I’m not a typically keen football magazine reader, but the creators at These Football Times magazine have made me a changed man. And I haven’t really looked back since.
What is the These Football Times Magazine?
‘These Football Times’ are an award-winning print and online football publication.
For years, I (along with thousands of other readers) have enjoyed sifting through their in-depth and completely free archive of online football stories from around the world.
But introducing a print magazine a few years ago has changed the game for fans like me.
I’m one of those people who prefers to have the physical thing in my hands to read (and occasionally smell) when going through something. When it’s online all the time, I do struggle to take a lot of the information in and make a point of relaxing and properly enjoying it.
Now, I can settle in with a nice cup of coffee, sit out in the garden or patio and ignore the world as I dive into the latest issue of These Football Times. And once I do, I’m rarely ever disappointed.
Storytelling
A lot of the These Football Times magazines work chronologically.
Personally, that’s how I wrote my first book ‘The Football Spider Web‘ and ‘The Conquerors‘ with Pitch Publishing. So this is perfect for the way I take in and retain the essence of the story.
But instead of having a uniform way of telling every story within their overarching piece, they have assembled a crew of brilliant and accomplished writers to come forward with their features to comprise an overall assessment of their subject.
They do this both with specific club magazines and wider ones around football culture.
Two of my favourites, naturally, are the Manchester United club edition and the Calcio edition, with a very high honourable mention of the African Forwards piece, also.
I already knew quite a lot of what was written in the prior two, but the African Forwards magazine was an opportunity to go in blind and hopefully come out more educated on the other side. Thanks to the variety of information – from stats, to quotes to personal accounts and wider archival material – I learned more than I ever thought I would over such a random punt.
To be honest, this has become typical of These Football Times, such that I rarely think twice about the subject they’re talking about before getting in for their limited edition releases.
Artwork
This is what sets it apart from the rest.
I personally follow a great variety of different football graphic designers on social media, and I’m regularly blown away with how brilliant they are compared to what someone like I can do.
And These Football Times magazines is a great platform to publicise their great work.
It also helps to garnish the main course of their written features, by giving the readers an alternative to pure text in order to take in the story they’re telling.
At times, you can expect to see a full double-page of pure artwork to enjoy and at others, they are sandwiched in between a few words to describe what it is within the feature.
As a side note, I’m assuming that the majority of the inky aroma protruding from the These Football Times magazine is a nod to the artwork. So as far as I’m concerned, the more they can cram into their productions, the better the experience would be for me.
Depth
I think I know quite a lot about the football world.
But then I read a These Football Times magazine and realise I haven’t scratched the surface.
Whenever I buy a new football book (and I’ve suggested a few that you can read here) or magazine, I want to learn something different compared to what I can talk about with some mates in the pub. If anything, I want to come armed with something new to add to that kind of conversation.
And this is no word of a lie, I read the Calcio II edition and became well-versed in the art of Calciopoli, so that when the topic of corruption in football came about along with the long-beguiled demise of Italian football, I was the leader of the conversation.
Thank you, These Football Times.
Value
How much would you pay for something like this?
For an edition which is printed fresh for you, that is in limited supply (once it’s gone, it’s usually gone forever unless they do a rare reprint) and has over 100+ pages of pure detail and art?
I would honestly say that somewhere around the Ā£15-20 mark is justifiable.
But no, it’s Ā£12.
Ā£12 each and they typically release two at any given time. So, combine two magazines with postage and you can build your own These Football Times magazine collection for the price of just over Ā£25 (depending on where you live). That’s more than worth it in my eyes.
Summary
As you can tell, I’m a big fan of the These Football Times magazine.
But having said that, I wasn’t a big mag-reader before them. I simply took them on a punt about a year ago, and now boast about ten stacked on my book shelf in my collection.
Now, I’m as hooked as a salmon and I already can’t wait to see what they produce next.
Are you going to be checking out the These Football Times magazine?