Search Results

Today we should have woken up in excitement and anticipation with the imminent start of the World Cup but sadly in all honestly we really couldn't care less. Today is a sad day for football, the day that football sold its soul, the day that FIFA, the corrupt cash machine stuck two fingers up to football and fans across the World. We're not naive to realise buying the World Cup is something new as its been going on for years, but this World Cup is the most blatant piece of corruption for all to see, FIFA's hypocrisy is laid bare with all their faux social justice campaigns being put aside for money to fill their coffers and line their pockets and that goes for all the sponsors, football associations, managers, players, media outlets, pundits and so-called ambassadors. The World Cup in Russia should never have been allowed to happen either because of their record on hooliganism and Racism, same with Qatar with their human rights issues, don't get us wrong though we are far from being PC and social justice warriors at Proper Football but what we are like many others are sick and tired of our game being hijacked by causes outside of football and this latest tournament smacks of hypocrisy of the highest level, the fact it's been moved to the winter is another big factor, our issue isn't with the Qataris even though we don't agree with some of their ideals this is about FIFA taking the blatant p*ss out of us all and this comes on top of all the other issues with modern day football where many of us fans are treated like customers and given no second thought by the big TV companies and money makers. Will we watch it? Some of us will some of us won't but none of us will feel the buzz and excitement that comes around every 4 years. FIFA needs to be dismantled and a new organisation needs to replace it.

We caught up with Paul Smith from Clobber Magazine and asked him a few questions about his passion for clothes, football and the Terrace Culture casual scene. 1. Who's your team and how did you first start supporting them? Man Utd, although I grew up right next to Man City's original ground at Main Road. I had no interest in City whatsoever! I remember first hearing about Matt Busby, the Munich Air disaster and how Manchester United rose from the tragedy with Best, Law and Charlton... and that was it... I was hooked! 2. When and why did you first get into Casual culture? Around about 1981/82, I was just a little kid minding the cars of the Man City fans, a local hustle of all the kids in Moss Side and Fallowfield areas on match days. I remember seeing a mob of City lads leaving the ground early, they were decked out in Adidas trainers, Pringle sweaters, Fila and Sergio Tacchini track tops and what I later found out were Lois Cords. You could say it was my Goodfellas moment, I knew I wanted to be part of them, its where I belonged!!!!!!"!" 3. In your opinion who/where did casual start? In Liverpool & Manchester, Liverpool first though... it's simply beyond dispute! The Mickeys were always away in Europe and were bringing back gear that no one else could get. And just as in Manchester the flares and boots had been replaced with straight leg or semi flared jeans and trainers. The cockneys just can't handle the truth about the origins of the movement, but the history is there for all to see, well for those who choose to see it! 4. Favourite piece of terrace attire? The CP Company Mille Miglia (Goggle Jacket), there's nothing quite like it (and its countless iterations)! It just stands out from any other item of clothing, even when it's on a hanger, it's got a life of its own... as if someone is already inside it, wearing it. It's a wearable piece of art, and for me it's the ultimate bit of gear! 5. Least favourite trend you've witnessed on the terraces? The whole Geography Teacher look the Mickeys started off around 1983'ish, it spread to Manchester a bit too, thankfully it didn't last! Oh, and the whole Deerstalker hat thing, WTF was that all about!!! 6. I believe you're a bit of a collector, what is your most prized possession? Indeed, although I am always buying and selling, and I am not hung up on keeping hold of all my Vintage pieces (although I've kept a good few)! Casual was all about moving with the times, so it's still very important to me to do exactly that. At the moment my favourite piece is a rather understated Stone Island "Compact" Jacket from season SS 2005. It still looks brand new today, and it outstrips most modern pieces! 7. Is there anything you would love to own but just can't get your hands on it? Yes, most original Fiorucci pieces, in particular the jeans... superb clobber from a superb brand. I also really miss the vintage Valentino stuff, their modern (garish) gear is complete and utter shite, and its waaaaaaaaay overpriced too! 8. You run Clobber Magazine. Tell us a bit about it. Yes, Clobber Magazine is an online platform that kind of does what it says on the tin, we write about Clobber, Trainers, and occasionally Music... and of course all things casual! It started as a passion project and has just become one of my best mates! It opened a lot of doors for me and through my humble scribblings I've met some truly great people. So, all in all, I owe it a lot. It's also very outspoken when needed and a few arses on the Casual scene have been stung via our Facebook rants! 9. What is your hopes for the future of the magazine. I am really not sure TBH, I've been at a crossroads with it for a while, I might go into a partnership with someone at some point and take it on a more commercial footing. In saying that I still really like the underground, indie status that it has so who knows! 10. I see you visited the 'Art of Casual ' exhibition at the Walker Gallery in Liverpool, any good? Absolutely Brilliant!!!!! The photos online really don't do it justice! As well as the visual exhibits it also maps the history of the Casual movement and Liverpool's role in it. I will probably go back a few more times before it closes in March because there's so much to see and take in. It was a really emotional experience for me too, it took me back to the great days if my youth. So, if you're ever in Liverpool before March 2023 I recommend that you go and take a look. 11. In our opinion the music has always been an important part of Terrace Culture. What would be your favourite tunes for a match day? Wow so many really, growing up in Moss Side & Fallowfield a lot of us were bang into Street soul, Reggae, Hip Hop. Of course, being a Manc I was also into The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Joy Division etc. I can be blasting out a hard Ragga track one minute then flipping to the Sex Pistols the next, so pretty much anything goes depending on my mood! 12. Do you have a favourite album/single of all time? That's another really tough one because my musical tastes are so varied now. I'd say in terms of commercial music I'd probably say, 'Good to be free' by Oasis, or maybe a dead heat between that and 'Shadow play' by Joy Division. If I was picking an underground track I'd go for 'Shining Through', it's a classic 1990 Street soul track by a group called 'Gold In The Shade'. It was only pressed in limited numbers, of course I've got copy!!! 13. Favourite band/artist? Commercially I have so many really... including, Joy Division, The Smiths, and anything Liam Gallagher, the Pistols, The Jam, and the most underrated of them all...... 'The Las'!!! 14. Any bands/artist that you feel are part of Terrace Culture? Loads really, I remember The Smiths being huge amongst many of the Firms, The Jam of course and a lot of smaller indie bands. The Stone Roses seem to have become a firm favourite amongst many Casuals. But I suppose it's all subjective, I remember speaking to a West Ham lad on holiday years ago and for him 'Sham 69' were the ultimate Casuals band... Oi Oi Oi...! Liam Gallagher has also really become ingrained within the Casual scene, but I attribute most of that to the clobber he wears... although I do love his music! 15. Manchester has been a hot spot for music for quite a while. Any local up and coming bands you can recommend? I quite like 'Working Men's Club', although I don't know if they can still be classed as up and coming now! There's another band I quite like called 'Delights'; they knock out some decent indie pop/funky stuff. 16. Obviously the Hacienda and dance scene is now obviously world famous. Did you get into that scene in the late 80's/ early 90's? Yeah of course, the whole '2nd Summer of Love' thing fell right into my lap as I was just leaving School at that time. It really was a magical time, although I was still mainly a Soul boy, I also loved the emerging dance scene, and everything it had to offer!!!! I only actually went to the Hacienda twice though, I much preferred clubs like 'Precinct 13' and 'The X Club'... and the famous Canal Bar. 17. On to a bit about the football....sum up your team's season so far. Steady progress with the inevitable slip up and bad thrashing here and there (AKA the Man City game)! Ten Hag is top draw and if he's given the time and the backing, I am confident he can bring the title back to Old Trafford. As for Ronaldo, I only have two words... LEGACY RUINED!!!! 18. Do you still attend games regularly? A lot fewer and far between now, the modern era has killed it, killed the fun, and the joy of standing on the terraces. Old Trafford has been sorely affected by United's worldwide fame, which in turn has killed the atmosphere on many occasions. Mid-week games are the best, and of course those ropey away trips (say no more)!! A lot of fans have been drawn towards lower/non-league football recently. Anyone else you follow? I personally never got into the whole FC United of Manchester thing (the breakaway fans club). Rightly or wrongly those that chose that path were labelled as traitors! I quite like the lower leagues though; in fact, I might get over to a Tranmere Rovers game at some point this season. Any views on this year's World Cup in Qatar? It's an absolute disgrace. It's all about money. All those poor people have died building the stadiums, and yet all the woke, self-serving virtue signallers (Gary Neville, Gary Lineker etc) are all flocking to Qatar in their droves... to pick up their fat pay cheques! I am only gonna watch the England games, just solely out of the love of our great nation. As for the rest I shan't be partaking!! Finally Paul, Sum up Modern football in one sentence. Ruined, it's been stolen from the working man, to be replaced by the shirt wearing (popcorn eating) 'NEW FANS'. I honestly can't wait until the arse falls out of it; I mean come on... the money that's currently in football cannot be sustained. And alas, we (The Casuals) shall take over the grounds once again, and we'll... "Do what we want, we'll do what weeeee waaaaaant, we are the Casuals, and we'll do what we want!!!! Thanks for talking to us at Proper Football Paul. You can check out Clobber Magazine here, https://clobbermag.com/ Like Comment

We all know football has the habit of conjuring up amazing stories, be it heartwarming, emotional or freak results, just like Leicester City winning the Premier League, Wimbledon's Crazy Gang defeating the might of Liverpool to lift the FA Cup in 1988, 42-year-old Roger Milla coming out of retirement to score in the World Cup for Cameroon, David's beating Goliath's in the 3rd round of the Cup or Jamie Vardy getting an England call up just 4 years after playing non-league football for Halifax. But one such story happening right now which is at least on a par with those if not above and wouldn't look out of place in a Roy of the Rovers annual is that of Dorking Wanderers. Dorking with a population of around 20,000 is a Market Town in Surrey, South East England, situated by the River Mole, between the escarpment of the chalk hills of the North Downs and the wooded heights of Leith Hill and known for the beauty of its countryside and National Trust nature reserves of Holmwood Common and Box Hill. 'The Wanderers' were the brainchild of the current owner, chairman and manager, Marc White, who back in 1999 when he was 25 years young along with some friends had become completely disillusioned with the direction of Wimbledon FC who they followed home and away and were heading for relegation from the Premier League amidst loud whispers of relocation to another part of the country. So they decided to set up a Saturday football team to occupy their time, have fun and satisfy their football fix. Life began at the bottom in the 5th tier of the Crawley and District League with 14 mates paying five pounds each to play on a council-owned pitch costing £50 to play on a time. Now, that is nothing remarkable, but what is is that they now sit mid-table in the top tier of the National League, the fifth tier in the Football pyramid after racking up 12 promotions in 22 completed seasons! 'Timeline of events' After Switching to Division Four of the West Sussex League they rapidly moved up through the Leagues to the Premier Division and In 2006–07 the Wanderers won it by clinching the title with a victory on the last day of the season. As a result, the club was promoted to Division Three of the Sussex County League which they went on to win in 2010–11 and by the end of the 2014–15 season they won the First Division earning promotion to Division One South of the Isthmian League. 2015/16 saw them make the playoffs but sadly lose out but the following season they went one better by winning the playoffs to gain yet another promotion to reach the Isthmian Premier and finally In 2018–19 the club won the Premier Division by a margin of 22 points! earning promotion to the National League South for the first time in history! Nothing seemed like it could stop the promotion-eating machine that is 'The Wanderers' but It took a worldwide pandemic to stop them in their tracks, the curtailed Covid affected 2019/20 season saw them placed into a finishing position of 7th and into a playoff spot where they made the semifinals before losing out, and the following season brought more cruel heartbreak as the season was called null n void with Dorking sitting 5 points clear with a game in hand after 18 matches, but last season they finished runners up and navigated their way through the playoffs to gain promotion to the National League! Dorking Wanderers are most definitely a modern-day fairy tale and just like all the children's stories where there are ups and downs with difficult times and heart-wrenching moments, like having to leave their beloved picturesque Westhumble ground which was home to them from 2007-to 2018 where hard work, sweat, passion and undivided loyalty had seen it developed to fit the different league's criteria, to a twist of fate and good fortune when Dorking FC, the towns more established side hit hard times and had to fold which offered 'The Wanderers' a timely opportunity to take over their Meadowbank stadium that now holds 3,000 fans. Something that is lost on many big football clubs is the value of loyal fans, the sense of a community working together and a feeling of belonging that is priceless, Dorking Wanderers and the majority of Non-League clubs offer this in spades. We can only hope that this fairytale continues and gives hope to many others, this quote from Cinderella, one of the most famous fairytales of all sums it up perfectly. “They can’t order me to stop dreaming.”

For most of us, it is our life our place of worship a place to go to every week to meet like-minded friends and fellow supporters a place where you have stood or sat in the same seat for decades and created memories good and bad, somewhere that your forefathers and generations of family have gone before, it's a sense of being and pride in your community, it's part of you, somewhere you have invested thousands of pounds and countless hours of commitment, ultimately it's part of who you are. But sadly supporters of many teams feel like this is being stripped away from them with the influx of unscrupulous owners looking to cash in on our national game mainly due to the carrot being dangled by the money machine that is the Premier League. We see owners, greedy football agents and players, TV companies, big businesses and even far away countries ripping the heart out of our clubs who are completely disconnected as to what the clubs mean to the fans and taking billions out of the game, the old saying of football without fans is nothing doesn't really hold weight anymore as games are beamed around the world to viewers willing to pay for it who really couldn't care less about the local communities and businesses who are dependant on the clubs. So what's the answer? Yes, it should be said not all clubs are rotten eggs with Leicester City a case in point but they are few and far between, we are all guilty of being vociferous towards our owners after a bad run of results, a bad managerial appointment or the sale of our best players from time to time but that is just part of football but when you see clubs on the brink of liquidation, folding and being stripped bare and used to line peoples pockets or just completely mismanaged by egotistical clueless multi-millionaires it really breaks your heart that a historical club could be lost forever, the only answer is for legislation to be made to protect it from happening and giving historical clubs a listed graded status that gives them protection, and giving (the weak) football organisations more power to be stronger and have a fit and proper purpose test that is actually fit for purpose! But most of all we need to give fans and supporter groups a voice and be included in decision-making and the clear transparency of the running of OUR clubs. The German model of clubs having to be owned by 51% (the 50+1 rule) by fans states that, in order to obtain a license to compete in the Bundesliga, a club must hold a majority of its own voting rights. The rule is designed to ensure that the club's members retain overall control, by way of owning 50% of shares, +1 share, and protecting clubs from the influence of external investors. Yes, that is easier said than done but there are signs of some green shoots in that direction with some clubs including Preston North End who are the latest to create a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) in the EFL following on from Bristol City, Swindon Town and Bolton Wanderers who have also made similar agreements with their fans in recent seasons. An MOU is about the club committing to ongoing dialogue with their supporters by signing up to a Memorandum of Understanding and commits both parties to regular dialogue on substantial club matters. The details can be found here; https://thefsa.org.uk/news/preston-north-end-commit-to-dialogue-with-fans/ Another initiative recently set up by The ESSG which is a group of Everton stakeholder groups, associations and societies that came together in June 2021, to consider the views of Evertonians and to develop a proposal for effective and meaningful fan representation at Board level at Everton Football Club. The ESSG terms of Reference are; We are a group of Everton fans, representing a variety of supporters groups and organisations. Our goals are to create a Fan Advisory Board and have Fan Directors who have been elected through an open and transparent election. The fallout of Project Big Picture in October 2020, the European Super League proposals in April 2021 and the UK G overnment’s subsequent Fan Led Review into Football Governance, highlighted the need to strengthen the role football fans have in the decision-making processes within football clubs, to ensure that: the views of fans are embedded in the club’s strategic and commercial strategies; the interests of the local community are protected; and communication and engagement between the Board of the Football Club and its supporters is meaningful. It must be said as fans some of us get caught up in the hype of news of foreign investment from some super-rich billionaire with an open chequebook that will take us to the next level and get sold a dream but ultimately we lose our soul and forget what we were all once about and lose our soul and get blinkered by an impossible dream in most cases. In summary, on the surface football looks like it's thriving with the global brand of th e shiny Premier League, Champions League and all singing and dancing hypocritical World Cups in Qatar, but in reality, it's all about money and lining the pockets of the corrupt organisations of FIFA, UEFA and the Rich. Football is so much more than that to us, just ask a fan of Bury, Derby, Birmingham and the many others who have been lost, on their last legs or saved from the brink. At the end of the day no matter who we support and rivalries aside we are all cut from the same cloth and without each other, the game we love wouldn't be the same. This is a fight we have to fight together. Give us our beautiful game back!

Proper Football run live shows every Sunday which can be watched live on You Tube, Facebook, twitter and broadcast on Proper Football Radio.

We are regularly out and about doing our very own Ground Hopping blogs, please keep your eyes peeled.

Proper Football is an all-encompassing platform for football fans to have a voice and to share their passion for a way of life that incorporates terrace culture, subcultures and the many music genres that have gone hand in hand with our beautiful game. Proper Football is a community for the football fraternity and music lovers alike.