Ok, so I’ll explain that title shortly, but it’s an attention grabber. And if you’ve reading this, it’s worked initially.

So we need to secure 1,000 advance subscribers for The Gooner fanzine for the 2019/20 season to ensure its viability and continue printing after this season’s final issue (which goes to press next weekend). We’ve set a deadline on reaching this target by the end of next Saturday (23^rd March) so that, if issue 277 is to be the last ever, we can announce it in the issue itself, as opposed to just disappearing without a trace.

At the time of writing, we have approximately 530 signed up. However, there will be a few cheques in the post, so let’s round that up to 550. Now, in fairness, we needed a big late push last season to get us over the line. People take action when faced with deadlines, so we’re hoping it’s going to be a busy few days at Gooner Towers processing orders.

Here’s the thing. If 90% of the people that signed up a year ago renew (and a good number have already), we’ll be fine. To this end, over the weekend, we sent emails out with a subject line of ‘You have 7 days left to keep The Gooner going!’ and giving them details of how to sign up (details at the bottom of this piece as well). We also gave them the option of requesting we never darken their door again, and so far only seven people out of over 800 emailed have responded in that way.

So now to explain the title of this here article. People get lots of emails. They don’t even see some of them, given the quantity and the way certain email services file them (gmail has promotions and forums for example). So for those who have not responded in some way to let us know they have at least seen the email (telling us a cheque is on the way, an online bank transfer has been made or an order via the website store), we will be doing a couple of follow up emails before next weekend. Only these will have the kind of title that – hopefully – the recipient will not be able to ignore (if they even see said email of course), so we’ll get creative with those subject lines. We’ll be sending Teddy Sheringham round your house unless… has potential, although we don’t want to go more bad taste than that (eg Dennis Berkamp’s cat gets filleted unless you subscribe is probably beyond the pale). If you can think of any really good ones that people cannot fail to ignore, email them to [email protected].

Aside from that, you can go on our Twitter account and retweet some of the relevant tweets there, maybe tagging people you think might be interested. Or simply copy and paste the url of this website article and email it to some friends. This assuming you have already signed up yourself or intend to do so. It goes without saying we welcome new readers as well as current ones.

Granted, The Gooner (and indeed a lot of printed media) has become something of a quaint relic in the modern day. We get that. We know we won’t be around forever. But we are also aware that there is a lot of love out there for something that people grew up with over the years, and crucially, still get pleasure from reading. We cannot compete with online content – it’s free, it’s immediate and some of it is very good. But what we try to do is three things. 1 – Provide some decent nostalgic content that isn’t so easy to find online. 2 – Provide considered, rather then knee-jerk opinion about current events and 3 – Give you something you can take into the loo without fear that dropping it will wipe out your contact list and treasured digital photos. What more could you ask for £30? That amount, for less than the price of the cheapest adult lower tier ticket to watch Arsenal play Watford gets you six x 68 page issues delivered through your door over the course of the season. (If you are overseas the cost is £42 for the season to cover the extra postage).

For those in need of further persuasion who want to see what a typical issue looks like, we’ll email you a free pdf of a sample issue from earlier this season. Just email [email protected] and we’ll send one over to you by the end of the day (that email address was set up a year ago after we did a plug on ArsenalFanTV in case you are wondering).

Ok. So here are all of the Payment options for those that do wish to subscribe for next season and be one of the 1,000 required to keep us printing…

1. Via online bank transfer, making a payment of £30 (or £42 for addresses outside of the UK) to –
   Account name: The Gooner
   Sort Code: 20-76-90
   Account Number: 03004112
   Use the reference 1920 followed by your surname. Very important - please follow up the payment with an email to [email protected] stating your name and address, and the reference that you used for payment (e.g. 1920Smith). Otherwise, we will not be able to match the payment to you. If you require IBAN and BIC codes for an international payment, please email us at [email protected]. If you wish to save yourself doing this every year (assuming we continue), you can set up a standing order for £30 to our account, to go out on 20th March each year. If doing this, please email us to let us know that you have done this and that we can expect payment on 20th March. If we are still going next year, we will look into providing a direct debit form.

2. Pay direct via PayPal to this email address:
   [email protected]. If doing this, please make your payment a ‘friends and family’ / personal gift payment – this helps keep our costs down. Very important – If you do make a payment this way, please email us at [email protected] to inform us of your postal address, as when paying this way, PayPal does not give us your address details.

3. You can pay with a credit or debit card on our online store subscriptions page. Just select the appropriate option whether you are in the UK (£30) or abroad (£42).

4. Via post by sending a cheque - if you wish you can use this form. Please note that in the event of our not reaching our target of 1000 subscribers by 23rd March we will be refunding everyone by the end of May. We will not be cashing any cheques until we reach our target of 1000 subscribers. If we fail to do that we will simply destroy your cheque. This saves on banking and postage costs.

Thank you for your support