Publication of the day

Loire Magazine is a new fanzine/magazine that has been set up in my home town - Wigan, It is run and edited by a local journalist/author/football fan Vauganie. The magazine is quite in depth with content ranging from An Open Letter To School Re unionists to The Day That Pete Came To Wigan - The man himself Pete Doherty. There is also interviews with artist/design illustrator Ben Lamb which again is quite in depth and a good read and Dresser a interview with Danish shirt extraordinaire Mikkle Rude. The magazine itself is top quality and well worth £3.50 of the queens finest.

The Seagull Love Review

The Hovian over on www.thehovian.com sent me up a Brighton & Hove FC ( The only one at current down on the south coast) and I have to say it is a very good read and is a fantastic insite into a club 100's of miles from me and what goes on and how surporters feel about there club.
I find that the fanzine is quirky, The hand drawn pictures and comic strips which are about the current clubs position/Manager, The articles in it are top notch and I have to say are very well written, It even gives ours a run for the money.
I feel that the fanzine itself has a "innocent" look about it, As its ment to be a fanzine which can be read at half time/on the bog which gives you a laugh and you can read about fellow articles from your fans at your club.

The issue that I got and included articles about them pesky casuals and how there has been a transition between scrapping and to know standing out from the crowd etc....Very good and its also written by the hovian and I feel is what the sub culture is about today - Standing out from the crowd and just doing your own thing, Lead dont follow.

An Article I have penned.

Have submitted this to the Wigan Fanzine and also Swine and it may be in Proper Mag hopefully it will get in.

The flight.

We took off from Manchester airport in the early afternoon for a 6 hour flight to dubai, Im used to Ryan Air and going to Benidorm for my holidays or cheap trips to France so flying Emarates was a change the fact you got a TV infront of you was amazing.
6 hours later we stopped off in Dubai and waiting for our connection flight to Bangkok. 6 hours later and a night flight which I fell asleep on we landed in Thailand's capital Bangkok. we met my Nana and Grandad and got a taxi to Pattaya which is a ciy on the coast of Thaland when we got there my and my granddad went to a bar in the area of town and I got to see the more dirty side of Thailand I had girls asking if I want " Bum bum" and to " go up stairs" not caring that I had a 74 year old relative next to me who was in tears of laughter.


Pattaya/Jomtien

We went down to our hotel in Pattaya which was 50 yards from the beach and was fantastic during the day I would wander round the shops and local street stalls and have street food and stop in bars for a beer or two on my travels and at night we went up famous walking street.
This is where the main night life is in Pattaya, There are various " go go" bars and normal bars the thing that shocked me the most over there was how open Prostitution is for instance you could order a Chang beer and lady 271.
I was going to take in a Pattaya United FC game but there next home game was when I was on a flight back to grim Manchester.
On one of our trips out we saw the Sanctuary Of Truth a building that took insparation from the religons in the east and 16th and 15th century Thai/Asian architecure this place took my breath away and I was amazed it was made out of wood and is not even finshed yet, There is no nails what so ever.
We stayed in Pattaya for 5 nights and then headed down the road to the quieter area known as Jomtien which is where my grandparents where living here it was a lot quieter and was just used to relax and I did a bit of exploring etc.

Koh Samoui.

The night before our flight to the tropical island of Koh Samoui we stayed at my grandparents house and was up at 3 to catch a flight at Bangkok airport to the tropical island, This place took my breath away and one day I will go back there.
The place was amazing the beach was the best I have ever seen and the whole place was filled with culture/Thai food/Backpackers It was fantastic there was a tear in my eye as we left, Coincidently I had one of the most bizarre nights of my life there, I was in a Shisha bar having a Hubble bubble ( as you do...) watching the Barcelona game, This thai bird ended up asking me to play a game of pool so i said ok and then I played on a ROUND pool table and ended up going into a toilet that looked like a tardis..Im sure it was tobacco in them pipes.Honest,

Bangkok

For our final 2 nights in Thailand we went to Bangkok which was at the same time as the Thai-Ex man city owner was facing trial and there was pridicted riots, But when I was over there there was no rioting to talk about however on the same road that we where on ( Silom Road) We where Soi 7,Silom Road a surporter of him chucked a hand grenade in a bank in the middle of the day....Crazy.

We where also there for Chinese new year and was fantastic, We went on the Bangkok monorail to check out one of the largest markets and some major bargans was to be had in there although inside there was open sewers and it was as hot as a sauna, On our last night we went up to a famous Koh-sam road which is famous for backpackers and travellers so we had a mooch round there and a few beers and took in the night life and live music, we where typical Brits and at night before bed we went into the "duke of Wellington" which was styled like a English bar and had newspapers and had live music on for a quick sup before bed.


I was sad to leave a beautiful country and I am just pleased that I have had the chance to see the world, One day I hope to do the same again.

Fanzines?

Are the days of the written fan opinion going down the drain or is it still living and one of the breathing hearts of the football clubs that we all love?

At Wigan the fanzine that the people over on www.mudhutsmedia.co.uk produce is top notch, I buy it whenever they come out and have contributed to an article in one which I wrote about the then up-coming film about Away days.

The fanzine they produce is called "MFE" and is quite a bulky fanzine for £1.50 you do get a lot for value and the opinions within there fanzine is the genreal opinion of the supporters of Wigan Athletic, Be it the JCL Internet-based never come to a game ex Wigan Warriors fans that we can and do have.

Anyway go over to there good website and check out there match previews,Forum general stuff top work lads!