Today’s #FanzineoftheDay is from the Peak District, issue 17 of Matlock’s “Keep Off The Fence” from winter 1995. Excellent cover, news from the social club, lots of info about what is inside, the issue number date and price clearly visible. Bet you can’t wait to get into “the lastest moribund news”. I think the fence reference is something to do with them sharing the ground with Matlock cricket club at the time, with a temporary railing installed on one side of the pitch at the end of the cricket season

The editorial is also excellent, despite sad news of two fanzines folding because of the editors personal circumstances (great detail for the list however) we now find KOTF is “the “probably the best Unibond fanzine left” Don’t big yourselves up so much. The editorial also bemoans the departure of another manager whose hand seem to have been tied but also announces the sensational arrival of Howard Wilkinson’s friend Imre Varadi, the man who launched a million inflatables. There is also the extraordinary news that they are hoping local rivals Buxton will use public transport for a forthcoming FA Trophy fixture.

I can’t find much about Imre’s time at Causeway Lane. What I do know is that Matlock lost their Premier Division status at the end of the season, finishing rock bottom of the league. He left after about 18 months to join former team mate Mel Sterland at Stalybridge Celtic but soon after that there was a slight change in direction when he signing for the South Jersey Barons of the USISL D-3 Pro League (United Systems of Independent Soccer Leagues…) in the USA. He only played in two league games for them before returning home to England…anyway, I digress

The match report for Matlocks only win in 17 matches of the season so far has a terrible photo, a brilliant hand drawn reconstruction of a goal, news that a referee took a rather lenient view of a goal saving handball and the sensational news of a fight between the visiting PLAYERS in the social club after the game. Oh yeah, Matlock won 8-0! You don’t get this in the premier league.

The programmes from the past feature promises much as it covers the programme from a great FA Cup victory of the club over “local” league rivals Mansfield Town. An opportunity lost then when you discover that this is LITERALLY a page by page description of what was on each page but no detail, pictures, commentary, report on the game or even a solitary comment that the Gladiators had Fenoughty N, Fenoughty T and Fenoughty M playing that day..Brothers? Triplets?! Related in any way? Was one of them the Fenoughty that played for Chesterfield around that era? Not even a piece on the scorers in a 5-2 away victory, nothing! (I looked and it was Tom Fenoughty who retired from professional football in 1973 to become a pharmaceutical chemist but kept fit by playing for Matlock with his two brothers Mick and Nick who had also both played for Chesterfield…)

Finally, the Star Spot is world cup winner Nobby Stiles who has appeared at Causeway Lane for a Sportsman’s dinner. We get nothing from his speech and it is a fairly limited interview but is the only comment on a fanzine we’ve ever seen from a world cup winner so that’s something. I also has his signature and as there was some spare space a dig at the team formerly known as Horwich RMI.

Brilliant stuff, non league fanzines are a different world, none of the cares of big club premier league fanzines and a much more grounded with news of some big names arriving at the club treated with not much beyond a passing comment.