept. Those who leave journalism for public relations or club media jobs say it can take up to 18 months to adapt to the different discipline. Maybe he'll just find it boring.

All of that's only a concern for Rangers. For the rest of us – and doubtless for Traynor, too – there promises to be fun in this, and certainly more merciless humour flying around from all sides. The first sighting of the Airdrie fan (inverted commas optional) in a Rangers club tie is going to be a particularly rich source of comic material. In the meantime just one question springs to mind: from the august pages of The Herald to working in the third division . . . where did it all go wrong?

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Its a dying industry - why wouldn't he move on?

The BBC a couple of days back had this article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-20643803

Sales of several major Scottish newspapers have fallen substantially in the past month, according to the latest circulation figures.

The Sunday Mail, the Sunday Post and Scotland on Sunday all saw their sales drop below key milestones: The Sunday Mail's circulation fell below 300,000, the Post's below 250,000 and Scotland on Sunday's below 40,000.

The Scotsman and the Daily Record both recorded their lowest weekday sales figures in modern times.

The figures come as the debate continues over how the press should be regulated in the wake of the Leveson Report and whether separate regulation in Scotland is practical or desirable.

Sales of most newspapers - north and south of the border - have fallen substantially in recent years and the trend shows no sign of ending.

Amongst the Scottish titles, the most symbolic falls in November concern the Sunday papers.

The Sunday Post saw its sales fall below a quarter of a million for the first time in living memory. Between October and November its sales dipped nearly 8% from 268,000 to just under 247,000.

Quality market

The Sunday Mail also fell below a milestone. It dropped 5% in a month from 308,000 to 293,000.

Annual comparisons are misleading though as the popular newspaper market last autumn was distorted during the period between the closure of the News of the World and the launch of The Sun on Sunday. Last month, the Scottish edition of The Sun on Sunday sold just over 203,000 copies.

At the other end of the market, Scotland on Sunday dipped below 40,000. Its sale of just over 39,250 is down from 49,000 last November.

On weekdays the Daily Record fell close to 253,500 - down 15,000 in a month and 25,000 in a year. The Sun sold 286,000 in Scotland. Its sales are also down on the year but the gap with the Record remains broadly similar.

In what the industry defines as the quality market, The Scotsman's circulation fell to below 33,000 against 39,000 last November.

But an analysis of the figures reveals that between Monday and Friday, the number of copies actively bought by readers drops to around 28,500.

The headline average is affected by a significantly higher sale on Saturdays and some 2,500 so-called multiple copies which are given away free to the public in, for instance, hotels.

Monthly sales figures are no longer issued for either The Herald or the Sunday Herald. Their next set of sales figures - covering the whole of the second half of 2012 - is expected in February.

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I could see this coming when they said he was joining Rangers. All the good work he released recently has lost credibility as he looks like he was just protecting his new bosses. The mhedia were always going to jump on this.

Translates as "All the facts he laid bare" will be buried and replaced with propaganda cause telling it like it is doesn't register with Timmy

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Jealousy is a terrible thing...and that whole article reeks of jealousy and bitterness...from a sad wee scrote that cant stand the fact our club and its fans are fighting back...spending our hard earned on ALL THINGS RANGERS..making us stronger and fitter for the trials ahead...you aint seen nothing yet haters/rhats...Rangers then..now..forever..

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This is the death throes of newspaper journalists particularly in Scotland, I see keech jackson is at it in the rhebel talking similar panicking jibberish as this cunt grant. They are all going to scrambling for a handful of petty jobs in the near future and in the likes of jacksons case he must be kicking himself for not having the balls to stand up and be counted or it may have been him in traynors shoes, but he didn't and he's not, spineless fool. The wideos are jumping ship and diversifying, (broadfoot another example) because the newspaper game a great institution in this country at one time has sadly lost it's way. The editorial have been their own worst enemies by allowing jhournos with agendas to virtually takeover and help an already ailing industry to die a death. The editors in charge were not strong enough to stand up to them and the results are showing drastically in the circulation figures. Be very interesting now to see where JT is in all this but I can only see things deteriorating further for his former employers and for the likes of the almost already dead gherald and scotmans of the World ! :sherlock:

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I certainly dont see papers or printed press as the way forward. Life has moved on now, dont really know when I last bought a paper.

It certainly doesnt surprise me though that the job is being questioned as even I would like to be able to see what he can achieve that our Charles cant

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It certainly is a dying industry and it's telling that he starts his article by what's going on in the forums and twitter.

This is the only place where this article will be read and has no relavence as to what's going on in the real world.

What job will Grant be looking for next?

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Honestly, it is really just a journo having a bit of a dig at another (former) journo, it isn't all that bad. I suspect JT is big enough and ugly enough to handle it.

Interesting that if he writes a column in our matchday programme, it will probably have a bigger audience than the Herald.

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