Football Magazines

[MarkBRFC]

I just posted in the football italia thread and it got me feeling all nostalgic.

Early 90's when there wasn't that much coverage on TV and football wasn't in your face 24/7 I couldn't get enough of them, Match, WSC, 90 Minutes & a bit later FourFourTwo being my favourites, but in truth I would get anything I could get my hands on.

I also remember my grandad showing me some shoot magazines that he had in his loft from the 70s around that time and thinking it looked like a completely different game.

Did anyone else used to collect football magazines before football turned in the 24 hour a day news event that it seems to be now?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

When I broke my leg as a teenager I was desperate for anything to read so I swapped all my programmes with a mate for a huge pile of football magazines. " Charlie Buchan's Football Monthly " and one called  " Goal " or " Shoot ".  I could kick myself now - I had the " Rochdale V Norwich " League Cup Final home leg programmes. Look it up on the internet - it goes for mega bucks now.

I used to get one called " Foul " which was football version of " Private Eye " , That was hilarious but it didn't last more than about a year.

[Mattyblue]

Shoot! as a kid, especially for their league ladders pull out you’d stick to your wall.

Didn’t miss a Four Four Two for years, but as I’ve got older I seem to care less about the actual sport on the pitch, but the wider game - support, finance, fan culture etc, so WSC is now my go to.

 

[Miller11]

I found a big box full of old 90 minutes magazines a few years back when my parents were moving. Gave me a reminder of how good a magazine that was. I suppose us being a top team and heavily featured helped!

[tomphil]

I have a large collection of 90 Mins magazines it was a belter at the time. Fresh interesting and had a bit of vibe and culture about it compared to the other stuff, a bit like most things in the 90's to be fair. Great decade for sport and music.

Great decade to be young, i miss it badly ?

[oldjamfan1]

3 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Shoot! as a kid, especially for their league ladders pull out you’d stick to your wall.

Didn’t miss a Four Four Two for years, but as I’ve got older I seem to care less about the actual sport on the pitch, but the wider game - support, finance, fan culture etc, so WSC is now my go to.

 

Ha ha I just spent ages trying to work out which season this might be then saw the bloody years in the top right hand corner of the wallchart!!

Class though, and I remember them well (mine would have been 1970s though)

[LeftWinger]

Does anyone remember a Blackburn Rovers magazine around 1995? Not sure if it lasted long, but I definitely remember buying one from a newsagent in Leyland.

In fact, here it is.....

Edited September 9, 2020 by LeftWinger

[Mattyblue]

35 minutes ago, oldjamfan1 said:

Ha ha I just spent ages trying to work out which season this might be then saw the bloody years in the top right hand corner of the wallchart!!

Sharing a league with our perennial local rivals, Oldham and Man City.

Two clubs that have gone in totally different directions... and we are back to where we started (well without the play off bit).

Edited September 9, 2020 by Mattyblue

[Mattyblue]

42 minutes ago, LeftWinger said:

Does anyone remember a Blackburn Rovers magazine around 1995? Not sure if it lasted long, but I definitely remember buying one from a newsagent in Leyland.

In fact, here it is.....

The Twitter Screen Grabber (formerly of this parish), and Paul Agnew’s publication, from memory.

Edited September 9, 2020 by Mattyblue

[DeeCee]

Anyone remember Topical Times football book?

[tomphil]

2 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

The Twitter Screen Grabber (formerly of this parish), and Paul Agnew’s publication, from memory.

Have all these as well it was quite good to be fair. 

Just shows what people can come up with when they stick to what they are good at. Straying away from that paints a not to pretty picture.

[Herbie6590]

I have a couple of crates of Shoot! Tiger & Roy of the Rovers if anyone wants to make me an offer ?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

3 hours ago, LeftWinger said:

Does anyone remember a Blackburn Rovers magazine around 1995? Not sure if it lasted long, but I definitely remember buying one from a newsagent in Leyland.

In fact, here it is.....

I had them all bar the last one. My youngest son has them now.

[sympatheticclaret]

8 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Shoot! as a kid, especially for their league ladders pull out you’d stick to your wall.

Didn’t miss a Four Four Two for years, but as I’ve got older I seem to care less about the actual sport on the pitch, but the wider game - support, finance, fan culture etc, so WSC is now my go to.

 

You can actually buy these again from a retro site on E-bay  .... It'll be good to see Barrow on one of those little tabs again !! 

[oldjamfan1]

12 hours ago, sympatheticclaret said:

You can actually buy these again from a retro site on E-bay  .... It'll be good to see Barrow on one of those little tabs again !! 

And even better to see Burnley back in the 4th Division ?

[JacknOry]

Oxford were in the 1st division? Although looking at that, not for long. 

[JPTSwindon]

20 hours ago, Miller11 said:

I found a big box full of old 90 minutes magazines a few years back when my parents were moving. Gave me a reminder of how good a magazine that was. I suppose us being a top team and heavily featured helped!

I’ve still got all mine in 2 boxes in the garage. Great magazine, I remember being gutted when I was told by the newsagent that it was no more.

I still buy WSC.

[Mattyblue]

1 hour ago, JacknOry said:

Oxford were in the 1st division? Although looking at that, not for long. 

Won the League Cup too, their Robert Maxwell heyday...

[sympatheticclaret]

4 hours ago, oldjamfan1 said:

And even better to see Burnley back in the 4th Division ?

I was waiting for that ! It does show t'Rovers in a play-off spot as well, can't believe I've been so generous .... 

 

[speeeeeeedie]

On 09/09/2020 at 08:08, Mattyblue said:

Didn’t miss a Four Four Two for years, but as I’ve got older I seem to care less about the actual sport on the pitch, but the wider game - support, finance, fan culture etc, so WSC is now my go to.

 

I used to love Four Four Two. I still read it now and again.

A mate used to get WSC so I'd read his cast off's now and again. I always preferred Four Four Two though.

I'll never forget a WSC front page "offer"; "Free inside! A Mickey Thomas tenner!"

[windymiller7]

Always used to get Roy of The Rovers. Loved Safest Hands in Soccer (later Goalkeeper).

Me & one of my mates also had an agreement, I used to get Paul Ince's favourite (Shoot!) ?, & he used to get Match, we'd then swap.

[arbitro]

1 hour ago, speeeeeeedie said:

I used to love Four Four Two. I still read it now and again.

A mate used to get WSC so I'd read his cast off's now and again. I always preferred Four Four Two though.

I'll never forget a WSC front page "offer"; "Free inside! A Mickey Thomas tenner!"

WSC was on the back of fanzines and started off as an irreverent publication similar to fanzines. I remember a monthly column entitled 'The bloke behind me' and was essentially readers writing in about the comments and weird actions of fans in close proximity. All kinds of things from being peed on to being pick pocketed. Last time I saw it the content was far more serious.

[Blue blood]

A few musings on this. 

1) I didn't massively get the magazines as a kid but I did get children's football annuals as a kid. I also got them as an adult due a grandparent not appreciating the aging process  until they passed away a year or so ago. What did surprise me was how the current ones have very little writing compared with those I read as a kid. It's all like "Messi hassic skillz" in today's annual, whereas as a child I remember reading full articles on players and their background. I remember reading one on Short and his love of sailing for when he retired, a Coventry defender (Burrows?) on being a brickie and that strengthening his leg muscles, so despite not being the biggest he could out-ump strikers.   There were more words in a single one of those articles than there is in the entirety of the annuals these days. A symptom of a decline in literacy, or reading perhaps? 

I still get the 4-4-2 season preview magazine. I've had them for a number of years now and really rate them. It gives a solid low level insight into each club, what the situation is, who are their better players and what the fans think. It's far from infallible in their predictions but it gives a really good overview of each team, and helps me know a little bit about each team and a sense of what their situation is.   

 

[frosty]

I’ve still got probably around a dozen Calcio Italia magazines from between the early 2000s and about 2012. Used to get it every month. The ones from the early 2000s will be worth a few quid now I bet!

Apart from that I get Four Four Two probably two or three times a year. It’s not cheap but it’s always a good read, and passes the time nicely on flights or long train journeys. 

[Mattyblue]

1 hour ago, windymiller7 said:

Always used to get Roy of The Rovers. Loved Safest Hands in Soccer (later Goalkeeper).

Me & one of my mates also had an agreement, I used to get Paul Ince's favourite (Shoot!) ?, & he used to get Match, we'd then swap.

Ha so did we. Me - Shoot! , Mate - Match, his cousin - 90 Minutes