The October 1954 edition is lavishly packed with photographs from cover to cover, capturing the spirit of football’s golden age. One highlight is an article featuring the amateurs of Yiewsley, along with a wonderful team photo. There’s also an amateur “who’s who” spotlight on Dave Brown. The cover itself showcases a striking action shot of George Farm, Blackpool’s goalkeeper, caught mid-flight, while inside you’ll find a portrait of Gordon Smith of Hibernian. The back cover features a lovely colour photograph of Bert Williams from Wolverhampton Wanderers. Team groups from 1954 include Blackburn Rovers, Chester, Bury, and Stockport County. The magazine’s pages are dotted with charming vintage adverts: Billy Wright pitching Lucozade, Stanley Matthews promoting U-Win Sports clothing and Arthur Rowe advertising his boots. There’s even an old Charles Atlas ad—one everyone seems to remember. Some of these adverts are so dated, you can’t help but laugh. One especially amusing one touts “the Wiser Way to Smoke,” a throwback to an era when cigarette ads were everywhere. There’s also a full feature on Bill Slater of Wolverhampton Wanderers in celebration of the championships, and, notably, quite a few goalkeepers show up throughout these pages. All in all, this issue stands out for both its rich football content and its delightful glimpse into the culture and quirks of the 1950s.
In the early 1950s, color photography was rare and expensive for publications. To add visual appeal, many photos—especially on covers and center spreads—were black-and-white prints that artists then hand-coloured. This gave the images a distinctive, sometimes slightly surreal look, with bright, flat colors and bold contrasts.
These hand-coloured photos were created by artists who painted directly onto black-and-white images, using watercolors, dyes, or tinted oils to bring them to life with vivid, often slightly surreal colours. The colouring was sometimes slightly inaccurate—kits or backgrounds could vary, and even the ball was sometimes inserted—but that was part of the charm.
The artists at Soccerbooks have taken these classic 1950s A4 hand-coloured images and elevated them with the latest art technology, producing stunning A4 prints that are perfect for framing—all for as little as £9.99. You can explore the collection here:
Hand Coloured Prints The front and back covers are both intact. Naturally, the magazine shows its age after more than seventy years, but we consider this copy a collector’s piece. We’ve carefully cleaned away surface marks using Absorene, leaving the covers looking as fresh as possible. All pages are present, with no signs of previous owners’ names or any newsagent markings. The staples—though a little dull are not rusted and still hold the binding firmly. A manuscript from the forthcoming book (2026/27),
Finding Its Voice: The Identity Quest of Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly, is being shared
here. If you have any memories or information about the magazine, please feel free to leave a comment— We’d love to hear from you—and maybe even have a chat!
We’ve got the biggest collection of vintage football books, annuals, magazines, and a variety of cigarette and bubble gum cards that were popular back in the day. If you think you, a family member, or even an ancestor might appear in one of the thousands of photos in our publications, just email us your details to archives@soccerbooks.co.uk and we’ll help you find out; just allow 2 to 3 weeks for a reply.
