Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly September 1951

In September 1951, a revolution in sports journalism quietly began. Charles Buchan, a veteran writer for the News Chronicle and the BBC, launched what would become one of Britain's most beloved football publications: Charles Buchan's Football Monthly.
That first issue, now a treasured collector's item, still exists in remarkable condition. Its pages remain crisp and clean, its staples bright and untarnished, and its binding is as tight as the day it rolled off the press. But what makes this magazine truly special isn't just its physical condition; it's the story of its meteoric rise. Buchan had spotted something nobody else had: a hunger for dedicated football coverage. His instincts proved spot-on. The magazine launched with an impressive 60,000 readers a figure that would make modern publishers weak at the knees. However, this was only the start of its success. By 1959, circulation had doubled to 120,000. Two years later, it reached 130,000. The magazine hit its peak in 1967, when an astounding 250,000 copies flew off the shelves each month. The publication's "Boys Club" alone boasted 100,000 members by 1968. 
Buchan dedicated nine years of his life to the magazine, contributing a column to each and every issue. His last piece appeared in August 1960, showing no signs of what was to come. The following month, readers opened their magazines to find two pages of tributes Charles Buchan had passed away in the south of France that June, leaving behind a publication that had transformed football journalism forever.