Best New Football Blog
1.Anfield Edition
2.From The Stands
3.johnjamessite
4.Rousing the Kop
5.The Anfield Talk
6.The Clumpany
7.The Football Lab
8.The Stacey West Blog
9.The West Ham Way
10. UnitedSheStands
As the countdown to the FBA Gala Evening in Manchester begins in earnest, it behoves me to conclude my constructive critique of my New Football Blog peers. Allow me to introduce my readers to Gabriel Sutton, who describes himself on his Twitter account as a:
“Midlands-based football writer, owner of The Football Lab, FBAs finalist and lower league lover. Visited 71/92 grounds.”
If a photograph on his site is recent, one could make a cogent argument for Mr. Sutton’s inclusion on the Young Football Blogs shortlist. The Football Lab is an elegant site which majors on the lower tiers of English professional football. He heralds the unsung heroes who ply their trade for an infitesimal fraction of the riches to be found in The English Premiership. I can see many reasons for The Football Lab joining the shortlisted pantheon of New Football Blogs, not least his tenacity in providing lower leagues coverage. Gabriel is a Bloggers’ Blogger. I wish him every success in Manchester and will continue to keep an eye on his emerging talent.
Stacey West’s Twitter Account states:
“Blogging about Lincoln City and all things football. Football Blogging Awards Finalist 2016 Best New Blog.Lincoln, England.”
With so many different spellings of the christian name Stacey, it’s difficult to discern the gender of this site’s owner, not that this should be in any way relevant. I’m guessing she is the second female blogger in the top ten. Her focus on Lincoln City might somewhat limit her prospective FBA Awards electorate. If her Twitter followers are in any way indicative of FBA support, she will struggle against the heavy-hitting Liverpool FC bloggers. Join my club Stacey.
One blog that does not lack support is The West Ham Way:
Phoenix FM presenters Sex Drugs & Carlton Cole and @exwhuemployee are both up for an award at the Football Blog Awards. Phoenix FM is a local radio station serving Brentwood and Billericay. If the 1736 who visited their hypertext Twitter links to vote are anything to go by, they like Ian Durie’s Billericay Dickie are doing rather well.
There are three finalists of a Liverpool FC bent in my FBA category, namely :
Anfield Edition
Rousing the Kop
The Anfield Talk
The former is a live wire of a site (https://www.anfieldedition.uk/) with so much going on. The articles look as though they have been written on the run. These articles emanate from a number of authors. It’s a comic strip blog that is very popular. I would not be surprised if this site was in the mix for the New Football Blog award.
The second finalist devoted to Liverpool FC can be found at: https://www.rousingthekop.com/ This site can be distinguished by the prevalence of video leaders to the narrative of Michael Mongie. The look and feel are professional. This site has circa 20,000 followers. If they all voted for Mr Mongie he would win hands down. 60,000 votes was the total of all votes cast in the first round. With one-third of this total as his demographic, he is in a very strong position to scoop up the award. Even though I have a few more sites to investigate, Rousing The Kop will be a front-runner for third place.
Last but most certainly not least is The Anfield Talk which has 16,700 followers on Twitter. This represents circa four times the followers of my site. It’s another professional site with match reports, podcasts and a newsletter: http://theanfieldtalk.com/ No expense was spared developing this site. Compared to The Anfield Talk, the impoverished John James Site is Dickensian.
The Clumpany is one of two anonymous bloggers who write about Scottish football. He will not be attending the awards dinner on the 17th. I approached him to solicit his choice of blog:a blog most representative of his work. He gave me free rein to choose. I chose The World Cup of Liquidation Lies. This is a work of satirical genius. TC may not win an award, but his legacy of creative satire will never be forgotten. The late Paul McConville’s site is almost as vital today as it was in his heyday. I envisage The Clumpany joining the pantheon of great Celtic-facing social media accounts.
Next on my list of those shortlisted for the New Football Blog Award is: Nicole @UnitedSheStands. (Twitter).She can also be found on the WordPress platform: unitedshestands.wordpress.com. I wish her every success and will lead the toast at the John James table should she deservedly receive the New Football Blog Award 2016, or the Young Blogger Award for which she is also nominated.
From The Stands is another excellent site which has comprehensive Premiership coverage. As he goes head to head with the cream of Sports journalists who cover the English top tier he has done very well to carve a niche out of his own.
In summary, I would ask those who attend or follow on-line to curb their enthusiasm. My site does not have a snowball’s chance in hell of usurping The Anfield Talk or The West Ham Way. If there’s a better site than The Anfield Talk, I have almost certainly found the winner in the Best New Blog category. However it may be a closely run contest with The West Ham Way.
My 1,2,3 are:
The Anfield Talk
The West Ham Way
Rousing The Kop
As for this site, I anticipate tenth position. I did well to be on the shortlist as I divide opinion.
