January issue available in stores and online
The new WSC is out now, available from all good newsagents or to order from the WSC shop.
Inside
The changing face of football crowds
Where have the young fans gone? | How club rivalry began
Plus
Dismay for the Irish teams | Italy: what went wrong | Arsenal’s title grab in 1989 | West Midlands non-League | No thanks to Tony Pulis | Wrexham on the way back? | The decline of the Kickaround | Luton fans happy at last | Celebrating the cup final losers | Scotland enter the Hampden market | Dulwich Hamlet’s dilemma | Ipswich’s invisible owner | Tangerines’ dreams coming true | Focus on Paul Lake | Peru end their long wait
Wrexham 2 Ebbsfleet United 0 History and community in Wales
Over 200 miles separate the towns of Wrexham and Northfleet, but their respective football clubs have adopted similar design models in recent times. Ten years ago, having changed their name from Gravesend & Northfleet, Ebbsfleet United were subject to a takeover by online organisation MyFootballClub, a fan-run set-up that allowed members to vote on player transfers, team selection, budgets and the like. It was the first time that a web-based community had ever assumed full control of a professional sports club. Buy here to read the full article
Too much too young Price of football
The bloke in front of me at the ticket office window was shocked that his daughter now had to pay significantly more for her season ticket on turning 17, despite no change in her income. He was told that it was justified because “some 17-year-olds in Rochdale earn 40 grand a year”. Clearly this is absurd but it also shows that increasing the price for young supporters usually leaves parents to pick up the bill. Buy here to read the full article
The third way Luton’s England years
The first footballer I was aware of who could be as glamorous as Adam Ant or Duran Duran was Paul Walsh. It’s hard to reconcile the bespectacled, solidly blokey figure on Soccer Saturday’s B-list as having any whiff of metrosexual allure, but even as an 11-year-old I knew Walsh was a bigger hunk than Mike Duxbury or Graham Roberts. Buy here to read the full article
Green shoots Decline of kickarounds
My father and my son have both played football for money. Cameron, my son, plays centre-half for the Preston North End youth team that last year got to the last eight of the FA Youth Cup, the club’s best showing in the competition for 50 years. My father played semi-professionally for Lowestoft Town back in the 1950s. As for myself, well the talent skipped a generation and I never got that far, but I have great memories. Memories are important. Buy here to read the full article
Availability
WSC is the only nationally available independent football magazine in the UK, and you can get it monthly for a very reasonable £3.50. You should be able to find a copy in your local newsagent, otherwise outlets that stock WSC include WH Smith, mainline train stations plus selected Tescos. If you’re having trouble finding the magazine, you could do one of the following:
1. Subscribe now and also get access to the complete digital archive
2. Buy the latest issue direct from WSC
3. Sign up for our digital edition and apps for iPhone, iPad and Android
4. Email us
5. Ask your local newsagent to order it for you
Wrexham photo by Paul Thompson, price of football illustration by Gary Neill, kickarounds illustration by Adam Doughty