Sevco and their lamb fisted media strategy

An effective PR professional should be influential behind the scenes.

Consequently, they should never be centre stage

In footie terms, they should play like a defensive midfielder and not a flamboyant centre forward.

Although you don’t always notice them when they play, their absence screams at you.

Yesterday Mr James Traynor was in front of the camera putting the case for the basket of assets.

His company-Level5 PR- is contracted to Sevco.

Therefore, it is perfectly fine and proper that he is acting for his client. That is what they’re paying him for.

However, when a PR professional has to break cover it usually means that things aren’t going that well.

Visibility is bad.

Just as with journalism the reporter should never become the story,  in PR it is the client who is ideally in front of the camera.

The role of the communications person is to prep them for any difficult questions from the Fourth Estate.

Consequently, being a PR at Ibrox should be a relatively easy gig given the general compliance of the Stenography Corps.

I thought that Mr Stewart Robertson did well enough in fronting up with an agreed script on the “trial by Sportscene” narrative.

The last time the Sevco Chief Executive had this much media exposure he was telling the assembled stenographers that the Holding Company Vehicle had secured “an overdraft” from Close Brothers.

Of course, it was no such thing.

The £3m that was borrowed was a secured loan.

Let’s just say that it wasn’t Mr Robertson’s finest hour.

For the record, I think that Stewart is a perfectly decent guy who has just wandered into the wrong movie.

Of course, the idea that BBC Scotland has an anti-Ibrox agenda is risible and this point was not lost on Graham Spiers.

On the airwaves every night there is no shortage of pro-Ibrox voices in the studio at Pacific Quay.

In particular, there are plenty of EBT recipients who were employed by the original Rangers.

Moreover, such trifling matters such as tax scams and liquidation are never even mentioned in the passing.

It is with some justification that it has been dubbed “Radio Sevco”.

I think it is fair to say that nuance and subtlety isn’t central in Mr Traynor’s skillset.

His short tenure as Sevco’s in-house PR chap wasn’t exactly Zen-like.

His charmless offensive with the sports desks probably wasn’t the best tactic.

For example, he lashed out at Alex Thomson of Channel Four News.

Once more it wasn’t the behaviour of a skilled PR professional.

I think it is fair to say that Mr Traynor’s time as an in-house media chap at Sevco was a classic case of the Dunning-Kruger effect in action.

He perhaps thought from the vantage point of the sports desk that the PR lark was rather easy.

It isn’t.

Yesterday the closest footie analogy I could come up with when I saw Mr Traynor was the desperate tactic of a manager telling his centre half to go up front in the dying minutes of a game.

For the avoidance of doubt, the player in question had clearly missed pre-season training.

Tonight Sevco are playing for their season and no amount of spin can deny that fact.

10 thoughts on “Sevco and their lamb fisted media strategy”

  1. Stewart and Thomson appear to have their winds clipped by BBC Scotland with their responses to the early contentious decisions last night.
    For the early Killie penalty claim they both opined that Worral took his hands from around the Killie player’s waist just in time.
    How many seconds holding before it becomes a foul?
    Obviously another change to Scottish football laws, just like kicking out at an opponent off the ball is permissible.
    As for the penalty there was a slight coming together but Kamara threw himself to the ground as if shot to win the penalty and get the goalie sent off.
    The ref was much closer to the incident than the far side linesman who made the decision.
    Clarke will be in big trouble for his remarks that the officials decided the outcome of the game but he’s bang on the mark.

    Reply
  2. Just seen the Killie goalie sending off. Its an absolute disgrace.
    He barely touches Morelos who throws himself to the ground as if shot.
    Muir has previous, as have most of the officials.
    This is up there with the worst decision you are ever likely to see in a football match.
    No doubt the Killie manager will have something to say which will probably get him into trouble.
    Still to see the 2nd minute Killie penalty claim but Neil McCann said it was a stonewaller, yet the SFA laugh off the call for foreign refs to be brought in.
    John Fleming has to stand up tomorrow and explain why his officials have made the decisions they did.
    Honest to God when you see it you will be amazed.
    CO call, red rescinded, Morelos suspended for cheating.
    It could not be clearer.

    Reply
  3. I remember Traynor and his cousin in their Airdrie Academy days travelling in Phil Cole busses from Coatbridge to Celtic Park on big European nights in the 60s and 70s and to Hampden when we played Nacional in the World Club Championship in 1968.
    Real football fans or glory hunters?

    Reply
  4. “Lamb Fisted” 👌

    Yes…. they must be desperate if having to put Mr Traynor in front of camera…

    Definitely a ‘face for radio’ …

    As for tonight.. while I’d love to see Kilmarnock win and witness the media meltdown as Sevcos season comes to a premature end…

    … I see any result as a ‘win-win’.

    Armageddon in Govan

    Or

    Rid the competition of that plastic pitch.

    And….. Aberdeen are waiting for the winner !

    Have a great evening everyone!

    Reply
  5. Great perspective of Jabby and his gang Phil. There are times for and times against, Jabba never knew when to shut up and when to speak on his bbc radio spot years ago.Annie Mac read out my email to him, and I called a spade a spade when i told him he was a mutant hun. He denied it, Airdrie, Airdrie, Ardrie, he mumbled but his please were shouted and that told us where he belonged.

    Great article Phil, Keep doing your thing, cheers

    Reply
  6. Phil; tonight they may be playing not just for the season but for their ongoing financial viability. The financial repercussions of this early an exit from the Scottish cup would be significant. In addition, what would it do to their fan-base the rest of the season (and season book renewal time) when the realization sets in that once again they would be second fiddle to Celtic in everything. Add in the potential hit from Ashley’s court assaults and things would get a wee bit tight money-wise! All that said, I don’t believe the mason in black will let that happen and so I expect them to prevail.

    Reply

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