Associated Northcliffe Digital is to launch 19 new websites dedicated to football and rugby clubs covered by Northcliffe newspaper titles.

Online for the start of the new season, the sites will sit alongside the established Derby Evening Telegraph site for Derby County, www.therams.co.uk, and the Leicester Mercury’s www.thebluearmy.co.uk for Leicester City.

The move follows the group’s transition to give each Northcliffe newspaper “local ownership” of their own ‘thisis’ website, which had previously been managed centrally by teams in Derby and Exeter.

And it is hoped that the national network of sports sites will bring commercial benefits, with national advertising opportunities that its two existing sports team sites have not been able to offer.

Robert Hardie, managing editor of Associated Northcliffe Digital Integrated Media, said all Premiership, Championship, League One and League Two clubs within Northcliffe’s circulation areas would be covered, along with the Guinness Premiership and Magners League.

This will include Bristol City and Bristol Rovers, Plymouth Argyle, Nottingham Forest, Stoke City, Crewe Alexandra, Port Vale, Mansfield Town and Yeovil Town as well as rugby union sides Bath, Bristol, Gloucester, Ospreys and Llanelli Scarlets.

Robert said: “The Rams and Blue Army have been phenomenally successful. In terms of generating traffic The Rams gets 2m page views a month.

“However, although we do sell advertising there is not a big profit and given the money that is in football there should be.”

He added: “Nobody covers the clubs better than the Northcliffe titles, and while their relationships with them might not be perfect they are better than anybody elses.

“They have access to the staff, players and fans that others don’t.”

Each of the sites have been designed and developed in-house by AND in Derby, and once live will be run by their corresponding newspaper centre.

On launch they will be “boiled down” versions of www.therams.co.uk and www.thebluearmy.co.uk, with news and information about each club as well as a fans’ forum.

Content from the papers and online-only content will then be added.

Robert said: “We have done a lot of research and it is clear that fans always visit the official club site, no matter how good or bad it is, to see what the club is saying.

“They also look at the best unofficial site – to see what is happening that the club isn’t telling them – and our aim is to have the best unofficial site for each club.” Do you have a story about the regional press? Ring 0116 227 3122/3121, or e-mail
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