It started with a simple idea. Back in September 1951, when football coverage meant catching snippets in general newspapers, Charles Buchan saw something missing. The old Athletic News was gone, leaving a void where dedicated football coverage should have been. Buchan, already well-known for his work at the News Chronicle and the BBC, decided to fix that himself.
His creation, Football Monthly, wasn't just another magazine; it was a revelation. "Our goal is to provide a publication worthy of our national game and the grand sportsmen who play and watch it," the first issue declared. Those weren't empty words. The magazine's initial circulation reached 60,000, a figure that would bring modern publishers immense joy. By 1967, the magazine was selling an astonishing 250,000 copies per month.
Buchan, who'd traded his football boots for a typewriter, found his second calling as a publisher. "I've never played in this field before, but I'm enjoying it just as much as I did playing football," he wrote. "Learning never stops at any age." His enthusiasm proved infectious. The magazine's "Boys Club" grew to 100,000 members by 1968, and Charles Buchan's Publications Ltd. branched out into eleven different magazines, including 'Soccer Scrap Book' and even music publications for the younger crowd.
The magazine's pricing tells its own story of success. For eleven years, it held steady at 1/6, despite offering 64 packed pages. When changes finally came, they were gradual: two shillings in August 1962, two and six in April 1966, and three shillings for the landmark 200th issue in April 1968, just in time for World Cup fever. The shift to decimal currency brought new prices—17½ new pence in January 1971, then 20p in August 1972, which stayed until the final issue of Football Monthly Digest in June 1974.
Buchan himself wrote for the magazine until the very end. His last column appeared in the August 1960 issue, published shortly after his death in the south of France that June. The suddenness of his passing was felt across the football world, with the September issue carrying two pages of heartfelt tributes. He'd created something special a magazine that captured football's soul during some of its most transformative decades.