FBYF is generally acknowledged to be one of, if not the, finest of its generation, and many credit it with helping spark the fanzine boom of the 1980s - which is a quite remarkable achievement for a fanzine based on a provincial Conference outfit.

It's difficult for fans now to understand the environment that spawned 'zine culture across the county, and even harder to grasp the impact the movement had on dragging the game kicking and screaming towards the 21st century. Richard Smith's efforts snared him the 1991 Football Writer of the Year award, ahead of people like Patrick Barclay and Harry Pearson - a just reward for the quality of writing that sparkled right up to 2002.

The advent of the internet obviously reduced the number of printed 'zines, and Rivals swallowed up the decent webzines and turned them into shitter versions of the awful official PTV/World sites... sadly FBYF didn't survive the cull and now appears defunct after two 2002 promotion specials. In Richard's own words to impsTALK a few months ago: 'I can't foresee myself doing another one'.

A shame. But you can dull the pain by browsing impsTALK's very own FBYF archive HERE and relive the good old days....