The first post for a new website can sometimes be an awkward thing. Luckily, The Football Project is able to call on actual journalist Iain Macintosh to get us under way. He makes his living with his words and here he is to introduce our site……
Hello, and welcome to The Football Project. I’m Iain Macintosh. You may recognise me from such esteemed magazines as ‘Cable & Networking Monthly’ and ‘Girl About Town’. Seriously, I needed the money. It is my great pleasure to pen this foreword to a website I have particularly high hopes for.
It has long been my contention that blogging has changed dramatically in recent years, growing from the preserve of the pyjama-clad mentalist and evolving into a genre worthy of attention and respect. Of course, the primary aim of blogging is, and always should be, to enjoy the act of writing, to order one’s thoughts and to experiment with styles and stories. However, it has become clear that some bloggers produce work worthy of far greater attention. ‘Swiss Ramble’ and ‘Zonal Marking’ stand out on their own as authorities in their field, ‘In Bed With Maradona’ is a treasure trove of nostalgia and miscellany. Now it is my hope that ‘The Football Project’ will establish its own niche, as a nexus for fans of European football and as a launch pad for young talent and occasional enthusiasts.
The internet has given countless writers a greater chance than ever of being heard. Twitter, and its inherent meritocracy, has accelerated the process. Now blogging is changing, moving from an individual preserve into a wider pursuit. Bloggers are coming together to form their own sites, combining their powers in everyone’s interests.
I’m told that The Football Project will be a home to experts, giving them the freedom to write about the leagues that fascinate them. I’m also delighted to hear that Andrew Gibney, creator of the Gib Football Show podcasts, is on board to look after the initial aural offerings. It seems that everything is in place for The Football Project to succeed.
We are fortunate enough to live in a time of footballing pluralism, no longer limited to our own nation’s sporting output. The Spanish league is comprehensively covered on Sky, the vibrant German Bundesliga is on ESPN. Gaming websites carry live streams of football from all over the world. It’s a hell of a time to be a football geek. Now it’s time that our options and our interests were represented online, not least because I seem to be slightly worse at Football Manager 2011 than I was at Football Manager 2010 and websites like this help my progress enormously.
Welcome to The Football Project. As someone who will sit down in front of almost any kind of football (I spent one Saturday afternoon this summer watching Iceland U21s vs Belarus U21s), I’ll be keeping a close eye on its progress through the coming season. I hope you will too.
Iain Macintosh is the UK Correspondent for The New Paper in Singapore and a contributor to SI.com, The Irish Examiner, BT Vision’s ‘Life’s A Pitch’. You can follow him on Twitter at @iainmacintosh or in real life by keeping your distance and whistling nonchalantly
