SFSA BLUE PLAQUES LAUNCH FIND OUT MORE
Date: 31st January 2026
Local news you heard it here first
Donald C Stewart
Print journalism has suffered because of the decline in sales at newsstands. No longer do we see people queuing up to get their morning fix of the Daily Record, or The Sun, as much as we used to. Sending somebody off the building site to go and get the papers along with the rolls is perhaps the only time I ever see anybody younger than myself standing in a queue with a paper tucked under their arm waiting to pay.
The world has moved on, we have now become more digitised, and that means that immediate and instant reports end up online.
I can reminisce about people on the terraces with one ear plugged into a transistor radio listening to what is happening elsewhere. Now you can simply check the scores by simply picking up your phone and scrolling. For some of us, that means doom scrolling takes on a new dimension come March, April, May – in the doom of possible relegation.
In dugouts up and down the country, managers come out post-match to suggest that no, they are not aware of what’s happening, nor are they listening to anything during their games towards the end of a season. Really? Somebody will have their hands on a phone telling everybody where everybody else is round about them in the league – course they will. Methinks the managers doth protest too much…
Factual accuracy over scores is one thing. The demise of print journalism, has brought issues of where you are going to get independent and reliable news from?
Speaking as a proud member of the National Union of Journalists, I find it unfortunate that the rise of citizen journalism may have helped and supported a lot of stories come out, notably around the demise of Rangers Football Club, there are many outlets, notice boards and blogs just filled with ignorance.
The requirement for training in how to craft an article or a column is important, and the breeding ground for journalists for many years was in the local newspaper.
I have an affinity and love for local newspapers.
Over the last few years, the Daily Record has been buying up local newspapers, thus maintaining a strong presence within local clubs. There are also a lot of local news outlets still publishing. If you want you can get the physical copy, but they all have a presence online. You can find out what’s happening on the back pages of the physical copy but can look online if you’re not a supporter or local to the area anymore.
That led me to read Stirling Albion manager Alan Maybury’s latest comments leading into their clash with Forfar Athletic. Having taken over from Darren Young at Stirling Albion in June 2024, the former Irish internationalist has managed to steady the ship and looks to be doing a relatively decent job. Having started his managerial career at Edinburgh City, Maybury has not hit the same heights as he did during his playing career, but that’s not a criticism. Managers like Maybury who dodge in an around the lower leagues have a massive impact on our game – take Dick Campbell for instance. Like with learning your trade as a journalist, lower league clubs are places people cut their teeth in the management game, or at least they did way back in the past – East Stirlingshire, Alex Ferguson.
There are too many, in my opinion, marquee signings of former players who look as though they can coach a wee bit, that end up with great big jobs to do, and then fall, not at the first hurdle, but after the first few games where they are unable to replicate the form that they had as a player.
I look down south to the likes of Stephen Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney, who were given the opportunity to demonstrate how good their coaching badges are. One could even go as far as Michael Carrick currently at Manchester United, where the transition from being a star player into being a star manager might not be quite as smooth as expectation demands.
Way back in the day, the likes of Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and Alex Ferguson were great managers because their career as footballers were not quite as stunning as Ronaldo and Messi. They had the ability to see their own lack of ability, and thus spot what was needed for those players who round about them as a manager who needed that arm round the shoulder or bollocking to make them better players.
And so, as you look down into the depths of Leagues 1, 2 and the Championship in Scottish football, you will see many a coach cutting their teeth. Fantastic nights and afternoons for your own hometown team, reported by your hometown newspaper, put on the internet for anybody everywhere to view is what makes things work best. It’s a symbiotic relationship. If the manager moves on, or the journalist leaves their legacy can be what others are measured against and the flow keeps going.
It is a service that is massively important for Scottish football because the local reporters tend to be very much in with the local club bricks. That’s something that citizen journalists don’t often get right, but that seasoned journalists do.
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Posted in: Fan's Blog, Latest News
Tags: East Fife, oor Donald, Scottish football, Stirling Albion