In
my continuing collaborative series with @1888Letter, I will ask the Football
(Soccer) magazine reading experiences of Glasgow-born Shareef Abdallah.
Name: Shareef
Abdallah (Firmino on Twitter)
Twitter: @brazilegend10
Personal Description: Hi my name is Shareef Abdallah. I was born in Glasgow in 1974. I’ve
supported the Scotland national team, Liverpool FC and Rangers FC since 1981.
Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter
Question: At what age did you become a Football fan and how long after did you
start reading Football Magazines?
Response: I started being a football fan in 1981 when I was 7.
I used to read Football Monthly & Shoot magazine
Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter
Question: What was the first Soccer (Football) magazine that you read as a new
young fan of the game?
Response: Shoot was the first football magazine I read I used
to buy it every month.
Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter
Question: Were there other local magazines that you also read?
Response: I also used to read the Rangers News a weekly
newspaper of Glasgow Rangers FC.
Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter
Question: Do you remember foreign Football publications at your newsstands as
well? If so did you read any?
Response: I didn't see any foreign football magazines on the
news stands.
Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter
Question: I will ask this from everyone, one of my best memories as a young
football fan was the anticipation of the day when new issues were available on
newsstands. It was a weekly ritual that would stay with me for decades. In your
own words, can you explain your memories of these days?
Response: I always looked forward to the new Shoot every week.
I would look at it in the newsagent but only buy it if it had colour posters
that I liked: Dalglish/Souness of Liverpool. I also liked the centre page
colour team groups, like most kids I would stick posters on my wall: Liverpool
team & players as well as Scotland and Rangers players.
1982
was my first world Cup so I got all the Shoot Match and Football Monthly
magazines from that tournament, in fact I've still got them stored neatly in a
folder!
Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter
Question: Did you enjoy your magazines for the scores/league tables, etc or did
you prefer the writing? Or was there an evolution as when you aged you started
to appreciate the deep written analysis more?
Response: when I was young, I just used to look at the
pictures but as I got older 10+ I started reading the articles closely, I was
never really interested in scores & tables.
Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter
Question: How has the quality of your favorite magazines changed (for better or
worse over the years)?
Response: I actually think the quality of football magazines
has got far worse today. I moved to London in 1983 where I still live, now the
only two good football magazines are World Soccer and Four Four Two.
Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter
Question: The daily newspapers play a big part in the coverage of the game. Can
you compare these daily papers to the weekly/monthly magazines?
Response: They had better coverage of football that the larger
newspapers such as the Times in those days there was no football pull-out which
all UK papers have every Monday with reports of all the Premier League games
& world football results.
Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Has
your taste in magazines changed over the years or do you still read your
favorite magazines?
Response: I started reading World Soccer the best monthly
soccer magazine in 1988 during Euro 88
I
was very impressed by the quality of writing by Keir Radnedge the editor &
legendary columnist Brian Glanville around that time World Soccer started using
colour pics, which it didn't before.
I
also used to love reading Football Monthly magazine, it always had a double
page colour team poster in it's centre pages & included reports of England
games & sections of football from Europe too.
I
don't buy many football magazines these days, except the all colour Liverpool
monthly magazine and sometimes Four Four Two magazine as I find things to read
online.
I
always buy World Soccer when there is a tournament review: a World Cup or Euros
or Champions League Final
Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter
Question: Looking back, do you feel these magazines kept you sufficiently
informed about the events of the game as a whole?
Response: I still have a huge collection of Shoot, Match,
Football Monthly & World Soccer mags all in neat folders! reading them back
they were high quality up to date with great reports and many unseen colour
pics that is why I can't throw anything away! plus checking on ebay those old
football mags are worth quite a lot of money. The old mags always kept me up to
date and informed.
Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter
Question: Did your interest in reading magazines wane with the advent of Internet
and 24 Hour Sports Television channels or are you as interested as ever in
reading?
Response: My interest in magazines did fade with the internet
& 24 h news but I always buy a guide usually World Soccer before any World
Cup or Euros then the issue after which reviews the tournament.
Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter
Question: Are there publications that have since been defunct that you miss?
Response: I really do miss Shoot magazine which is no longer
printed but has a poor website. Football Monthly was also a big favourite of
mine, I still miss it and often read old issues I still have.
Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter
Question: Getting back to my earlier question about anticipating the release of
magazines. Given that now many receive their magazines on PDF, do you feel that
a level of excitement has been lost as a result?
Response: I am useless with technology so don't even know how
to view magazines on PDF. I still look forward to buying the Liverpool fc
monthly magazine especially after we won the Champions League & Super Cup.
I
also look forward to buying magazine guided before World Cups, Euros & Copa
America or Africa Cup of Nations tournaments magazine guides.
Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter
Question: Once again thank you for taking the time in participating in this
project.
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