Key man signs for the opposition

Monday morning, following the first weekend of the season. We hardly needed a boost. But a quick call from an alert reporter put us ahead of the field on the Rickie Lambert transfer. And from the figures on the website, it pays to be first.

The Middlesbrough rag had run a tale linking Lambert with Boro. The first comment on their site alerted them to the breaking news at the other end of the country. The link? Ours. Mere moments after it had hit our site.

A few paras, a quick video and a poll later we had a debate raging between genuine Bristol Rovers fans and their gleeful cross town rivals Bristol City as well as constructive analysis of the board's decision to sell and the player's decision to leave.

People are watching, reading, devouring. Newspaper circulations may be declining but our appetite for information is greater than ever, just in a different forum.

If you don't already, jump into the world of Google alerts and have the breaking news on any topic at your fingertips. Hopefully you might see some Bristol Evening Post articles near the top of the list if you're looking at anything Bristol related and hopefully some of the new readers from yesterday will stick around and be entertained by our other content.

Bristol Evening Post cuttings

Cuttings from 10 days on the sports desk of the Bristol Evening Post and the Western Daily Press:

Richie Lambert (above) on his new role as a lone striker in Bristol Rovers' 2-2 draw with league leaders Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium. Making the back page was Steve Elliott (below). The defender was happy to talk after his return from injury and resisting a scintillating Swansea comeback in the second-half to hold out for a point.



Ian Holloway was to be guest of honour at a charity quiz night organised by Rovers' keeper Steve Phillips (above). The modern pentathlon World Cup series came to Somerset (below) and local athlete Sam Weale had a chance to qualify for the Olympics.




A long night at a fans' forum organised by a local church paid off with a back page lead. Head coach of Bristol Rugby Richard Hill, and club captain Matt Salter, spoke out on the club's proposed temporary switch to Rodney Parade in Newport, "because it's a nasty place to go" (above).

Bristol City's veteran striker Dele Adebola talked about the perils of the playoffs at Bristol City's Thursday press conference. He should know, he experienced them five times with Birmingham City.



A second back page lead: Bristol Rovers' director of football Lennie Lawrence revealed Rovers are set to spend £700,000 on the pitch they share with Bristol Rugby Club to ensure a surface that isn't shocking (above).

Bristol Rugby's Richard Hill backed Brian Ashton and aired his views on the appointment of Martin Johnson (below). Both stories were gleaned from meetings at the fans' forum in Keynsham.


Clinton Barr, a Bristol motocross rider works as a bricklayer during the week and represents Great Britain at the weekends (below).


Double olympic judo medallist Kate Howey, MBE, was in Bristol to present an award to a local club (above).

Blackadder's Baldrick is a Bristol City fan. Seeking comments from as many famous Bristol City fans as I could find, I found out comedian Tony Robinson held a season ticket at City for 28 years but relinquished it two years ago.

He claims he was therefore inadvertantly responsible for their scintillating form over the past two seasons. Other fans were cricketer Marcus Trescothick, rugby personality Gareth Chilcott and Bristol comedian Mark Watson.



A disabled table tennis player based in Bristol was named in Great Britain's paralympic team heading to Beijing (above).

Bristol Rovers' captain Stuart Campbell and teammate Craig Hinton have started preparing for life after football (below).



A back page lead on the Swindon edition of the Western Daily Press after Town's press conference (above). Manager Maurice Malpas spoke out on his plans for the summer and introduced a new chief scout (below), the man who unearthed former Manchester United and England defender Gary Pallister.




As part of the famous fans piece, I chased comments from the Premier League's chief executive and Bristol City fan Richard Scudamore. He responded in time for Saturday's back page, on both the Western Daily Press (above) and the Bristol Evening Post (below).