Mike had the idea for WSC in 1985, after dabbling briefly and forgettably in music fanzines. He wrote the first issue with Andy Lyons, typed it up in a baffling variety of column widths, made 100 photocopies in Bethnal Green library and sent one to Phil Shaw, then the editor of the football diary on the Guardian. Phil wrote generously about the content (although somewhat less generously in a letter defending Don Revie’s Leeds, published in issue No 3 and signed “Loyal London White”) and interest blossomed. Two years later Mike moved to Sydney, returning in 1996 to spend six years working at WSC and the Guardian (including as editor of the football diary). Having grown up as a Chelsea fan, he stopped enjoying watching them about the time they became wildly successful, which may say more about him than them. He edited most of the titles that have appeared under the WSC Books imprint, has written tracts on such crowd-pleasing subjects as Berlin’s Jewish football clubs and the Harringay dog track, and is now the letters editor of the Sydney Morning Herald. There he has learnt to ignore the rantings of anonymous, wild-eyed zealots, Leeds fans or otherwise.

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