Football Mags

[flammableBen]

Can I have a job?

[Sussex]

What sort of mag do you mean macca? Self funded fanzine type thing, if so, go for it.

Any higher expectations, you'll need the backing of a recognised publisher to succeed. Plus journalists/contributors, printing, distribution, circulation, subscribtions, ad sales person, a designer..

442 do well because they take a slice of the hundreds of thousands of Prem fans which lower leagues unfortunately don't have.

Text me if you want a chat about it before the Doncaster game fella.

[red macca]

Cheers paul

Im going to go all out on this but im aware im going to need alot of help.Already got the ball rolling its basically going to be a 4-4-2 rip off to a certain extent but JUST about championship and lower teams.

[Sussex]

Juddie and Mark Hanrahan (pops on here occasionally) would also be good contacts Macca.

[red macca]

Cheers mate

[juddie]

Good call red Macca, I've always thought there was a need for lower league magazine, and have often suggested my employers do one. A previous poster in this thread is right, there was one in the 90s, which I bought. It was good, too, but for whatever reason - whether it be lack of readership, or no advertising revenue, it didn't last long. I think the profile of the lower leagues is higher now than it was then, but...
Sadly the football magazine market is slowly stagnating. For example, I'm dep ed of the official Man United magazine. In 2000 it was selling well over 100,000, now it's not even half that. Why? David Beckham leaving was one reason, another is that not only are there four United fanzines which are very, very good, there are also millions of websites where United fans can get their news. True, we offer behind the scenes stuff no-one else can - but some people would rather read more sensationalist stuff rather than the pre-club stuff we offer.
442 is similar. Look at their covers a few years back and they're ahead of their time - players doing madcap stuff and talking about it. Now, not a month goes by when a player isn't seen wearing some brand, while journos are told not to mention this or that - players are more difficult to access and they're so media trained they have very little to say.
You woulnd't find that problem in the lower league, and I often find players at Town's level are more interesting than the big names, because they're not afraid to talk - and they often have more going on in their lives.
I'd be interested to help out Macca, if you needed any. I'm sure there's a market for this, but the key is how you do it (When Saturday Comes is already a decent mag embracing all the leagues) and keeping your costs as low as poss, because it would take time to build the brand. Also, might be worth checking with the nationwide league - I'm sure they were trying to launch something similar...
You could promote it across forums such as this - but the trick is to have the contacts (journos who players know, you get loads more out of em) and the nouse to make it work.
Good luck!

[Spencer_White]

Make it more fan based. You could be the Magazine version of Dougie Brimson  

Magazines have been beaten into second place by internet forums, but theres no reason why you couldnt cross reference it a bit more. Take stuff off their sites etc.

[Spencer_White]

Macca, I rekon theres something that could sell loads of football magazines in the UK. In Italy they have a magazine called Supertifo, and all it is is pictures of fans, particularly away followings. Im not saying a whole magazine dedicated to pics of fans, but If you printed a picture of every football league away following that month I guarantee it would be a big seller. Because it would mean the people buying the magazine would be in the magazine. Plus it would be a big hit with what a lot of football fans really like to talk about - themselves! Who takes more, who is louder. Dodgy away days.

Its a simmilar thing to the Championship on sunday morning. Everyone watches it for their own club really.

[Sippo]

You could get Fred to do a piece every week.  

[pumbaa]

You could get Fred to do a piece every week.  

You could call it 'The Butcher's Blog'

[Dazzza]

I'd definitely tie-in a website as well.  

As Juddie mentioned so many people now use the t'interweb for their football news and a decent site doesn't cost have to cost the earth to run.  If you can push original material out and not just the guff re-hashed by the likes of Teamtalk off the BBC and local press then you’d be onto a winner.

Slam in a forum and if you could incorporate some sort of competition like that Play for Your Club shenanigans we were all at a few years ago it gets people interested and you could milk the advertising in to boot.

[STFCBird]

You could get Fred to do a piece every week.  

You could call it 'The Butcher's Blog'

I just spat dairy milk everywhere

[pumbaa]

You could get Fred to do a piece every week.  

You could call it 'The Butcher's Blog'

I just spat dairy milk everywhere

Shame, such a waste