Notes From The Fleapit

Back in 2012, I created a character called Graham Newark, the fictional manager of a struggling football team called Ditchford Tusslers. It was called Notes From The Fleapit, the Fleapit being the name of the Tusslers' ground. In essence, it was a cross between Billy The Fish from Viz and something Private Eye used to do. The idea was to use it as a vehicle for my topical comedy skills, by turning a current football story into events that followed the hapless Newark around.

I ceased writing the blog for a couple of reasons, chiefly because it wasn't being read but also because even at that early stage, the same stories began to crop up: a sex scandal there, a transfer rumour there. I'd always intended Graham to be a character who was old school, taken over by a world he couldn't get to grips with. But I came to the conclusion that football fans like to laugh about the game in their own way and a spoof of the manager's weekly notes wasn't going to cause a sensation on social media. Football365, for example, treats the game's eccentricities with biting sarcasm and knowledge; Notes From The Fleapit gave me licence to indulge my inner curmudgeon, and in a nutshell that was the problem - the idea was old-fashioned.

Still, there are bits of it which still make me laugh, so I've linked to the still extant blog below. At some point, it might be nice to become Graham again, as football always churns out content, but until somebody pushes for a football-only version of The Daily Mash I think it won't happen.

 Notes From The Fleapit

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