Does this man have the best job in the world? (Part 2)
Part 2
Här kommer fortsättningen av intervjun med Martin Spinks
14. You must have noticed a big change in you work now Stoke are in the PL? Could you tell us some of the differences this season compared to other seasons?
Yes. As I said earlier, I am joined by Michael Baggaley and he has been an enormous help in churning out the greater output. For instance, we publish 4 inside pages instead of two on a Monday and two instead of one on a Friday, while the weekly publication The Sport has featured 11 pages instead of 4 on Stoke and their opponents.
15. What is your typical work routine for a home game?
During the game one of us writes a running match report of about 50 paragraphs, while the other writes an after-match piece with manager's quotes. Both of these are for immediate use on our Internet sites.
Then for Monday's newspaper, I will write the traditional match report/comment piece, plus player ratings, a player quotes piece and a back page, while Michael writes a colour piece and several player quote pieces.
16. And for an away game?
Exactly the same. The only difference is that access to players varies from stadium to stadium. If we are lucky, we have access to the pitch side after the game and can `intercept' the Stoke lads when they finish their warm down. Unless, like Sunderland last week, it's too cold for a warm down and you have to drag them (fully clothed!) from the dressing room instead.
17. Which club provides the best facilities/food etc.?
Chelsea has been best for food so far, though I'm reliably informed that Arsenal will be even better on the last day of the season. Facilities? Not Liverpool or Manchester United, that's for sure, as their press boxes probably date back to the 19th century and were built for Snow White's seven friends.
18. Are you big rivals with Radio Stoke or do you get on well with each other?
There is a rivalry of sorts, but nothing nasty and we get on fine with each other. I have travelled to away games with Nigel Johnson for many years now and regard him a friend as well as a colleague.
19. Can it be a problem that as a local reporter, you can become a little too close to the players? If you write something negative about a certain player for example then there is a good chance that this player will refuse all future contact, does this affect your journalism?
Yes, that can be an occupational hazard. You learn to criticise tactfully rather than blatantly. You might say, for instance, that Ricardo Fuller didn't have the best game of his life, rather than Ricardo Fuller absolutely stank. Readers are intelligent enough to read between the lines.
But I would never pretend the team or an individual had played better than they really did just to spare their feelings or to curry favour. At the risk of sounding pompous, that would lack integrity and betray the reader.
20. Stoke has other local teams (Port Vale and Crewe) is there a big rivalry or is the gap just too big between them?
There was a massive rivalry between Stoke and Vale for many years in the 1990s when they were shoulder-to-shoulder in the second and third tiers of the English game. Sadly for Vale - and for Potteries football - the gap is too wide for any kind of serious on-field rivalry at the moment.
But diehard fans on both sides of the fence still seem to hate each other's guts.
21. Do you find that the local people always have an opinion about what you write? Do they often criticize your work? You are only human does it affect you at times?
Everybody has an opinion when it comes to football and, as long as someone actually watched the whole game, there opinion is as valid as mine.
Of course there is criticism, particularly over the marks out of 10 for Stoke players. I've been accused of being far too generous, but I never hear the players saying that!
Does it affect me? Only if people criticise in ignorance about something, or get personal when they don't even know you.
Constructive criticism is fine, though, and is how we all progress as human beings.
22. Going back to the team, although Stoke are down at the bottom, have you been impressed with them so far?
At home, definitely; away from home, not quite so much. But in all honesty I would have taken their current position if you'd offered it at the start of the season. They are in with a shout of staying up and that's as much as anyone could have realistically hoped for at the start of the season.
Some of the home wins, not to mention the atmosphere, have been a real bonus, haven't they Mr Wenger?
23. Which players have impressed you?
Abdoulaye Faye has clearly been the best signing, but I'm hoping James Beattie eclipses him in the final few months of the season.
Of the existing players, Ryan Shawcross deserves enormous credit for coming on strong after a disappointing start, while Rory Delap and Mama Sidibe are a shining example of exploiting your ability to the maximum.
24. Do you think they can stay in the PL and if so who will be the 3 teams to go down?
Of course they CAN, but WILL they? I've always thought it will be a struggle, at best, and I see no reason to change that.
But there is considerable hope, so I'll be brave and point the finger at West Brom, Middlesbrough and Portsmouth.
25. If (and hopefully) we do stay in the PL, do you think everybody is aware that next year, we’ve got to pull together and do exactly the same? (I remember the ´83-´84 season, when against all odds we stayed up, only to be humiliated the year after)
Next year will be more difficult, particularly at home, because the novelty will have worn off and supporters will inevitably find it difficult to regularly re-create this season's magnificent siege-like mentality. That's not a criticism, just a fact of life.
But hopefully even better players will be in place to meet the greater expectation from the terraces.
26. And finally Martin, what do you know about Sweden and were you aware of the large interest for Stoke City here in Scandinavia?
Bjorn Borg was one of my greatest childhood heroes and I remember following Sweden (especially goalkeeper Ronnie Helstrom and striker Ralf Edstrom) in the 1974 World Cup finals...England didn't qualify remember!!
So I have always had a bit of a soft spot for Sweden.
I think every Stoke fan is aware of a strong contingent of Scandinavian Stokies because of the 1970's team (Banks etc) and since because of the Icelandic connection.
A lot of you spend much time and money following Stoke City and we admire and appreciate you for that.
Tack ska du Martin, för att du ställde upp för Swedish Stokies! Det var verkligen intressanta svar.
