Giz ya money!

OK, that's a slightly overly aggressive opening to one of my columns, I'll give you that, but stick with it as I'm hoping we are approaching better times for Comet Sport, myself and by logical extension, yourselves.

You may have seen online that the Comet is now running a subscription service. What that means is after reading a certain amount of articles in a monthly period, you will be asked to sign up for a small cost.

The amount of stories you can read for free will depend on what exactly you look at, but the more articles you see that we class as our best work, more exclusive and more in depth, then you'll see the message quicker.

Unfortunately this is now the landscape regional journalism finds itself in. Long gone are the days when information was mostly sourced from newspapers although we still believe that we do a fantastic job.

I certainly do. When I changed careers at 40 to become a journalist, I was told I was an idiot as the industry was apparently on its knees. Nothing new there to be fair, I was called an idiot when I was 14 too and fairly sure I was called one on Saturday gone.

But 10 years later I'm still in the job and feeling more confident about things than I ever have done.

This change has been in the works for a while so I have been planning ahead, and I believe I can turn this to both my advantage, and the people who read my pieces on Comet Sport.

And as far as I'm concerned the simple truth is this - if we're going to ask you to part with your hard-earned cash, then we better be delivering something very worthwhile in return.

That's where you lot come in.

What do you want to read? What do you want to see more of? Is it more player interviews, more analysis, more transfer rumours, player ratings, nostalgia, opinions - both mine and that of your fellow fans?

How all of this pans out should depend on the audience.

I have long been wanting to do more but have been hamstrung by other concerns, other papers that I need to do and a varied and exhausting workload.

But this is an opportunity to change my output, specifically regarding Stevenage FC but also in general.

And I realise that I am in a special and privileged position. I get to go to the training ground on a regular basis, speak to the manager, speak to the players. I think of myself as your conduit, I can ask the questions you want to ask, find the answers you want to hear.

So please, please, please. Let me know what you want to see. Comment on here, email neil.metcalfe@newsquest.co.uk or send me a message on Twitter, @NPMetcalfe. 

This is just a new beginning and I want to embrace it to make things better. And I'm happy for it to evolve too over the course of the season as I learn what works and what doesn't.

For now, the stories I envision will hide behind a paywall will be opinion pieces, mostly from myself, and exclusive interviews.

Some stuff might not be possible. Stevenage is a tightly controlled club and if Phil Wallace wants to keep things close to his chest, then he'll do so. Look at the current manager situation and the wall of silence.

Some stories might also depend on who the new boss is but I am planning to speak to the club and see what we can do together.

We do have a good working relationship. I feel like it could be better but that'll probably always be the case. However, we do have the same goals, to make Stevenage more widely known and respected.

Don't worry, I'll still be my own man. For example, that tackle you thought was a red card, I probably didn't even think was a foul (although weirdly I did think the innocuous challenge on Elliott List against Cheltenham should have been a pen).

Yes, I am standing up for the referee too, and I'll ALWAYS moan about rubbish defending. Think I shocked Luther Wildin the other week when he was on commentary with Dean Thompson and I was going mental over the goal conceded against Barnsley (I thought that was onside too, at least that is how it looked from the press box).

But then, I think opinion pieces are good, offering a different point of view and providing a starting point for good, old-fashioned conversations.

And I know the paper itself is free, but sport only has two pages, six stories at best. I already do most stuff in the online only category, but I can do so much more.

There are other benefits to subscribing, most notably you get rid of those pesky adverts, and I'm using the word 'pesky' as my mam might be reading this.

Believe me, they annoy the hell out of me too. We don't have any special login, I see the article in the same way you do and it does my head in when adverts fall in front of a story or through the middle of it.

There will also be subscriber exclusive newsletters direct to your inbox, and exclusive access to hundreds of offers, deals and discounts with our reader rewards scheme. 

The subscription applies to all areas of our website too - news, what's on, etc.

But ultimately, I want the sport section in the Comet to be its crowning glory and while this is a novel way of getting there, I'm using it.

I appreciate some will say no straight away and that's perfectly fine. You'll still be able to access lots of stuff like reports, reaction, live blogs and transfer signings, just as now.

But hopefully some of you will join me and the rest of our editorial staff along this new path.

Anyway, back to normal service now. Have Boro announced a new manager yet or what.....