Hurry Up 'Arry

I'm by no means a Spurs supporter (Hammer by birth, United by home) but I totally agree with Harry Redknapps decision to stop giving interviews if he is charged with misconduct following the weekend's bizarre goal.

Firstly I think it was a goal, the ref didn't blow the whistle therefore no foul had been given. Presuming a foul was every bit as presumptuous as Nani had been in grabbing the ball.

However, and this is the big issue for me. What is the point in having interviews when the managers are unable to speak their minds? I'm not saying they should be able to abuse referees, but to not be allowed to criticise them is ludicrous. I don't want robots after a game, I want to see managers talking honestly about the game and the performance of all involved. How would we feel if managers were no longer allowed to criticise players?

There is a lot of talk about respecting the game and respecting the ref, yet it always feels as if the refs have no respect for the teams or supporters. (Obviously they do, but we never get to see it) They are immune from criticism and never have to justify their decisions. By locking them away as untouchable it just drives the resentment felt by supporters.

We understand that everyone has bad days, players, managers, referees alike. There would be so much more respect for the refs if they just came out for 5 minutes and explained their decisions. We would even understand fully if they came out and admitted their mistakes, we don't expect them to be perfect, but when a bad decision costs a team 3 points or a place in the next round of a cup; a simple apology might go a long way towards healing the wounds.

Va Va Voom

Hi everyone! You know this blogging lark doesn't just allow me to get angry at ads I dislike, it ocassionally passes along interesting opportunities to do things and speak to people.

The Clio Awards are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year in Las Vegas, and the online entry system has now opened; allowing the cream of adland to submit their best work.

As part of this, I have been given the opportunity to speak to the director of the Clio Awards, Wayne Youkhana. I thought it would be nice to open up this interview to questions from my wonderful readers!

Please add your questions to this post, and the best selection will be put forward in a week or so.

Thanks

Rob

Hurrah!!!

Another interview :)

Still waiting on several though, it's a remarkably frustrating process sometimes... but it will be worth it in the end!

Wish me luck! (You don't actually have to post every time I get an interview! I know you wish me well!)

Wish me Luck!

Interview tomorrow...

Rats...

As some of you aware, I didnt get the job I was going for in London...

Still, I don't believe I did badly. I was in the last nine at an agency "everyone wants to be at" for an account management job (when i've been mainly aiming for planning).

Im waiting for feedback which should be useful.

It seemed a nice place, not radical in thinking; but certainly way ahead of many agencies.

It must be said though, I feel no shame in losing out to some of the clever and funny people they were interviewing as well.

In time friends...in time...

A Room With an Interview...

Well that was an unusual but fun day!

My interview/open day went well I think. I was pretty nervous at the start of the presentation (I never realised how talking to 6 people close up was so scarier than last time when I spoke to about 50 people!) but I think I did much better after that.

The day was fun, and regardless of what happens i'm very very glad I went. Though I never did find out which person there reads this blog (though we suspect its the planning director). If anyone from the agency does read this, thanks for inviting me along. I hope I did well enough to justify picking me!

Two amusing things though:

1. I had a surreal moment of recognising a "famous" adland figure solely by his hair sticking over a cabinet... probably given it away with that one!

2. I actually used a Homer Simpson quote in one of the interview questions (and not just for random effect, it was actually part of my spur of the moment answer!)

Oh, and the journey...

I got off the train and to my hotel (in Bayswater, about 10 minutes tube ride to the interview) at 11pm, and found out the room had a water problem and I had to be transferred.


To Wembley! 25 minutes away...

But to their credit the hotel gave me free drinks at the bar while i waited, paid for the car there (and back the following morning to ensure I got to the interview), AND put me in a Hilton which was really nice. So while it was a total pain, they dealt with it brilliantly. Well done Clarion Collection Shaftesbury for demonstrating exactly how problems can win customer loyalty.

Annoyingly though, the car company in the morning didnt arrive on time, so I left twenty minutes late...and arrived at the agency 10 minutes late thanks to hideous London traffic. You couldnt make it up. Transferred, late car, traffic...

Still. At least I had a fun day, met some very nice people, and hopefully miiiight get this job everyone keeps telling me I deserve. So thank you so much for your support people who keep backing me, I really really appreciate it.