Digital Media: Nature and Speed

well, well, no sooner does one finish an article in defense of his own activities in the field of digital multi-media - and being highly critical of others for theirs - than large sections of that same article, relevant in both content and context at the outset of composition - are rendered absolutely, irrevocably and suddenly obsolete between the time it took to write and the time of publication. such is the nature of change in the world of digital multi-media. within 24-48 hours of my perusing the official west bromwich albion website just one final time prior to beginning my last blog - the whole setup of digital multi-media presentation as maintained by various members of both the premier and football leagues - through their official websites - has changed and they have made a definite move away from their employment of Microsoft specific DRM software. this is not true (as of yet, anyway) of the entire premier and football league WORLD website setup. brentford f.c. have scrapped BEES WORLD and also have a new setup, for example, but swindon town are still using the WORLD services - at the time of writing this, anyway.

ALBION WORLD - the premium services on the west bromwich albion website, through which one accesses full, live match commentaries, as well as highlight and video news clips - has been discontinued in favour of a service now called ALBION PLAYER. they have changed the necessary access software from Windows Media Player in conjunction with Internet Explorer to a regular embedded ADOBE flashplayer which (like YouTube or any other video hosting site) runs in any browser that has the flashplayer plugin installed. also, they have made it easy enough to check out and reasonably sample the product, as international users can now use credit/debit cards to pay for a simple 1 month (recurring, i believe) membership at the reasonable price of £3.99. i am now able to access the full services of the west brom website, and i will look forward to using it and taking out a longer subscription - providing that it proves a worthwhile service in a GNU-Linux environment.



i have been complaining so long and hard about DRM - and how it has been a major point of alienation and frustration in the relationship between myself and my beloved baggies - as well my relationship with the BBC and both the premier and football leagues, in general. last season was the first time in my life that i was able to see more than 90% of the baggies' league matches. this was due to two significant factors: 1) for the last 2 years i have been subscribing to SETANTA SPORTS CANADA, GOLTV, and FOX SPORTSWORLD CANADA; which - along with the one-off broadcasts carried by TSN, and SPORTSNET - gives me TV access to over 95% of the matches played in the premier league; and 2) the baggies were promoted to the premiership - returning them to this particular TV forum. in fact, the only albion matches that i didn't see last season were home to blackburn, away to wigan, and home to middlesbrough.

i was aware from postings on the albion website that they were preparing their ALBION WORLD services to become available to mac users for the first time - but there was (as usual) no mention of any necessary compatibility with GNU-Linux or Unix software. luckily - and when i got a chance to look around at the new setup - the demo clips seemed to work fine, and they were now offering monthly membership to international users; who were previously limited to full year subscriptions. so i took out my credit card and subscribed for a month at £3.99... and so far, so good. while the system is still a little glitchy (and that might be its reaction to FREE software), and i need to refresh the page to remind it that i am signed in and have full access rights; i have ultimately been able to access everything that is currently posted, and i will find out next week as to the live audio commentary (my main point of interest) when newcastle united come to the hawthorns for the season opener.


there is still some employment of DRM technology present; as the video streams leave no temporary file in the /tmp folder that is copyable, and the browsers native downloading tool does not react to the embedded files as it would if it were simple and unrestricted flash video file. however, my biggest concern, the incompatibility of their old system with anything but Microsoft, has definitely taken a marked change for the better - and i think - a fairly significant one.

i don't know why they did this - perhaps flashplayer technology has advanced sufficiently in terms of security features that it would allow the governing bodies to move away from the Windows specific technology? however, BBC has been using this kind of setup for content protection of audio/video for a long time now, so i doubt this was a consideration. what i'd like to think is that enough of us spoke out and either emailed or phoned our respective clubs complaining that not being Microsoft users, we were excluded from being able to subscribe to services that - for the most part - we'd be happy to pay for as long as we could access them.

similar to the BBC, while the video and audio files are freely viewable - i've never been able to figure out how to copy or download the content from this type of setup. YouTube's content, for example, is downloadable. the firefox downloader software can be used for direct download (and i assume IE has a similar plugin or function); or, you can wait until the video has fully buffered in the browser, then copy the temporary file (it will have a name like FLASHXox0xX, and can be found in your system's temporary files folder as long as the browser stays open) to your hard-drive and rename it to include the flash video extension (i.e. filename.flv). despite the fact that this is a freedom i would certainly like to have - i am pleased enough that i can now subscribe in good faith (although, and with my criticisms of DRM still intact) to my club's premium online services confident now that i can access the media content.

while i still believe that online audio commentary - like radio - should be free; i'm having fun reading the news articles and flipping through the news clip videos and photography looking forward to the first live match. for the time being, though, this feels like a real victory, and (for the moment) is a reasonable compromise to what has long been an unacceptable situation.

C"MON YOU BAGGIES!!!

In Search of a Cultural Underground

what am i doing here? why do i spend the time i do on pursuing my overwhelming interest in the baggies? what is a native born north american doing blogging, making videos, posting photographs, joining websites; as well as managing and subscribing to e-mail groups in the name of a team he's never seen play at home; who play in a place that is 1500 miles away from where he lives, and that he's never actually been to; and in a country he hasn't visited in 35 years? what's it all about, eh?

i recently read a book called the cult of the amateur by a guy named andrew keen. basically it is a propaganda piece that proposes that blogs, wikis, social networking, and the digital world are destroying our economy, our culture and our values. in fact that is the sub-title of the book: how blogs, wikis etc. ... this is a book for people who are familiar enough with computers - and may come in contact with them at work and in basic home use situations - but are otherwise not particularly knowledgeable users, who are often enough frustrated by these environments and who might be predisposed to mistrust or dislike the computer, internet and digital media in general. in other words: there is a fair market waiting to hear such a critique. the trouble is, this impulse and interest is essentially borne out of fear, and creates a desire for critically biased attitude toward its source. in this case: that which we don't understand.

he made some basic mistakes, i think, or rather omissions in his thesis. i agreed with many of his starting points and foundation criticisms. for example, wikis - that is, user editable information, in the form of online compendiums, such as an encyclopedia, are - by nature - an unreliable source of information. the problem, as he rightly points out, is that editors with opposing agendas may delete and replace good information with bad information - or express an opinion in their entry that conflicts with that of a previous editor and their contribution.

with a major entry about something like McDonald's restaurants, or Wal-mart, for example, you are apt to find constant and highly biased edits and re-edits, made by those who have vested interest in one side of a propaganda message or another. what he failed to point out, is that where articles and information concerning large corporate and political organizations are often inaccurate, poorly written and/or misleading; the minutiae and localized information concerning the purely cultural (literature, music, sport, science, film, TV) is very often excellent - and the fact is, the more esoteric the subject, the better and more accurate the information. in fact, it is sometimes the only place that this information appears - such is one effect of the digital media revolution: the expansion of content and detail.

but mr. keen is not particularly interested in the localized (what he refers to ironically and sarcastically as: "democratized") or the esoteric. while he is careful to not promote particular corporate brands over others, it is clear enough that he thinks disney does a fine job giving us entertaining and high-quality cultural products. for him, this level of excellence is what our culture is about; and, therefore, needs to be protected from those who would make inferior product, or edit new material from it. for example, mr. keen, calls file-sharing "piracy". when you can't make your point by discussing or referring to something by its proper name; and thus need to bestow upon it a title which is designed to plant specific, highly charged images (either negative or positive) in the perception of those receiving the message, you are then engaged in flagrant, unadulterated propaganda. what sounds better to you: "let's discuss the ethics of file-sharing?" or "let's discuss the ethics of piracy?"

i also agreed with him that blogs are not efficient - or accurate - at delivering news - and certainly a home-blogger could never compete with a professional news agency at delivering news from its geographical source. but here again, he has missed the point: blogs are not for reporting news, but are (or rather, should be) personal, diverse and engaged editorials on culture. at their best, they are localized opinion about the news, and report on otherwise unnoticed effects of that news in localized areas of the culture. for example, what's it like trying to follow a team that regularly plays outside the premiership when you do not reside in the UK? this situation presents concerns and questions of freedom, accessibility, ethics and culture that the average supporter of manchester united or real madrid never have to deal with.

so, who else is better prepared - or sufficiently engaged, for that matter - to report on the problems of following the baggies from an international perspective, and in a world where digital media and FREE software are a major issue, than someone who is engaged specifically in these questions? by his omissions, the reading of someone like mr. keen helps one to define what one is actually doing when engaged in these endeavors. i may only be read by a handful of people, at the moment - and i am not a professional writer of any sort - but the point is (and i can only hope) that what i say has meaning to this handful of people... but then again, i don't do a lot of mainstream promotion of my activities. football may seem to be a funny place to be looking; but i am seeking a cultural underground - i want to see a revolution... a genuine and authentic experience! i want freedom! i want what is possible and in all of its constituent integrity. in other words - and specifically in terms of digital media and technology in general: let software be unencumbered and let it be free to do its natural work!

so, what i am doing here - with my blogging, video editing, e-mail and forum posting - is to report on something - in a highly editorial fashion - that no one else can, and define (at least in some small part) who i am in all this! i am taking an active part in a major cultural shift - as digital technology increasingly creates a folkloric culture from that which once was all big business. while by mr. keen's definition of the word - i am indeed a "pirate", as - and at very least - much of my blogging consists of photography, video and graphics that i have taken from news agencies, DVDs, the internet, etc. and reused here without permission. as well, i often remove the copyright stamp on an image in order to improve the quality and usability of the photo to the public at large. while i freely admit to all the things i have done - i have never hijacked a ship, nor taken part in bloody thievery, murdering, kidnapping or mutiny on the high seas, so i would suggest that mr. keen's description of my cultural behavior in the world of digital media is a prejudiced, unnecessarily dramatic and flowery; as well as wholly inaccurate characterization.

the other thing that mr. keen pointed out in his book - and where we do not diverge at all - was the functional uselessness of DRM (digital restrictions management) software; in that most "piracy" occurs not through the posting or copying of un-protected files on the internet; but direct peer-to-peer sharing of purchased (and subsequently "ripped" or copied to hard-drive) files acquired from a licensed commercial purchase or rental.

the only sector of main-stream culture that has found any extensive use for DRM is in the distribution of broadcast materials which have a short, high-impact first life, but are of relative little interest in second-life. this would be a characteristic of most news and sporting events.

what i mean by this is, a film has a first life - that is the market into which it is initially released. nowadays that could be theatrical first run, or straight to DVD rental and/or pay-tv markets. after this, it has its second life: rerun in repertory movie-houses, distribution on broadcast TV, and the re-selling of the DVD as "used" and also made available for private use home rental. in this sense, the second-life of cultural information is usually much longer than its first, although of a diminished impact and dispersed interest. news, sports... this is media content that has the most high impact in its first life, as it demands immediate attention to receive the content. this kind of information rarely has much of a second life, and when it does, it is invariably by virtue of a specific event having been exceptional or out of the ordinary: landing on the moon, a president's assassination, a substantially unexpected result in a sporting event... this all happens quickly, and the information goes into varying levels and forms of second life almost immediately.

a top-flight english football match has - with the greatest and most notable of exceptions, and up until quite recently - had a fairly non-existent second-life. in the world cup, with time-delays and games played half-way around the world, a big match might have a global first life of about 16 hours; provided that the local news agencies do not report scores from games ahead of time, so that people watching are able to enjoy the experience of a time-delayed match during its first-life. i remember world cups where this was common practice and you would be warned on the regional news if they were going to show the score before the broadcast of a game. because once the report of the final score is received, the information has entered second-life and is immediately and massively diminished in worth. anyway, i still think the real money (and focus) should be TV, shirt-sales and general merchandising. everything else should be free access - like the traditional radio broadcast. just as the online live text commentaries are on the BBC - so should their audio commentaries be available to an international audience. i could even accept the idea of a small licensing fee payable online for the right to listen. they should just not be using DRM that ties accessibility of a stream or file to a particular software; because, as a computer user - you should always be free in what choice of software you care to use, and how you care to use it. anything less is a kind of tyranny.

which is why i am so surprised that the premiership, football league, and the BBC guard their information products so diligently; and don't differentiate when thinking about an information product's first and second life. i try to remain faithful to the albion, and am always hopeful and put trust in the idea that they will do things more authentically and ethically than other organizations. for example, i am so proud that my team - and uniquely so among professional teams - wear sponsor-less jerseys; proving the worth of shirt-sales over advertising. however, in terms of media licensing the albion use a slightly more restrictive model of content control than most other clubs. in the premiership and football leagues, each club has a website for which they - as a group and in a collective agreement with their governing bodies - employ the services of a content management company called performgroup; who develop and maintain the cookie-cutter WORLD template websites for all clubs that operate under this agreement. that is to say, almost every premiership and football league team; as well as six or seven conference teams, who must have private deals with them, and who also use the WORLD website template.

the focus of their content control is DRM encoding of their streams and files so that they are only supposed to work with Windows Media Player in conjunction with Internet Explorer. this is true of their live audio commentary, as it is for their video highlights and news reports. despite the fact that i could make the ALBION WORLD demo page play the audio content using the native GNU-linux media software, and i could make some of the video work the same way - it seemed that ultimately i could not make most of the video work. anyway - and as i said in a previous post, i'm still not ready to spend the £39.99 to find out if i actually can access their live audio commentaries.

a fair number - perhaps even enough to constitute a majority (i've never counted) - of teams in the english premiership and football league have a licensing deal with the BBC, whereby the local BBC radio stations broadcast the home games of the club (or clubs) in their area. these broadcasts are all streamed live online through the BBC website, linked to the corresponding local home pages. for example: BBC Derby, BBC WM, BBC London, BBC South Yorkshire, BBC Suffolk, BBC Solent etc. etc. however, the BBC employs a type of DRM that restricts these streams from working outside the UK. in turn, the football club then uses this stream as live audio commentary available to subscribers of the team website's WORLD services. it is only through the club's website that the stream becomes available to international users.

matches from the blue square premier are not restricted in this manner. so, for example, cambridge united's home games are streamed all over the world through BBC Cambridgeshire; however, the peterborough united matches that are also carried on the same local, are not. i have no idea how the licensing works for scottish football, as my experiences with the SPL online streaming of audio commentary has no consistent nature. while inverness caledonia thistle and motherwell seemed to have their matches stream unrestricted to all international users - as i could always access their audio commentary online, and no restrictions warnings are posted; the majority of the other teams, like rangers, celtic, hearts and hibs, all had the same "UK listeners only" restrictions as the english leagues.

the baggies have opted for even further control than this, and do not have their home matches broadcast on their local BBC network. instead, they take full responsibility for creation of their site content and do their own audio commentary - or commission it from a licensed broadcast in the private sector (i.e. commercial or satellite radio)... perhaps they even use the beaconradio broadcast, for example? i've no idea, really, and would have to research it further to say. although, the impression i had from corresponding via email with a representative of the albion once, was that they themselves create a non-broadcast streaming audio commentary specifically for their own and unique use online.

my initial inquiry as to the use of DRM and the ALBION WORLD services was prompted by my own interest in the possibility of subscribing. with the baggies relegated again - and not much in the way of the football league championship on TV - i was motivated to look for a way to follow the matches other than the live BBC text commentaries. one of my questions - since i use no microsoft software whatever - was: did they believe it was ethical to make their content available only to Windows users? the albion representative - an otherwise prompt and pleasant correspondent - did not really answer the question, other than to state that DRM was an essential tool needed to protect the rights of paying subcribers (what?!?!); and that since microsoft operating systems are used by an overwhelming majority of computer users, they were obliged to cater to this market. i can only conclude that he did not understand the question, or believes "practical consideration" a component or necessary definition of the word, "ethical". as far as i understand - and with apples's new capability for running windows applications - the WORLD service will, for the first time, be available to mac users... still nothing mentioned for FREE software, though.

i may not have to worry though. we shall see, but it appears that SETANTA SPORTS CANADA will be broadcasting primarily championship matches this year. this will mark the first time that second-tier football has ever been broadcast extensively in canada. i have seen the listings for the opening weekend, and having lost a substantial percentage of its premiership rights, it seems they are going with the championship as their main content, and the rights for broadcasting the premier league appear to have been dispersed and re-assigned. i wouldn't be surprised if a new "soccer-specific" ESPN affiliate shows up on the airwaves soon. on the opening week of the season SETANTA SPORTS CANADA is broadcasting the season opener (middlesbrough v sheffield united) live on the friday evening. then, a live TBA early on the saturday morning followed by a live broadcast of west brom v newcastle united; with a time-delay repeat of the southampton v millwall match later that evening. on sunday, the coventry v ipswich match is to be broadcast live. nothing has really been posted in the way of listings for the premiership matches, yet; but, i'd be willing to bet that someone, somewhere is thrashing out the details right now.

yes, it's going to be another interesting year in english football and digital multi-media; and sometimes armed with nothing more than the BBC live text commentaries with which to follow the baggies in real time, there's still every reason for me to blog about the challenges of being a west bromwich albion supporter living in toronto... even if just for the sake of my own sanity!!!

Old Baggies Never Fade Away...

it seems, these days, that they just get transfered to fulham football club. much to my surprise, the man who has captained the albion - and i think probably been their most consistent player - for much of the last 5 seasons, has requested a transfer; almost invariably so that he can end his playing days in a premiership side that has acheived some measure of consolidation in the top flight. the club in question - and the only one reported to have put in a bid for him so far, has been the recent destination for 1 or 2 of his ex-teammates who've gone on and done well there too; and that's fulham f.c.

what thoroughly surprises me is that i've come to see jonathan greening as being the embodiment and individually most representative player for the albion over these past few years, and thought he had an eye to staying in football beyond his playing career. i took it for granted that west brom was where he would want to do this - much like tony brown before him, and take advantage of the opportunity to go into coaching and other areas of the game - perhaps even management - but always west bromwich albion to the end!

his request for transfer is also - and quite suddenly, i might add - out of step with his declarations within the last couple of months of his loyalty to the albion and calling for his teammates to stay and show similar commitment to the club - and in light of paul robinson now going to bolton, and marc-antoine fortune signing with tony mowbray's celtic... so this brings me to the question - and considering the time-line involved in these events: has the arrival of roberto di matteo at the hawthorns had any influence in greening's now wanting a transfer, where he seemed to want to stay before? what does this bode for the future?

again, it throws the appointment of di matteo as "head coach", and the club's switch to a european style of club management into question. what type of manager is di matteo going to be? anybody who's watched football in the last 15 years knows what a great player he was; but, he seems much less popular with the fans whom he has had to serve in the recent past. there was a post on the BBC 606 from an MK dons supporter, warning that he will ruin the constitutional structure of the albion playing style and replace it with a boring italian (read: defensive) style of football.

while some of the dons results would tend to bear this out; i would suggest that DM is at an early enough stage of his career (the baggies is only his second appointment at the helm of a club) that he may not truly have found a particular or committed style yet; and is, at this point, just concerned with producing good results with whatever situation is at hand. his record from last year as the dons' gaffer saw him manage the team to 27 wins, 11 losses, 14 draws; and was good enough to take them into the play-offs where they ultimately lost the two-legged semi-final 7-6 on penalties to scunthorpe united. while i saw both legs of the encounter, i could not make much of an estimation as to di matteo's management style - or what type of football he prefers to see his teams play. but his achievements at MK showed that he relied on good defensive performances, as the team did produce an awful lot of single goal wins in a large number of low scoring games. but then, perhaps he was clever enough to know that this was the constitutional nature of the team, and he played it to its strengths?

in the final analysis, he took a freshly promoted club from league 2 and led them to a place in the promotion playoffs for a place in the championship - and came up short only on a missed penalty by ex-teammate and super veteran tore andre flo. so in the end - i just don't know... let's hope that jonno has a different motivation for wanting to leave other than a lack of faith in the new gaffer - or perhaps he knows something that we don't?

more than likely though, i believe that it is just another example of the ever widening gap - both financially and in terms of prestige between the first and second tiers of english football, making the type of loyalty that was practiced in professional football prior to the massive money and pure pop culture of today impossible for all but a particular type of individual who we have not seen in a long time and may never encounter again. after all, fulham is a team that i think is fairly well suited to a player like jonno, and he should do well there.

in the 1976 FA CUP final, contested by perennial 1st division power-house manchester united; and (then) mid-table 2nd division club southampton; arguably the most pre-eminent international who played in that match was the saints' mike channon. in era's previous to this, famed internationals played routinely in the old 2nd division. but now - in the days of the premier league - the english national side doesn't consider anyone outside the premiership, who isn't a regular starter for his club; and - goalies aside - generally they try and keep selection for international duty to the really big clubs. this is a reflection of how much the prestige gap between the "big four"/consolidated premiership teams, the relegation/promotion battlers, and the established championship teams has grown considerably since the founding of the premier league; and in the process destroyed the possibility for an individual to choose to be loyal to a team - in a professional context anyway.

if a footballer has international aspirations, then he is forced to request transfer upon relegation of his current club. stewart downing at middlesbrough is making the news today as he has been transfered to aston villa for £12 million. here is a case where a young man had come through the academy system, and gone on to play for the local team he had grown up with and had supported as a boy. one of his quotes to the press - as reported on the BBC - was particularly poignant in addressing the situation:

"I loved the last World Cup, but I want to play a bigger part this time. I have to be with a good Premier League side if I want to do that... I hope the fans understand that I'm ambitious and want to win things and this move gives me a chance of that. But I'll always be a Boro fan."

as far as the english national side goes, it weakens the whole structure, by possibly limiting itself out of players who might become good - and useful - international footballers. as we've seen in the past, good club players and those who can shine in the forum of international play are very often made of completely different stuff. especially nowadays, when the ratio of foreign players in the premiership would make it more of a cosmopolitan league, and not necessarily where the best english players at any given position might be playing. in short, i would contend that while the premiership is the finest cosmopolitan football league in the world, and definitely the place to go and seek out one's best and brightest; just don't discount the quality of the much more overtly "english" championship league, and some of the really good young potential english internationals to languish in someone else's - or even popular opinion's - underestimation of what one might find there.

for example, with the number of english goalies who play in the premier league limited to a very few, it's very possible that the national side doesn't have the best english goalie playing for them. considering the number of internationals from the smaller footballing nations who have players currently active in the championship - i would imagine that this potential oversight is very possible.

jonno, however, is not an international and has no such interests to protect. he has, as well, declared that if the club receive no reasonable offer for him, he'll continue to don the navy the white stripes and play his hardest to get the baggies promoted again. in these days of miracle and wonder, of multi million pound transfers, of domestic league domination by a highly predictable few and choices dictated by highly prohibitive costs and standards; the concept of "loyalty" - the idea of a man dedicating himself to the improvement of a whole of which he is a committed and influential part, is a long lost quality whose capabilities to achieve... to create a victorious intangible, will never again be seen in the top-flights of professional football. let's hope that we traded it in for something of equal value.

Blue Square, Digital Media and the Internet

besides my devotion to the albion - which has become somewhat of an obsession in recent years, with the increased diffusion of english football on north american TV and the albion's initial return to english football's top flight at the beginning of the decade - i am also one of 30,000 odd subscribers who comprise the ownership of blue square premier league club, ebbsfleet united.

for those of you who are still unaware of this, "the fleet", are owned by the subscribers to a website called myfootballclub.co.uk, where a computer enthusiast - who initially knew relatively little about football - and whose knowledge of the computer and the internet led him to the idea and creation of a subscriber based website with a user owned football team. so, for a subscription costing £35 a year, you get to be part owner of a professional english football club.



i was initially attracted to the club by an article on the BBC reporting that the site had fallen short of its membership goal for this year. i loved the idea and couldn't resist - the first time i looked at the website, there was no way that i wasn't going to subscribe. although my heart is entirely and inexplicably devoted to west bromwich albion; and despite the difficulty i have getting emotionally attached to the fleet, i was so impressed by the basic premise and what they offered the membership, that i felt it was something that really needed to be supported.

now, none of this is gratuitous or simple; there are member votes on everything, and the interactive nature of the project allows for as much or as little participation as you care. there are forums for presentation of proposals, as well as crucial voting on transfers, uniform, sponsorship and picking the weekly team etc. the funny thing is, that the more involved people get in the process - and the more knowledgeable about the actual day to day maintenance of the football club they become - the more their choices agree with the management and coaches. in other words: they themselves learn how to make more professional decisions, and understand why.

myself, well - i just subscribed to a basic annual membership and bought a team shirt. i also followed a couple of matches on the streaming audio commentary of the BBC local radio broadcasts online. but what i thought was really fascinating about the site, was their online streaming video of several live matches - and their archive of full match replays available for viewing, and download; of which there are about 7 or 8 games from last season. for me, this makes it the best football site on the internet - and shows some of the first really viable potentials for how football might be best presented on the web.

nobody seems to have realized it yet, but the blue square premier is much less encumbered by restrictive licensing and protection of "intellectual property" in the likes of their copyright and broadcasting rights. for example, the only english football that BBC local radio is allowed to stream online outside of the UK are matches from the blue square league; and from what i can tell - and until the collapse of SETANTA left some major gaps in the deal - they were certainly seeing more TV time than either the football leagues 1 or 2. the reason i say that no one seems to have noticed this yet, is the general lack of use and content for websites belonging to clubs in the blue square premier - and it seems that no really significant audience is being developed by the online streaming of radio commentary... or, rather nobody is actively promoting this and no one seems to have made the connection that this is something needing to be exploited, that would actually help to develop the potential web-based support of smaller and lower league clubs.

it's no surprise that football has been - as it was many years before, and with the advent of TV - reluctant to embrace the new media, as the arrival of new media always threatens change to the status quo; and in the case of digital media, which requires investigation by looking down into the roots and checking out the localization of the digital media experience; football is a world where everybody is invariably always looking up at the stars.

while i am generally critical that the premier league has - over the years - eroded the possibility of teams being competitive when moving between the first and second tiers of the game in england; it has been revolutionary in its vision of making use of TV to rejuvenate and popularize the english game; as well as, find huge - often non-traditional and developing - international followings, and set the standard for other competitions to also find a large international audience, in the likes of the UEFA competitions and CHAMPIONS league. it seems also to have improved the standard - and certainly the organization - of conference football, as well.



while i surf around the net, taking a look at the websites belonging to clubs in the blue square premier, i'm first struck by the number of teams who retain the cookie-cutter template WORLD websites owned by every club in the both the premier and football leagues, which are designed and maintained by digital restrictions management company, the performgroup, and all run on the idea of a subscriptions basis in order to be able to access their live streaming audio commentary (otherwise unavailable outside the UK) and video highlights. this service - which is nearly identical from club to club - will only just this season coming up, be available to mac users; and was heretofore only available on microsoft computers, due to its use of microsoft DRM software. they supply no information whatever as to whether FREE and OPEN-SOURCE software users can access the service. having taken a look at the demo, i'm guessing that the audio commentaries are accessible - as long as i use the native GNU software i was able to play the brief demo clip, but i couldn't make most of the video work. that would be ok, i might even buy a subscription to ALBION WORLD (as this service is universally called SOMETHING WORLD from team to team) based on my ability to access the live commentary; but i have so far not been inspired to spend the £39.99 to find out!

the blue square premier teams i found that still use the performgroup service were wrexham, luton town, oxford united, rushden & diamonds, kidderminster harriers, and mansfield town. the rest are of varying quality, with one or two appearing to be built on similar templates; and york city the only club that features video highlights on the home page. typically, none of these sites offer audio or video services; nor did my quick perusal indicate that there was any promotion of BBC's online streaming of licensed home matches. ultimately, there was certainly nothing as extensive or as interesting as the content of myfootballclub.co.uk. the problem is that i think that the site's main concept is so immediately novel and impressive, that it is easy to overlook that they may also be revolutionary pioneers of site content, as well.



this is not to say that the experiment has been a total success. indeed, after the initial glory of winning the FA trophy - coupled with the interest generated by the unique nature of the project - the last season of the club, operating under the website ownership, fell short of the required funds, as approximately 3000 members did not renew their subscriptions. this means that the weekly budget is currently only about 2/3's of what the fleet really needs to be competitive at the top level of the blue square. also, most of the administrative positions at the club are non-payed, and the current CEO has had to resign just this last week, as he finds himself in need of what he described merely as "gainful employment".

as i said, my absolute favourite thing about the site is the full match video replays that are available to members. i have downloaded several of these files, converted them to .avi's and burned them onto CD discs in order to watch them on television. while ready and regular TV access to the major european domestic leagues and UEFA competitions - not to mention the ever growing popularity of the WORLD CUP - has perhaps spoiled us all a bit as to the what level of play and atmosphere we've come to expect from football as spectators, blue square premier is a surprisingly high caliber of play and worth a look for any fan of english football.

while the matches are filmed on a single camera from a traditionally central location in the stands and follows the play much as any other football broadcast would - the audio commentary varies from matches that are completely free of any commentary, and feature only the crowd and natural sounds of the venue; to the use of the BBC local radio broadcast as accompanying commentary. there is even sometimes commentary done live by a couple of guys associated with the club, who stand on the steps of the mobile media truck and call the game from there using a single microphone. this can be charmingly comical, as the two pass the mike back and forth between each other; coupled with the invariable overload and distortion caused by the main commentator screaming into the mike at the advent of an ebbsfleet goal, or a particularly exciting passage of play.

the fact that blue square clubs are able to do this - as well as the opportunity to have their match commentaries accessed by an international audience through the BBC - gives them a huge marketing advantage over the clubs in the football leagues 1 and 2. this would seem a clarion call to both divisions (and similar to the formation of the premiership) to form a breakaway league and reclaim their broadcast rights and retain greater control over their product as modern communications media. just think of the immediate effect on the bigger clubs like leeds united and nottingham forrest to regain (and retain) some measure of their long lost international TV audiences in a new world of downwardly-mobile digital media; as well as the introduction to the world market of famed, long-time lower league clubs like millwall, bury, leyton orient and tranmere rovers. if only someone would start looking down...

as i joke with my friend who is a manchester united supporter, and came to be a fan of the sport many years after the establishment of the premier league and its mighty "big 4":

"when i say 'united' - i mean cambridge!"

Robbo Goes to Bolton

combing the online news last night - and just to see if there was anything new concerning paul robinson's apparent move to bolton. the most recent report being at GOAL.COM, saying that the long serving albion fullback is adamant that he will not be playing at the hawthorns next year, and have asked the club to accept bolton's transfer offer of £750,000. meanwhile, jeremy peace has held firm and rejected the offer, and insists on the asking price of £1 million.

generally, players asking to be released get what they want eventually; simply by virtue of the fact that - in football - no one wants to work with someone who doesn't want to be there. in just about any other business, workers in varying fields of endeavor are routinely held to contracts; where their reluctant delivery of performance is usually acceptable, based on the assumption of personal ego and their inherent sense of craft delivering adequate product. even the rolling stones squirming out of one of their first recording deals, did so by producing a piece of work in order to fulfill their contractual obligations... nothing more. in this case it was a song called "cocksucker blues" and was designed to be unusable - by virtue of its overly explicit lyrical content - by the company to which the song was owed. it did however produce (for better or worse) an interesting piece of art. it shows a commitment to something, anyway. but a footballer who does not want to honour his contract is useless and possibly even detrimental, produces nothing, lacks any sense of commitment; and considering what a footballer costs these days, you would generally want to get him off the payroll as soon as possible.

that is the way i feel about robbo, anyway. he's 30 years old, has no international career to protect (unlike morrison, whose considerations in leaving have more to do with his aspirations as a scottish international than anything else) and last year was part of one the worst defenses in the premier league. so i have to wonder what he's talking about when he says he can't "face another season in the championship".



the premier league - and especially the existence of the "big 4" - has seriously devalued the worth of all other english football; and the promotion/relegation issue between the first and second tier of play is turning into a perilous joke, with less and less of the league being able to stay competitive. nowadays - and in the big setup - teams in the premier league and championship fall into three basic levels of competition: "the big 4"... well that just speaks for itself, and is as much of an institution, at this point, as is the "old firm" in scotland, or the dominance of real madrid and barcelona in spain. then there are the rest of the "top 10" level clubs, in the likes of teams such as everton, aston villa, spurs, manchester city, blackburn rovers, bolton wanderers, west ham united etc... these are all teams that generally finish in the top 10 and occasionally will struggle for a season, but are rarely relegated.

a notable exception to this rule would be newcastle united in being relegated this last season. for these teams, relegation is the worst possible scenario, as the structure at these clubs - financial and otherwise - demands that they regain promotion within 2 years or face the possibility of spiraling downward into league 1 and possibly beyond. recent victims of this syndrome being charlton athletic, leeds united, nottingham forest, leicester city, norwich city, luton town, southampton and going a little further back, swindon town have never been back to the top flight after being the first team to be relegated from the premiership; and, both notts county - now in league 2, and oxford united of the blue square premier league were first division teams less than 20 years ago.

after this you have the group of teams that struggle against relegation from the premiership as often as they are playing for promotion from the championship: west bromwich albion, wolverhampton wanderers, birmingham city, reading, crystal palace, watford, stoke city, portsmouth, sheffield united, fulham, sunderland, wigan, hull city, middlesbrough - and a group of teams who might become competitive at this level on any given year: coventry city, cardiff city, burnley, derby county, bristol city, QPR, preston north end etc. these clubs make up the bottom half of the premiership and the top half of the championship. beyond that - and with a few notable exceptions... well, football is localized and of interest only to the teams and supporters involved.

while the former category of these clubs are capable of staying in the premiership for as many as four or five years at a time - and even produce top ten finishes replete with qualification for european competitions, and so forth - they will still inevitably and eventually find themselves back in the bottom 7 or 8 where the threat of relegation is always just around the corner and as imminent as your next 3 losses.

if paul robinson really believes that the championship is below the level at which he should be playing - then something is out of whack in the overall structure of football in england, and at its highest level. there are players of such a caliber that they could not entertain playing for anyone outside the "big 4". some of these players can be lured to other clubs in the "top ten" category - but only for "big 4" money - or they can go and play for real madrid. while there is another grade of player - like robbo - who will play for anyone as long they have a defensible and consolidated position in the premier league - i mean, you wouldn't want to leave west brom to play at hull, because their chances of a miserable season ending in relegation is more likely than not, and west brom are expected to regain promotion immediately.



the problem lies in the financial structure of these institutions, and the way in which they are allowed to operate. with the exception of west bromwich albion - who were the first team relegated this last year - every single premiership club operated by accumulating massive debt. manchester united, for example, couldn't afford to be manchester united if they couldn't attract the money and keep things running smoothly under the weight of this massive debt. they just wouldn't be able to meet the wages that they want to be able to meet, nor the incredible transfer fees made at the game's highest level that must be paid out. west brom, on the other hand, are a team that depend on prudent management, good buys, loyalty, player development in conjunction with signing young players, and making sure that there is enough money in the till to deal with whatever problems or opportunities might come up. not only did the baggies avoid debt last year, but they were the only premiership club that turned a profit. this may be why they can afford to go "sponsor-less" and actually look like a football team instead of 11 mobile billboards.

newcastle united, having spent many years in the premier league and first division prior to that - are a huge club... one of the biggest in the country. their financial structure calls for big investors, top name players on big salaries, acquired on big transfer money, and to be in the appropriate amount of debt to ensure that this all happens. this structure will absolutely sink a team when relegated to the championship. while albion will have the money and structure to deal with a championship campaign - and are expected to be favourites for promotion back to premier league, newcastle are in big trouble and will have to re-organize their financial structure, sell off their most expensive players, figure out what kind of team they need to put on the field week after week and will still need to get promoted within 2 years or face being broke, further in debt and possibly suffer deeper relegation.

Johnny Too Bad

the true tragedy of last season for the baggies' was without a doubt, the injury that put ishmael miller out for the season. the club not only lost a striker, but due to the constituent nature of last year's team - it lost its focus as well. i think mowbray had put so much time and effort into building a system around the 21 year-old goal-scorer, that when he was no longer available - and with a serious lack of any senior goal-scorers in the club - that it sent the game-plan for the year straight out the window and left only confusion and desperate scrambling as recourse.

this was evident not only in TM having to go looking for whoever he could get on a loan basis, but also left him incapable of committing to any of the other strikers that the club had available. he had the eventual good luck of acquiring fortune - but he turned out to be more of a holding, control forward than an out and out goal-scorer. i can't remember how many times the ball came to him in and around the box, how he skillfully held the ball up, gained control and position and held off defenders, only to find there was no one getting into space on attack. if anyone was going to score, he would have to do it himself - and, indeed, he ended up with a fairly decent record of 5 goals in 17 matches.

simpson never really panned out - although he had his moments - and neither luke moore or roman bednar were really afforded much opportunity by the gaffer; who, and in retrospect, seemed lost for what to do going forward without his pet project. you see, mowbray was setting his team up as a 4-5-1 formation with miller leading the line. although, this formation also saw jonathan greening playing in an advanced position in support of the striker, and in much more of an attacking role than he is used to. once it all started to work - and i think it was probably against wigan and newcastle where this really started to gel - it was like finally seeing the method behind the madness... the idea had been made apparent and had become revealed!

the team saw this development reach its unfortunately early zenith with greening scoring the first goal in the home draw against portsmouth. throughout the early part of the second-half - and with a 1-0 lead - miller was showing menacing pace in several counter-attacks that made it seem only a matter of time before he might score the second and really impress the albion's dominance on the match - as well as vindicate an attacking formation that had long been criticized (and rightly so) for not producing results.





when miller went down under pompey keeper james in an ill-advised, over-enthusiastic tackle that would take him out for the season, there was a sudden and palpable shift in mood on the albion bench. the confusion, loss of focus, and gaps in the playing formation set in as quickly as its development and now apparent and converging success had been long in coming. within minutes, peter crouch - and against the run of play - hit a screamer from about 15-20 yards out and equalized.

i don't know what kind of relationship mowbray had with either bednar or moore; but it was certain that what he'd been working on with miller as the lone striker would not be a role suited to either of these two, and the gaffer even brought craig beattie back from a loan spell while waiting those last few desperate weeks and for the january transfer window to open. in the meantime, mowbray seemed like he just didn't really know what to do, except re-adapt to a 4-4-2 formation, rotate his three strikers in utility roles and target particular games that might be winnable.



even though i have heard no one else make this assertion, but i believe if miller had not gotten hurt the baggies would've stayed up. while mowbray's tactical focus also turned out to be a mistake, in that miller could not be replaced when he got injured - certainly not with the other strikers on the team - it was still tough luck on the gaffer, as he had genuinely invested a lot of time and faith in miller. it took awhile, but at the time of his injury miller had scored 3 goals in 7 games, looked to be on a 4th and really seemed to have hit his stride. the goal against wigan was a perfect example of the exploitation of a defensive mistake at the premiership level. it was opportunistic and finished with a steel-nerve; just as his skill had drawn the newcastle defenders inside with the goalie coming off his line; and then with his pace leaving everyone out of position as he moved the ball outside to the left and placed it neatly into an open goal.



of course, i am excited by the imminent arrival of simon cox. in case you haven't seen him yet, this kid has some really spectacular goals in him, as well as being a prolific scorer. i'm happy that we finally have a manager (or rather more properly now a "head coach") who i think is probably a winner above all, as well as a knowledgeable football mind; and as he is inheriting mowbray's squad more or less intact, i hope he finds a fitting and prominent place for miller in his vision of the albion.