The Oatcake (Fanzine)

The Oatcake is an influential [citation|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-136586748.html|title=FOOTBALL : Boskamp the cosmopolitan adventurer brings 'total football' cool to Britannia; One of the Dutch stars of 1978 has broken the dour Potteries mould to reshape Stoke City's fortunes.|author=Phil Shaw|publisher=The Independent|date=September 24, 2005] fanzine dedicated to the English association football team Stoke City F.C. [cite web|url=http://www.oatcake.co.uk|title=oatcake.co.uk] It is named after a local delicacy: the North Staffordshire oatcake. The fanzine is well known for its cartoons featuring stereotypes both from within the city of Stoke-on-Trent and from the footballing world. The Oatcake costs £1.50, and while the front cover shows the red colour of Stoke, it is generally black and white format.Inside there is satirical football humour, letters (of Stoke City fans), as well as match reports, and information about away games (where to park, drink etc), and so on.It has been running for well over 20 years and is now Stoke City's sole fanzine, after "A View to a Kiln" stopped publishing. It is edited by Martin Smith. [citation|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2682885.stm|title=Anti-hooligan scheme a 'big success'|publisher=BBC|date=22 January, 2003] It is still very popular with Stoke City fans and the more die-hard fans prefer it to the official pre-match magazine as it is less commercialised, cheaper, and is generally a better read.It is aimed at adults, rather than younger children, as many fanzines are.

The Oatcake is also the dedicated name of the Online Stoke City Fan Forum which is one of the mot popular football fan boards used. There are thousands of registered members and the most users online was 1,238, Sept 1, 2008, 10:10pm (transfer deadline day). The Oatcake board can be found here - http://oatcakefanzine.proboards27.com/index.cgi

External links

* [http://www.oatcake.co.uk Oatcake Online]

References