I always preferred 2-3-5 meself, as an old fart (Four Four Two)

Member Name: dave27

Product:	Four Four Two
Date:	22/01/04 (127 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great writing, pix

Disadvantages: Too much on Man U

The gravy train these days may be a lot less rich than it was in the days before the collapse of ONDigital and the Big Money TV deal, but football still remains the leisure pursuit of choice for millions of beer swilling Brits, whether that be watching (usually) or playing (increasingly rarely). And a decent leisure industry needs a decent, high quality magazine to encourage its followers to satisfy their more highbrow urges and do some reading as well. And that is exactly where Four Four Two comes in...

442 (quicker to type than Four Four Two) is the major quality football magazine in the UK (if you discount all the a*** licking narcissism of the Man U mags, that is) and it's easy to see why. I'll offer as evidence an in depth analysis of the February 2004 edition if you'll permit, because it's always best to get some detail of such things.

442 is a glossy, full colour monthly football magazine retailing at £3.50 and available in most of the newsagents with anything like a reasonable choice. The cover contains the strapline "The Ultimate Football Magazine" and they're probably right. It's published by Haymarket Magazines and is edited by Mat Snow, a name I think I recognise from former contributions to the NME but I may be wrong. certainly the feel of the whole thing is very reminiscent of the irreverence of the good old music mag, so if Mr Snow has never been in that particular publication he should have been.

442 even has the obligatory website to accompany it, 442.rivals.net, but I have to say that when I tried to check it out I could only find adverts and the much vaunted article search facility did bugger all.

Anyway, the Feb 2004 edition has 132 pages, out of which 32 are devoted to ads, a reasonable level I guess, because there are lots of pages that aren't (if you understand me). There are some great, high quality photographs and good, strong writing by people who seem to care
about the game and 442 is very impressive all things considered. I'm not a regular reader, but was certainly pleased every time I've bought a copy.

The Feb 2004 edition features Harry Kewell and Damien Duff on the cover and includes lengthy features on both men, which are well written and full of insight, although the arrogance of Kewell and his insensitive battering of former club Leeds certainly grated a bit. But as a dyed in the wool Elland Road man it would. The writing is certainly a good cut above the standard Fleet Street garbage and smacks of sincerity and feeling, with a decent combination of acid wit and cynicism, laced in with a genuine love of the game.

There's a regular feature called One On One, where readers' questions are put to a star name, and this month the victim is Blackburn manager Graeme Souness. A ot of this feature is fairly bland and unconvincing, but there's a hint of tension in the sharp exchange: As a former team mate and then his manager at Liverpool what was your reaction when you heard Bruce Grobbelaar was accused of match fixing? No comment. You can feel the moustache-less top lip of Mr Souness fairly bristling at the thought.

There's a page on Clough, Father and Son, and a Q&A session with Chris Waddle, along with a decent column by football writer Henry Winter, who is always enjoyable. You get special features on the search for a Football Chant Laureate, John Gidman, the North East and the African Nations Cup, and a five page article on manic football manager from the middle of the Twentieth century Major Frank Buckley, who bossed Wolves, Hull, Leeds and Walsall, discovered Stan Cullis, Billy Wright, John Charles and jack Charlton and pioneered the injection of monkey gland fluid into players and the use of ballet training! Buckley was a maverick, crazed character who was renowned for his eccentric behaviour and dress and certainly the feature makes excellent reading - &quo
t;'He looked me up and down, as I imagine a bloodstock owner would look at a racehorse,' recalled Cullis of his interview in 1934. ' He said, "Stand up" and tapped me on the chest. He said "Are you frightened?" I said "Of what?" He said, "Of getting hurt." I said "No". That was all he said. He had some words with my father, which I couldn't hear, and I was a professional footballer'." GREAT STUFF.

The whole magazine is like that, eminently readable and interesting with lots of insight and wit and a deep seated love of fun. You get the debunking of the aura of magic about the people being written about and a healthy dose of fans' perspective on the subject matter. This is a magazine by and for footie fans and is great value. There is nothing to touch it around at the moment and it really does offer tremendous value. It's offbeat and tries to avoid the mainstream, even featuring Port Vale fan and World Darts Champion, Phil The Power Taylor. You will, I can assure you, love this one, even if 2-3-5 and the WM formation are much more memorable and lovable than the rather defensive 4-4-2 formation on which it is christened - watch Mike Batt Football Manager and find out why 4-4-2 is not a thing to be loved - the Christmas Pudding rather than Christmas Tree...


ENJOY

Summary: