Nostalgia of Soccer (Football) Magazines Project-Part 5

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.

Response:  thank you I hope my answers are not too long! all the best, Shareef

Nostalgia of Soccer (Football) Magazines Project-Part 4

In my continuing collaborative series with @1888Letter, I will ask the Football (Soccer) magazine reading experiences of Romanian Catalin Tudose.

Name: Cătălin Tudose

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/catalin.tudose.31

Personal Description: I have been born and raised in Romania and I have lived almost my entire life here. 
My job is in the IT field, and I am pursuing it with great passion. But football has always been a part of my life, including here electronic sport publications that I have cooperated with or even designed and managed (www.sport365.ro). 

  

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: At what age did you become a Football fan and how long after did you start reading Football Magazines?

Response:  I can say that I was born in the middle of football. My father and my grandfather were fans and when I have started to look around, at a young age, there were a lot of discussions about football and our local team, FC Argeş Piteşti, which was at its height at that time, winning two championships and regularly participating in the European Competitions. One of the memories I keep is my father preparing in the morning to leave for the European Cup match against Nottingham Forest, that was taking place in the afternoon, while I was surprised why he was going so early… Later, I have found out that it was the top attendance ever for a football match in Piteşti, with about 25.000 spectators. The team had Nicolae Dobrin as its star, and Florin Halagian (nicknamed “Armeanul”, “The Armenian One”), as its coach. Sadly, Dobrin passed away in 2007, and Halagian passed away right today, August 12, 2019. (Note: this interview was submitted on August 12^th).

I have attended the primary and middle school nr.11 in Piteşti, Argeş. However, I had arrived to the stadium a long time before arriving to school. The son of the team goal-keeper, Ariciu, was my colleague. There was a youth club, “Aripi” (“Wings”) associated with this school. On the pitch of “Aripi” I have seen for the first time future players of the Romanian National team, as Ion Vlădoiu or Constantin Gâlcă. Many of my classmates were trained there. The coach taking care of my colleagues was Mr. Iordache, nicknamed “Ţânţarul” (“The Mosquito”), because of his tiny figure. Later, his son became a player for FC Argeş, inheriting the same nickname, despite not being so tiny.
Some of my classmates later became professional football players in the Romanian first two divisions. Other ones are now coaching youth teams. I was attending their matches against other classes team in the school championship and we commented together about them and about the bigger official events. I was not talented, but I could not wait for the sport classes to jump outside and play. I have realized that my place was near the pitch, or browsing the newspapers and magazines to get more and more information. I am still in some contact with my colleagues, and when we have met again, football was one of the hot topics.
I started to learn reading before going to school. I had two children’s books, “Oac, o broscuţă dintr-un lac” (“Oac, a little frog from a lake”) and “Cip, o păsărică fără frică” (“Cip, a little bird without fear”) that I have kept on exercising on. Then, I have moved to the “Sportul” newspaper, that was my next interest. So, if the football magazines could not teach me reading, they helped me improving it.

  

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: What was the first Soccer (Football) magazine that you read as a new young fan of the game?

Response:  I was saying that I have improved my reading with “Sportul”, the only specialized  newspaper in the country in the ‘70s and ‘80s. We had a subscription for it at home.
It is really worth mentioning that one of the main information sources in Romania, in the ‘80s, was the radio. The match days usually scheduled all games at the same time. When you went to the stadium, you could always find someone in your neighborhood carrying a portable radio, broadcasting the very popular “Fotbal minut cu minut” (“Football minute by minute”). The coordinator was alternatively commuting between the games, to get the news. At the end of the match, fans were gathering around someone with such a portable radio, to hear the final results.
I was also getting information from “Radio Europa Liberă” (“Radio Free Europe”). It was not legal to listen to it in those times, as it was mainly criticizing the politics in the country, but we did at home – and we included here the sport news. For example, after the decisive Romania – Denmark 3-1, in 1989, I listened the headlines from the Danish newspapers and magazines at “Radio Europa Liberă”.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Were there other local magazines that you also read?

Response:    The Romanian “Sportul” newspaper was among the very few alternatives that were available at that time. There was one page with letters from fans and comments into the weekly “Magazin”. There was a monthly magazine called “Sport”. And in 1985, a weekly newspaper called “Sportul – Supliment Fotbal” has been reintroduced, to replace “Fotbal”, that had disappeared in 1974. I was reading it from the first letter up to the last one.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Describe the general format of these particular magazines? What was your favorite section(s) of these said magazines?

Response:   The newspapers were generally 4 pages, A3 format, black and white. The monthly “Sport” was a little larger than A4, sepia color. I was reading practically everything about football, I enjoyed mostly the matches chronicles and a post-matches rubric called “Între vestiar şi gazon” (“Between the locker room and the lawn”).

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Was the coverage of Football mainly local  or was International Football news covered as well in a meaningful way?

Response:    It was mainly local, from the international football you could generally read the results and some very brief news.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: In general on a typical newsstand, how many choices were available for reading Football?

Response:   You were lucky to have one! Sometimes there was none, as the media was strictly controlled and politicized at that time in Romania. And the sport newspapers were immediately disappearing from the stands. If you wanted to be sure about getting them, a subscription would have been recommended.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Do you remember foreign Football publications at your newsstands as well? If so did you read any?

Response:   The foreign publications were extremely rare. I had the opportunity to buy, in November 1989, two issues of the Bulgarian weekly “Start”. I could read Cyrillic, but I did not understand the language. We had played against Bulgaria in the 1990 World Cup Qualifiers, and I could see pictures and comments after the Romanian decisive win against Denmark. One title was “Rumînska Fiesta” (“Romanian Fiesta”). And on the first page of the other issue I had bought there was a picture of Petar Mladenov, who had just replaced Todor Zhivkov at the top of the Bulgarian Communist Party. One of my schoolmates, a girl named Ruxandra, commented: “This is their new leader” and I have understood what she had meant in the background. At the time, we were all expecting the change in our country as well, and it happened one month after this moment.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Growing up in a Communist Nation, was there anything unique in the coverage of the game in the West or was Football a universal language that transcended politics?

Response:   Usually, from the West you could see only the results and some very brief news. In the ‘80s, you could hardly watch a local match in the TV. For economy reasons, the Romanian television broadcasted neither EURO 1988 nor the World Cups of 1982 and 1986. We watched the Romanian games in EURO 1984 and, as big exception, the final between France and Spain. I think this was the last international match to be broadcasted in our country before the fall of communism in 1989.
Otherwise, many people were watching international football events (World Cups, EUROs, European Cups) at the neighboring televisions (Bulgarian, Yugoslavian, Hungarian, Soviet). In my home town Piteşti, I was able to follow the Bulgarian television.

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:   As I was saying, the best way to go was to have a subscription, otherwise it was hard to get much from the newsstands. “Sportul – Supliment Fotbal” was published on Friday, and arrived home on Saturday. I was following it from the first letter to the last one. Watching for the postman’s arrival, getting it from the mailbox and reading was indeed like a ritual.
Besides this, there were the rare colored magazines that were published by the clubs, and you could buy them from the newsstands. I have acquired in the ‘80s the magazines of my hometown FC Argeş Piteşti (“Suporter”), also magazines from Sportul studenţesc (they had a yearly quality one, plus the match programs “Regia fotbalistică”), Rapid, Progresul Bucureşti. After graduating middle school and being admitted to the high school, I “celebrated” by fully reading a magazine with green covers of Progresul Bucureşti. It had a lot of information for those times, including from the international football, it was printed in colors and had the list and squads of all European Cup finals until that year, 1988, together with some comments about them.

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:   I was interested about both the results and tables and about the writing. Anything that is providing true information was and is of interest for me. Information was rare in the ‘80s. There was no Internet, and there were political and economic restrictions that prevented the information to circulate. Sometimes, you needed to wait for one or two days to get even the result of a game played abroad… When Universitatea Craiova played against Benfica, on April 6th 1983, I tried to listen the match to the radio – it was not broadcasted on TV. But the match started late, there is a 2 hours time zone difference between Portugal and Romania, and I fell asleep. The next day, the newspaper was showing the result at the closing of its edition – the 20th minute. I had to ask around my colleagues about the result, not everyone was aware of it. And that was a really important match!

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: How has the quality of your favorite magazines changed (for better or worse over the years)?

Response:   At the beginning of the ‘90s, after the fall of the communism, the journalists were able to practice their professional qualities in an unrestricted way. So, immediately after December 1989, the quality changed for better. Then, with the temptation to sell and sell at any price, quality decreased, as the topics moved outside football. 

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Looking back what was the best era for your favorite magazines?

Response:   The ‘90s were the best era. There were no more political restrictions, and journalists were mostly focused on providing the information. It also overlapped with the golden era of the National Team and with Romanian participations in the Champions League. I had moved to Bucharest by that time and I used to attend all these important matches, mostly together with my colleague and friend Dan (he later arrived to represent Romania as ambassador in the Baltic Countries). As time has passed by, I have seen a stronger tendency to make tabloid news and articles. Besides this, nowadays television and Internet are taking a large amount of people following the phenomenon.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Did daily newspapers play a part in the coverage of the game? Can you compare these daily papers to the Football specific weekly monthly magazines?

Response:   I was able to follow the chronicles and squads into the daily papers. The newspaper “Sportul” that I have mentioned was a daily one. “Sportul – Supliment Fotbal” was weekly and was summarizing the most important events, plus adding brief news, not published during the week. And I could watch some sepia-colored pictures in the monthly “Sport”.

 Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Has your taste in magazines changed over the years or do you still read your favorite magazines?

Response:   My favorite magazines have generally disappeared. “Gazeta sporturilor”, the daily newspaper that followed “Sportul”, is now oriented to include tabloid news – I do not follow it any longer. I follow the web-site of the Romanian sports television “Digisport” – it includes more informative news, together with videos from the events, the ideal thing for me. I had the opportunity, for some time, to follow my colleagues and friends from www.sport365.ro. 
I am also following, at some extent, the information provided by top magazines as “France Football”, “World Soccer” and “Kicker”. I am able to read fluently in French, English and German, but the time is usually not enough to get all the delight from these high quality publications. And sometimes I am reading foreign newspapers concerning events even outside football. I have enjoyed a lot reading the comments from the French “L’équipe” after the victories of Simona Halep at Roland Garros 2018 and Wimbledon 2019.
So, my taste hasn’t changed. The sources that address my taste have changed, and the technology has changed as well.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Looking back, do you feel these magazines kept you sufficiently informed about the events of the game as a whole?

Response:  The ‘80s were problematic in Romania. Since then, I am satisfied with the information that I have been able to get, from national and foreign sources. I do my own selection to be able to be sufficiently informed. To summarize:
In the ‘80s, we had the national newspaper “Sportul”, the weekly “Sportul – Supliment Fotbal”, the monthly “Sport”. When you were lucky, you could get the magazines created by local clubs.
In the ‘90s, we had an explosion of publications. I include here the daily ones (“Gazeta sporturilor”, “Sportul românesc”, “Pro Sport”, “Sport XXI”), the weekly ones (“Fotbal”, “Fotbal plus”), and the monthly “Sportul ilustrat”, in colors, the successor of “Sport”. Excepting “Gazeta sporturilor”, the successor of “Sportul”, all the other ones have meantime disappeared.
In the ‘90s I have also had some good contact with the western press, especially the French one – “L’équipe” and “France Football”. I made a trip in France in 1990, right during the World Cup from Italy, and again in 1995. I have bought some issues and still keep them at home, They remain a high-level example in the field.
As the Internet and many specialized televisions have progressed, the information from here has captured my attention. I follow Digisport (television and web-site) and the big western publications (“France Football”, “World Soccer” and “Kicker”).
There are no more politic restrictions. One has a lot of choices. However, there are some other types of restrictions. The cable company that I do have does not broadcast Telekom Sport, for concurrency reasons, and I am not able to follow this one as well.
Between 2006 and 2012, I had the satisfaction to put in practice some of the ideas I had acquired in time with my colleagues at www.sport365.ro. 

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:   I have said that I have moved some of my interest to TV and Internet. But even on Internet, you may follow the information from the top magazines that I have mentioned.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Are there publications that have since been defunct that you miss?

Response:   I mostly miss the weekly “Fotbal” (successor of “Sportul – Supliment Fotbal”), defunct in 1996, the weekly “Fotbal plus”, defunct in 2002, and the monthly “Sportul ilustrat” (successor of “Sport”) defunct in 1993.

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:   We have to recognize the advantages of the contemporary technology. But people that have been raised with the newspaper and with the magazine in the hand really miss that! And I also remember the excitement of following, on the window, the arrival of the postman, and then running to take the newspaper from the mailbox. This is priceless!

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Once again thank you for taking the time in participating in this project.

Response:   Thank you as well for such a wonderful opportunity!

Nostalgia of Soccer (Football) Magazines Project-Part 3

In my continuing collaborative series with @1888Letter, I will ask the experiences of Brazilian Journalist Mr. Victor de Andrade, Editor of O Curioso do Futebol.

Name: Victor de Andrade

Twitter: @ocuriosofutebol

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ocuriosodofutebol/?tn-str=k*F

Website: http://www.ocuriosodofutebol.com.br/

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: At what age did you become a Football fan and how long after did you start reading Football Magazines?

Response:  Among my earliest memories is football. I was used to my father and uncles watching football, especially in stadiums, and I believe I started reading football magazines back in 1985/1986, when I was six /seven years old. My parents, from an early age, encouraged me to read, so I learned to read at age six with newspapers and magazines, being helped by my parents. And it was at this time that I started reading various publications, including football magazines.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: What was the first Soccer (Football) magazine that you read as a new young fan of the game? (Personally I am only familiar with ’Placar’)

Response:  The first magazine I read about football was a 'Placar' talking about the 1986 World Cup Qualifiers. In fact, despite having had several football magazines in the past, such as A Gazeta Esportiva, in the 1980s 'Placar' dominated the market and there was no competition.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Were there other local magazines that you also read?

Response:  In the 80's and 90's, Placar was practically the only football magazine in circulation in the country, because as I said in the previous question, it dominated the market. In the 2000s, the Lance! Newspaper decided to release its revised version, which even tried to rival Placar. It had some cool stuff, but it never got the quality of Placar. There was also Trivela, of excellent quality, but it had no economic power and then only on the internet.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Describe the general format of these particular magazines? What was your favorite section(s) of these said magazines?

Response:  The Placar was A4, but in the mid-1990s it underwent a total overhaul and got bigger. After a few years it returned to its A4 size. I was very fond of the guides of the state championships and the Brazilian championship that Placar launched. They were very complete! Other than that, the section on table soccer button shields was a genius in a time when there was no internet. In addition, its reports marked the epoch. Trivela had good reports in the few editions that were sold. The Magazine Lance! was very similar to the newspaper in its editorial line and I was not much of a fan.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Was the coverage of Football mainly local or was International Football news covered as well in a meaningful way?

Response:  Until the early 2000s, the international football sections were small in magazines, except when talking about Brazilian players abroad. Then the space increased. In recent years, Placar has even released a European Championship guide, something unimaginable in my childhood and adolescence (I'm 40).

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: In general on a typical newsstand, how many choices were available for reading Football?

Response:  Practically only Placar, whether its monthly issue (or weekly, because there were several times that the magazine was weekly) or special. The Lance Magazine! had a good distribution. The others were pretty hard to find.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Do you remember foreign Football publications at your newsstands as well? If so did you read any?

Response:  Yes! The English Four-Four-Two, for example, was not that hard to find. The problem was the price, depending on the value of the dollar at the moment. With the advent of Mercosur, Argentina also began to find El Grafico in some locations. The others were harder to find around here.

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:  At the time when I was only studying, in my childhood or adolescence, it was usually me who went to the newsstand to look for the daily newspaper edition and always asked the paperboy, "Have you got Placar yet?" This question was asked until the issue arrived. Then it was a ritual to read page by page, decipher each graphic and photo.

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:  Of course, in the early editions I read, still very young, I liked the tables and graphs better. Over time, I came to prefer the deeper written analysis. I liked the great reports very much. There was one at Placar in 1996, talking about football in Jamaica, that a Brazilian coach, Renê Simões, had gone there to coach the local team and that the task of qualifying the team for the World Cup was very difficult. Isn't it that he got it two years later?!?!?!

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: How has the quality of your favorite magazines changed (for better or worse over the years)?

Response:  It got much worse! Editora Abril, owner of Placar for many years, was a reference in journalism, not only in sports. However, in this decade, the magazine changed its owner and the quality is getting worse. They would rather invest in attention-grabbing subjects than beautiful reporting. For example, a story about Jamaica, as I mentioned above, will be very difficult to get into the magazine these days. In addition, there are the misconceptions: They recently released a special edition stating that Neymar is the best player in Brazil after the Pelé era. Obviously that is not true! As much as he is a great player, Brazil had, after Pelé, Zico, Socrates, Falcao, Romário, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho Gaucho and Kaka. From this list I mentioned, Neymar is no better than everyone.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Looking back what was the best era for your favorite magazines?

Response:  Hard to say what was the best time. I believe that Placar in the 1980s was unsurpassed. In the 2000s, they also made good edits, but in recent years it's very bad. I also highlight the few printed editions of Trivela, which had great quality.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: The daily newspapers play a big part in the coverage of the game. Can you compare these daily papers to a magazine like ‘Placar’?

Response:  Yes, they can be compared to Placar. Brazilian sports daily newspapers are divided into two seasons: the first, which was dominated by A Gazeta Esportiva (newspaper version), in São Paulo, and Jornal dos Sports (pink paper), in Rio, which lasted until the end of the year 1990s and, after that, the Lance! era, which lasts to this day. The first era is very special, as their archives portray the Golden Age of Brazilian Football, the 60s. Already in the present era, they tried to create competitors for Lance !, as a Brazilian version of Marca and even a Jornal da Placar. but both failed.

 Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Has your taste in magazines changed over the years or do you still read your favorite magazines?

Response:  The taste even changes, but I don't think so much. I really enjoy getting old editions to read and do research. I say the same about newspapers. Nowadays, with the very dubious quality of Placar, I prefer to search the various interesting publications they have on the internet.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Looking back, do you feel these magazines kept you sufficiently informed about the events of the game as a whole?

Response:  Yes!!! I believe because I did not see anyone do what Placar did at that time. Its Notary had information from all the championships in Brazil, with all state divisions and access. Today, nobody does this.

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:  For a long time it did not diminish. However, with the current dubious quality of the only magazine you can easily find, I ended up switching to reading over the internet. However, if there is a publication that has quality, I will definitely read again. I still consume magazines on other subjects.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Are there publications that have since been defunct that you miss?

Response:  As I said, I would very much like to have lived the time when ‘A Gazeta Esportiva’ had its revised version. Other than that, there's nothing I missed.

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:  Fully! However, less and less magazines and even newspapers, are sold in newsstands, that here in Brazil are becoming a kind of mini-markets. No PDF has no delay, you know until the time will come in your email or messaging application. Really, it loses its grace.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Once again thank you for taking the time in participating in this project.

Response:  I thank the invitation and whenever you need, you can ask me.

Nostalgia of Soccer (Football) Magazines Project-Part 2

In my continuing collaborative series with @1888Letter, I will ask the experiences of Englishman Mr. Andrew Palmer, Editor of Football Masters Magazine.

Name: Andrew Palmer

Twitter: @apwhu122

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrew.palmer.92317

Personal Description:Just celebrated my 60th birthday and after 30 years involved in Football Publishing (Video)Now publishing Football Masters
a Digital Retro magazine FREE to subscribers,

Websites: https://footballmastersmag.weebly.com/

       https://www.facebook.com/FootballMastersMag/

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: At what age did you become a Football fan and how long after did you start reading Football Magazines?

Response:  I went to my first game aged around 5 (1964) at Cray Wanderers, the ground was a 5 minute walk from my Grandma’s, Approx 3 years later I went to my first professional game to see Charlton Athletic play at the Valley, both with my Dad.
My mum bought me my first magazine in 1969 with the launch of Shoot.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: What was the first Soccer (Football) magazine that you read as a new young fan of the game?

Response:  Shoot in 1969 I was 10

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Were there other local magazines that you also read?

Response: Not really I had moved on from the Beano to Shoot.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Describe the general format of these particular magazines? What was your favorite section(s) of these said magazines?

Response: Because it was weekly it was very current, my favourite section was Focus on:

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Was the coverage of Football mainly local  British or was International Football news covered as well in a meaningful way?

Response: Shoot was 90% British at the time.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: In general on a typical newsstand, how many choices were available for reading Football?

Response: At the time both Charles Buchan Football Monthly and World Soccer were monthly and not really targeted at 10 year olds also a bit more expensive.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Do you remember foreign Football publications at your newsstands as well? If so did you read any?

Response:  World Soccer but at the time only interested in British football.

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: Absolutely, wondering what image would be on the front, and what pictures inside could go up on my wall.

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: I think at the time it was more about the writing and the pictures.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: How has the quality of your favorite magazines changed (for better or worse over the years)?

Response:  I preferred the original versions of most of them, certainly in later years 442.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Looking back what was the best era for your favorite magazines?

Response: 1970’s my teenage years.

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:  I think today’s newspapers are magnificent for their football coverage.

 Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Has your taste in magazines changed over the years or do you still read your favorite magazines?

Response:  Now I am researching for Football Masters, I am reading loads of World Soccer, Football Monthly, Soccer Star and Shoot and I am really enjoying reminiscing

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Looking back, do you feel these magazines kept you sufficiently informed about the events of the game as a whole?

Response: Yes definitely Shoot for a 10 year old

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:  I will always love my Football.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Are there publications that have since been defunct that you miss?

Response:  Not really as the newspapers offer such great coverage.

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 really hope not as Football Masters is a PDF and people seem to be enjoying reading it.

Soccernostalgia/@1888Letter Question: Once again thank you for taking the time in participating in this project.