Covering The Spurs Beat
by Dan Kilpatrick - July 3, 2015
Article from The Tottenham Way
Journalist Ben Pearce provides some brilliant insight into his role covering the mighty Spurs.
Ben Pearce has a dreamy job. You’d be forgiven for hating him a little. The Ham&High sports editor spends most of the year writing about Tottenham Hotspur; attending matches and press conferences, and interviewing Mauricio Pochettino and players. You’ve almost certainly read some of Ben’s stuff, and his interviews – originally published on Ham&High, the Hackney Gazette, the Tottenham Journal & London24 – are typically picked up by the websites of all the leading nationals (and some fabulous blogs, like this one).
In order to find out a bit more about Ben’s work, I asked him some questions on covering the Spurs beat. He delivered, revealing his occasional frustrations with Pochettino, his favourite players to interview, why it’s not always wise to ask the difficult questions and, crucially, which club does the best hospitality grub.
How long have you been covering Spurs?
Since September 2008, just before Harry Redknapp replaced Juande Ramos as manager. Eight months before that I’d been at journalism college so I was very lucky to get this job so quickly, and I’ve really enjoyed it ever since.
Newcastle, for example, make life particularly difficult for the media. Are Spurs easy to deal with as a club?
Generally, yes. I’ve always had a very good relationship with the club. There are really nice people in their media department, and it feels like they respect the role of the local reporter – even though I only work for a group of weekly newspapers in north London. That’s not necessarily the case at other Premier League clubs so I really do appreciate it. It’s sometimes said that Tottenham are one of the most political clubs, and it can feel that things are more secretive than they need to be, but I think that’s the case at most Premier League clubs these days and I’m very happy to be covering Spurs.
Do you feel Spurs are transparent enough with supporters? For example, on the possible relocation to Milton Keynes.
Probably not, but I think the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust have done some great work in that regard, publishing the minutes from their meetings with the club’s board and asking the questions that the fans want answered. I think there’s been an improvement, even last season. It’s only a small thing but the club now tend to explain why a player is unexpectedly absent from the matchday squad on their Twitter feed, like when Danny Rose was injured on the last day of the season at Everton. The team news on the website in the build-up to the match also seems to be more accurate these days. Of course the club need to keep certain things private because football is a business game as well as a sport, and it’s understandable if the manager/head coach doesn’t want to reveal too much information about his team two days before a match. But everyone wants transparency wherever possible and, as reporters, we always like to get honest answers to our questions.
Which members of the squad do you most enjoy interviewing and why?
Danny Rose and Jan Vertonghen. They’re always very open and honest, which is very refreshing. I/we have also spoken to Harry Kane a lot over the past year and he has always been very generous with his time. He’s fully deserved the positive headlines he’s had because of his efforts on the pitch, but it’s been a pleasure to write those articles because he’s stayed so grounded and rarely declined to stop and speak after a match – even when Spurs lost 3-0 at Stoke. The biggest challenge has been coming up with different questions for him every week!
Aaron Lennon is notoriously reluctant to speak to the media. Are there any other Spurs players who tend to avoid interviews?
Christian Eriksen doesn’t enjoy them but will stop once a month or so, and it seems Eric Dier is a bit reluctant to speak. He set up two goals at Southampton but didn’t want to do any interviews afterwards – although I did speak to him with a colleague earlier in the season, and he stopped at Everton on the final day. Hugo Lloris understandably became less keen to do interviews as the speculation about his future was increasing towards the end of the term. Of course there’s a language barrier with a number of the players as well, so there are players I’ve never spoken to – Roberto Soldado and Erik Lamela, for example.
Mauricio Pochettino appears coy and unwilling to give anything away when addressing the press. Have you been frustrated with him in press conferences? Or is it refreshing after Harry Redknapp and Tim Sherwood?
It has certainly been frustrating at times and there was a period earlier this year when it was barely worth attending the press conferences because Pochettino had so little to say, or was so guarded. Those occasions can be deflating and even a little embarrassing as a reporter because you’re putting something on your website and tweeting links to an article that you know is pretty uninteresting. But Pochettino certainly opened up towards the end of the season, revealing his true thoughts on the Europa League and hinting at some of his plans for the transfer window. I don’t know if he is sometimes cagey because he remains a bit unconfident with his English (his assistant Jesus Perez is always present in press conferences and often helps to translate) but hopefully he will open up some more next season. Success always helps and lightens the mood. He is certainly a likeable guy and I hope he does well.
Did the willingness of Redknapp and Sherwood to talk openly make your job easier?
Yes, absolutely, and they helped to create a nice atmosphere in press conferences. With both managers, it often felt like a chat about football rather than an inquisition, which makes a big difference. There’s a general sense of paranoia in football – a lot of managers and players try to get through interviews while saying as little as possible, and everyone’s familiar with the classic clichés. So it’s always refreshing to speak to people who are willing to open up a bit and say what they really think. As reporters of Premier League clubs, we are very often interviewing people who don’t really want to be there, and are doing so out of a sense of duty or to do us a favour. Of course we are hugely fortunate to be in that position, and the fans would love to be able to speak to the players after matches each week, but it makes a difference when someone appears to view press conferences or interviews as an enjoyable part of their job, rather than entering the room looking like they’re at the dentist and can’t wait to get out.
With all of that said, Redknapp and Sherwood might just have kept their jobs if they had been a bit more careful about what they said publicly. Both were probably guilty of representing their own interests rather than the club’s, so I entirely understand why they became unpopular with a number of supporters. We hear very little from Daniel Levy and Joe Lewis, they tend to avoid headlines, and you get the impression that they like their managers to adopt a similar approach, which may have helped Pochettino to get the job. He hasn’t made many waves in the last 12 months.
Have you noticed any significant (or insignificant) changes in how the club operates since the days of Harry/AVB/Sherwood?
Not really, from a press perspective little has changed as the various managers have come and gone. But it seems that Levy is building a structure around Pochettino in the club’s hierarchy to help him with his job and bring his visions of the future to fruition, such as recruiting Paul Mitchell. It seems he may finally be showing some faith in the current man and planning to keep him in charge for the long term. We will see…
If you could ask Pochettino one question that he had to answer truthfully, what would it be and why?
Who’s on the shopping list? I’m sure everyone would love to be able to cut through the rumours and know who is on Spurs’ actual list of targets this summer – and who are the back-up options.
Same goes for Daniel Levy?
Why did you sack Harry Redknapp? There have been various theories and explanations and it was probably due to a combination of factors, but it would be interesting to hear the story from Levy’s perspective and get a feeling for the discussions that took place at the time. I’m sure there are more useful, forward-looking questions that I could ask as a reporter, but that one’s always interested me personally given that Redknapp finished in the top four for two successive seasons.
Fans can get frustrated at a perceived lack of probing by the media into certain uncomfortable or controversial issues for the club. The status of Benoit Assou-Ekotto before January is an example, as is the exile of Capoue / Kaboul from November. Do you think this frustration is fair? Is a lot of stuff embargoed or said off the record?
Very little, if anything, is ever said off the record in press conferences or interviews – at Tottenham anyway. A lot of it is embargoed but the information or quotes will still be released within a day or two. Often the questions are being asked but just aren’t being answered. Pochettino was asked about the likes of Kaboul and Adebayor plenty of times last season and just kept repeating “all players are in my plans”, or variations on that theme. You can press all you like, but if you keep getting the same answer it’s probably time to move on and discuss another subject, because the clock is ticking in press conferences and you risk leaving with nothing. Press conferences and post-match interviews tend to happen in groups as well so, if you don’t change tack, another reporter will probably jump in with a different question of their own.
Reporters also have to maintain a relationship with a club, the manager and players – in my case over almost seven years, and counting. While it might seem like good, hard-nosed journalism to keep asking a question that someone clearly don’t want to answer, it also risks alienating them. If it’s a player, will they stop the next time you ask them for an interview after a match? If it’s the manager, will he be frosty towards you in future and show little interest in your questions in subsequent weeks? I was once in a post-match interview when a reporter asked ‘the uncomfortable question’ one minute in. The player immediately walked off, ending any chance of getting further thoughts on the match, the upcoming opponents, etc and he declined to stop and talk for a few matches after that. I do read the questions that fans tweet to me though, and have asked some of them in press conferences.
Is there a moment covering Spurs that stands out for you? Something that happened in a press conference, at a game or even some breaking news you saw online for instance?
I will always remember being at Manchester City the night Tottenham qualified for the Champions League in 2010. It was such a privilege to be there for that historic moment when Spurs finally achieved that long-term goal. A fellow Spurs reporter and I then interviewed the matchwinner Peter Crouch for about seven minutes in a very small room near the players’ tunnel, where Redknapp got drenched by the water bucket. It was great to be behind the scenes, speaking to the hero and trying to put it all into words. Those late drives home to London can be quite difficult but I was wide awake the whole way back. Of course there were some memorable European nights the following season as well, particularly when Gareth Bale inspired Spurs to that win over the reigning champions Inter Milan at White Hart Lane. It felt that a star had been born that night. Equally I’ll never forget the FA Cup tie in March 2012 when Fabrice Muamba collapsed, for very different reasons of course. That was a very difficult moment and I pretty much froze. Other people around me did a much better job of reporting what was going on, I just couldn’t put it into words until a few days later.
The rumour mill is in full swing. Do you pay much attention to the transfer gossip at this time of year?
Not really. Of course I’m interested to see who Spurs sign and sell but I don’t pay much attention to the incessant rumours. One of the nice things about my job is that I don’t just cover Spurs. I also cover other sport in north London and this is a good time of year to focus on that – Camden’s James Ward is having his best run at Wimbledon this week, for example. If you visit the Ham&High website, you’ll see what I’m doing at this time of year. I understand the interest in transfer rumours – everyone wants to be first to get wind of the next signing and debate how they could improve their team, but some people seem to be more interested in gossip than football itself.
Sadly sports websites in this country know that by far the most popular stories are football transfer rumours, and they feel they have to go down that route just to compete with each other. Football fans could change that, and a lot of supporters moan about what they read during the summer – and yet, in my experience, the rumours get far more clicks than anything considered and thoughtful. It doesn’t encourage organisations to break with this trend that we’re seeing now, so sadly it will probably continue. With all of that said, I’m fully aware that I’m lucky to be able to cover other sports at this time of year and choose what I consider to be important, and that a lot of reporters don’t have that luxury – especially those who work on football websites. They can’t just take three months off between May and August, they have jobs to do and are apparently giving football fans exactly what they want at this time of year.
And finally, which club does the best hospitality food in the Premier League? And where does Spurs’ rank?
I’m afraid to say Chelsea and Woolwich are probably the best, along with Manchester City. The richest clubs tend to have the best caterers! Spurs have definitely jumped up the table in the last couple of years though, since they changed their caterers. We now get a roast dinner before every match, with a dessert, and sausage rolls or hot dogs at half-time. I certainly get there earlier these days – and I’ve put on weight.
A massive thank you to Ben for taking the time to answer my questions!
If you don’t follow Ben on Twitter, do it! Now!
Article from The Tottenham Way
by Dan Kilpatrick - July 3, 2015
Article from The Tottenham Way
Journalist Ben Pearce provides some brilliant insight into his role covering the mighty Spurs.
Ben Pearce has a dreamy job. You’d be forgiven for hating him a little. The Ham&High sports editor spends most of the year writing about Tottenham Hotspur; attending matches and press conferences, and interviewing Mauricio Pochettino and players. You’ve almost certainly read some of Ben’s stuff, and his interviews – originally published on Ham&High, the Hackney Gazette, the Tottenham Journal & London24 – are typically picked up by the websites of all the leading nationals (and some fabulous blogs, like this one).
In order to find out a bit more about Ben’s work, I asked him some questions on covering the Spurs beat. He delivered, revealing his occasional frustrations with Pochettino, his favourite players to interview, why it’s not always wise to ask the difficult questions and, crucially, which club does the best hospitality grub.
How long have you been covering Spurs?
Since September 2008, just before Harry Redknapp replaced Juande Ramos as manager. Eight months before that I’d been at journalism college so I was very lucky to get this job so quickly, and I’ve really enjoyed it ever since.
Newcastle, for example, make life particularly difficult for the media. Are Spurs easy to deal with as a club?
Generally, yes. I’ve always had a very good relationship with the club. There are really nice people in their media department, and it feels like they respect the role of the local reporter – even though I only work for a group of weekly newspapers in north London. That’s not necessarily the case at other Premier League clubs so I really do appreciate it. It’s sometimes said that Tottenham are one of the most political clubs, and it can feel that things are more secretive than they need to be, but I think that’s the case at most Premier League clubs these days and I’m very happy to be covering Spurs.
Do you feel Spurs are transparent enough with supporters? For example, on the possible relocation to Milton Keynes.
Probably not, but I think the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust have done some great work in that regard, publishing the minutes from their meetings with the club’s board and asking the questions that the fans want answered. I think there’s been an improvement, even last season. It’s only a small thing but the club now tend to explain why a player is unexpectedly absent from the matchday squad on their Twitter feed, like when Danny Rose was injured on the last day of the season at Everton. The team news on the website in the build-up to the match also seems to be more accurate these days. Of course the club need to keep certain things private because football is a business game as well as a sport, and it’s understandable if the manager/head coach doesn’t want to reveal too much information about his team two days before a match. But everyone wants transparency wherever possible and, as reporters, we always like to get honest answers to our questions.
Which members of the squad do you most enjoy interviewing and why?
Danny Rose and Jan Vertonghen. They’re always very open and honest, which is very refreshing. I/we have also spoken to Harry Kane a lot over the past year and he has always been very generous with his time. He’s fully deserved the positive headlines he’s had because of his efforts on the pitch, but it’s been a pleasure to write those articles because he’s stayed so grounded and rarely declined to stop and speak after a match – even when Spurs lost 3-0 at Stoke. The biggest challenge has been coming up with different questions for him every week!
Aaron Lennon is notoriously reluctant to speak to the media. Are there any other Spurs players who tend to avoid interviews?
Christian Eriksen doesn’t enjoy them but will stop once a month or so, and it seems Eric Dier is a bit reluctant to speak. He set up two goals at Southampton but didn’t want to do any interviews afterwards – although I did speak to him with a colleague earlier in the season, and he stopped at Everton on the final day. Hugo Lloris understandably became less keen to do interviews as the speculation about his future was increasing towards the end of the term. Of course there’s a language barrier with a number of the players as well, so there are players I’ve never spoken to – Roberto Soldado and Erik Lamela, for example.
Mauricio Pochettino appears coy and unwilling to give anything away when addressing the press. Have you been frustrated with him in press conferences? Or is it refreshing after Harry Redknapp and Tim Sherwood?
It has certainly been frustrating at times and there was a period earlier this year when it was barely worth attending the press conferences because Pochettino had so little to say, or was so guarded. Those occasions can be deflating and even a little embarrassing as a reporter because you’re putting something on your website and tweeting links to an article that you know is pretty uninteresting. But Pochettino certainly opened up towards the end of the season, revealing his true thoughts on the Europa League and hinting at some of his plans for the transfer window. I don’t know if he is sometimes cagey because he remains a bit unconfident with his English (his assistant Jesus Perez is always present in press conferences and often helps to translate) but hopefully he will open up some more next season. Success always helps and lightens the mood. He is certainly a likeable guy and I hope he does well.
Did the willingness of Redknapp and Sherwood to talk openly make your job easier?
Yes, absolutely, and they helped to create a nice atmosphere in press conferences. With both managers, it often felt like a chat about football rather than an inquisition, which makes a big difference. There’s a general sense of paranoia in football – a lot of managers and players try to get through interviews while saying as little as possible, and everyone’s familiar with the classic clichés. So it’s always refreshing to speak to people who are willing to open up a bit and say what they really think. As reporters of Premier League clubs, we are very often interviewing people who don’t really want to be there, and are doing so out of a sense of duty or to do us a favour. Of course we are hugely fortunate to be in that position, and the fans would love to be able to speak to the players after matches each week, but it makes a difference when someone appears to view press conferences or interviews as an enjoyable part of their job, rather than entering the room looking like they’re at the dentist and can’t wait to get out.
With all of that said, Redknapp and Sherwood might just have kept their jobs if they had been a bit more careful about what they said publicly. Both were probably guilty of representing their own interests rather than the club’s, so I entirely understand why they became unpopular with a number of supporters. We hear very little from Daniel Levy and Joe Lewis, they tend to avoid headlines, and you get the impression that they like their managers to adopt a similar approach, which may have helped Pochettino to get the job. He hasn’t made many waves in the last 12 months.
Have you noticed any significant (or insignificant) changes in how the club operates since the days of Harry/AVB/Sherwood?
Not really, from a press perspective little has changed as the various managers have come and gone. But it seems that Levy is building a structure around Pochettino in the club’s hierarchy to help him with his job and bring his visions of the future to fruition, such as recruiting Paul Mitchell. It seems he may finally be showing some faith in the current man and planning to keep him in charge for the long term. We will see…
If you could ask Pochettino one question that he had to answer truthfully, what would it be and why?
Who’s on the shopping list? I’m sure everyone would love to be able to cut through the rumours and know who is on Spurs’ actual list of targets this summer – and who are the back-up options.
Same goes for Daniel Levy?
Why did you sack Harry Redknapp? There have been various theories and explanations and it was probably due to a combination of factors, but it would be interesting to hear the story from Levy’s perspective and get a feeling for the discussions that took place at the time. I’m sure there are more useful, forward-looking questions that I could ask as a reporter, but that one’s always interested me personally given that Redknapp finished in the top four for two successive seasons.
Fans can get frustrated at a perceived lack of probing by the media into certain uncomfortable or controversial issues for the club. The status of Benoit Assou-Ekotto before January is an example, as is the exile of Capoue / Kaboul from November. Do you think this frustration is fair? Is a lot of stuff embargoed or said off the record?
Very little, if anything, is ever said off the record in press conferences or interviews – at Tottenham anyway. A lot of it is embargoed but the information or quotes will still be released within a day or two. Often the questions are being asked but just aren’t being answered. Pochettino was asked about the likes of Kaboul and Adebayor plenty of times last season and just kept repeating “all players are in my plans”, or variations on that theme. You can press all you like, but if you keep getting the same answer it’s probably time to move on and discuss another subject, because the clock is ticking in press conferences and you risk leaving with nothing. Press conferences and post-match interviews tend to happen in groups as well so, if you don’t change tack, another reporter will probably jump in with a different question of their own.
Reporters also have to maintain a relationship with a club, the manager and players – in my case over almost seven years, and counting. While it might seem like good, hard-nosed journalism to keep asking a question that someone clearly don’t want to answer, it also risks alienating them. If it’s a player, will they stop the next time you ask them for an interview after a match? If it’s the manager, will he be frosty towards you in future and show little interest in your questions in subsequent weeks? I was once in a post-match interview when a reporter asked ‘the uncomfortable question’ one minute in. The player immediately walked off, ending any chance of getting further thoughts on the match, the upcoming opponents, etc and he declined to stop and talk for a few matches after that. I do read the questions that fans tweet to me though, and have asked some of them in press conferences.
Is there a moment covering Spurs that stands out for you? Something that happened in a press conference, at a game or even some breaking news you saw online for instance?
I will always remember being at Manchester City the night Tottenham qualified for the Champions League in 2010. It was such a privilege to be there for that historic moment when Spurs finally achieved that long-term goal. A fellow Spurs reporter and I then interviewed the matchwinner Peter Crouch for about seven minutes in a very small room near the players’ tunnel, where Redknapp got drenched by the water bucket. It was great to be behind the scenes, speaking to the hero and trying to put it all into words. Those late drives home to London can be quite difficult but I was wide awake the whole way back. Of course there were some memorable European nights the following season as well, particularly when Gareth Bale inspired Spurs to that win over the reigning champions Inter Milan at White Hart Lane. It felt that a star had been born that night. Equally I’ll never forget the FA Cup tie in March 2012 when Fabrice Muamba collapsed, for very different reasons of course. That was a very difficult moment and I pretty much froze. Other people around me did a much better job of reporting what was going on, I just couldn’t put it into words until a few days later.
The rumour mill is in full swing. Do you pay much attention to the transfer gossip at this time of year?
Not really. Of course I’m interested to see who Spurs sign and sell but I don’t pay much attention to the incessant rumours. One of the nice things about my job is that I don’t just cover Spurs. I also cover other sport in north London and this is a good time of year to focus on that – Camden’s James Ward is having his best run at Wimbledon this week, for example. If you visit the Ham&High website, you’ll see what I’m doing at this time of year. I understand the interest in transfer rumours – everyone wants to be first to get wind of the next signing and debate how they could improve their team, but some people seem to be more interested in gossip than football itself.
Sadly sports websites in this country know that by far the most popular stories are football transfer rumours, and they feel they have to go down that route just to compete with each other. Football fans could change that, and a lot of supporters moan about what they read during the summer – and yet, in my experience, the rumours get far more clicks than anything considered and thoughtful. It doesn’t encourage organisations to break with this trend that we’re seeing now, so sadly it will probably continue. With all of that said, I’m fully aware that I’m lucky to be able to cover other sports at this time of year and choose what I consider to be important, and that a lot of reporters don’t have that luxury – especially those who work on football websites. They can’t just take three months off between May and August, they have jobs to do and are apparently giving football fans exactly what they want at this time of year.
And finally, which club does the best hospitality food in the Premier League? And where does Spurs’ rank?
I’m afraid to say Chelsea and Woolwich are probably the best, along with Manchester City. The richest clubs tend to have the best caterers! Spurs have definitely jumped up the table in the last couple of years though, since they changed their caterers. We now get a roast dinner before every match, with a dessert, and sausage rolls or hot dogs at half-time. I certainly get there earlier these days – and I’ve put on weight.
A massive thank you to Ben for taking the time to answer my questions!
If you don’t follow Ben on Twitter, do it! Now!
Article from The Tottenham Way
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