So we have some news...
After 13 amazing years, I will soon no longer be part of FourFourTwo.
Earlier this year, the global FourFourTwo brand was sold by its UK publishers to a new owner, Future Publishing. They have embarked on a series of worldwide changes with a new, more UK-based strategy. While that has meant job losses elsewhere, in Australia it means Future are taking back the local publishing rights from my company, Nextmedia, which has been running the magazine under licence in Oz for the last four years.
Sadly, we understand Future will no longer publish an Australian edition of the magazine. The latest issue, our new EPL season guide, on sale next week and arriving in subscribers’ mailboxes from today, is the last one we’ll produce, and the last for the foreseeable future.
HOWEVER....
Your FourFourTwo team at Nextmedia isn’t going away!
The squad that has brought you FourFourTwo is still going to be doing exactly what it always has... just under a different banner.
We may be saying goodbye to FourTwo Australia - but please say hello to a new-look FTBL.com.au which will
continue to bring you the BEST in Australian football coverage - just as we have always done. The name will change...but that is all.
We will also continue to bring you the best Australian football features in our sister mag, Inside Sport. We will be bumping up our football coverage massively in Inside Sport, starting with our huge 24 page A-League preview special in next month’s issue.
There are a few changes we’d love you to help us with though please as we transition to our new identity over the next few weeks.
If you liked FourFourTwo Australia on Facebook, please like @FTBLau now.
If you followed FourFourTwo Australia on Twitter, please follow @FTBLcomau now.
Our podcast will now be the FTBL podcast on iTunes.
And please bookmark FTBL.com.au as your new home of Australian football coverage.
(Oh and if you followed me personally on Twitter, I gave FTBL a little kickstart by giving it my account. If you wanna read more of my tweets, you’ll need to follow me again on my new @KevinAirs account)
The forums will also remain as is, except the FourFourTwo branding will disappear.
Thank you so much for all your support in the past. You are the living, breathing soul of football in this country. We’re here to stay and we’d love you to be alongside us…
I’m very proud of what we’ve done previously and excited by what lies ahead. It’s a sad day for FourFourTwo in Australia, but a bright day for FTBL and our continued coverage of the sport here.
Football, eh? Bloody hell!