Founder & Editor, The Moonraker | Co-founder, CounterPress Media | [email protected] | [email protected]
Swindon
Joined September 2011
- Tweets62.7K
- Following1.2K
- Followers9.5K
- Likes3.2K
Swindon Town confirm departure of CFO Paul Barclay within Advisory Board minutes.
Barclay was appointed in June. Understand he resigned in September.
Sotiris Caldelis confirmed as having left his role as operations manager, as previously reported by The Moonraker.
#stfc
themoonraker.counterpress.me…
Three years ago this weekend, a WhatsApp that changed everything.
I'd given notice at the job that'd worn me thin, and was ready to build something.
It was this message, to CP CTO Jay, that began the conversation about The Moonraker and what would become CounterPress Media.
And since then... wow!
Nov '23: Jay introduces Max, bringing critical, human-focused brand expertise.
Jan '24: Max's suggestion - we call ourselves CounterPress. I'm happy my proposal, Rerite, gets binned.
Apr '24: Incorporated. It's getting real.
Spring '24: Full MVP CMS built.
Jun '24: Soft launch of The Moonraker. Who will care?
Aug '24: They care. The Moonraker reaches 500 paying subscribers in 1 month.
Spring '25: Website/CMS rebuild, with (critically) infrastructure designed to support multiple independent publications.
Summer '25: The Moonraker moves onto the upgraded platform. A shared codebase makes it easier to launch and manage new outlets.
Jul '25: CounterPress takes on its first external titles. I'll never forget the belief Richard Edwards and Machel St Patrick Hewitt had in the product.
Autumn '25: A new central backend. Work on a publisher dashboard begins, bringing audience data, contacts, email campaigns and subscription management together.
Dec '25: Podcast hosting arrives as standard within CounterPress.
Early '26: The platform's commercial tools expand, adding revenue reporting, audience segmentation, promotional offers and automated subscriber communications.
Spring '26: CounterPress launches outlets covering 17 of the 18 first-class county cricket clubs.
Spring '26: Full deployment of the v1 dashboard, with native analytics, newsletter builder and audience management tools.
Apr '26: CounterPress signs up its 30th title.
May '26: CounterPress signs up its 40th title.
May '26: CounterPress ID launches: a single account and sign-in experience across the network.
Jun '26: Embedded checkout make it easier for readers to support publications they love. We build first stage of a bundles project. Watch this space.
Jul '26: CounterPress app is downloadable. Our outlets now have a quick and easy home in readers' pockets.
Jul '26: CounterPress signs up its 50th title.
Jul '26: FC CounterPress becomes our first live aggregator, helping spread our outlets' coverage further.
Summer '26: Major improvements to platform speed and performance, alongside enhanced podcast and video publishing, international pricing and sophisticated subscription tools.
Aug '26: CounterPress signs up its 60th title.
Aug '26: Live blogging, giving outlets the ability to tell their stories as they happen.
Oct '26: Push notifications, giving publishers another direct route to their readers.
Oct '26: Partnerships, giving titles platform to showcase relationships with local business.
Oct '26: Automated outlet onboarding, foundations for publishers to sell products through CounterPress (stay tuned).
There's so much more in the pipeline.
What a ride!
Wow!
The Moonraker has hit a record high membership today.
Thank you to everyone who continues to support the project.
I hope it provides a service of community value.
If you want more from your membership, please let me know.
Thank you, you wonderful people.
If you are a Telegraph sports journalist coming to terms with today, don't lose hope.
Your skills, knowledge and reach as an individual or small collective are so much more powerful than you know.
@CounterPressHQ can help you realise this.
If, in the days to come, you are curious about a future you own, please do get in touch to chat.
There is another way.
Sam Morshead retweeted
Today Swindon Town Football Club and the wider community remember George Chadwick. ❤️
George, alongside his loving wife Brenda, has been a huge part of the Town family for over 43 incredible years, helping give our mascots unforgettable experiences at The Nigel Eady County Ground.
To show our love and support for George, the entire STFC squad paid their respects at George’s funeral this morning.
At this unimaginably difficult time, everyone at the Club would like to pass our sincerest condolences to Brenda and all of George’s loved ones.
Forever a Red. Rest In Peace, George. ❤️
🎙️ NEW POD! 🎙️
Rake The Moon XXXI - The Greatest Keeping Display Ever?
🧤 The Talented Mr Ripley
🔄 Was Tuesday a turning point?
❓What even is a turning point?
🤷♂️ Corporate comms
👋 Introducing Moonraker Partnerships & Perks
Available to members now, in all other feeds first thing tomorrow.
#stfc
themoonraker.counterpress.me…
Hahhahaahaha.
The most inevitable nonsense.
Boreham Wood-Wigan? Burton-AFC Rushden? Hornchurch-Blackpool? Kidderminster-Donny?
Nah. Savage v Savage.
Forget actual stories, let's manufacture shite narrative.
The #EmiratesFACup first round TV picks have been selected! 📺
Click below to find out more 👇
the-fa.com/aehd8q
ALT Emirates FA Cup graphic titled “First Round TV picks,” listing four televised fixtures with club crests: Friday 6 November: Oxford City v Leicester City, kick-off 7.45pm GMT on TNT Sports 1 and HBO Max. Saturday 7 November: Altrincham v Notts County, kick-off 5.30pm GMT on TNT Sports 1, HBO Max, BBC Two and iPlayer. Saturday 7 November: Peterborough United v Reading, kick-off 8pm GMT on TNT Sports 1 and HBO Max. Sunday 8 November: Stafford Rangers v Grimsby Town, kick-off 12pm GMT on TNT Sports 1 and HBO Max.
ALT Emirates FA Cup graphic titled “First Round TV picks,” listing four more televised fixtures with club crests: Sunday 8 November: Cray Wanderers v Stockport County, kick-off 2.15pm GMT on TNT Sports 3, HBO Max, BBC Two and iPlayer. Sunday 8 November: Wimborne Town v Crawley Town, kick-off 3pm GMT on TNT Sports 1 and HBO Max. Sunday 8 November: Oldham Athletic v Sheffield Wednesday, kick-off 5.15pm GMT on TNT Sports 1 and HBO Max. Monday 9 November: Plymouth Parkway v Berkhamsted, kick-off 7.30pm GMT on TNT Sports 1 and HBO Max.
Anticipation, speed, and execution were the keys to beating Barnet.
Swindon out-buzzed the Bees. Can the same approach work against Rovers?
#stfc
themoonraker.counterpress.me…
Joel McGregor in the squad for Rovers. So is Dan Butler.
As reported by The Moonraker, Ollie Clarke out for several weeks. Anthony Munda's knee is a worry and he sits out Saturday.
#stfc
Those in charge of digital publishing in the 00s and 10s have a lot to answer for, Rich.
Educating three generations that an expensive, time consuming pursuit should be widely available for free, while simultaneously diluting the quality for the sake of ad impressions, and relying on third parties for distribution and audience will take a while to fix.
That you're trying to find a solution, and provide a product of value to your community is admirable. And The Phoenix is terrific.
When I launched The Phoenix, I knew there would be people who wouldn't see the value in paying for online content.
I get that. We've become so accustomed to getting everything for free that, for some, a website overrun with adverts will always be preferable to an ad-free site that costs a few quid a month.
That's absolutely fine.
What I perhaps underestimated was the anger that some people would feel simply because someone was offering them the choice of paying for their work.
Since launching on 20 July, I've added 140 stories to The Phoenix, totalling more than 200,000 words.
That includes in-depth interviews with people like Adi Viveash, Darren Huckerby and Leo Østigård, with at least one new 3,000-plus-word interview every week. There's also tactical analysis, opinion pieces, matchday coverage and plenty more.
Despite that, I've seen people describe charging £5 a month for this work as 'shameful', 'embarrassing' and 'a con'.
I've even been accused of contributing to the 'commercial exploitation of information'.
It's an odd thing. Nobody ever told me it was shameful to charge £16.99 for one of my books about Coventry City. Yet put that same level of research, writing and effort onto a website and suddenly asking people to pay for it becomes controversial.
Nobody has to subscribe. Nobody has to read it. And I'm absolutely fine with that.
But I don't think there's anything shameful about trying to make a living from producing original, independent journalism about a football club I've supported for more than 30 years.
Still, it's sometimes hard not to take the criticism personally.
Anyway, chin up and all that.
I'm interviewing a key member of our League One title-winning team tomorrow, and I can't wait.
You know where you'll be able to read that one...
#PUSB
Last night was a case of the naked eye telling a very different story to what's down on paper.
Barnet had 2x more shots than Swindon, 2x shots on target, 5x big chances, 2.5x touches in the oppo box, 4x completed passes, plus 72% possession - yet Town deserved the win.
Strange night. Very encouraging for the Robins, who got the planning and execution spot on.
#stfc
themoonraker.counterpress.me…
Not sure I've ever seen a better Swindon Town goalkeeping performance in 30+ years than Connor Ripley last night.
Anyone got contenders that come to mind?
#stfc
Baffling. Good. But baffling. Lots of level-up individual performances. An attacking gameplay (until 60 mins) that made sense, was well executed, and worked. Yet Barnet could have had... seven... but for Ripley's believe-it-or-not display. And yet they didn't deserve seven because Swindon's defence was pretty good. I think. All this winning away has made me dizzy. Time for a lie down.
📢📢 NEW for Moonraker members: Partnerships & Perks.
We're creating a link between local businesses and the growing Moonraker family.
This is not about the old digital ad model of impression volume.
It's a three-way relationship between community businesses, an engaged audience in their vicinty, and the local publisher.
Businesses enjoy low-cost access to the Moonraker membership.
Members get exclusive perks, such as discounts on services and products.
Moonraker members can log in now to claim the first two offers. The intention is to add many more in the near future.
themoonraker.news/partners