THESE PEOPLE REALLY ARE PATHETIC

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A small piece in the Stockport Messenger in July 1991 heralded the birth of The Tea Party. Local cartoonist Bill Edge who supplied cartoons for a couple of clubs fanzines already was amazed that County seemed to be the only football club in the country which had bypassed the fanzine revolution of the late 80s. Wanting therefore to start one he had contacted he local press to appeal for County fans for help.

Bill was soon contacted by Rob Beswick; Tom Ellis;  Dave Blythe; Mike Cochrane and Dave Espley. Each had something to offer, the most practical being Rob’s knowledge of the publishing business; Toms previous fanzine experience, (with a Belle Vue Speedway fanzine); and Dave Espley’s wife’s typing skills and access to a laser printer. More significantly, each had individually also been wondering why County were just about the only Club without a fanzine and in some cases had been scribbling ideas down with the tentative feeling that they might perhaps, one day, all being well, start one themselves. Bill Edge’s advert provided kick up the arse that was needed to bring them together.

Dave and Bill acted as liaison for the first issue which was thrown together in only a couple of weeks and which hit the streets for the League game against Preston on 30th August 1991. The first print run sold out and the reaction was mixed although tending towards the positive. One problem was that the cover didn’t display the name clearly enough so that many fans didn’t know until issue 2 what the magazine was actually called.

The clubs reaction to the fanzine was positive at first although remarks from the Chairman concerning where the profits were going proved an irritating – and ominous in view of what transpired – sign of how the club saw the magazine. Far worse however was the fury caused by the fanzine’s campaign to retain ‘The Hatters’ as County’s nickname in the face of Brendan Elwood’s change to ‘The Cobras’ to tie in with a sponsorship deal. Insult and counter-insult soon began to fly between fanzine and programme with accusations of Bill’s Man United leanings, (and similar accusations towards local journalist Stuart Brennan), leading to a cartoon being printed which libelled Steve Bellis County’s marketing manager. After the threat of legal action Dave Espley insisted in the face of opposition from Bill that an apology was printed in issue 6.

in view of the contretemps, by Christmas 1991, Bill had had enough and handed over the editorship for issue 7 onwards to Dave, who, in a sign of things to come, had already committed a good deal of fanzine cash to buying a computer and printer.  Bill concentrated his efforts in other directions which meant that although he still supplied cartoons for the inside pages the covers now moved towards using photographs  with the occasional embarassingly bad cartoon cover supplied by Dave.

Dave then set about sorting out the admin side of the operation introducing subscriptions and stocking shops. As a result the readership widened and at the end of the season ‘The Tea Party’ was voted best new fanzine by customers of both AFN Distribution and “Scottish Zinescene” the national mail order fanxine outlets..

During the close season of 1992 Dave invested heavily in computer equipment, a printer and DTP software, which was partially financed by back-page adverts, and mainly by a bank loan. The vast improvement in the appearance of the magazine seemed to encourage new contributors and the number of people writing either letters or articles became gratifyingly high.

However all was not well on the streets. Arriving on the ground to sell the brand new issue 18 in November 1992 the small band of sellers was dismayed to find the police enforcing street trading laws and instructing the sellers to stop. It was later discovered that David Coxon, County’s Chief Executive, was telling the police to do this ostensibly to prevent County being ripped off by the unofficial scarf and t-shirt sellers who had appeared following the club’s Wembley debut the previous May, but clearly also to strike a blow against the fanzine. Things looked uncertain for a time until a bit of research at Manchester’s Central Library unearthed the Greater Manchester Act 1981 which stated that no licence was required for street trading as long as only magazines and / or newspapers were sold. The fact that the police were actually unaware of the law they were supposed to be enforcing was interesting to say the least; rather than complaining, however, resigned acceptance of their ignorance was the feeling; it was seen as a further example of how football fans are in many ways mistreated under the law. To be fair, however, most of the police were apologetic as they moved on the sellers – small consolation when they shouldn’t have actually been moving people on at all.

The feeling then was that we had secured a major victory over a petty piece of vindictiveness from the Club. Prolonged gloating however was never an option. The fanzine was now making a small amount of money and whilst we wanted to give it to the club in various forms of sponsorship we were unable to do so while relations with the club hierarchy were so acrimonious.

Letters to Elwood which attempted to clear the air were constantly ignored but eventually a letter to David Jolley produced a response and a trip to City Estates in Sheffield.  Dave Espley held a friendly and fairly constructive meeting with Jolley and Martin Elwood and it was agreed that, whilst certain areas of difference would always remain between a fans magazine and the Board of a football club, the slate could be wiped clean and sponsorship accepted.

The following season therefore TTP sponsored Alan Finley and the match ball for the game with Barnet on New Year’s Day 1994. Dave took a fan with MS along to that game although at the end of the same season TTP’s invitation to the sponsors function mysteriously disappeared and despite some assurance that it had in fact been posted never arrived. Mainly in view of that fact, although other things also caused slight concern, the decision was taken that straight sponsorship would in future come lower down the list of priorities and it was decided to sponsor County’s soccer schools instead. County would still get some financial benefit and TTP would still be seen be seen to be supporting County’s avowed  intention of getting youngsters interested in the club again. Improving the presentation of the mag, however, remained the prime aim – donating any money left over was always a secondary objective.

Sending regular copies of TTP to all the quality press, a decision which Dave Espley took early in TTP’s second season, has paid great dividends over the years as the magazine has been mentioned numerous times in the Soccer Diaries of the Independent, the Telegraph, and the Guardian as well as on numerous occasions on local radio and TV. Indeed following the QPR Cup win in 1994, the fanzine was mentioned in both the Guardian’s and the Independent’s match reports, the Independent referring to it as  “one of the country’s foremost fanzines”. The culmination of four years improvement occurred in June 1995 when The Tea Party was voted Fanzine of the Year by ‘Four Four Two’ magazine.

Today, TTP as a regular print of 1,100 copies. At least ten 44 page issues per season are produced of which 200 copies are sent shops around the country, 40 odd go to subscribers, around 150 are given away as complementaries and the remainder sold outside the ground.

Profits are divided between buying computer equipment and sponsoring County’s soccer schools as well as occasional one offs such as sponsoring Kevin Francis and Andy Preece’s videos, sponsoring match balls, or buying mascot places.

Of the original group which conceived issue one day Dave Espley now edits the fanzine; Tom Ellis regularly contributes under his nom-de-plume ‘Starman’; and Rob Beswick, Mike Cochrane, and Dave Blythe all help sell the mag.