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12:45
Former Day in the Lifer, Billy Rice arrives
in the press room. He is now the match day announcer at
Loftus Road following the departure of Pete Nuttall and
picks up today’s running order.
13:00
We head through the corridors and out into the South Africa Road
stand to the press box to prepare for the game. Ian is responsible
for writing the half time and full time match reports so he is busy
setting up his laptop and internet connection.
13:20
Paul Morrissey, the face of QPR world, and his team catch up with
us, there will be two roaming cameras filming footage for world
during this game and Jackie gives them some suggestions as to the
sort of shots she’d like to see.
13:45
The team sheet is finally available so we make a quick detour to
collect it then we’re back up to the press office to update the
“teams are in” story for qpr.co.uk and put it live on the site.
14:00
Jackie meets with Billy again to discuss two items in today’s
running order. Most importantly there will be a minute’s silence to
remember Kiyan Prince before kick off but before that former R’s
player Gary Chivers will be announced to the crowd and attempt to
measure the volume of the Loftus Road roar for a Football League
survey.
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14:15
Jackie’s phone has been non stop all day, she
is bombarded with calls from journalists looking for help
and information. Even walking the corridors provides no
peace as she is constantly stopped and asked questions. A
BBC journo wants to use an ISDN line so we take him from the
press box to the ISDN port near the player’s tunnel.
14:20
Jackie’s phone is going again, now a
journalist needs a press pass so we go from the tunnel back
up to the press office to organise that. |
14:25
Back out to the tunnel again to have a final run through with
Billy then Jackie is off to reception where she will meet Kiyan’s
parents who are due to arrive shortly and ensure they are totally
comfortable with today’s events.
14:45
It’s time for the Football League roar feature but no one can find
Gary Chivers, Jackie retrieves him and brings him to through the
tunnel so he can take his measurements. Gary is a little worried
about the reception he’ll receive being more of a Chelsea stalwart
than an R’s boy.
14:50
Once that’s done it’s up to the press box to get ready for kick off
and the first chance of the day to sit still for more than five
minutes!
15:00
The match kicks off and Ian is busy writing up each incident so he
will have a half time report ready to go live on qpr.co.uk as soon
as the whistle goes for the break.
15:30
Jackie is backwards and forwards between the press box and the dug
out, where she is on hand to relay any messages that need passing on
from the offices to the PA team. For live TV games, such as the
upcoming Ipswich fixture showing on Sky Sports, Jackie has to shadow
the floor manager who
needs
constant information on where his staff can and can't stand, player
pronunciations and answers to a multitude of questions.
15:50
It’s half time and Ian puts the finishing
touches to the report before uploading it onto the website.
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16:20
We’re well into the second half now and Ian
is busy writing the full match report, as he points out it’s
not an easy task. One late goal can change the match and
therefore the tone of the whole report needs to be altered
as quickly as possible.
Fortunately for Ian this isn’t one
of those days, Rangers are in control throughout and the
report is online within minutes of the final whistle.
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16:55
The match is over the report is written but the day is only just
getting started. First Ian needs to send out the result to the
thousands of text message subscribers, once that’s done it’s time to
get the post match comments.
17:10
We’re back down at the side of the pitch where Gary Waddock is being
interviewed, first by BBC radio then by Paul Morrissey for QPR
world. Waddo is anxious that the fans know he wasn’t ignoring the
“Waddo give us a wave chants”, he was actually sitting in the
directors box and asks Paul to get that footage onto QPR World as
well. Paul then moves on to interview Dexter Blackstock for World
and gets his thoughts on his debut performance.
17:20
Once the local interviews are complete Waddo is taken from pitchside
and up to the press room where he will give his media conference to
the assembled journalists. The press are particularly fascinated
with Ray Jones’ story and every other question is about our latest
young star.
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17:45
Once the QPR part of the press conference is
finished we head back up to the press office with Ian where
he transcribes Waddock’s post match comments for the
“Waddo’s Words” feature on qpr.co.uk, a brief version of
that is then sent out to the text message subscribers.
17:55
Jackie is still on the move, tracking down
players to be interviewed one on one for the local media and
Monday papers. As she points out the Sunday papers normally
run with the match report but the Monday’s need their own
angle and are always keen to get comments from someone
different so she tries to keep the mix as fresh as possible.
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18:15
The stadium is empty, we’ve got three points in the bag and Jackie,
Ian and Paul can call it a day and relax for the evening.
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