Brents Goulet
New Signing
I watched my first Bournemouth match in 1983, and was pretty much addicted from that moment. And for as long as I can remember, my love of the club was married together with a love of the back page of the Bournemouth Echo. Long before Twitter would serve up daily rumours, and every other media outlet took notice of us since we became a Premier League club, the Echo back page was pretty much the only place for me to to read about the club. Every day after school I’d stop at the newsagents and look.
27 years ago (when I was 16) my school told us all to get some work experience and there was only on place I wanted to be. I wrote to the Echo and had the good fortune of being given 2 weeks on the sports desk. In that time I met Neil Perrett for the first time, and he took me under his wing, took me with him to the training ground to interview players, showed me how a newspaper was put together, and gave me endless time and patience, answering all of the hundreds of questions I had. He even let me write a few things, and I can still remember now seeing my own name appear on the back page of the paper.
I learnt a huge amount from him, and despite not ending up following a career in journalism, so much of the things he taught me have remained and really helped me since. I also had a whole new appreciation of the small team of people who not only cover AFC Bournemouth every day, but every other sport in the region too. It is a unique and often tricky role to be the local paper following a club; you need to report the news independently but at the same time behave as a trusted friend and partner of the club. So many local papers have ended up being banned by their respective clubs (including the Echo a few times) that these guys always walk a tightrope, but play an invaluable role nevertheless.
This week’s news that Neil has been made redundant left me feeling really sad. On a personal note because he is someone who has done so much for me, and I know just how much he loved his job, his newspaper, his profession and our club. But also because I think it represents the passing of time of local newspapers too. The sad truth is people like Neil are being made redundant across the country as newspapers either can’t make ends meet, or no longer value the craft in the same way and are happy to cut corners, drop standards or make do with lesser content.
One thing is for sure, the back page of the Bournemouth Echo will never be the same for me, and I’d guess for many others too. Neil had plenty of critics on here, which comes with the territory. Many didn’t understand why he didn’t do more to hold the club to account at times, which is understandable, but also complicated by the role the local paper plays with its club. Many like me also spent way too long hitting refresh on twitter on transfer deadline day hoping for news from Neil on who we were signing, or simply who we weren’t. His hashtag #localpapersalwaysfirst became the default signature for another scoop, or confirmation of something Neil had unearthed, invariably quicker than those with bigger teams and greater resources too.
Football clubs are made up of unsung heroes. For 28 years Neil has connected our club to us, the fans, and has been a credit to our town and his profession. As he approaches the final days of a job he was so proud to have, and one he put his heart and soul into, I just wanted to take a moment to pay tribute to an absolute giant of journalism and someone I’m lucky to call a friend.
27 years ago (when I was 16) my school told us all to get some work experience and there was only on place I wanted to be. I wrote to the Echo and had the good fortune of being given 2 weeks on the sports desk. In that time I met Neil Perrett for the first time, and he took me under his wing, took me with him to the training ground to interview players, showed me how a newspaper was put together, and gave me endless time and patience, answering all of the hundreds of questions I had. He even let me write a few things, and I can still remember now seeing my own name appear on the back page of the paper.
I learnt a huge amount from him, and despite not ending up following a career in journalism, so much of the things he taught me have remained and really helped me since. I also had a whole new appreciation of the small team of people who not only cover AFC Bournemouth every day, but every other sport in the region too. It is a unique and often tricky role to be the local paper following a club; you need to report the news independently but at the same time behave as a trusted friend and partner of the club. So many local papers have ended up being banned by their respective clubs (including the Echo a few times) that these guys always walk a tightrope, but play an invaluable role nevertheless.
This week’s news that Neil has been made redundant left me feeling really sad. On a personal note because he is someone who has done so much for me, and I know just how much he loved his job, his newspaper, his profession and our club. But also because I think it represents the passing of time of local newspapers too. The sad truth is people like Neil are being made redundant across the country as newspapers either can’t make ends meet, or no longer value the craft in the same way and are happy to cut corners, drop standards or make do with lesser content.
One thing is for sure, the back page of the Bournemouth Echo will never be the same for me, and I’d guess for many others too. Neil had plenty of critics on here, which comes with the territory. Many didn’t understand why he didn’t do more to hold the club to account at times, which is understandable, but also complicated by the role the local paper plays with its club. Many like me also spent way too long hitting refresh on twitter on transfer deadline day hoping for news from Neil on who we were signing, or simply who we weren’t. His hashtag #localpapersalwaysfirst became the default signature for another scoop, or confirmation of something Neil had unearthed, invariably quicker than those with bigger teams and greater resources too.
Football clubs are made up of unsung heroes. For 28 years Neil has connected our club to us, the fans, and has been a credit to our town and his profession. As he approaches the final days of a job he was so proud to have, and one he put his heart and soul into, I just wanted to take a moment to pay tribute to an absolute giant of journalism and someone I’m lucky to call a friend.
What a great post!
