The Post man

Media men

no.1 - mark currie

 

Everyone reads the Daily Post and everyone, therefore, is on first-name terms with Mark Currie. He's got the best (or worst) job in the world: he's a Reds fan and he watches them for his living. Red Passion caught up with Mark over a pint of lager in the Plas Coch...

 

RP: Mark, how are you doing?

MC: Fine thanks

 

RP: A pint? Shall we get a table?

MC: Yep.

 

RP: You've got a job that many Wrexham fans would die for. Could you tell us a bit about you're background?

MC: I started on the Wrexham Leader. I did my training there - I was a junior reporter there in 1974. This coincided with Wrexham's great cup run, and I used to go to games with the fans. I did sport and news. I then moved to the Evening Leader as a general reporter.

 

RP: And then?

MC: I moved to the Derby Evening Telegraph. I was a sports sub-editor and I was the no.2 football reporter, following Derby County. It was the era of Tommy Docherty and Charlie George, Roy McFarland and David Nish. The young Alan Cork was also there. Then I spent 18 months on the Wolverhampton Express and Star.

 

RP: You've moved around, but where do you actually originate from?

MC: My father was in the RAF. I was educated in Cornwall but part of my family was from Liverpool and I eventually settled in Wrexham.

 

RP: When did you move to the Daily Post?

MC: I joined the Business Desk at the Post in 1988.

 

RP: But what about the football and Wrexham?

MC: John Griffith was the editor. I knew him from the Wrexham Leader. The Daily Post had no Wrexham man and the daily coverage of the club at that time was intermittent. I suggested that we did more on Wrexham. I'm now Deputy Business Editor, but in terms of sport there is now far more emphasis on Wrexham. My colleague Nick Hilton is the main Wrexham man but I cover the games he doesn't want to do. Nick lives in Wallasey and so it makes sense for him to look after Tranmere. I live in Llay, I mix with the fans, and so I do a lot of the Wrexham stuff.

 

RP: The big question: are you a Wrexham fan?

MC: Yes. But I try to be objective! I try to see both sides and to be fair. Even when I was at Derby you can't help becoming a fan. You get to know the players and it just becomes natural.

 

RP: What's the attitude of the Daily Post to Wrexham?

MC: The bottom line is that when Wrexham are doing well the Daily Post sells more. Even when we did a two-part interview with Pryce Griffiths we put on 200+ copies. We sell more papers in Wales than in Merseyside, and we're still the biggest-selling newspaper in North Wales. We sell more than the Sun and the Mirror. Sport is a big seller and the Post puts a lot of money into market research - to see what people want.

 

RP: And the soccer coverage?

MC: Wrexham are the first club of most of our Welsh readers, and the paper is very conscious of this. Our policy is that we have to be seen to be doing things on Wrexham, and since 1989 I think we've done this. The back-page story is now usually a Wrexham one - and not Man Utd. Wrexham news isn't hidden on the inside pages anymore. As Wrexham as a club have improved and got better we've instituted a policy change, and Welsh sport is now on the back.

 

RP: Does the Post have an influence in raising consciousness about Wrexham? Does it bring in new fans?

MC: The coverage could have helped. Oswestry, Bala, Corwen - it's our territory. The tents and balloons at big home games puts sales on for us. The caravan helps us put on 400 copies a day. It helps improve our profile for advertisers and has other good knock-on effects. I think that the Daily Post is seen as one of the natural mediums for people who want to read about Wrexham. The Evening Leader is obviously a very different paper, with a different readership. Whereas we see ourselves as a regional paper the Leader is very much a community paper. There's healthy competition between us, but also cooperation. David Lovett and myself often help each other out.

 

RP: Do fans write to you?

MC: I don't get a lot of correspondence - we don't seem to have that kind of readership. We're not local like the Leader. We probably get more letters about Wales than Wrexham.

 

RP: And for you being a football reporter it must be great!
MC: Yes, I enjoy reporting on Wrexham. I'm a football fan. It is the best job in the world! I remember covering the European game in Lyngby. We stayed with the players, we had a few beers, we had a great time!

 

RP: How would you characterise your relationship with the club?

MC: I think it's quite good. Because the Daily Post is perceived to be a quality newspaper, I think we're treated well. The club knows it's not going to get stitched up.

 

RP: What's your general view of the club?
MC: I think there's a lot to be learnt in terms of PR - treating the fan as a customer. People don't like to be taken for granted; as customers they should be appreciated. But Allan Thomas is changing things through his enthusiasm. I think Pryce Griffiths is a good chairman; his heart's in the club and he's a genuine fan. I think Brian Flynn's relationship with Pryce was the saving of the club. In 1989-90 the chairman put his faith in Flynn: a brave thing to do. And that Colchester match turned the tide...

 

Mark Currie: Personal File

 

Hobbies: Watching football, walking the dog, watching the World Cup

Favourite music: The Who, The Beatles, The Lightning Seeds

Favourite footballer of all time: Jimmy Greaves

Favourite football pundit: Des Lynham

Favourite food: Steak

Favourite drink: Lager

Favourite holiday destination: Anywhere warm

Favourite newspaper (apart from the Daily Post!): Daily Mail

Favourite journalist: Ian Wooldridge

 

Next issue: Mark talks more about Flynn, Wrexham, the past and the future...