James Traynor is reinventing himself as a podcaster but it is likely that his trademark ‘Angry Wee Guy’ syndrome will remain intact.
A year ago when Dave King decided that he couldn’t put any more money into Ibrox it was time for Traynor to pack up his contacts book and head off into the sunset.
His dwindling credibility and influence had been trashed during two eventful stints at Ibrox working as the enforcer for Charles Green then Dave King.
The so-called Airdrie fan used his Ibrox role to extract revenge on the many enemies that he built up during 20 years spinning between the Daily Record and Radio Scotland. Without doubt his finest moment was arguing with Chick Young live on air over who was the greatest cheer-leader for Dave Murray.
Traynor signed off at the Record with a typically scatter-gun attack on every aspect of the media with particular anger spared for the internet which has exposed the old printed media and decimated their income streams.
While Keith Jackson has ‘wealth off the radar’ scrolled across his CV the scoops about Motherwell born billionaire Craig Whyte was shared with Traynor. In 1998 Traynor gave the phrase succulent lamb new meaning as he shared as fun filled weekend in Jersey with Murray and Graham Spiers who is also trying to earn a coin from podcasts.
Traynor’s new venture, Essential Football Podcasts, has still to reveal its subscription model but with Alan Stubbs and Steven Pressley among the star names it is expected to be aimed at the lower end of the market.
Discussing his new money-spinner Traynor told The Sun:
Level5 remains but might be moving in a different direction. I had been asked a few times over the last three years anyway to get involved in podcasts. There were a couple of people willing to back it financially but I had other things to do at that time so I didn’t have the time to commit, mainly because I was running Level5.
When this one came along I liked the concept of it. It wasn’t me setting it up, fronting it, producing it, putting it together. Stephen Kerr and Russell Walker are doing that. They’ve got experience in that side of it.
I know I have lots of broadcast experience but not behind the scenes, not producing, sound engineering, all that sort of stuff. They have and because they have got a modern, well-equipped studio in Glasgow’s West End.
Because I quite liked the line up they are putting together I thought I will do it this time, so we will see how it goes. There’s only so many times you can reinvent yourself.
I went into journalism, went to the Herald, and certainly in the old days, you were in there two years before you were ready to write a paragraph. Then everybody said you can’t go to the tabloids, but the more people say you can’t do that, the more I say ‘aye I can’.
I ended up running that one. Then I had a good 20 odd years on BBC, so of course you can do it. Anyway I needed to reinvent myself again because I had retired.
It was a month and I was bored stiff so I opened Level5. Stephen and I did well out of Level5 so I am just reinventing myself again now. I can’t sit still. I can’t sit in the house.
In December 2012 Traynor signed off at the Record with an angry attack on the Rangers Tax Case blog. Like much of his career it proved to be a case of premature celebration with the Supreme Court ruling in favour of HMRC in July 2017.
CLICK HERE to go to the first Traynor podcast.