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Mark Ashton – Gregor McGregor Article


Maldini

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Mods please delete if there’s a thread on this already, but I couldn’t see one.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/mark-ashton-what-its-like-3195183

Interesting article from McGregor. The two stand outs,

‘Everton's interest in one fine young City player has been shelved, for example, to see if head coach Lee Johnson stays true to his word and first-team chances are forthcoming for that prospect’. Any idea who this is?

‘Ashton is extremely aware of the need for confidentiality, and there has been a steady upgrade of the security used at Ashton Gate, with Dave Storr's safety and security team growing in number and practices. Something confirmed to this writer by the head coach even, after we landed in hot water regarding publishing a story that the club was unhappy with.’. The Tinman story?

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4 minutes ago, Maldini said:

Mods please delete if there’s a thread on this already, but I couldn’t see one.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/mark-ashton-what-its-like-3195183

Interesting article from McGregor. The two stand outs,

‘Everton's interest in one fine young City player has been shelved, for example, to see if head coach Lee Johnson stays true to his word and first-team chances are forthcoming for that prospect’. Any idea who this is?

‘Ashton is extremely aware of the need for confidentiality, and there has been a steady upgrade of the security used at Ashton Gate, with Dave Storr's safety and security team growing in number and practices. Something confirmed to this writer by the head coach even, after we landed in hot water regarding publishing a story that the club was unhappy with.’. The Tinman story?

Wouldn't be surprised if it's Barnaby Soady. He was involved a lot in pre-season and is very well thought of.

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That’s a well written piece - possibly as an olive branch to MA after the Tinnion article for which GmcG got a bollocking it seems. LJ wasn’t impressed by it yesterday and described it a click bait but at the same time realised that sports journalists like GmcG are expected to generate advertising revenue for the Post. 

Good to see MA’s talents being highlighted tho.

 

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6 minutes ago, Whitchurch1966 said:

First team chances for Barney Soady, is that realistic? Didn't see him in any of the pre season friendlies. Maybe they are talking about Semenyo?

I was sat next to Gary (academy manager) and Barney yesterday at the senior reds lunch.

I got the impression from Gary, rightly or wrongly,  that Barney was some way off being ready for "men's football".

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So MacGregorface has basically written a really nice kiss-up article so that he doesn't get his playtime taken away for the next week. I don't doubt that Ashton is immensely hardworking and in general has been a real positive for the club but given that even GG admitted he had had a slap on the wrist it's quite obvious what the motive for this article is

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1 hour ago, Newquay-Red said:

So MacGregorface has basically written a really nice kiss-up article so that he doesn't get his playtime taken away for the next week. I don't doubt that Ashton is immensely hardworking and in general has been a real positive for the club but given that even GG admitted he had had a slap on the wrist it's quite obvious what the motive for this article is

That article?  Could Gregor have stuck his tongue any further up Mark Ashton's ass?  

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It is a bit sycophantic but most of it seems fair, we wouldn't have got the equivalent of £35m+ for Kelly/Webster a few years ago and he takes a lot of the credit for that.

I think Gregor has been impressive in the way he's improved contacts around AG, over the last year we have actually begun getting genuine exclusives. I know it's cool to hate the press as @Merrick's Marvels can attest but remember the bollocks Stocky used to make up, then contradict and forget he ever wrote.

Logically it does sound like the slap on the wrist should be about Tinnion but the way it's tied in in the article with MA's desperation to keep things confidential , I wonder if it's something else. It's not like if you got a story from a source that said BT was unhappy you'd keep it quiet, and I'm sure MA knows that.

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2 hours ago, Robin1988 said:

It is a bit sycophantic but most of it seems fair, we wouldn't have got the equivalent of £35m+ for Kelly/Webster a few years ago and he takes a lot of the credit for that.

I think Gregor has been impressive in the way he's improved contacts around AG, over the last year we have actually begun getting genuine exclusives. I know it's cool to hate the press as @Merrick's Marvels can attest but remember the bollocks Stocky used to make up, then contradict and forget he ever wrote.

Logically it does sound like the slap on the wrist should be about Tinnion but the way it's tied in in the article with MA's desperation to keep things confidential , I wonder if it's something else. It's not like if you got a story from a source that said BT was unhappy you'd keep it quiet, and I'm sure MA knows that.

Boo! Thats's out of order, young man. 

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9 hours ago, Frenchay Red said:

I was sat next to Gary (academy manager) and Barney yesterday at the senior reds lunch.

I got the impression from Gary, rightly or wrongly,  that Barney was some way off being ready for "men's football".

Soady can not yet get in the under 23s. So yes agree, probably not ready for first team yet. He won academy player of the year, but I think was with under 18s last season.

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10 hours ago, Robbored said:

That’s a well written piece - possibly as an olive branch to MA after the Tinnion article for which GmcG got a bollocking it seems. LJ wasn’t impressed by it yesterday and described it a click bait but at the same time realised that sports journalists like GmcG are expected to generate advertising revenue for the Post. 

Good to see MA’s talents being highlighted tho.

 

Have I missed a story about Tinnion? Haven't seen anything on here, what's happened? 

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9 minutes ago, Pezo said:

Have I missed a story about Tinnion? Haven't seen anything on here, what's happened? 

I didn’t see the actual article myself but apparently GmcG printed a story saying that Tinnion was disillusioned with the club signing players thereby blocking the pathway and that PL clubs were interested in BTs services.

LJ and MA were pissed off and GmcG has since written an article praising up MA..........:cool2:

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13 hours ago, Maldini said:

Mods please delete if there’s a thread on this already, but I couldn’t see one.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/mark-ashton-what-its-like-3195183

Interesting article from McGregor. The two stand outs,

‘Everton's interest in one fine young City player has been shelved, for example, to see if head coach Lee Johnson stays true to his word and first-team chances are forthcoming for that prospect’. Any idea who this is?

‘Ashton is extremely aware of the need for confidentiality, and there has been a steady upgrade of the security used at Ashton Gate, with Dave Storr's safety and security team growing in number and practices. Something confirmed to this writer by the head coach even, after we landed in hot water regarding publishing a story that the club was unhappy with.’. The Tinman story?

What sticks out for me is the arse-licking, invented sources, and lies. 

It says Ashton was instrumental in setting up the Academy and the academy status. Well that’s a lie. Cat 2 Status was achieved in 2014 under the leadership of Amy Kington - nowt to do with Ashton. 

It says an “insider” claims Ashton was on the phone all day on deadline day. Well, that’s his job. I’m on the phone all day in my job too. 

It sings praise at our professionalism in having someone in charge of player travel, then says Ashton secured the Pereira deal on Sunday but the ‘travel tzar’ couldn’t find a flight until Tuesday! Ha ha. 

It says that Ashton has internal communications to ensure he’s kept abreast of players linked with us in the media. Well, isn’t that a natural part of the role for the person who’s in charge of recruitment - ie to be aware of players that are available for recruiting. It’s almost as if ‘internal communication’ is some space-age tech that no one else uses yet. 

Another source claims that Ashton tells agents that he works for Steve Lansdown when he’s conducting deals. Well, blow me. Who knew! 

The only ‘named source’ is Warnock, to which it goes on to say that he praised LJ & SL, and made no mention of MA, but apparently Warnock “inferred” it. Ha ha. Did he? Seems that earlier in the article MA was on the phone all day sorting out the Afobe deal, so maybe Warnock did only deal with LJ & SL. 

Another unnamed source says that “Ashton does all the deals and pricing”. Well, did we need that to be confirmed. That’s the main responsibilities of his role. Of course he does that. It’s his job. 

Yet another unnamed source says that MA and LJ discuss the match afterwards. Ha ha. LJ reports into MA. MA is essentially LJ’s boss. If they didn’t have a 1:1 after a match you’d be a bit concerned. Again, this is painted as if communication between 2 people is some fantastic new development only previously seen at the Nou Camp! 

We’re enlightened by another unnamed source that MA is a nice chap but he becomes serious when SL enters the room. Yes, that’s his boss, who pays him £400k per year. When the boss speaks, employees generally listen, unless they don’t what the job. 

What a total crock of shit. This is basically Gregorface having to publicly apologise for breaking the story that Tinnion was gonna leave for Southampton, which upset Ashton and he’s demanded a public apology else Gregorface doesn’t get any more info. 

Edit - the article also tells us about some of the staff MA has working under him, who praise him so. Doesn’t mention that one of them is his cousin whom he takes with him to every club and for whom a 20 year servant at City was sacked to make way for. 

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Nailed it @Harry.

I like Gregor, and to a lot of people this article (like the Arsenal Nketiah one in the Athletic) is sensational insight, but NOT to everyone....it’s exactly what we expect, or in some cases we see right through it as a piece of spin to blow smoke up people’s arses including their own to give credibility.

I don’t think Gregor is like that, but I do think it was a sort of apology....but aimed at MA when it should’ve been to LJ and BT.

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10 hours ago, Newquay-Red said:

So MacGregorface has basically written a really nice kiss-up article so that he doesn't get his playtime taken away for the next week. I don't doubt that Ashton is immensely hardworking and in general has been a real positive for the club but given that even GG admitted he had had a slap on the wrist it's quite obvious what the motive for this article is

Haven't read the article yet, but given what he mentioned in the podcast this took weeks to pull together with insights and interviews from all over the place so I doubt it's been hashed as a quick apology to the club. Perhaps it's just timely?

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