We promise this won’t be a self indulgent farewell post, mainly because we aren’t quite ready to say goodbye completely just yet. However, we do have to announce that The Football Pink quarterly magazine is no more.
It’s a decision we have not taken lightly.
For the past five years it’s been a really enjoyable experience to see the magazine grow from a solely online publication to an established, award nominated, and hopefully well respected, print and digital fanzine.
As the founder and editor it has been a pleasure and privilege to collaborate with some extremely talented writers, illustrators and photographers – mostly enthusiastic amateurs like myself – whose efforts and contributions have been the cornerstone of our output. My sincere and endless thanks goes to all of them for being part of something they had no reason to, but participated because they perhaps saw something that they enjoyed doing just as much as I did. A full list of the people who have made The Football Pink magazine possible can be found here on Twitter. You should follow them and their work; they’re all excellent people and creators. https://twitter.com/TheFootballPink/lists/the-football-pink-writers-2/members
As much as I’m grateful to them for their efforts, I reserve just as great an appreciation for you – our valued readers. The Football Pink has been a slow burner, gathering support gradually throughout our 21 issues, and without that we would have thrown in the towel a long time ago. I know many of you are readers of various print and online publications – from club fanzines to glossier independent magazines. And while the print scene seems to be thriving at the minute, please keep giving them your patronage because without you they will disappear in the face of overwhelming competition from online content. Both formats are great and both have their place and all sorts of possibilities to create diverse work, but there’s just something special about a print magazine, isn’t there?
We have continually tried to carve out a niche for ourselves by focusing on stories, topics and themes that are interesting and unusual, and perhaps go down a path that others tend not to follow. Whether we achieved that successfully is ultimately up to you to decide.
So, why are we calling it a day?
When I started investing not only my spare time but also my own money in the project, I did so with the proviso that it didn’t swallow up too much of either, negatively impacting either my work or home life. For five years – and with the support of my wife – the balance was just about justifiable. However, over the last few issues that balance has become increasingly difficult to maintain. The time and costs involved, coupled with changing personal circumstances, means that the scales have tipped and the tough decision to halt the presses has been taken.
We can assure anyone with remaining print subscriptions that they will be contacted in the coming days to arrange for the necessary refunds according to how many issues they have remaining as part of their subscription.
So while we are bringing the curtain down on the magazine, the newly designed (and dare I say it, pretty lovely) website and podcasts will carry on apace; so please continue to support us through those mediums because there will be more to come. If you’re late to the party and want to know what we’ve been doing all these years, technology willing, we’ll publish some of our past magazine issues in their entirety here on the site along with new features and series.
Once again, a heartfelt thanks to everyone who has worked with us, shown any interest in us, or bought the magazine in any of its formats. It was an amazing personal experience over five years and 21 issues, but I feel now is the right time to close the final page and move on.
Viva, The Football Pink.
MARK GODFREY – EDITOR
