The Players' Tribune is one of the recent interesting developments in the relationship between sportspeople and the media - and by extension fans who consume the ensuing contents.
The site is a platform for sportspeople to pen their own longer or shorter-form pieces and essentially cuts out the middleman - in short, the media - allowing them to speak directly to fans.
Recently for example, Napoli's hometown hero Lorenzo Insigne penned a piece, while Tottenham prolific striker Harry Kane also did the same.
And in fairness, the articles up to now have been very interesting and in some cases revelatory about the subjects.
But a recent New York Times piece explored the potential long-term effect of The Players' Tribune model if sportspeople begin to go down that route more exclusively rather than speaking to more traditional media outlets: "Projecting The Players’ Tribune model forward, we can imagine a world in which athletes simply don’t need to talk to reporters, in an echo of what feels like the unstoppable atomization of all news and information."
What impact will that have on football journalism in the medium to long term?
This week on Team 33, Joe, Derek, Adrian and I discussed that very subject matter within the football sphere amid issues around access and scrutiny!
You can listen back on the podcast player or stream/download on iTunes, including Joe's thoughts on Arsenal:
Recent interviews on Team 33 include former Man United cult hero Andrei Kanchelskis, ex-England international Carlton Palmer, former Newcastle and Everton left back Alessandro Pistone, Chelsea legends Bobby Tambling and Paddy Mulligan, Dutch legend Johan Neeskens, ex-England striker Darius Vassell, Liverpool legend David Fairclough, former Ireland midfielder Mark Kinsella and former Everton forward Tomasz Radzinski. Plus our in-depth chats with Tony Coton, Packie Bonner, Nobby Solano, Ron Atkinson and Alan Curbishley are still available on iTunes. You can find them all in one place by subscribing to Team 33 on iTunes.
