Game of the People

GOTP: Game of the People is a blog ran by Neil Jensen and covers “football in all corners of the world”.[1] While most of the content is European based, there have recently been articles covering the MLS and the African Nations Championship, showing the broad range of stories on the site. Much like the blog for this class, GOTP focuses on more than scores and stats of games, and features stories about “the history, the culture, the politics and the finance of the beautiful game.”[2] The blog has been running since 2012 and publishes about 10-15 posts per month that are about 1000 words each.[3] In addition to the articles that are posted on the main page, the blog has three sections. “State of Play: 10-Year Reviews” is 10-year reviews of different football clubs’ performance, “1001 Floodlit Dreams” is a short review of various championship teams around the world, and “Insights” are white papers on issues related to football.

Neil Jensen, the author and editor of the site is a very experienced corporate journalist who has been published in over 40 publications worldwide.[4] He lives in Hitchin, Hertfordshire that is a town about an hour north of London. Because of this he has been an avid Chelsea supporter since 1967. He lists the other teams that he follows as “Hitchin Town, Paris St. Germain, Juventus, Ferencvaros, RB Leipzig and Randers FC.”[5] He has worked for BBC and SKY Sports and has also published three books about soccer, Chelsea FC The first 10 years, The Men from Fishponds Road, and Tales of the Town.[6]

An article that I really enjoyed was “The last Magyars – Hungary’s 1960s revival” as it shows the general feel of most of the articles that are posted on the site. The article covers the Hungarian national team in the 1950’s, 60’s, and 70’s and how their tensions with the Soviet Union lead what was maybe the best club in the world to become virtually nothing after 1972. This post is very detailed and shows the amount of research that Jensen does on the game. Players are covered as well as the playing style of the team and he also gives a play-by-play analysis of certain important games. However, the most interesting part is the conclusions that are drawn that the downfall of Hungary soccer was based off of political and structural upheaval. This article, like most of the other articles, is an interest piece. Readers learn something that they most likely did not know about the game of soccer and also get a view of how politics can impact the game and clubs around the world.

State of Play: 10-Year Reviews

This section of the site is very interesting as he has four or five page reviews on multiple different clubs’ performance over the past decade. The reviews take into account five aspects of the club and show the site’s emphasis on financials, public perception, and history within the sport. The five aspects are Financials, Stability, Following, On-pitch performance, and Stadium. Jensen then gives a conclusion on how he sees the clubs’ future to be based on these factors. His review of Birmingham City it is interesting as he sees the club bouncing back and forth between the Premier and Championship as they do not have enough money, support, or stability. This review shows again the incredible amount of research that goes into this site and the great detail that Jensen gives each team he covers. These reviews would be great for an avid fan of the clubs that he has covered, but also are very informative for people trying to understand why some clubs are more successful than others.

1001 Floodlit Dreams

This section gives a roster, list of achievements, key players and their skills or reputations, and then summary of how the team is/was perceived for over 60 teams. These teams are from all over the world, date into the 1800’s, and have varying levels of achievement. It is not explained how these particular teams were chosen, but they all either had very notable wins, dominated a certain league, had an interesting style of play, or made some significant impact on the game of soccer. This page shows how wide reaching the coverage of the site is in terms of timeline, size of team, or region of the world. Again, this page required a lot of research from Jensen and shows his impressive knowledge of the game. Readers get a better idea of the history of the game and how former teams lead to the way the current game is played, and also learn much more about certain teams and players.

Insights

This section is four different white papers on issues related to soccer and discuss how clubs can improve their approach to marketing and public relations. This section of the site would be great for front office employees who are looking to improve their club’s perception, and in turn, their overall performance and value as a club. The Harnessing the Media white paper was particularly interesting as it goes over how teams should take advantage of certain forms of the media and also serves as advice for what to avoid in dealing with the media. As a reader you learn more about which teams do certain things well and how something as simple as the media can have a huge impact on a club.

 

References

[1] “About.” GOTP: Game of the People, 26 Feb. 2018, gameofthepeople.com/about/.

[2] “About.” GOTP

[3] Meador, Jake. “24 Soccer Blogs to Read This Season.” The Inside Channel, theinsidechannel.com/24-soccer-blogs-to-read-this-season/.

[4] “Neil Jensen.” Neil Jensen’s Biography | Muck Rack, muckrack.com/neil-jensen-1/bio.

[5] “About.” GOTP

[6] “About.” GOTP