Luigi used to work for Tony at Revolution.  He's done a few interesting things since but it probably isn't exactly diversifying the strategic thinking out of the 'Tony says' approach.  At least he's not his son.

Any pressure Tony has now released was all of his own making.

Well done to the Ogrens for replacing the guy we lost about 2 years ago.  Looks like he'll get on with the Boss too...

Last edited by Finn Seemann (09/11/2021 12:27 pm)

One thing I'd like to see is an overhaul of player engagement on social media, and I think that Joe Rice might push this now he's on the Exec Team.

Some of you might have seen this on Twitter - https://twitter.com/SP_Influencers/status/1455181062238318593?t=dtx7dZksr922Al8nPgT8Ug&s=19

- and its got me thinking that United should be looking at this. Before anyone laughs, I obviously don't mean on the scale of Man United with individual account managers earning six figure salaries. What I do mean is a social media engagement team who look after the players accounts, trying to build up a following and communicating with fans. Unfortunately many players don't have the will or the ability to create good content, but a strong social media team could definitely build the content for them.

I think it would take the sting out of a lot of bad results, build rapport with younger fans, and strengthen the connection between supporters and players if done well.

Over to you, Joe.

Finn Seemann wrote:

AlwaysUnited wrote:

One thing I'd like to see is an overhaul of player engagement on social media, and I think that Joe Rice might push this now he's on the Exec Team.

Some of you might have seen this on Twitter - https://twitter.com/SP_Influencers/status/1455181062238318593?t=dtx7dZksr922Al8nPgT8Ug&s=19

- and its got me thinking that United should be looking at this. Before anyone laughs, I obviously don't mean on the scale of Man United with individual account managers earning six figure salaries. What I do mean is a social media engagement team who look after the players accounts, trying to build up a following and communicating with fans. Unfortunately many players don't have the will or the ability to create good content, but a strong social media team could definitely build the content for them.

I think it would take the sting out of a lot of bad results, build rapport with younger fans, and strengthen the connection between supporters and players if done well.

Over to you, Joe.

Interesting and I wouldn't necessarily rule out improvements in this area - even a captain's account with some sort of mood of the dressing room chat.  However most people just want them to put effort in on the pitch and not be shite.  They seem to be doing OK at that at the moment so I think there are probably better money making things they could be doing.

 
With the greatest of respect, I think your post highlights the difference between legacy and Generation Alpha supporters (and I'm very much in the former camp).

Legacy fans do indeed focus on results, performances and the match day experience (i.e. the social interaction with friends, going for a pint etc). They will dip into social media (check Twitter for line ups, maybe make a comment on Facebook about the result) but it's not a huge part of the experience.

Generation Alpha fans take a much more holistic approach. They are likely to get football news from TikTok or Instagram. The lines between the virtual world and the actuality world are blurred, a match day experience is likely to involve a game of Fifa on the PS5 with friends on a Bluetooth headset, finding out the team news on Instagram, and spending the match constantly switching between their phone and watching the game. These young fans will get most of their engagement and enthusiasm through social media. United can really tap into this market, but only in conjunction with the players (again, in this augmented reality, player generated content is perceived as much more authentic then club generated content).

Its not quite the metaverse, but its the future. Over to you, Joe.

JerryDungle wrote:

Shame this never happened relatively soon after Brannigan left.

That way, good people like Paul Reid and Riki Grauer wouldn’t have been forced out by the fat prick who’s been running the show since.

 
Have they been forced out? I'm not being obtuse but how we're the forced out?

AlwaysUnited wrote:

Finn Seemann wrote:

AlwaysUnited wrote:

One thing I'd like to see is an overhaul of player engagement on social media, and I think that Joe Rice might push this now he's on the Exec Team.

Some of you might have seen this on Twitter - https://twitter.com/SP_Influencers/status/1455181062238318593?t=dtx7dZksr922Al8nPgT8Ug&s=19

- and its got me thinking that United should be looking at this. Before anyone laughs, I obviously don't mean on the scale of Man United with individual account managers earning six figure salaries. What I do mean is a social media engagement team who look after the players accounts, trying to build up a following and communicating with fans. Unfortunately many players don't have the will or the ability to create good content, but a strong social media team could definitely build the content for them.

I think it would take the sting out of a lot of bad results, build rapport with younger fans, and strengthen the connection between supporters and players if done well.

Over to you, Joe.

Interesting and I wouldn't necessarily rule out improvements in this area - even a captain's account with some sort of mood of the dressing room chat.  However most people just want them to put effort in on the pitch and not be shite.  They seem to be doing OK at that at the moment so I think there are probably better money making things they could be doing.

 
With the greatest of respect, I think your post highlights the difference between legacy and Generation Alpha supporters (and I'm very much in the former camp).

Legacy fans do indeed focus on results, performances and the match day experience (i.e. the social interaction with friends, going for a pint etc). They will dip into social media (check Twitter for line ups, maybe make a comment on Facebook about the result) but it's not a huge part of the experience.

Generation Alpha fans take a much more holistic approach. They are likely to get football news from TikTok or Instagram. The lines between the virtual world and the actuality world are blurred, a match day experience is likely to involve a game of Fifa on the PS5 with friends on a Bluetooth headset, finding out the team news on Instagram, and spending the match constantly switching between their phone and watching the game. These young fans will get most of their engagement and enthusiasm through social media. United can really tap into this market, but only in conjunction with the players (again, in this augmented reality, player generated content is perceived as much more authentic then club generated content).

Its not quite the metaverse, but its the future. Over to you, Joe.

Sorry wasn't saying this wasn't to be considered - I think anything that speaks to the youth is key to growing/maintaining the fan base.  Merely pointing out that the guys currently paying to watch the football aren't bothered, as you say.  Most of these guys are also paying for their xBox/PS5 kids to get in.  I'm not sure that the new world trumps parental indoctrination just yet, hence why there might be a more important focus, but I don't think anything that helps build the fan base can be a bad idea.

doontheroadarab wrote:

AlwaysUnited wrote:

One thing I'd like to see is an overhaul of player engagement on social media, and I think that Joe Rice might push this now he's on the Exec Team.

Some of you might have seen this on Twitter - https://twitter.com/SP_Influencers/status/1455181062238318593?t=dtx7dZksr922Al8nPgT8Ug&s=19

- and its got me thinking that United should be looking at this. Before anyone laughs, I obviously don't mean on the scale of Man United with individual account managers earning six figure salaries. What I do mean is a social media engagement team who look after the players accounts, trying to build up a following and communicating with fans. Unfortunately many players don't have the will or the ability to create good content, but a strong social media team could definitely build the content for them.

I think it would take the sting out of a lot of bad results, build rapport with younger fans, and strengthen the connection between supporters and players if done well.

Over to you, Joe.

Is this the same Joe Rice that never seems to say sorry or address any of the many problems customers especially out of town arabs have had over the years with arabzone and dutv? As recently as the Hearts match the audio was fucked and we ended up listening to the Hearts commentary, some may say that's a let off but the point is it's yet another shitshow from comms team, does this not come under his remit? Like all the other times that the service was inadequate to say the least,not even given the courtesy of an explanation of what went wrong or an apology on any of the United sites,as head of comms you would think he would be all over this to keep subscribers onside, it seems it has always been say nothing and it will go away,but hey he's got promoted so maybe it works.
@itsworkingthisend

Was waiting on a comment like this. I went to school with Joe and he is sound as a pound. But you’re 1000% correct with your arabzone/DUTV comments. I would say for the best part of the time I’ve been over here (19 years) there’s always been some kind of trouble or problems with live United coverage online, whether that be sound/picture/lagging etc etc and hardly any feedback as to why. I seem to remember money being raised for better equipment to provide a better live feed but that was about 5-6 years ago and by all accounts no much has changed.