Welcome back to another TTTONLF meets, this time we sit down with the founder of The Thanet Football Magazine a completely free to all magazine that covers all Non-league Football in the Thanet, Kent area (Margate, Ramsgate, and Broadstairs).

Without further ado, lets get stuck into the questions and find out a little bit more about how this come about and just what work is involved in creating this kind of content.

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What inspired you to start Thanet Football Magazine, and how did the idea come to life?

I used to play football myself and back in my youth we had two newspapers in Thanet that covered local football news, down to Sunday League level. I always used to love to get the papers to see if I was mentioned or if any photos of of me and my team had been added, so I could cut them out to save for my children and grandchildren. I was playing at a charity game with a few local legends and we were in the changing rooms discussing the current local football scene. I realised that no-one really knew what was going on due to the lack of publications and coverage. It was kind of a lightbulb moment. Matched with that I have over 15 years of experience in designing, creating and developing magazines for various businesses I’ve worked for, and I thought to myself why don’t I make a magazine covering all of the local football news for the community.

What was the biggest challenge you faced in launching the magazine, and how did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge was definitely getting advertisers in to cover the print costs as the magazine is printed on high quality paper, and the costs to print 4,000 copies each month is quite high. My aim is to make this something people keep for years to come. I realised when creating the magazine that I would make a loss for a while and used my own business to fund the launch. My hope was to gain a good reputation and following so that advertisers would want to be in the magazine and luckily it’s popularity is allowing me to slowly build up new advertisers as well as that I have some dedicated regular ones now. I would say that a close second there is getting the mag out to its audience each month, it’s pretty full on distributing to the various outlets (not just for me, I have a couple of helping hands), but also rewarding as it gives me a chance to get feedback and hear back about how fast the mag is getting picked up.

What makes Thanet’s football scene so special, and how would you describe its impact on the local community?

The Thanet Football scene is very special as we have a wealth of local talent and the standard of football is so high across all areas. Our two main non-league teams, Margate FC and Ramsgate FC, are the most notable in the area, both playing in the Isthmian League South East Division. The fan base for each club is incredible, with so much loyalty and support for the players and clubs. This was really driven home in the Boxing Day derby at Hartsdown Park Stadium where 2500 fans watched the game and tickets sold out within days. The atmosphere was absolutely electric (as cliche as that sounds) and the rivalry is strong between the two clubs. Throughout the game you could hear the drummers for each team starting chants and the fans could be heard for miles. The impact local football teams have within the community is astounding as Margate and Ramsgate both run community programmes aimed at giving back. All details can be found on their websites. It isn’t just the big two clubs in Thanet supporting the community either. Sunday league and youth teams are also giving back and supporting worthy causes. Some of the things we see going on are local food drives, free laptops, charity football games. Really far too much to be able to list here.

Non-league football often flies under the radar compared to the professional game—how do you ensure these clubs get the recognition they deserve?

I make sure that the non-league teams are getting good coverage in the mag, and liaise with the owners and players to get good, current, and interesting content. I make sure I keep abreast of what’s going on with the clubs and grounds, and am also well supported by the awesome team photographers too, who ensure I get high quality images, a lot of which are exclusive to the mag. The magazine is content-focused rather than being overloaded with ads, I try to make it a good balance, and therefore I have a lot of space dedicated to editorials and also room to focus not only on non-league, but all aspects of our local football. I also use my social media channels to share all the latest news in Thanet football as soon as it happens and am granted exclusives from both Margate FC and Ramsgate FC. It’s a lot to include and source, but we also dig into the history of the clubs so the younger generations can see and read about the stars of the past who have played for the clubs and the accolades that the teams have won.

How do you decide which stories, players, or clubs to feature in each edition?

We have a set feature list in each issue that includes Margate FC News Update, Ramsgate FC News Update, Margate Women’s News Update, Ramsgate Women’s News Update, Sunday League Overview, and the Youth Team Focus – where we feature a youth team in Thanet with a write up about the team and images of the players. Alongside these editorial pieces we have special features in each issue such as interviews with local legends from Thanet’s footballing history, Street Football – including our very own Yo! Street Zone whose students included Jack Downer who featured in our October edition – Charity events and games, Sunday League team focus, other teams such as Minster FC and Ramsgate Athletic FC. I usually decide who will be in each issue and what the features will be depending on the current buzz happening in the community. For instance, if there is a rise in Street Football events then I will do a focus on the local offerings, or if a club is doing well I will do a team focus on them, it all depends on what is happening at the time.

Have there been any standout interviews or stories that have particularly resonated with you?

There have been a couple of stories that have stayed prominent in my mind after publishing, one being the Jack Downer feature in our October 2024 edition. Jack answered a series of questions about his career and how he has reached the level he is at now. He went into details about the professional footballers he has played with and the list was breathtaking, from Neymar Jr to David Beckham. But this wasn’t the thing that resonated in my mind, it was the story of how he nearly died in a charity football game due to a collision with the goalkeeper, which left him fighting for his life after splitting his liver due to the impact. He went into detail about his long road to recovery and how he has been able to battle back to fitness to play again – and has now gained a professional contract abroad. It’s a feel good story in the end.

Another story that stays in my mind is from our first ever issue and that is the interview we did with Ben Greenhalgh, the player manager of Margate FC as this was the magazines first major interview with a player – and I couldn’t have picked a better person. Bens career has been outstanding, from playing at Inter Milan in the champions League under José Mourinho, to his current position at Margate FC. His journey was a great read and having Ben throwing his support behind us also gave Thanet Football Magazine credibility with the local football community.

Running an independent magazine isn’t easy—what has been your proudest moment since launching Thanet Football Magazine?

My proudest moment was when I realised the impact the magazine was having and the popularity right from the off – one of my distribution venues even told me someone walked in and took the whole lot that they had and so we’ve had to restock a few times at various places. After the first issue I was unsure if it would be a success and I felt it was a bit of a gamble where I was funding it myself, but the feedback at games and through messages on social media made me realise it would work. The one stand out moment that made me the proudest was when I went to deliver copies of the second issue to one of the stadiums and the youth teams were training on the main pitch – as I walked through the gates I had the coaches and young players all run toward me eager to get the latest copy. This was the point I realised what an impact it was having and how much it was needed.

How do you manage to keep the magazine free for everyone, and why is that important to you?

I manage to keep the magazine as a free publication through paid advertising. As I said and have always said, I aim to keep the magazine free, relevant, and content focused. With the advertising, we really think about placement and relevance of the ads so as not to detract from the content of the magazine but also to give the adverts more substance. Hopefully this will continue to grow and be sustainable for years to come. And there’s always the option of increasing page numbers and content if things really boom!

What role do sponsors and advertisers play in helping to fund the magazine, and how do you attract their support?

Advertisers play a huge part as they help fund the printing and overheads involved when creating the magazine. The main selling point for the advertisers is the reach and the level of engagement the audience have with it. As a pick-up-and-take-home magazine, the onus is on the reader to opt-in, this is therefore seen as something that is wanted rather than dropped through a door and subsequently thrown in the bin. This means we get a lot of support which is growing all the time. We now have a reach of over 12,000 people and copies of the magazine have been picked up all over the UK, including on the London Underground and on a train in Scotland, so the pass on rate is pretty good I’d say. Adverisers recognise this and the potential for high levels of recognition and I’m now starting to get queries coming in from all sorts of industries and businesses. I’m always grateful for the support I get and hopefully it will help lead to growing this more over the coming seasons.

What are some of the biggest challenges facing non-league football in Thanet today, and how do you think they can be tackled?

I feel that there aren’t many challenges within non-league football in Thanet as the two main clubs Margate FC and Ramsgate FC are both well ran, and the owners have worked hard to ensure football is more accessible locally. They invest into their grounds and have great facilities with 3G pitches as well as supporting new players with their hugely popular youth programmes. Any issues I could think of have either been rectified by the clubs or are in the process of being sorted.

What’s your vision for the future of Thanet Football Magazine? Are there any exciting plans or expansions on the horizon?

My aim is to create a local magazine for each district throughout the UK with Thanet being the flagship mag. It’s yet to be seen how long a timeline I’ll be looking at as it all depends on finding the right support and accessing the same level of content as I can locally. I’ve grown up in Thanet and have a lot of contacts so it will also be a case of building that up elsewhere in the future.

For those who may not yet follow non-league football in Thanet, what would you say to convince them to get involved?

Non-league football is a completely different experience to watching your professional team play. The atmosphere at each game is incredible and the support is so much more as it really means something to see your local team doing well. You get a real sense of community within the fanbases and a lot of online banter going on between the different supporters. The relationship between the players and fans is unparallelled and there’s a real connection there, with players signing autographs, having photos taken with fans and being willing to talk to fans after the game in the clubs bar. I would probably say that everyone should take a look at what their local non-league teams are doing and see if anything resonates with them, if there’s anything they might want to be involved in and just go along and see what it’s all about. You really have to be a part of it to understand the feeling of supporting your local team.

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Thanks to Russel for giving up his time of which he does not have much spare at the moment!

I am a massive fan of the work he is doing and the spotlight he is shining on football in Thanet, it is an incredibly hard job to bring together so much content on a consistent basis and Russel makes it look easy. If you havent checked it out already I would encourage you to do so!

https://thanetfootballmagazine.co.uk/

Until next time!

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