SJA member, and sometime 
book reviewer for this website, Randall Northam, has stepped in to preserve what he believes to be the longest running sporting annual after Wisden, the News of the World Football Annual.
Last season’s annual might have been the last for the “pocket-sized football encyclopaedia”, when the News of the World ended its sponsorship after 43 years. But Northam, through his publishing house SportsBooks – already publishers of the International Athletics Annual – teamed up with editor Stuart Barnes and found willing backers in England sponsors Nationwide to continue the book.
Northam explains: “What happened is that HarperCollins and the News of the World were dropping it and we were asked by Stuart if we were interested in becoming the publishers. Of course we were.”
The annual will this year have 544 pages. “At £6.99 it represents a great bargain,” Northam says.
For more on SportsBooks, its other books, and to order the Nationwide Football Annual, click here
Read Northam’s blog by clicking here
SJA MEMBERS: Make sure your profile details are up to date in the 2009 SJA Yearbook by clicking here