I think there is so much coverage of foot ball now that the days of the local paper being the source of information are a long time gone.
However, I think there are some good points on here. There are a number of other local papers up and down the country that seem to get stories or break stuff before the nationals. They have journalists who actually get what we used to call 'scoops.' Whether it be on twitter or in the paper I see other local sport journos with exclusives.
Not sure whether the lads at the Star just don't get that sort of info or the remit for them has changed? I'd want my local beat writer for my club to find news, break transfers and occasionally tell us stuff we dont know or is a surprise.
Whether the club just keep things secretive but it seems to have been the same for a long time so not sure it's a manager/club v journalist relationship at all or just the Star generally has slipped so much. In the 80s/90s the Star/Green Un (Weds bias aside) you d buy or read as it would tell you stuff nationals are not bothered about.
As others have said Yorkshire live and many others seem to at least have some stories of interest or that are up to date.
The Star sadly seem slow or often just 're hash artickes/news other agencies ran with days ago.
I used to laugh at Tony Pritchett (git Deane and Agana mixed up) but he used to build such a relationship with the managers that they'd let him know stuff first.
The Star also now charge for articles. Many other papers do this of course but not sure how many people will pay money for stories days out of date and/or telling us stuff we already know.
I read a Star in my hairdresser a few months ago and it was poor in terms of content, journalistic quality and innovation. Conversely the Manchester Evening News and Liverpool echo (two similar sized towns) simply produce a far better product with more detailed and up to date news/sports coverage.
I actually think the Sheffield Telegraph is a really good read with better quality articles and content. Such is the delays between the Star bringing stuff I do wonder if soon that will be the only printed paper left in tbe city as can't imagine many but the Star anymore.