MAD MAX

A classic Off The Ball cover

This was Issue 12 of Off The Ball fanzine when we took the pee out of Robert Maxwell - the newspaper magnate and pensions thief who took over Watford in 1987 whilst also having an interest in Derby County, Oxford and Reading. This was blatantly in breach of Football League regulations, but as Maxwell himself observed, it was run by “scared and frightened men”.

We were worried about printing this tbh, as Maxwell was known to be litigious and threaten anyone who challenged him. Maybe we were just to small time to care about - perhaps we just hit the nail on the head, and he knew that he didn’t have any grounds to sue us.

Anyway, this remains one of my favourite ‘Off The Ball’ covers.

Meanwhile, here’s the press conference at which Elton John announced his resignation after 11 years on the Vicarage Road board.

There’ll be more of this in my forthcoming book, ‘Where’s The Money Gone? One Fan’s Football Finance Odyssey”