This came out in August 2014, which seems like a life time ago. This is a bumper packed 48 page gem which we printed thousands of hoping to sell by the bucketload. We did sell a respectable amount but are still trying to recover costs from it yet.
There are some great stories in it and it was reviewed in porgramme monthly.
We all love retro and nostalgia, in football they can be infinitely more uplifting than the present. No matter what the travails of the past were there’s normally lots to smile and reminisce about. Even glorious, or inglorious, defeats can seem preferable to current situations. For Scotland supporters there’s nothing like the past – and this new magazine makes the most of it.
SEBT is best described as a fanzine (though it says it probably isn’t) . Even that is nostalgic. A print publication, totally off-line, and with the recurring themes of epic away trips, drinking (it is Scottish) , defeat snatched from the jaws of victory, the failure of the powers that be, drinking, incredibly inept players, and the odd glorious success. It’s devoted to the Scotland national team , and even an Englishman can begin to empathise a little after reading it. Ok, we English have had our hopes dashed in big tournaments but at least we qualified. No finals for Scotland since 1998. That’s eight unsuccessful qualifying campaigns.
It’s not meant to be analytical nor to set out the path for progress. It’s a “collection of memories, thoughts, and opinions”, and is just that . For collectors there’s a piece on the merits of ticket stubs against programmes, and one on cards from the 60s and 70s (featuring Scottish internationals of course). And “Tit for Tat” is for the supporter who doesn’t have a theme but just accumulates “stuff” related to his/her team – in this case a 1974 Roary Superscot tea towel to Tennent’s Lager beermats to postcards from St Vincent &The Grenadines featuring shots from Scotland matches…
There’s a look at World Cup songs (and how at least Scots haven’t had to listen to any since 1998) and the clothes that Scotland supporters wear, plus many cross continent travel stories in search of Scottish glory.
It’s amusing, it’s opinionated , it is , as it says, “a bunch of Scotland supporters sounding off and feeling all the better for it”. SEBT hopes to publish again in March 2015 , if it doesn’t then this first issue may well be a collectible itself. Peter Berry
Buy on ebay now.
The Scotland Epistles Football Magazine 
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