I think the point about media access is key. It was absolutely absurd to try and keep any new player interviews in-house. Whilst fans might not like it said, the club is trying to sell a product and they need the local media for promotional purposes. This should be even more important whilst the club need to be winning over hearts and minds of local communities to get the stadium project across the line.
On the wider subject of club-driven media, I think football is light years behind something like the NFL. There have been the obvious big-ticket productions such as All Or Nothing (which did move across to the EPL) and Hard Knocks, but there are also regular update shows such as the Arizona Cardinals "Flight Plan" which does a monthly update of 15-30mins, looking behind the scenes and making the club a little less two-dimensional. I'd love to see something like this done by the club as it shows the players and staff more as human beings and helps strengthen the connection fans have with them.
I guess part of the issue is that fans like the 'one of our own' schtick and are cynical about anything which seems a bit more 'corporate'. See also the demise of 'Clive' on Twitter...
