Looking back, and looking forward to...
Exposure therapy at Wembley, what's coming up, and how to get involved.
Words: Sam Parry
A bit of exposure therapy for me over the weekend. I was covering the play-offs for the brilliant Not The Top 20 and saw, for the second time in twelve months, a VAR-disallowed goal at Wembley.
Bloody hell. That was triggering. So too was spending three days watching defeated fans of Middlesbrough, Stockport and Salford stream out of the stadium, shuffling along Wembley Way, only to be greeted by digital signs reading: “Congratulations Hull… Bolton… Notts County…”
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Chills and not the good kind.
Before and after the games, I got chatting to the other people working. And once conversations had moved on from the matches, and then from the weather (temps hit 36 degrees), we’d move on to the typical stuff.
“Who do you work for?” “Who do you support?” “What else do you do?”
I talked about The Pinch. I explained what we make, how it works, why we do it, and the bit that seemed to surprise everyone: that we, a club-level newsletter, pay our writers.
Okay, it’s not loads. Not “quit your job and move to Tuscany” money. But we pay them, and that is more unusual than I had realised in a FOOTBALL CONTENT WORLD.
It made me proud. There are plenty of fan sites that expect people to write for free, farming out trivial nonsense to new graduates because they can. Thanks to our subscribers, The Pinch doesn’t have to be one of them.
And so this week, as I do every year, I sat down, made a list of everyone who has written for The Pinch over the last 12 months, and paid them for their work.*
Our rate is £40 per article.
Our annual subscription is also £40.
So, in the simplest possible terms: one yearly subscription pays for one article on The Pinch.
That is the whole model, really. We are an independent Sheffield United newsletter with no expansionist ambitions, no ads, no special relationship with the football club. We just want to publish good writing, make good podcasts, share opinions we (or at least the authors) actually believe, and pay people for the care they put into it.
Everything we do will continue to be free to read and listen to. We like that. We like the honesty-box feel of it. Nobody is being locked out for not paying. But the reason we can pay writers is because enough people choose to.
So here is the direct ask: if you like The Pinch, and you can afford it, please think about taking out a subscription.
If £40 is too much in one go, monthly subscriptions are £5. And if you’d prefer to make a one-off contribution, you can do that through Buy Me a Coffee.
What’s coming up
We’re in the middle of a short summer break. It’s going to last until late in June. In that time, we’ll be planning the next run of pieces, getting some (frankly mad) podcasts in the can, and generally making sure The Pinch comes back fresh rather than frazzled.
I have a lot of things and ideas that I’m working on. Those include:
Bringing back ‘Blades By Numbers’ so Sheffield United have the best club-level stats site in the world
A “World Cup of Players” special for Memory Lane that involves an outrageous spreadsheet that has taken longer to code than the podcast could ever be
Starting work on a monster Championship 26/27 preview
Wearily sketching out ideas for a Gus Hamer tribute
Oh, and I keep threatening to start a new fanzine - watch this space… maybe
Get involved
I’m currently working through a list of pitches - sorry that it takes so much time to get back to everyone. But now that summer’s here, I have a bit more free time to do that. And I’d love to hear from new people - you just need to reply to this email. Specifically, I’d like to read:
Personal stories/anecdotes from days of yore
A great tactical piece
A strong opinion about what the club is doing right or wrong
An article about the club’s history featuring an event or landmark moment that people may not remember
Also, if you have an idea for Memory Lane or would like to appear on Hang It In The Louvre - please do get in touch.
Right. Think that’s it.
Thanks for reading and subscribing. Huge thanks to David, Riley and Andrew — and of course, all our contributors across words and audio.
Catch you again for a good pinch of Blades stuff soon.
UTB Sam