The Square Ball: Season 36, Issue 03

Written by: The Square Ball
Cover artwork by: Arley Byrne

This is the third issue of The Square Ball’s 36th season and Leeds United’s 2025/26 definitely-not-ending-in-relegation campaign.

Don’t worry, most of this was written before the Burnley game so is mostly quite positive. But we still had time to sprinkle a bit of Turf Moor misery onto the pages before it went to print. Arley Byrne‘s excellent cover artwork is a teaser from our upcoming 2026 charity calendar, featuring Ao Tanaka rocking the mic in a 1999/00 away shirt. What’s not to love?

Inside the mag, you’ll find from your favourite regular contributors:

Rob Conlon goes on a European away day all the way to York, taking in the local delicacies and the chance to see Jonny Howson back in a Leeds shirt
Actor and musician Niall McNamee tells Chris McMenamy about living a football fantasy, scrapping with Jackie Chan and why he could only write a miserable Leeds song
James Richardson meets Marcelo Bielsa and Junior Firpo in Kuala Lumpur for Uruguay’s friendly with the Dominican Republic
Architect Jack Morgan takes a closer look at the Elland Road redevelopment plans
Plus OAP limbs in the South Stand, staring into Pablo Hernandez’s eyes, swapping Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s feet with two more heads and how supporting Leeds United makes us question the existence of time itself

Subscribe to get this issue cheap with TSB+ — click here for info

How do I subscribe? Or read online?

Click here for more info on subscribing, and choose either TSB+ Mag or TSB Magazine.

Getting the magazine delivered to your home is a very good idea, as it will arrive free of beer stains and torn corners, unless your postie is having a bad morning.

The best way to buy The Square Ball is to subscribe and get every regular issue delivered to your home for the next twelve months.

That way we know how many to print, and we have the money up front to pay the printer. We’ll post anywhere in the world and you won’t miss an issue.

You can get £10 off a subscription to the paper magazine if you buy an annual membership of TSB+. TSB+ gets you all our podcasts advert free, early access and live streaming video of The Match Ball podcast, a digital sub to the magazine, a daily email, discounts and more — and that tenner off getting the paper version delivered.

If you don’t want to subscribe — why not?! — you can buy this issue on its own by clicking here, and we’ll post it out as soon as it’s printed.

Can I buy the magazine at Elland Road?

As always since 1989, barring pandemics and badly timed World Cups, The Square Ball magazine will be on sale outside Elland Road, for the match against West Ham on Friday 24th October 2025. Just look out for our windswept but friendly sellers by the Lowfields tunnel, Billy’s Statue, the Kop gates, and anywhere else someone is holding a fanzine in the air, until about fifteen minutes before kick-off.

I’m a TSB+ member, where is the online magazine?

TSB+ members can read the magazine online now here:

Download the PDF here

What else is in this issue?

Our now twelve times-nominated and two-times FSF Award winning fanzine, plus one for the podcast and as of 2022 one for ‘Fan Media’, includes lots of pages of articles and artwork about what used to be the pain but now is the glory which still involves pain of being a Leeds United supporter, for more than 100 long, long years.

Can I read something now? For free? Ah go on?

Free to read from this issue is Chris McMenamy’s interview with actor and musician Niall McNamee about playing in goal for Ireland, being put through a table by Jackie Chan and getting brainwashed into supporting Leeds — click here to read that for free.

Also free to read from this issue is Jonathan Peel on his love of big headers and his new spirit animal, Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Read that for free here.

You can order paper copies of issue three from our online shop now, and they’ll be sent out as soon as they’re printed. To read a digital version online, please become a TSB+ member, with a one month free trial, here.

As Howard Wilkinson always used to say, thank you for your magnificent support. ⬢