Best soccer mags

Matt_Trakker

Got any suggestions for good soccer mags. I used to buy FourFourTwo back in the day, used to be great is it still any good.

When Saturday Comes is a good English one too, they cover everything from the big matches to 3rd division German relegation battles.

There's another decent one, The Blizzard, comes out quarterly and has the like of Guardian, ESPN writers, (Irish football journo Miguel Delany is involved too), who all contribute.

I'd link them, but I don't want Mods to think I'm spamming and end up in boards jail.

Any other suggestions?

The_Kew_Tour

FourFourTwo and World Soccer is only Football mags I would buy. FourFourTwo is decent actually got better in last few years imo. WorldSoccer has some great writers with them. If I had to get one it would be WorldSoccer though.

Maybe get 4/6 of them each year. Mainly for read if on train from Dublin/Cork or vice versa.

Get fanzines when at Old Trafford or Easter Road too but only at game. Or Program at Turners Cross.

LiamoSail

I still get fourfourtwo, and while it's alright, it's gone to ****e compared to what it used to be

IRISHSPORTSGUY

FourFourTwo was, is and always will be the best.

'Match' was a great mag around the late 90's. They started catering to an U-10 market in the 00's though so I stopped buying it.

Green Giant

IRISHSPORTSGUY wrote: »

FourFourTwo was, is and always will be the best.

'Match' was a great mag around the late 90's. They started catering to an U-10 market in the 00's though so I stopped buying it.

couldn't agree more about Match

For me, World Soccer is essential monthly reading. Bought it regularly since January 2002 and missed two issues in that time, one of which owed to a screw-up with my subscription

keith16

IRISHSPORTSGUY wrote: »

FourFourTwo was, is and always will be the best.

'Match' was a great mag around the late 90's. They started catering to an U-10 market in the 00's though so I stopped buying it.

Maybe you left that age bracket in the 00's, ever think of that? :pac:

Seriously, match was a great mag. Used to have my bedroom wall covered in all their star posters (or whatever they were called)!

Oh, and you used to get a wall tracker poster at the start of the season. Would update it for the first two or three weeks then forget about it!

Shoot was a pile of shíte tho.

IRISHSPORTSGUY

Green Giant wrote: »

couldn't agree more about Match

For me, World Soccer is essential monthly reading. Bought it regularly since January 2002 and missed two issues in that time, one of which owed to a screw-up with my subscription

Do World Soccer have an archive section or can you get them 2 off ebay? An old soccer mag can actually be a very enjoyable read. I was tidying up the attic the other day and found the 1998 annual 'Shoot' book. Darren Huckerby and Paulo Wanchope were class once upon a time!!

Benimar

Regular World Soccer reader myself, definitely recommend it to anyone.

Was looking at a mag called 'Backpass' today. It's more for people of a certain 'vintage' ie: me! who remember football in the 70s and 80s. Seems to look back at players/games of that era. Seemed interesting, but just had a quick flick through it.

mitosis

Didn't think anyone bought footie mags anymore, what with everything being available on the internet.

Iang87

mitosis wrote: »

Didn't think anyone bought footie mags anymore, what with everything being available on the internet.

a lot to be said for sitting on the bog with a magazine

5starpool

Used to get Roy of the Rovers, Shoot and Match every week until I was about 16 (although stopped Roy of the Rovers a couple of years earlier as it got crap), then stopped match and got 442 instead of it. This was back in the days before the internet though when you weren't saturated in football coverage and magazines could actually be useful and informative with new stuff.

mitosis

Iang87 wrote: »

a lot to be said for sitting on the bog with a magazine

Private Pyle would agree.

G.K.

FFT, Blizzard, World Soccer.

Matt_Trakker

mitosis wrote: »

Didn't think anyone bought footie mags anymore, what with everything being available on the internet.

Lookin for an internet subscription tbh.
Don't buy mags anymore either, read everything on a tablet.

Great and all as the internet for news, I find it hard to get football articles that are well-written and really go into the mechanics of the game. Zonal Marking is a great site, but his articles can be quite short.

Looks, like it'll be 442 and World Soccer so & continue to get Blizzard, thanks for suggestions

Lovely Bloke

The fanzines produced by LoI fans are usually pretty decent. There's normally a bit of the "anti-barstool" stuff thrown into the mix, which could be seen as off-putting, but fanzines cater to the people who produce and buy them.

But, if you can look past that, there are normally one or two good articles on stuff you wouldn't ever find in the mainstream media, or even official LoI club programs.

It's a pity the Cork City one stopped being produced, it was a good one back a few years ago.

The Shelbourne one, Red Inc, is pretty good, and has been running for about ten years.

brianregan09

Four four two by a mile for me get it monthly. I agree with poster above it was much better before

Fr Tod Umptious

When Saturday Comes is the only one I would buy.

I do not support a particular team and am not that pushed about individual results or what a managers tactics are, players performances etc

WSC is good for me in the that it talks about football in an overall sense, football administartion policy, history, finincial situations, etc
It can be a bit whingeee about the present state of football and to egar to look at the past with rose titted glases at times but overall I enjoy it.

meriwether

I bought 4-4-2 this month for the forst time (Arsenal feature) and it was the first time I've read a magazine in approx 15 years.

Used to get shoot! then 90 minutes when I was young.

Between Saints and Greavsie, and Shoot! letters page, Jimmy Greaves was a disproportionally large presence in my childhood for a few years.

tim_holsters

I get WSC and FourFourTwo every month.

I've been getting FourFourTwo since it's inception and I agree with what others have said about the downturn in quality. The front and the back of the mag are poor but the meatier articles in the middle are still generally good. Decent article about Sindelar last month for instance.

I've been toying with the idea of cancelling 442 for the last year or so but since I have every issue they've done I still can't bring meself to do it. I've been getting WSC for yonks also and I like that as much as the first time I got it. You can read it in a couple of hours or so which helps.

Nuri Sahin

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

FourFourTwo and World Soccer is only Football mags I would buy. FourFourTwo is decent actually got better in last few years imo. WorldSoccer has some great writers with them. If I had to get one it would be WorldSoccer though.

Agree with this entirely.

eh i dunno

Read 442 every month. Decent read. Used to buy Shoot every week when i was kid and the odd match mag too. Used to love them league ladders

Zaph

When Saturday Comes has some great writing and covers stuff you'd rarely see anywhere else.

Lucan Bohs

Read 442, World Soccer and WSC

Undoubtedly WSC is my favourite as I'd rather read about about Barrow v Newport than Utd v Liverpool etc simply because there's no end to the coverage that the PL gets.

Recently bought Stand- Against Modern Football and enjoyed that too, some good articles from fans who went to matches abroad

Green Giant

keith16 wrote: »

Maybe you left that age bracket in the 00's, ever think of that? :pac:

Seriously, match was a great mag. Used to have my bedroom wall covered in all their star posters (or whatever they were called)!

Oh, and you used to get a wall tracker poster at the start of the season. Would update it for the first two or three weeks then forget about it!

Shoot was a pile of shíte tho.

I too considered the aging process but having recently compared a 1999 issue with a 2005 one (this thread had me reminiscing like hell!) there definitely was a 'dumbing down' - although that may seem harsh - in the content.

Mind you I was also mad into plastering the bedroom wall with Match posters and, to prove that I'm a real sad case, I still get the team trackers

IRISHSPORTSGUY wrote: »

Do World Soccer have an archive section or can you get them 2 off ebay? An old soccer mag can actually be a very enjoyable read. I was tidying up the attic the other day and found the 1998 annual 'Shoot' book. Darren Huckerby and Paulo Wanchope were class once upon a time!!

I love hearing these blast from the past names being dug out! I'm not 100% sure about your question, although I seem to remember a few years ago that you could contact World Soccer if you wanted to get any back issues. I don't see that advertised anymore, though, so I'm afraid I can't enlighten you, sorry

Luckycharms_74

Iang87 wrote: »

a lot to be said for sitting on the bog with a Porno magazine

FYP :P

Luckycharms_74

Shoot was a magazine that I used to buy growing up.



My dad had hundred of shoot magazines from the 60's & 70's which were bound in volumes season by season. I think we ended up giving them away to a mate of his along with 70's football programmes which were in mint condition.
The posters were the highlight of the shoot magazines. I remember having LFC team of the mid 80's on my wall in the yellow crown paints kit . There was even a poster of István Kozma on the wall in the 90's :pac:

BOHtox

There does be some great annuals coming out around this time of year too. Shoot and Match mainly.

I remember years ago I used to buy match whenever it came out but it really started going after a much younger market and they blatantly made up interviews with players which signalled the end for me.

Captain Havoc

I have this at home. It's snipets from Shoot over the years. Fantastic book for the bog.

jordainius

Green Giant wrote: »

I too considered the aging process but having recently compared a 1999 issue with a 2005 one (this thread had me reminiscing like hell!) there definitely was a 'dumbing down' - although that may seem harsh - in the content.

Mind you I was also mad into plastering the bedroom wall with Match posters and, to prove that I'm a real sad case, I still get the team trackers

I used to get that every week for 5 or 6 years up to 1999, they definitly dumbed it down in a major way, and I got fed up with it because it became a childs magazine.

Then I used to get Match Of The Day magazine for a year or two until they stopped producing it.

I know it wasn't strictly soccer but does anyone remember Sported? Link I used to love the F1 wall team/driver tracker!

Don't really bother now, I get the odd World Soccer magazine, maybe 2 or 3 times a year.

EdenHazard

lmao who reads mags beyond the age of 13

Lawrence1895

For those, who speak German:
- Faszination Fankurve (strong focus on choreographies and pictures)
- 11 Freunde (a classic)
- Match Live (I might get hanged for this one ;-))

Benimar

EdenHazard wrote: »

lmao who reads mags beyond the age of 13

Probably the same people who read beyond the age of 13.

EdenHazard

got an a1 in the leaving cert in english brah.

Benimar

EdenHazard wrote: »

got an a1 in the leaving cert in english brah.

Apologies, I didn't realise internet slang was now on the Leaving Cert :P

Xavi6

EdenHazard wrote: »

got an a1 in the leaving cert in english brah.

Presumably you used capitalisation in that exam

EdenHazard

ah when i need to i can write proper, since its a soccer forum im not gonna write like a twat

Xavi6

EdenHazard wrote: »

ah when i need to i can write proper, since its a soccer forum im not gonna write like a twat

Irony in its purest form

Winston Payne

EdenHazard wrote: »

lmao who reads mags beyond the age of 13

Now, let's juxtapose.

EdenHazard wrote: »

ah when i need to i can write proper, since its a soccer forum im not gonna write like a twat

Right.

Lovely Bloke

Four Four Two reminds me of a woman's magazine; all style, no real substance.

I like World Soccer, the writers in that are top notch, and their aeticles are without bias.

nicklauski

The Blizzard is a great read. Really the only football mag I do read.

Tchaikovsky

FourFourTwo can have some good articles and pieces. I always avoid reading the interviews with the current footballers (clad in whatever brand they're shilling) though, because they really boring as ****.

Tchaikovsky

Lars1916 wrote: »

For those, who speak German:
- Faszination Fankurve (strong focus on choreographies and pictures)
- 11 Freunde (a classic)
- Match Live (I might get hanged for this one ;-))

Oh they'll all be available in every shop here in Euro State 19 within a year or two