Why we still love fanzines Editors regale their great tales

The beloved matchday mags blossomed in the ’ 80s on a backdrop of anti- establishment angst – but many are still fighting the good fight. FFT hears the iconic stories from those editors keeping their DIY dreams alive

“I SPOKE TO FERGIE FOR AN HOUR – BUT THEN TOLD HIM I HAD TO LEAVE AND MEET MY MATES OUTSIDE”

outside Cardiff’s ground to sell the mag for Solskjaer’s first game. It was a few days before Christmas, I felt like the only sober person at the match, and there was such a buzz at the start of a honeymoon which lasted three months. So I’m choosing that one over our ‘ Champions At Last’ cover of 1992. That would have been apt had Manchester United actually won the title at last instead of Leeds. We printed 40,000 of those, and I had to stand outside Old Trafford like an absolute idiot trying to flog them. I knew I would get loads of abuse for it – in fact, people still love to remind me about it – but it was all completely justified. Sometimes we have to learn the hard way.

STANDOUT MOMENT The longevity – we’re 30 years, 306 issues old and counting, and we’ve consistently produced 10 or 11 issues per year. That’s not easy, and you need a big team with a lot of energy behind you – just try getting a bunch of lads to sell a paper product in the rain outside a ground.

I left my mates on a 1991 pre- season tour in Norway to interview Alex Ferguson. After an hour or so, I told him that I had to be going as my mates were waiting for me. He looked at me with surprise and amusement ( we’d recorded the interview on a giant red tape- to- tape ghetto blaster, so maybe that was it), but we were only kids then.

Ed Woodward does little media, but has twice given us one- on- one interviews where we’ve put supporter concerns to him – as did Mourinho and, most recently, Solskjaer during lockdown. Most of our readers are match- going United fans, so they know who they are speaking to.

There have been sacrifices, too. Fanzine sellers need to be stood outside a stadium immediately after the match to catch the crowd. We drove to Selhurst Park ( which takes three weeks from Manchester) for Wimbledon away in ’ 96. We left a minute before the end, and then heard a roar from the massive away section… David Beckham had scored from the halfway line. MEMORABLE PLAYER/ MANAGER INCIDENT

A Roy Keane interview in Philadelphia on pre- season [ in 2003]. The United captain was brutally honest for 90 minutes as he opted against being diplomatic. At one point, I asked him if he’d read a recently released footballer’s autobiography. “He’s a c** t,” was the reply. “Yes, but have you read the book?” “He’s a c** t.”

Slightly different was an interview with Scouser Kevin Sampson in 1999, before rival fans really did stuff face to face. Sampson is a brilliant writer, and was so engaging that I stayed in Liverpool for 24 hours. Ninety per cent of readers loved it; 10 per cent said we were disgraceful for featuring a Scouser. MOST IMPORTANT STORY We were writing about why clubs should introduce safe standing in 1994, and campaigning against high ticket prices ( putting our money where our mouths were to fund campaigns) in ’ 91. That focus has shifted to the ticket prices of European teams. The declining atmosphere at Old Trafford was also covered in detail for 20 years until the club recognised the issue and started doing something about it.