Glory: The Football Mag
GLORY is a celebration of football’s beauty across the world, blending powerful storytelling with breathtaking photography. Each issue travels beyond the stadiums and scorelines, uncovering the deep cultural roots, personal triumphs, and unforgettable moments that define the global game. If you've ever seen the magazine, you'll realise why we were so pleased to get the team involved in creating the 50 Years of the Replica Shirt book project. We caught up with Lee from GLORY to ask him about the magazine and how the link-up with Admiral came about.
When did you start GLORY?
I distinctly remember the post on social media – “I’m looking for a designer to pair up with me on a football magazine idea that I’ve got – drop me a DM if interested”. It was from a former colleague of mine, Ryan Mason – a very talented photographer and dedicated Norwich fan (but I won’t hold that against him). I immediately reached out – having my own football publication was something I’d yearned for since I was a completely obsessed seven-year-old poring through the pages of Match, Shoot and 90 minutes. After a coffee to chat it through it was clear that he’d stumbled across an idea that felt completely unique in the space – a high-end football and travel publication that looked to document some of the world’s most unique cultures, in its remotest areas. I didn’t need asking twice, and in late July 2015, Glory was born. Nearly 10 years later, and we’ve travelled the world, interviewed some of my genuine heroes (Xavi being a particular highlight) and sold in over 70 countries.
Where does your interest in football around the world come from?
My first taste of ‘football abroad’ was as a young boy, on a day trip to Barcelona. We were on a family holiday in Lloret de Mar, just a few miles up the coast, and I pleaded with my parents to take me to see Camp Nou. Gary Lineker had recently made the switch to the Blaugrana, and I remember reading all about it on the back pages of The Sun (forgive me). His move just felt so exotic, and a million miles from the wet and windy terraces of home. My lasting impression was just how vast the stadium was – myself a small speck in this giant circular bowl of neverending blue and red seats. And although I didn’t get to see a game – we’d missed it by a couple of days – the die was set for my passion of groundhopping.
Issue one of the magazine was based on the Faroe Islands, what drew you to this remote location?
We had a concept. We’d just (finally) agreed on a name. But where the hell do we go first? We drew up a shortlist and scoured Google for some of the most photogenic footballing landscapes. We knew we wanted to avoid any of the footballing ‘elite’. We also knew that we were on a (very small) budget, so that ruled out long-haul. After a few hours something stopped our scrolling immediately – the other-worldly ‘pitch by the sea’, located in Eiði – a small village in the Faroe Islands. Despite just being 200 miles north of Scotland, we didn’t really know much about this tiny country, other than the fact they were pretty terrible at International football. More research discovered that every ground was a photographers dream – beautiful pitches nestled within fjords or surrounded by picture perfect communities. We’d also learnt that football in the Faroes was popular amongst their inhabitants – almost 1 in 4 attended a game at the weekends, making it one of the best supported leagues per capita in the world.
With our first destination set, we now needed to find a way of making this a reality. And that’s where luck played a huge part in Glory getting off the ground. We didn’t have much joy contacting clubs directly (we didn’t have a product to show, just an idea), but struck gold when we reached out to Visit Faroe Islands. The recipient of our email, Levi Hanssen, was sold on the concept as soon as he heard our pitch. And the best bit? He was a former player for both B36 Tórshavn (one of the league’s most successful teams) and the national team. Within 6 weeks of chatting with him, we found ourselves pitchside as official UEFA photographers for their national qualifier vs Romania. We mixed it with Skansin (their Viking-esque ‘Ultras’ group) and spent an incredible week exploring the terrains of their 18 islands.
The issue was launched 5 months later (we had the luxury of time – something we can only dream of now) and we were blown-away with the response. The issue has been reprinted 3 times and is still our most requested publication. Last year we returned to film a short documentary, which will be released this summer, as we wanted to give something back to the country that launched Glory. It was still as magical. Fans were still as passionate. And we’ll be forever grateful to Levi for taking a punt on our idea.
How did you get involved in the 50 years of Admiral book project?
I had an email out of the blue from Theo Hamburger. He told me how Admiral were approaching the 50th anniversary of when they’d pioneered the replica shirt, and how he was planning a year-long calendar of activity to celebrate the occasion. Part of this was to produce a book to commemorate the feat, and asked if we’d be interested in helping them produce it. He’d seen Glory issues in the past and I think he liked our clean aesthetic. I’m a magpie when it comes to football projects, especially ones that offer a large hit of nostalgia, so it was definitely something that piqued my interest. One of my first ever shirts was England ‘82 (my mum had picked it up from a car boot) so I was well aware of Admiral’s place in footballing history, but never knew just how much influence they’d had. Once Theo had regaled the stories of Don Revie et al, it was clear that this had the potential to be a really special project.
What was the process of designing the Admiral Book?
It was clear that this was a huge undertaking – a 300+ page book documenting decades of shirts – the research alone would take months. So I set about drafting in a dream team for the project, headed up by two of the best writers in the industry – Rob MacDonald and Adam Bushby (of Halcyon Publishing fame). As the shirts themselves would take centre-stage, getting the photography right was also key, so we commissioned James Hendley to take the lead on this. He’d shot shirt launches for Soccer Bible, so we knew he’d be a great fit.
Now that we had a team we set about creating the content plan. We raided the shirt archive of Admiral, contacted prolific shirt-collectors across Europe and partnered with Classic Football Shirts to track down some of the most iconic shirts from Admiral’s incredible back catalogue. Some were harder to find than others – who knew that the Grimsby Town 80/81 shirt was held in such high regard?
Once we’d whittled down the list of shirts, we set about researching, writing, shooting and designing. We held private collector events to get our hands on original shirts, interviewed former players (Lineker, Shearer, Alvin Martin and more) to glean first-hand insights, and connected with Admiral’s lead shirt designer, Lindsay Jelley, to discover her original sketches. Kit historians Professor Andrew Groves and Professor Jean Williams offered excellent insight into those early days of Admiral and the advent of the replica shirt market, with Jacqui McAssey taking up the narrative on how that impact is still felt today.
The whole process took nearly a year, but we couldn’t be happier with how it turned out – a real passion project that for us perfectly sums up Admiral’s huge impact on footballing culture.
How did you find all the original Admiral images?
There is no better archive of teams wearing Admiral than the late Neville Chadwick’s. Seemingly around for every key moment in their history, his collection is now expertly curated by his son, Graham. His help with the sourcing of some of the more harder to find imagery was essential in the success of this project. We also partnered with Offside images – again they hold an incredible collection of retro imagery – we really were spoilt for choice.
What projects are you working on currently?
The great thing about Glory is the random projects we get offered, and the far flung, unexpected places we find ourselves. Currently we’re working on three publications (for Colorado Rapids, Hibernian and Hamburg), are organising the world’s first ‘football under the stars’ tournament in Northern India, and have been approached about launching a League One Club’s new shirt this summer. We’re also creating a sister brand – Glory Travel – which is a huge repository of online footballing city guides. It’ll be a one-stop-shop to be able to purchase matchday tickets, travel and accommodation, plus you’ll be able to find the best local bars for fans, and even learn a chant or two. As we say, it’s a very busy time for Glory, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Interview with Lee @ GLORY MAG
