Offside Sound Off: Which Mainstream Media Football Websites Do You Read and Why?

If you’re reading this, then you probably already love football blogs. They are a (mostly) excellent source of information, opinion, entertainment and community. And videos with rude words in them. But while there’s a definite wealth of football bloggy goodness out there in internet-land, this post isn’t about our beloved blog-brothers and sisters.

It’s about mainstream (or mass) media.

Because they’re still the big boys. They’re still the ones that (for the most part) break the news we react to, get the interviews we can’t and – in some cases – employ writers with superior knowledge/quality. I don’t want to get into the relationship between blogs and mainstream media. Mostly because those discussions tend to get either too idealistic (”viva la revolution de blog!”) or a bit too theoretical (”what really constitutes mainstream media, hmm?” etc).

So let’s ignore all that and ask this question: Which mainstream media football websites do you read?

For argument’s sake let’s say a mainstream media football website is basically anything that that has a big budget or is owned by a large company. So broadsheets newspapers like The Guardian and The Times. Tabloid newspapers like The Sun, Bild, Marca etc. Big TV/radio company owned websites like ESPN Soccernet or the BBC. Even relatively independent websites like football365.com that are part of bigger companies and blogs. and of course, there’s always the official league and club websites.

For my own part I like the BBC for news (because they’re nice and neutral and never knowingly sensational) and The Guardian for analysis (because they have some smart people writing for them). But I try and read around as much as possible.

How about you? Which mainstream media websites do you read or not read? And, most importantly: Why?

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Category: World Football