Starting off as the in-house magazine of the Halesowen Branch
Supporters Club, not only was Fingerpost the original West Bromwich Albion
fanzine, it was also one of the very first regular fanzine-style
publications in the Country. Branch member Simon Wright was the man in
editorial charge during the fledgling years of the fanzine's existence.
The first issue published was an A4, 15-sided, photocopied
effort and appeared in September 1983 with a cover-price of 20 pence. The A4
format was kept until issue 21 when the switch to a more compact A5 size was
made although the A4 size did make a one-off return for the fanzine's 50th issue
in December 1987.
Issue 46 saw Fingerpost professionally printed for the first
time and also the first real use of adverts. The glossy 32 page issue sold for
40 pence.
Regular features in the fanzine included first team and
reserve team reports, provided in the early days by Mike Thomas. There was
naturally a lot of space dedicated to supporters club news whilst the supporters
club football team the Strollers were also heavily featured. Away travel had
it's own dedicated page, Dave Farr the man in charge before current Baggies
Travel supremo Dave 'Mammoth' Holloway took over. There was a regular look at
fanzines around the country in the Alternative Football Network section as well
as a 'Blackmail Corner' in which embarrassing photos of players were published.
The Magical Mystery Tour took a look at forthcoming away games whilst topical
cartoons were also a regular inclusion, Glynis Harrison - later to marry editor
Simon Wright providing many of them.
The fanzine also did it's part for good causes, helping to
organise a benefit game for Everton fan Rob McMurray after he was blinded during
an incident with Albion fans in 1989, whilst profits from issue 66 were donated
towards the Hillsborough disaster fund. The fanzine was also heavily involved in
fighting Margaret Thatcher's I.D card scheme.
Amongst the regular contributors to the fanzine were; 'Baggie
Bert', Helen Bolton, Steve Carr, radio presenter and former Hawthorns matchday
announcer Malcolm Boyden, Stan Foggo, and Adrian Goldberg, now a TV and radio
personality.
The fanzine retained close links with the supporters club
until 1989 and Issue 67 when an article by Adrian Goldberg criticised
the football club's attitude towards the ordinary fans as well as the large
increase in ticket prices for the 1989/90 season. The article led to a fall out
between the club, the supporters club and the fanzine editors and as a result
the fanzine was removed from the club shop and sellers banned from selling
inside the stadium. There were just two more issues produced by the original
editors before another fall out with the supporters club over articles in the
proposed issue 70 (which was due to be the last ever issue) led to the editorial
team leaving to set up Grorty Dick. Glenn Willmore, who would later be the
mastermind behind The Baggies newspaper took over the editorial reins for a
spell before the trio of Roger Burns, Neil Edmunds and Ian Edmunds took charge.
Fingerpost continued under the stewardship of the supporters
club committee for just over another two years before the final split between
the supporters club and the fanzine occurred. In January 1992, and apparently
feeling that the fanzine was making the supporters club look bad in the eyes of
the parent football club, the decision was made to end all connections. Issue 87
saw the end of the famous fanzine.
Date:
1983 - 1992
Issues:
87
Known
Editors: Simon Wright, Steve Vine, Glenn Willmore, Roger Burns, Neil
Edmunds and Ian Edmunds
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Grorty
Dick, started life in
November 1989 due to a fall out between the editorial team of Fingerpost fanzine and the supporters club committee
(see Fingerpost
above).
The
very first issue, containing most of the material meant
for issue 70 of Fingerpost, went on sale on
November 25, 1989, priced 50p.
Just 1000 copies of the 28 page publication were printed and
nowadays, like most early issues of the fanzine,
it is extremely difficult
to obtain. The editorial team for that initial issue
consisted of Andy Beaglehole, Glynis Harrison, Simon Wright and Steve
Carr, the latter two would still be there 16 years later for the fanzine's
final issue.
Containing
many of the features and contributors from the already well-established
Fingerpost, and free from any interference from either the supporters club
or the parent club, Grorty Dick quickly became the number one West Bromwich
Albion fanzine. Issue 50 appeared in January 1996 whilst
issue
100 hit the streets in March 2000.
Over
the years the GD team campaigned for many causes. They
were strongly against the I.D card scheme which was proposed for football
fans in the late 1980's, they helped with the Len
Millard appeal - a fund-raising effort to provide Albion's former captain
with a motorised wheelchair, proceeds from issue 17 went to a
mutiple sclerosis
charity,
funds were raised for Albion's youth team and more recently
the GD team were behind the fundraising for
the Jeff Astle Memorial Gates.
The fanzine's last fundraising effort was for the Dovedale Day Centre, an
effort that raised over £700.
May 2005 saw
the last ever Grorty Dick published - issue number 151. The advent of internet message boards
and so somewhere else for fans to express their opinions perhaps playing a part in it's demise. A sad end for
what was one of the very best fanzines around.
The
name Grorty Dick was taken from a centuries old Black Country culinary
dish !
Date:
1989-2005
Issues: 151
Known Editors:
Andy Beaglehole, Simon Wright, Steve Carr, Glynis
Harrison, Dawn Clennett, Terry Wills and Martin Lewis
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In March
1992 the
former editorial team of
Fingerpost started a new
fanzine; Last Train To Rolfe Street. They
had originally hoped to keep the Fingerpost name alive but were prevented
from doing so by the
supporters club committee. Other names said to have been considered for the fanzine's
title were: The Road To Wednesbury,
Blue and White Peter,
The Liquidator and Throstle Droppings !
Basically the Fingerpost in
everything but name the
first issue of the "LTTRS" appeared in March 1992,
it was an A5, 36 page issue with a cover-price of 60 pence. The fanzine stayed A5
size until issue 14 when a switch to A4 was made.
The last issue,
believed
to be issue 16, was published in early 1995.
Date: 1992
-1995
Issues:
16
Known
Editors: Roger Burns, Neil Edmunds and Ian Edmunds
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The
Albion Chronicle was a short lived fanzine lasting just the five issues
under the editorship of James Holland. Issue 1 hit the streets in October
1992, a 32 page A5 effort costing 50p.
The last issue was published in the Summer of 1993.
Date:
1992-1993
Issues: 5
Known Editors: James Holland
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Almost A Chant was a rarely seen and
fairly short-lived fanzine with ties to the West Bromwich Albion
London Supporters Club. It emanated from an address in Middlesex and the
last issue known to this writer was number three in 1992, although it is
believed the fanzine was still being published the following year.
Date:
1991-1993 approx.
Issues: 3 known
Known Editors: Paul Mason, Nigel Pritchard,
Steve Watts
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