New Unofficial Fanzine

DTS said:

Personally I like the way the original poster is trying to show a bit of entrepreneurs spirit and he seems a good lad.

I think the fanzine market is covered. Jai and the boys do a great job and at £1 for a few hours read its going to be hard to beat. I would say why don't you write a few articles for AAS and see how it goes. Might be harder than you think to come up with original content.

Don't stop thinking of ideas my friend. For me this is not the one and at 20p you are going to make a loss every time I suspect. I wonder what the break even is for AAS - Must cost the boys a fair bit to produce. I suspect its a labour of love rather than a profit making venture.

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Cheers mate, i do try! and yeah, i have spoken to Jai about my own fanzine, and i will start that in due course, but for now, i will see if i can write a few articles for AAS.

Thank you all for your input!

Shrimper1995 said:

Cheers mate, i do try! and yeah, i have spoken to Jai about my own fanzine, and i will start that in due course, but for now, i will see if i can write a few articles for AAS.

Thank you all for your input!

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It's a good idea to write for AAS first, but don't let people put you off doing your own fanzine if that's what you want to do - I remember Roots Hall Roar & What's the Story Southend Glory co-existing back in the day. I used to write a music fanzine with a group of friends (2 of whom used to post on SZ) for about 5 years and it was great fun (it's alarming how much free stuff you get to review!), and I'd recommend getting a group of friends together as it makes it more fun and easier to get enough material together. It would be a good place to get your ideas together that you've posted on SZ (you could get people to redesign the club badge), in the meantime read plenty of football blogs online and get inspired and see if you can find an interesting angle. Good luck :thumbsup:

DTS said:

Personally I like the way the original poster is trying to show a bit of entrepreneurs spirit and he seems a good lad.

I think the fanzine market is covered. Jai and the boys do a great job and at £1 for a few hours read its going to be hard to beat. I would say why don't you write a few articles for AAS and see how it goes. Might be harder than you think to come up with original content.

Don't stop thinking of ideas my friend. For me this is not the one and at 20p you are going to make a loss every time I suspect. I wonder what the break even is for AAS - Must cost the boys a fair bit to produce. I suspect its a labour of love rather than a profit making venture.

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You suspect correctly, although thankfully gone are the days when we were losing money every month. We almost packed it in at that point, but we turn a small profit these days, which goes back into admin and trying to improve the product.

Drastic™;1576932 said:

I used to write a music fanzine with a group of friends (2 of whom used to post on SZ) for about 5 years and it was great fun (it's alarming how much free stuff you get to review!)

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One of your writers DJ'ed at one of my old club nights. She wore a hat and had dark hair.

Wrote nice things about another club night of mine too. Good sports.

Are you going to give away free stickers with the first issue?

Fossetts Farmer said:

Are you going to give away free stickers with the first issue?

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If the club had agreed to do the sticker book, i would say yes! :smile:

Good luck with it mate, as has been suggested, a blog might be a good place to start. Do write us some articles too.

Can anyone remember all the fanzines we've had over the years (I think Jai has done an article on this in AAS).

I can recall: What's the Story Southend Glory, Pier Pressure, Roots Hall Roar, The Little Gazette...

What am I forgetting?

Shrimp Season - and I used to love Shrimperlero for its quirkiness.

Did you get my email Jai?

And would anyone like to see an example of my work?

Its A Match Report: Rotherham United 0-3 Blues

Is argy Pete still around?

Shrimper1995 said:

Its A Match Report: Rotherham United 0-3 Blues

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It's a bit brief isn't it?

Shrimper in India said:

I can recall: What's the Story Southend Glory, Pier Pressure, Roots Hall Roar, The Little Gazette...

What am I forgetting?

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All At Sea - you should give it a go:winking:

An Example Of My Work:

Headline: BONGO KEEN TO SUSTAIN FORM


Sub Heading: Team Performance Impressed Southend's On-Loan Striker.


"Two goals from Britt Assombalonga and another from Dave Martin gave Southend United victory on their first ever visit to Rotherham's New York Stadium.


The Watford loanee, who recently extended his loan until January, took his goal tally up to nine for the season with a brace not long after half time and was joined on the scoresheet by former Derby and Millwall midfielder David Martin.


Paul Sturrock's side looked bright and lively from the start, but it was the hosts who started the stronger of the two sides, with midfielder Gareth Evans forcing Blues' 'keeper Paul Smith into a decent save low down to his left hand side. Moments later, Ben Pringle fired over the crossbar from the edge of the area.


Having survived the scares and strong Rotherham counter attacks, Blues thought they had opened the scoring when Ryan Cresswell, playing against his former side, headed Kevan Hurst's cross back across goal and Assombalonga tapped the ball into the net, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.


Blues didn't let this affect they way they played, and kept pressuring their hosts, with Assombalonga again going close to scoring, when his near-post shot was tipped over the bar by Rotherham 'keeper Scott Shearer. Blues continued to pile on the pressure and were again unlucky not to score when Millers' captain Ian Sharps did well to stop Ryan Leonard converting Gavin Tomlin's low cross.


In the second half, Southend didn't have to wait long to break the deadlock. 6 minutes after the break, David Martin brilliantly picked out Britt Assombalonga with a deadly left wing cross who headed home from 6 yards out to give Blues the lead and sent the travelling fans delirious. Not long after, Assombalonga was on target again. Sean Clohessy delivered a cross into the box which the Watford loanee brought down brilliantly before cleverly making space for himself while surrounded by three Rotherham players to curl the ball into the top right hand corner from 12 yards out.


With a two goal lead, Blues continued to push forward, forcing some fine saves from Shearer in the Rotherham goal. Kevan Hurst's cross was almost converted by Assombalonga, but he had to stretch for it and could only steer the ball wide of the left hand post.


After all the pressure, which included Martin firing an inviting ball across the face of goal, Blues managed to grab a third goal to seal the win. Gavin Tomlin initially started the attack when he broke free of the Rotherham defence and delivered a pinpoint cross onto the head of Assombalonga who's header was tipped onto the bar by Shearer, but the ball fell kindly for David Martin to nod the ball into the back of the net from two yards out, sending the visiting Blues fans into hysterics.


Southend nearly made it a repeat of last season, when they beat Rotherham 4-0 away, when they almost scored a fourth goal in the 78th minute. A mis-hit shot from Assombalonga found its way to Tomlin who composed himself before firing narrowly wide of the left hand post.


Three minutes later, Blues were forced into making their first change of the match, when former Rotherham defender Cresswell limped off the pitch with cramp to be replaced by another ex-Miller, Graham Coughlan in the heart of defence.


3 minutes from time, Blues made their second change, bringing Peterborough loanee Jonson Clarke Harris on in place of Assombalonga up front. Clarke-Harris looked lively and almost scored himself in the final minute but his header was sent straight into the open arms of Shearer.


Moments later, referee Tony Harrington blew for full time. Blues comprehensively won the match 3-0 and sent their travelling supporters home delighted. After the game, Assombalonga said: "There's nothing more we could have added to our game today, we came out three-nil winners and could have scored more to be honest. My second goal was good to be fair, I just had to keep my composure in the box. Most strikers would just hit it, but I took my time and it turned out to be the right decision. Had I hit it I think I would have put it wide or over the goal. I scored two goals so i'm happy! I did have one disallowed, which means i'm still waiting for my first professional hat-trick, but at the moment, I can't ask for much more"."


Please note: The "interview" with Britt at the end was taken from Blues Player, with the permission of the club.

wivs said:

I used to be the editor of the Roots Hall Roar (was only 50p!!!!). It was really quite a lot of work unless you get a lot of regular contributors and more importantly people to help sell it.
I was not trained in media law and Vic Jobson was only to happy to try to get people to sue me, including Peter Taylor, Foster cars etc. Even Nicky Hayes for using his photos on ocassions, he told me Vic insisted (however I wasnt worth sueing).
We was quite near the knuckle at times, we was also quite anti Vic (I would have a field day with the current regime), but I think it was generally a funny read and was worth the effort.
I am sure that I still have loads of back copies in the loft though.

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I too have several Roars in the loft Wivs - I will try and remember to dig them out. My fondest memory of selling it was when Phil Gridelet snatched one out of my hand and growled 'So, who are you slagging off this week?' ' Err, you again, actually, Phil'. I'm fairly certain that particular issue featured the 'Midfield Fool' ditty (to the tune of Wonderwall), including the immortal line ; "And may-be, your next shot's gonna head for Ray-leigh !'....