When Saturday Comes recently celebrated its 30th anniversary with a special edition that contained a facsimile of its first issue (the ugly cut & paste layout reminding you long ago 1986 was).
I didn’t read WSC#1, but I remember staring to read it in the late 80s, when it was the most prominent of the football fanzines that you would find outside football games as well as in record shops and other places. WSC and a few competitors covered the national scene (in Scotland we had The Absolute Game). But the most interesting thing about the scene was how each club would have at least a couple of fanzines fighting for prominence.
The whole thing would make a decent case study for an MBA student. Was First Mover Advantage always important for a club fanzine, or could you be disrupted by a later competitor with a better cartoonist and access to a colour photocopier? Were consumers loyal to their club’s fanzines or would they read well-regarded zines from other clubs? (I always enjoyed Aberdeen’s The Northern Light despite being a Celtic fan, but I drew the line at reading one that covered the other lot). The fanzines were crude, but they were definitely filling a need: there were football fans out there who had outgrown Shoot! and wanted something different from Saint & Greavsie. They were also frustrated with their club’s official programme (the most popular Celtic fanzine called itself Not The View, to distinguish itself from the club’s The Celtic View, which it referred to as “Pravda”).
In the end, competition caught up. First, magazines such as FourFourTwo appeared. Then, newspapers greatly expanded their football coverage. Finally, the internet came along with newsgroups, blogs and forums. Discussing football is now commoditized, no SAE required.
deramdaze says
There was a time when I wouldn’t dream of going on a train journey over an hour without first visiting ‘Sportspages’, just off Cambridge Circus, and purchasing 3 or 4 of the things. They used to stock hundreds, most of which were spread over the floor.
Favourites were ‘When Skies Are Grey’ (Everton) and ‘Wise Men Say’ (Sunderland – which I even subscribed to for a period!). There were some pretty toxic ones, though, normally revolving around the top clubs. Unsurprisingly, ‘The Red Issue’ (Man. Utd.) was horrible.
Still got very fond memories of a particularly ropey QPR one called ‘The Whinging Donkey’, three issues max., it might only have been one, whose whole raison d’etre was to slag off Tony Adams and Arsenal. Written by a guy who was still very much a punk (this was about 1989), his cartoon of the Arsenal team parachuted into the world of the ‘The Prisoner’ was a work of considerable genius.
Junglejim says
I loved Sportspages, & always popped in doing my rounds in the west end.
It was the only place I could read cycling lit and buy nice old school replica shirts.- which were displayed on hangers all around the ceiling coving of the shop – I had a particularly nice St Etienne long sleeve from there ( made by Arkwrights as opposed to the more successful TOFFS). I also briefly met & shook hands with M. Ali Esq ( a former American boxer quite well known at the time).
The footy fanzines were extensive ( there were dozens , if not scores) & the vibe was definitely akin to indie record shop meets library.
I used to buy the Chelsea Independent there & read the other less literate Blues ones ( the poor ones were very poor, it goes without saying) for club gossip etc. In those days the biggest concern was how Ken Bates was ruling his personal fiefdom.
Others I’d browse were One F in Fulham & A Kick Up The Rs ( QPR).
Being essentially tribal in my football loyalties ( it’s just a habit), I never checked out others as much as I should have, as it felt like playing away & therefore wrong. I’m certain I missed great stuff, but essentially fanzines have to be insider produced, with observations & comment only a true believer will appreciate, so I’m sure I’m not alone in that . What was nice was the fact that it was obviously a place where non Londoners could touch base with their club via the zines & plug in to a little bit of home.
I assume the shop’s demise was eventually due to the impact of the internet as well as outrageous rent hikes.
Hawkfall says
I think the Punk point is interesting. A lot of the fanzines were set up by people who also had an interest in punk & indie music. The Absolute Game was named after a Skids song if I remember correctly, and I think there were other examples too.
Junglejim says
I think the footy ‘zines definitely reflected a similar disposition.
They were a healthy sign in an era that football wise was pretty grim & worlds away from today’ s huge over exposure of football.
In ‘ smart’ circles, being a football supporter could be used as a lazy synonym for being a blockhead at best, if not a racist hooligan, especially with a club like mine. It was profoundly unfashionable & understandably so.
The ‘zines were proof that it didn’t have to be that way, that digging football & having a brain/ sense of humour was perfectly acceptable. They were useful rallying points for the non meatheads & as footy has always had an avid anorak/Stato fraternity I’m sure their passion also addd to the life blood.
I used to post copies of WSC to a couple of American pals who liked music & ‘ soccerball’ ( a pretty small sub set back then) and they were always rapturously received as treasures by a certain type of Anglophile.
rampantonion says
The Absolute Game, one of my favourites at the time. When Saturday Comes is named after a track on the third Undertones LP. I seem to remember that WSC named regular features after other tracks on that LP as well. The Positive Touch springs to mind.
Carl says
Sportspages: a shop of blessed memory.
Their closure signalled the impending contraction of all bookshops in the face of internet based competition. My other favourite specialist bookshops, Murder One and Helter Skelter, both within a couple of minutes walk of Sportspages didn’t last much longer either.
But I’d browse the fanzines – I initially bought When Skies Are Grey there before becoming a subscriber (and occasional contributor in its early days). As A Chester supporter I’d also buy Hello Albert.
There was a competitor to WSC, in terms of being a general football mag rather than club affiliated in it’s early days, but for the moment I can’t recall it’s title.
I used to buy the Forest fanzine Brian. Initially called The Almighty Brian, they changed the title every issue. One I particularly liked was Pass The Mint Sauce, Please Brian and after the infamous bad language event the was Gentleman No Swearing Please, Brian. Intriguingly, in a male dominated field, it was edited by a woman (the name Jill Armitage has arisen from my fading memory, but that could be a complete fiction). But it was a ‘zine leavened with humour and always worth buying.
I think the very first fanzine was produced by Bradford City, titled The City Gent.
Hawkfall says
I think the WSC competitor was called Over the Bar.
Hawkfall says
Or maybe Off the Bar
Baron Harkonnen says
I often pick up WSC, I reckon it’s the finest national football magazine and those of you who read 442 should give it a go.
Back in the day when I was a regular on the terraces once or twice every week I used to read the fanzines of other clubs, Everton’s ‘When Skies Are Grey’ being the best, my own club’s ‘The Red Issue’, which I avoided, being total shite.
Dodger Lane says
How I miss Sportspages in London; great staff and a good stock. I still have some old WSC compilations and they are still surprisingly readable and funny though the world they evoke seems like light years away now. I tended to read the Leeds United ones only; The Square Ball (which is still going), The Hanging Sheep and there was one which didn’t last long but did have a profound effect. That one was Leeds United fans against racism. It wasn’t funny but the guys behind it had more balls than the club, gave their little mag away when nobody was listening, when Bulldog was being openly sold and when the atmosphere at Elland Road was pretty vile. The Square Ball had its moments and was very good though last time I read it, it seemed more like a club programme. It would be interesting to know how many fanzine writers now work in the national media. I believe Barney Ronay used to write for WSC, as did Harry Pearson.
deramdaze says
The guy who started ‘A Kick Up The Rs’ (QPR) is now currently doing…..erm…..’A Kick Up The Rs’! He’s on Issue 300/400 something, and he lives in, and travels to home matches from, the London Borough of Bolton.
As a rule, the more dour/living in the shadow of someone more successful, a club was, the funnier the fanzine was likely to be.
There is something inherently daft about travelling 200 miles to see a middle of the table match between Chesterfield and Leyton Orient.
There is nothing remotely funny/daft about being top of the league every season (and complaining about it) and in Europe every season (and complaining about it).
When going to an away game, I wouldn’t have dreamt of getting an Arsenal, Man. Utd. or Liverpool fanzine, but, if at Wolves, Coventry or West Brom, I’d come away with three.
duco01 says
I started reading WSC from issue 5 and was a subscriber for around 20 years.
When I moved to Sweden in 1989, WSC didn’t have a correspondent in Sweden. I wrote to then-editor Andy Lyons and offered to write a piece about Swedish football. He said OK, I wrote it, they published it, and I thought it turned out pretty well.
Over the next few years I wrote about three other pieces on aspects of Swedish football for them. It was quite fun, although the fee was derisory. Then one day they asked me to write a huge great piece on Sven-Göran Eriksson. I was very busy at work, and just didn’t have the time. And that was it. They never asked me again.
I haven’t read WSC for many years now, but I can say that the standard of writing in that first decade or so was exceptionally high. At times it was really funny, and when it needed to be, it was deadly serious. I used to read the entire magazine from cover to cover. Every word. I’m glad it’s still going.
Clive says
I was an avid WSC reader. Our fanzine (Bristol Rovers) was called Nine and a Half Months.
Gatz says
I never read he but it always amuses me to remember that one of them (dedicated to Gillingham FC, Wiki tells me) was called ‘Brian Moore’s Head Looks Uncannily Like London Planetarium’.
rampantonion says
Was Brian Moore Gillingham’s Chairman at the time? And the line is, of course, from the mighty Half Man Half Biscuit.
Morrison says
There were a couple of decent Hull City fanzines – even wrote an article about them for some local weekly paper during my brief stint at the Hull Daily Mail. Particularly liked “On Cloud Seven” – named after manager Colin Appleton’s response when asked by a journalist how he felt about returning to the Tigers.
The spirit still lives on at the ambernectar website – but everyone and everything about the site and the club in general is in a state of deep despondency at the moment due to the owner’s general fuckwittery.
Dodger Lane says
You can have Cellino if you want, we don’t want him. Has your guy given up on the name change idea or is that still ongoing ?
Morrison says
I think so – though he has gone quiet for a while as City’s automatic promotion push fades away – but now he probably just wants to sell the club. This new generation of club owners are a marvel – presumably thick-skinned in business they become remarkably thin-skinned when they get their hands on football clubs, do stupid things and then are surprised when fans kick off. The latest is a new membership scheme which, while benefitting a small numbers of “customers”, has bumped up season ticket prices alarmingly for families and effectively priced out people who’ve had seats in the same place since the KC was built.
Surely Steve Evans – in Cambridge United circles a very strong swear word – must be on his way soon? Long service award beckons.
Dodger Lane says
God only knows. Until that clown sells up, Merlin would struggle managing the club.
ianess says
I’m reminded of when Fergus McCann bought Celtic. He did a magnificent job of turning the club around. He came from a U.S. business background and, at the beginning, constantly talked about the ‘customers’. A fellow director took him aside and explained – ‘Fergus, they’re not customers, they’re fans’.
And, therein lies the problem for the fans. They’re not going to take their custom elsewhere, so are at the mercy of the owners. I speak as a Gers fan, two of whose previous owners are due to be taken to court and charged with multiple counts of defrauding the club. Bastards.
Hawkfall says
I’ve watched with fascination the whole Rangers saga over the last five years or so, and to be honest, my main feeling has been “There But for the Grace of God”. There is nothing to stop what happened at Rangers happening at any other club in Britain.
count jim moriarty says
The world of football would be a better place if every club had an owner like we are lucky enough to have at Boro. Steve Gibson was part of the consortium that rescued the club from bankruptcy in 1986 (unlike most that have gone bust/into administration, they had to pay back every penny owed to creditors before the Football League would allow them to start the next season), then gradually bought out all the other shareholders as they lost interest. The football club is a wholly owned subsiduary of his main holding company, which also owns a haulage operation (his main business) and a 5 star country hotel. He is also renowned for the backing he gives his managers, both financially and in terms of giving them time. It’s fair to say that the man is a legend.
DougieJ says
@Hawkfall – as a Gers fan I appreciate your refreshingly generous and restrained comment. A large number of your fellow fans would robustly disagree as I’m sure you’re aware!
On a related point, did you see Kevin McKenna’s recent Guardian article?
Strong stuff…
Point scoring against rivals is of course a key aspect of football fandom, be it Barca v Real, Liverpool v Man U, Blackburn v Burnley or Rangers v Celtic, and if the boot was on the other foot and Celtic had gone through a similar ‘journey’ to Rangers then there is zero doubt that the response from our fans would have been similar.
DougieJ says
oops! link here: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/24/glasgow-rangers-celtic-scottish-football
Franco says
Just as a matter of interest, does anyone here buy any of the football magazines on general sale? Four Four Two, World Soccer, Match of the Day or my favourite Backpass which last month had Jimmy Hill on the cover. Someone apart from myself must be purchasing them, but with all the online information at our fingertips as well as the daily back pages are they really relevant anymore?
Hawkfall says
I buy WSC regularly. I like the photo features, historical articles and book reviews. I think there is still a place for reflective journalism in this online world, which is why e.g. The Economist is doing well while the newspapers aren’t. I don’t think a magazine whose selling point is up-to-date results and match reviews has much of a future.
Harry Tufnell says
Been a WSC subscriber for many years, I’m eagerly awaiting the Euro 2016 special so that the wallchart can replace the Brasil 2014 wallchart on the pantry wall. If I see a fanzine for sale at any match I go to I’ll buy it, my nephew produces the Barnsley zine “West Stand Bogs”, affectionately named after the prehistoric and quite fragrant toilet facilities in our 1904 built main stand – there is little evidence of renovation. All profits from the zine go to local charities and he and his mates have organised some notable fundraising events and produced replicas of the worst football shirt ever made, the 1989/90 season Barnsley shirt, all of which sold at a profit of £15 a pop for charity
http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg482/Spoodledude/s-l225.jpg
Junglejim says
It is a heartstoppingly gopping shirt Neil, but others may stake a claim for that prestigious title.
True hideousness seems to come into its own with ‘away’ kits ( which seems an evermore redundant concept these days), & Admiral I suppose led the field, not least with the ‘chocolate’ Coventry City 70s nightmare. Being frank, ‘dogsh*t’ was the common parlance.
I think my lot (CFC) could also be contenders with their ‘concrete & tangerine’ abomination from the late 80s/early 90s – worth a Google as long as you’ve already eaten.
?
badartdog says
there was a Man City away strip from the early 90s that I m sure was based on an Embassy No 1 fag packet.
deramdaze says
Is it known if sales went up in the Moss Side area or at grounds around the country where they wore it?
deramdaze says
Yikes, that Barnsley kit is grim! To be filed next to Brighton’s ‘Andy Pandy’ kit and those appalling, I don’t know how you’d describe them, Arsenal (away), Man. Utd. (away), Norwich kits c. 1991.
Do you remember the ones?
Ever tasteless, there’s a picture of Beckham, aged 16/17, in one of those when he’s signing his first contract for Man. Utd.
Black Celebration says
Yes I bought WSC for many years. Their covers rival Private Eye for spot-onness. The one that springs to mind was a large picture of Ryan Giggs. “Is Ryan Giggs simply being used to sell magazines?” Of course, there was no further mention of Ryan in that issue.
It was funny but also highly sceptical of the business side of football. FIFA has never been afforded respect by WSC. In the late 80s they had many very accurate articles about what football was going to become once the Premier League started up. I remember re-reading old articles years later and marvelling at how right they were.
Moose the Mooche says
WSC cover after the initial Hillsborough enquiry:
Picture of Dukenfield : “We’re not to blame”
Picture of Graham Kelly: “We’re not to blame”
Picture of football crowd: “Looks like it’s us again”
Bamber says
As a West Ham fan there used to be a choice of the rather leaden Over Land and Sea or the hilarious Fortune’s Always Hiding. Before the internet, these were the only outlet for fans views on the often lamentable goings-on and a window on lots of stuff you’d never get on Football Focus or in the press. Fortune’s Always Hiding featured hilarious cartoons courtesy of a pre-fame Phill Jupitus and ultimately ended its short run with a cover depicting a fan standing on a chair with his head in a noose with the strapline “This Just Isn’t Funny Anymore”, as we faced into yet another relegation. I still have a load of them somewhere in my archive of treasure.
My abiding memory was of reading one on the tube one evening when a total city gent complete with bowler and brolly burst out laughing at whatever I was reading at the time. He then apologised and asked me what I was reading and where he might pick one up. I directed him to the Rough Trade shop on Talbot Road, Notting where I used to pick up my copies as I couldn’t afford to get down to Upton Park more than a few times a season.
I get my West Ham news and opinion on Westhamonline.net now, a somewhat less well mannered site than this bastion of internet etiquette.