ClubCall
[3] Leading clubs in the then First Division (Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Sheffield Wednesday and Liverpool) were among the first raft of teams signed up on a revenue share basis, whereby they received a percentage of income from the calls to their official information line which quickly proved popular among fans who could hear club news, interviews and commentary on the telephone by ringing an 0898 prefixed number.[citation needed] Local reporters, dedicated to a particular club, provided an at the ground news gathering service, which was fed back to ClubCall's headquarters at Downham Road, Dalston, London where it was updated by a team of editors.[6] Under long-serving Managing Editor Eamonn Watson,[7] ClubCall extended its coverage to all major football tournaments in 14 countries and uniquely offered, at that time, the only match commentary service for supporters of many teams.In 2001, Glasgow-based Thus plc wanted to focus on building sales of phone and internet services to the corporate sector and sold ClubCall and its other consumer brands (RaceCall and WeatherCall) to mobile media firm iTouch as part of a £3.5 million disposal.In contrast, competitor Teamtalk (launched as an independent telephone service in 1992 by ex ClubCall editor Ian Holding) was attracting a huge internet audience and was listed on the London Stock Exchange in April 2000 at the height of the tech-stock boom.