“Fans Won’t Engage With A Company Simply Because Their Club Is Collecting Investment From Them.”

In the Digital Cafe this week, David Granger explores how social can enrage fans as often as it engages with them and brands entering into the conversation need to know their audience… *and* their geography.

The past month has seen some spectacular sporting faux pas on social from sponsors and broadcasters.  If it wasn’t Amazon failing its geography exam, it was (official airline partner to  English rugby) British Airways forgetting they shouldn’t pick sides during a, er… British tie.

“That rush to engage with fans – or in Amazon’s case the TV audience – needs to be tempered with some forethought.”

That rush to engage with fans – or in Amazon’s case the TV audience – needs to be tempered with some forethought. Instant publishing can render instant complaints. And the Amazon case went from bad to worse, when the community management stated: “…we don’t have the broadcast rights for Ireland or other territories”. Whether by bot or by design, that was inexcusable.

In their recent Fan Engagement ebook, LiveArea and Salesforce rightly pointed out that correct recognition of who fans are (rather than treating them as a bloc mass) was both important for continued engagement and good for sponsors looking to market to a new audience. However, as Amazon and British Airways found out, you cannot treat sports fans as simply any other potential set of consumers.

The content has to be both relevant and considered. The LiveArea paper mentions that if clubs “own the data, they own the fans, they own the engagement” which is not necessarily the case. If they own the fans’ data they own access to them, but the fans’ loyalty, engagement and existence as an audience should not be taken for granted. The assumption fans want what a sponsor is not always a given – fans won’t engage with a company simply because their club is collecting investment from them. The data collected by clubs on their fans should be used to personalise, enhance and deepen the relationship, but not at any price.  

“Fans won’t engage with a company simply because their club is collecting investment from them.”

So. My confession… I got my first taste of community management going  wrong when I was at Red Bull Racing. In the 2010 season, the team designed and built a car which was doing great things on the track, thanks to Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel. Both were potential world champions, and both knew it. At the Istanbul Circuit on lap 40 the two went wheel-to-wheel before colliding. It ended Vettel’s race and Webber finished third.

I used Twitter at the time as our main social channel, the Red Bull F1 Spy (RIP) with his occasionally sardonic take on Paddock and track had a reasonable following and had developed into a lively, active communication between fan and team. Up until the Turkish Grand Prix, it had been good-natured gossip, the occasional light-hearted swipe at Fernando Alonso and some low-grade celeb-spotting. But that crash saw the fans descend into partisan meltdown. Webber fans blamed Vettel and Vettel fans blamed Webber. It got personal and nasty.

“And it’s that element – the emotional investment into a sport, a sportsperson, a race, a driver or a team which needs to be considered when companies enter into social communications with sports fans.”

At first (and naively) I started to reply to the critics, but quickly stopped. I attempted to explain we were one team with one goal, but the fans were not having it. Anger and profanity levels rose and rose – because unlike other businesses, sport’s consumers are fans, they’re not placid consumers.

And it’s that element – the emotional investment into a sport, a sportsperson, a race, a driver or a team which needs to be considered when companies enter into social communications with sports fans, as British Airways and Amazon found out, owning the data doesn’t mean you own the engagement, it means you have access to it.

Unless, of course… Amazon have been double-bluffing all along, knew the media storm this would precipitate and that no-such-thing-as-bad publicity which would ensue. After all, we’re still talking about it. 

“Ultimately It Should Enhance The Live Experience For Those Watching In Stadiums Or Racetracks”

In this week’s Digital Cafe we take an (augmented) look at the latest soccer club to sign-up to a social platform partnership. But no virtual play could ever replace the reality of live sport.

Manchester United have had a busy couple of weeks. Alongside actually playing football, their striker has been influencing the UK government’s domestic policy, their captain is making headlines and… they’ve launched a TikTok channel. Not just launched one, but signed a partnership with the platform to boot.

One sentence in the enthusiastic press release just below “never-before-seen perspective” and “unique digital experience” – was one of particular interest. Among the (let’s face it, anticipated) #challenges, collaborations and takeovers, TikTok and the club will “Work together on thrilling augmented reality content created exclusively for Manchester United fans”. That AR is, or it should be, fascinating. It’s an area where we could see great things.

Ultimately it should enhance the live experience for those watching in stadiums or racetracks.

So far in sport we’ve seen some interesting, some great and some weird AR innovations – from offside calls in soccer to LBW decisions in cricket, boxing in your living room to the projection of a full-on, over-the-top stadium 3D projection mapping live at American Football. And when it comes to commentary and training, AR makes for great viewing – taking the spectator into the action and on to the field of play.

As with all shiny new toys, there will be a period of over-using AR to begin with, but ultimately it should enhance the live experience for those watching in stadiums or racetracks. As technology evolves at an ever-increasing pace, there is the temptation to over-engage but, let’s face it, AR and VR are never going to replace live action.

The continuation of no (or extremely limited) spectators at matches and races means we still hanker after live events. Anyone who has been a spectator or part of a team knows the importance of atmosphere and that’s created by the people there. It’s not only the atmosphere that’s missing, but the revenue as well. Even esports thrives at live events and arguably, that’s one area of sport which could or should work as a remote spectacle.

Sport will always be about the competition, battles, triumphs, disasters (and dull no score draws) not about the add-ons.

That TikTok press release quotes Phil Lynch, Chief Executive of Media at Manchester United, who said: “This… will help us connect with a new generation of fans around the world and provide a platform for new forms of storytelling and innovative club content.”

The devil is in the nuance of that quote. United are not trying to gain new fans, rather connect further with them. Sport will always be about the competition, battles, triumphs, disasters (and dull no score draws) not about the add-ons. The add-ons enhance, they don’t make the experience.

AR, and VR, will be an amazing way to enhance the experience and even replicate it for those unable to attend. But the sooner we get back to reality and actually watching sport live the better for everyone. Even those insistent on watching games through their phone’s AR. 

Posts of the Month

Fusing humour, politics and team celebrations is not expected of social media managers, but when they manage it, it’s content gold. So hats off to the Southampton team who managed to get this one out at the moment they were top of the Premier League and the US elections were still awaiting a winner.

Cameras caught Leicester City and England striker James Maddison watching replays before the match against Sporting Braga pictured above). And his conversation was spot on: celebrating Wes Morgan’s goal against Sevilla from 2017 and, as discussed above, saying the players need the fans back.

Digital Café: Story-Telling And Authenticity Have Moved From ‘Innovation’ To ‘Cliché’

David Granger takes a global tour via an innovative idea of creating soccer stories through pictures taken on disposal, analogue cameras in his visit to the Digital Café this week. Welcome to the world of Goal Click’s storytelling.

There are good reasons why story-telling and authenticity have moved from the ‘innovation’ column of marketing-speak to the one marked ‘cliché’. They’re over-used (and frequently mis-used) precisely because they are fundamental to great digital content.

Gilgit-Baltistan Girls Football League, Hunza Valley, Pakistan. Photographer: Sumaira Inayat.

Which makes it all the more refreshing to find a project which gets authentic story-telling so right.

Since it was set up in August 2014 Goal Click has been capturing what is great about sport, and specifically football: its universality, its human connection and its ability to create stories from nowhere and everywhere. These are then packaged and published in a simple, accessible way.

Simplicity is at the heart of Goal Click which helps people understand the world through football. Once a story is decided on, a disposable camera (remember them?) is dispatched to a football player, club or fan who tell their story, via those snapped images and their own words, initially on Instagram and Twitter and then on the project website.

I spoke to the founder, Matthew Barrett, about how he approached digital and social media, kicking off with how he planned channel selection.

Mixed football in a neighborhood park in Al Azizya, Doha, Qatar. Photographer: Maha Albadr.

He said: “From the early days, Goal Click was born to be an Instagram-first project, it’s our natural channel. One of our commercial partners asked us before they signed off their first partnership: ‘Are these photos Instagramable?’ Bear in mind this was early 2016, and we said: ‘Instagram was made to make your photos look like our photos’.”

The photos and written stories range from soccer in remote and isolated spectacular locations to demonstrations of where football has brought people together or given them respite or hope. But it’s not simply a National Geographic of soccer, Goal Click has partnered with FIFA, Qatar World Cup, The UN and adidas to cover topics such as women’s rights, gender rights and the plight of refugees.

“We sit in the middle ground between UGC (user-generated content) on one side – people broadcasting their own lives, which is what social media was born for – and on the other side high-level, high-quality documentary. Goal Click is a hybrid of those, we’re giving people the opportunity and the platform to tell their own story through football, but doing it in a way which is curated. We are the curators, not the creators: the whole ethos of Goal Click is a social-first distribution of the content but done with narrative in mind, which a lot of classic first-person generated content doesn’t have.”

The dwell time on their owned site (that all-important, oft-elusive engagement metric) is impressive too. People come for the pictures and stay for the amazing stories behind them. Matt said: “I am blown away by how many people read the full articles. We prioritise social, but there is also something special around what we call slow-form content, when people want to read on and on. The amount of time I hear of people saying ‘I read one and then I read the entire website…’

Spain wins the 2018 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup. Montevideo, Uruguay. Photographer: Maddie Meyer.

The attraction for partners is clear. It’s lower-cost, credible content which is great for their own channels. “We have a way of telling stories, a credibility and a network. From an amplification perspective, it relies on the partner. We might say to a prospective partner: ‘you’re trying to tell these stories but you’re spending thousands on sending a film crew to another country or continent’. That doesn’t really make sense in today’s world, you miss out on local perspectives, and it can feel like overly “worthy” content rather than real. You can get some really incredible stories by doing things the right way – and it is more cost effective. It just takes patience. It takes commitment, and it takes a bit of vision. 

“What we are ultimately selling to our partners is a deep dive into a topic, whether that be a city, country or a tournament, an issue affecting the game, a certain demographic of society. We have never found someone that we haven’t been able to work with because ultimately we are trying to have that series commissioned by those partners.”

The Goal Click team consists not only of the organization itself, but has become also a global network of soccer players, partners and storytellers the project has been in contact with over the past six years.

The Single Leg Amputee Sports Association (SLASA) football team on Lumley Beach. Freetown, Sierra Leone. Photographer: Pastor Abraham Bangura.

So what lessons can the rest of us learn? Firstly, that content doesn’t necessarily need to be a vast investment (although Burger King’s brilliant sponsoring of Stevenage FC is a genius exception), secondly that great storytelling transcends context and thirdly that there is no shortcut when it comes to authenticity: your social and digital tone of voice always needs to reflect your team, brand or federation.  

What next for Goal Click? The organisation plans to move into audio and video as well as live events, and then – as you might expect – other sports, from basketball and boxing, to rugby, golf and skateboarding.

If your club, organisation, or brand would like to partner with Goal Click, contact Matthew on matthew@goal-click.com or via the form on their site. Although, if you do visit the site, make sure you’ve got some time to spare as the stories can, and deserve to, take up hours from your day.

Digital Cafe: “Having A Social Presence Is Going To Be One Way Up-And-Coming Athletes Demonstrate To Sponsors They Have Value”

For the Digital Cafe this week, David Granger takes a look back at the last time an Italian Grand Prix was won by the “other” team and how different sportspeople view and use social to boost their profile. Or, in one notable case, decide not to…

Social: a time-stealer or vital athlete brand-building?

September 14, 2008 was special for a couple of reasons in Formula One (it was my birthday as well, but that’s not important now. It was at the time). That Italian Grand Prix was the first pole for a Red Bull-owned team, it was Sebastian Vettel’s first F1 victory, and it was Toro Rosso’s only win. Ever.

That team was re-badged and re-born this year and their driver Pierre Gasly became the first Scuderia AlphaTauri race winner just over two weeks ago at the same track.

“What will be interesting is how the fanbase built up during a sporting career is maintained and used post-competition.”

I worked as the digital and social manager for Toro Rosso in 2008. And there were very, very mixed emotions in the motorhome at Monza. A Red Bull Technology victory? We’ll take that. But a Scuderia Toro Rosso win? Not a victory for Red Bull Racing’s Webber or Coulthard… that wasn’t on the script.

Vettel has always been one to avoid the hype of social media

I’m not sure who was in charge of the playlist at the Energy Station (the Paddock headquarters for both Toro Rosso and Red Bull Racing), but dropping Always Look On The Bright Side of Life as the Italian half celebrated was either the work of an ironic genius, or some who hadn’t read the lyrics.

Livery and name aside, one other difference between the 2008 victory and the 2020 one is the drivers themselves and their attitude and application to the self-promotion. Gasly is second generation digital. He’s not merely a native, he’s been brought up understanding the power of social to his personal brand, his worth to sponsors and longevity post-racing.

Sebastian Vettel has always infamously been an exception – from an early stage he objected to social media; ‘I have never tried it so I’m not missing it.’ he told Formula1.com. And, back in the 2000s. while Mark Webber was launching the @AussieGrit handle, Sebastian was, and has remained a non-believer. He’s brilliant at one-on-one interaction, great value at Q&A sessions and will always take the time to speak face-to-face to fans. But digital? That’s another story. He has always been focussed to the point of obsession and anything which didn’t help him drive faster (like website, like social) was stealing his time.

Compare and contrast that with Gasly who has:

357.4K Twitter followers

39.6k followers on Twitch (see? he’s definitely second generation)

1.2 million followers on Instagram

He can see the value of social to him, his brand and – arguably – his sponsors.

What will be interesting is how the fanbase built up during a sporting career is maintained and used post-competition. It used to be that soccer players became landlords and opened a pub (I can think of at least two former Leicester City footballers who swapped playing for pulling pints in the 70s), because they had access to an audience ready to hear tales of former glories. This generation of sportspeople won’t need to invest in a pub, their platform will be online. But, they need to put the effort in now to grow their audiences, and it doesn’t have to be a sporting one either.

This year we’ve seen current sportspeople like Marcus Rashford and Lewis Hamilton and former stars such as Gary Lineker speak to their fans and followers about subjects way beyond sport. Social gives them the chance to be less than completely filtered by the comms department, but also build their brand beyond footballer or racing driver.

“Having a social presence is going to be one way up-and-coming athletes demonstrate to sponsors they have value (value = audience), that they understand and work towards self-promotion.”

That increase in follower spectrum means they – potentially – are extending their longevity in the public eye. For Sebastian Vettel, who pre-dated the F1 social goldrush and declined to be swept up by it, it probably won’t affect his standing or his ability to earn money post-racing.

But, having a social presence is going to be one way up-and-coming athletes demonstrate to sponsors they have value (value = audience), that they understand and work towards self-promotion and once they finish their careers they have a portfolio of audiences: social and sport to tell those pub tales to. For this generation of athletes, riders and drivers, it will be as important to get their social right early on as their physical and mental well-being.

All this being said though, it’s doubtful whether Seb will cave in and sign up to Twitch anytime soon. Actually, not doubtful. He won’t.

Member Insights: Is TikTok Now The Best Method To Attract Gen Z Fans? The Digital Cafe Takes A Closer Look…

The desire to grab and hold the attention of young fans, fans who you hope will go on to be lifelong supporters, has been around for as long as, well… spectators. But is TikTok now the best method to attract those Gen Z fans? For this week’s Digital Café, David Granger takes a closer look.

TikTok, as a platform, is world-class at marketing.

Its recent campaign: ‘Don’t make ads, make TikToks’ is genius – big audience coupled with low production costs equals marketing nirvana. Since its first lip-syncing iteration Musical.ly was absorbed into the platform in 2017 it has exploded in popularity.

Like Snapchat and Vine before it, TikTok gives creators a platform and, with those massive numbers (currently 800 million monthly active users) it gives brands, teams and athletes a huge potential audience. Plus, with the highest social follower engagement rates for a platform it not only has massive potential reach, but its algorithm hooks users in and keeps them there.

That potential audience is big. It’s big enough to throw reason, rationale, fear and strategy out of the window and plunge headlong onto the platform. And here’s the potential trap.

TikTok also has its detractors voicing concern over privacy and online stalking – recently Amazon employees were ordered to remove the app from their mobiles for security reasons (although five hours later the decision was reversed). The US’s suspicions are based on TikTok’s Chinese ownership and the growing tension between the two over tech and trade.

However… those numbers. That potential audience is big. It’s big enough to throw reason, rationale, fear and strategy out of the window and plunge headlong onto the platform. And here’s the potential trap. The danger is assuming that every player or federation will reach those numbers. As anyone who has ever launched and run a social account knows, it takes planning, preparation and a whole load of time to nurture, grow and community manage a new account. Once you have that in place, and only then, you start to see the benefits unfold.

When Red Bull Racing launched its social platforms, we took the decision to hold off from launching a Facebook Page, not because we couldn’t see the potential or potential audience, but because I wanted to ensure the right content was being created and published for that demographic and audience. We had a Twitter account doing really innovative things, we had a great podcast and YouTube was hosting the video content (some high-end track simulations, some low-end guerrilla content), so what would Facebook offer? Or Google+? Or Foursquare (ask your dad, it wasn’t the roaring success I’d hoped for).

When we did launch, we ensured the content differed from every other platform, but kept the social media tone we had developed for the team. At that time, more than a long and distant decade ago, before we became world champions, Red Bull Racing were more known for parties, massive motorhomes and its slightly tongue-in-cheek tone – we had to become quite good at videos of Sebastian Vettel playing keepie-up with his trainer or reporting on the C level celebs we’d spied in the Paddock. And the strategy paid off – we became the fastest growing F1 Facebook Page.

Our Google+ account did not fare so well.

With TikTok, the audience’s potential worth is self-evident. In the same way football clubs have outreach programmes for schools to hook in fans for life, the platform and content is going to ensure potential new Gen-Zs, Gen Alphas and young-at-heart millennials are going to be interested. Back in 2018 Inter Milan’s president Steven Zhang saw the potential the app could bring. He said the club wanted to “win, entertain, inspire and connect people through football” and part of that was its early adoption of TikTok.

Liverpool FC were another early adopter, as the first EPL club to hitch themselves to the TikTok wagon in May of 2019. And, as Liverpool FC fans, new and old, see their team in its new-found, re-discovered glory, connecting with them on their level where that audience consumes content is vital.

Is there a finite number of social platforms any one team or sportsperson can maintain without dropping the metaphorical social ball?

The key is, of course, to ensure your output is relevant to team, brand and consumer. It also gives opportunity to find some excellent content from clubs might not be global brands – a sort of social levelling of the playing field. You only have to follow Derry City FC’s account to see how clubs in the League of Ireland Premier Division can make a great impact with great content.

The trick now will be to maintain TikTok as a major platform and not become another Foursquare fad – is there a finite number of social platforms any one team or sportsperson can maintain without dropping the metaphorical social ball?

For further reading, check out the official TikTok sports account recommendations.

Home Support

Covid has been the mother of invention for a few clubs over lockdown. One of the most creative features has come from Leeds United FC in the UK. Rather than cram in the spectators conference call-style on the screen, they’ve filmed families in their own homes watching the games and recorded their reactions like Gogglebox (a UK TV invention which shouldn’t work, but somehow does).

Check out the Shackletons, Singhs and Warringtons’ home support. The other great piece of recreating live experiences at home comes courtesy of the Leicester City fan who decided to let off a blue smoke flare at home… not sure it’s going to create the atmosphere he intended, but top marks for dedication.

The Digital Café: Behind Closed Doors Games Cannot Mask The Loss Of Fans

In this week’s Digital Café, David Granger considers that while working from home may have its upsides, there’s no real gain from crowdless games, as not everything can be reproduced online.

For sport, watching from home which has become our current, hopefully transitional, normality.

As soccer in Europe has returned to empty stadia, both live and watching from afar, the spectacle of sport has altered. Who knows which path the erratic 2020 will take next, but whether we move on or face second waves of the coronavirus, consuming sport is going to change and digital will be the solution to recreate the fan experience and even enhance it, but hopefully it will not be the opportunity to replace it.

“Playing matches without supporters is sadder than dancing with your sister.”

F1’s managing director of motorsports Ross Brawn summed up the dilemma recently. He said: “The fans for us are critical. We do want to see them as they do add a lot of atmosphere. We won’t rush that. I think to have the race in a safe and secure environment is critical.” But, F1 is at least set to return this year.

The biggest casualty of 2020 has arguably, been the Tokyo Olympics. Not simply the event itself, but the federations who are funded by it, the athletes whose training scheduled has been disrupted by a year and the spectators. As we get closer to the opening ceremony we’ll know just how deep this disruption has been and if there will be any crowds allowed to attend at all. There’s the danger the games will not be held without a vaccine being available, and even if they are, there may be athletes who are reluctant to travel, and fans who are not allowed to.

How is soccer coping with this? The re-starting of the European football has definitely seen a shift in participation even for the armchair fans. As Spain manager Luis Enrique recently put it on Basketball show Colgados del Aro on Spanish TV, “Playing matches without supporters is sadder than dancing with your sister.”

Tacked on crowd noises is a nice idea, but it doesn’t replicate the atmosphere, the singing or the swearing crowds bring to the game. One of the saddest sights is seeing the fan-cam reaction of die-hard loyal supporters in scarfs and replica shirts cheering goals crouched around the family laptop.

“The biggest casualty of 2020 has arguably been the Tokyo Olympics. Not simply the event itself, but the federations who are funded by it.”

Another is seeing cardboard cut-outs where fans should be – but these may only get more frequent. Some of the football clubs are responding and some are doing great things, but digital match day programmes, increased social presence and flyings fans’ flags over empty seats won’t replace the experience of watching the game live, or playing in front of a terrace at full volume.

One of the criticisms of the Olympic Games has been its cost to the host city and nation. If the Japanese games do go ahead and go ahead without spectators at the events, it may mean an enhanced online experience replicates some of the attraction, but Tokyo will have lost out on the tourism boost to its economy which would be a double financial hit.

So Covid has not only put sport on hold in the short-term, but it looks like it is adversely affecting us in the mid-term as well. Second screen and online attendance are great for those who cannot go to games or matches, but they cannot replicate the experience, or the atmosphere.

Member Insights: The Digital Café – How Sports Stars Have Adapted To Their Content Role In Lockdown

In the Digital Cafe this week, David Granger takes a look at how sports, sportswomen and sportsmen are coping with no action and how they are adapting to creating online events. 

Content to Stay At Home

A whole summer of sport has been wiped out – and most of a spring and perhaps even an autumn – but some clever online innovation has kept fans entertained and kept athletes… well, creating their own lockdown content. 

The current pandemic has given us the chance to look back at the pre-pandemic days to keep us entertained, and also to look forward, to have a glimpse to where we might be. Looking back? Check out FIFA’s excellent #WorldCupAtHome campaign which had voting on Twitter decide which of three potential classic games they would stream live (well, not live, but…) on YouTube – excellent engagement and an excellent chance to re-watch Spain v Netherlands from Brazil 2014.

Looking forward? Well, if you were missing the glitz, glamour and overpriced fizz of F1 in Monte Carlo, on the weekend which should have marked the 78th Monaco Grand Prix, you could have watched the virtual racing around the principality complete with esports racer support series, pro commentary and – let’s hope this is not one we see too often in the future – a ringer driver.

Both the virtual Grand Prix and the football match used build-up to create anticipation, but crucially an appointment to view to emulate live sport. The advent of on demand and increase in streaming has meant there are fewer and fewer of those appointments-to-view, one of the unique aspects of sport. Success in digital and social is not only about continuing fan engagement when there is no sport, but having events to re-create that build-up and a single date and time to mimic live matches, games and races. Even if you know that Friday 13 saw the Netherlands thrash the then reigning champions 1-5, the FIFA replay was a definite event.

And the future could see more athletes turn to home-made content. Lockdown and a lack of action until the leagues return has given players the chance to hone their online production skills as well. Where skate, surf and snowboards have been filming every moment for years, according to sports marketing agency 90/24 Media (via www.digitalsport.co) there has been a minor explosion in content created by soccer players.

Their report which looked at the impact of Covid-19 on soccer players and their social influence found that footballers are producing 15% more video than before lockdown and getting 82% more video views which may be down to more content or they’re getting better at it. Which you might expect as sport turns to social to keep fans on side, except when you find out that other sports teams, media publications, leagues and brands have experienced a slower growth rate during lockdown than before.

Soccer players are getting it right on social. And not just on their content, either. There was (unwarranted) criticism by the UK government over players’ collective reaction to the virus outbreak, so it was good to see the other side of the coin when Marcus Rashford (@MarcusRashford) of Manchester United posted on Twitter recently it was to display his award from the High Sheriff of Greater Manchester for his efforts helping to feed children in the city during the Covid lockdown. While footballers were heavily criticised at the start of the UK lockdown, it seems they were out there actually doing some good.

As the Bundesliga continues its tentative return, and we start to hope sport returns, there is still enough to keep everyone occupied – but nothing quite beats the real, live thing.

Track Flash Back 

The other opportunity which lockdown has given us is for some of the sports snappers to go through their hard drives and re-present some of the best moments they’ve captured. Over the Monaco weekend there were two, especially Mark Thompson (Instagram @thommogetty) and Vladimir Rys (Instagram @vladimirrys), who had some excellent, and completely different, takes on previous Monte Carlo races.

Staying Entertained 

If you listen to one thing… Don’t Tell Me The Score – the podcast which explains life through sport. It’s what Bill Shankly was talking about when the Liverpool FC manager claimed that football is more important a matter than life and death. It’s not, but it is a great insight into what sport can teach us about life.

If you watch one thing… if you’re not a natural German soccer fan, then check out the Bundesliga’s YouTube channel. Despite the occasionally sightly over-enthusiastic commentary, it’s got some great off-the-field content and while we wait for the other European leagues to kick off, is well worth 90 of your minutes. 

If you follow one account… former Liverpool, Leicester City and Nottingham Forest striker Stan Collymore runs a more political, and more articulate than most Twitter account in which the former England footballer calls it exactly how he sees it, and isn’t afraid to speak his mind.