26
In delving into the world of football literature, and the second offering from Tyneside writer and author, Aidan Williams, we hear about his path to publication, and his love for that of the history of the beautiful game. A path traversed from Merseyside (parents), through the East Midlands (he and his sister), Aidan was to be brought up a Geordie, in Ponteland, and, apart from spending some time, travelling and working abroad, Aidan has spent the past dozen or so years back on his native Tyneside. Now, Aidan is married with children, and with that has taken the opportunity to follow a path into that of book research, writing, and publication, even making strides already with what will become his third offering. In fact, between that of his first two releases, ‘Worst in the World: International Football at the Bottom of the FIFA Rankings,’ and the very recent, ‘The Nearly Men: The Eternal Allure of the Greatest Teams that Failed to Win the World Cup,’ (we think he likes
that of a long, book title) Aidan has also spent the past seven years writing for the esteemed, ‘these Football Times,’ where he has become [art of the leadership team. “I’d done some writing before, dabbling, but mainly as a hobby,” explained Aidan. “But then, it’s progressed for that quite quickly, including onto books. “With ‘These Football Times,’ I began by submitting articles onspec, graduated through the ranks, and now I’m part of their leadership team – that in itself opens up other opportunities. “The final decisions though, they lie with Omar, the editor, and he’s
normally, pretty spot on.” Away from the mire of newspapers, magazines, your mainstream journalism, a plethora of writer, and certainly within the world of sports, look to pick and choose what they write about; generally, it’s a passion, a love of the beautiful game itself. And, as long as you, even loosely, stick to the topic in hand, it’s an, anything goes kind of world out there – just be factually correct, and truthful with it. “Something which I really enjoyed doing, a few years ago, was centred around Finland and their qualification for the European Championships,” stated Aidan, looking back on perhaps his favourite piece of work, to date. “I’d noticed, several months beforehand, what was happening in their qualification campaign (it was their first time qualifying for a major, international tournament), so I managed to speak with quite a few Finnish supporters, talking about their experiences. “It was very enjoyable, and, not surprising really, was received
