Lee Nash is co-founder and Creative Director of Glory mag, which recently won Gold at the 14th International Creative Media Awards for best Sport magazine. Here, he explains how the aim is to source authentic stories from some of the furthest footballing outposts – and Carrow Road!
By day I co-run a busy design studio called Ark, based in Norwich. We’re a team of nine, working across a large range of sectors locally and nationally. By night (and many weekends) I’m the co-founder and Creative Director of Glory, a global football and travel content studio, best known for our publications.
Are you Norwich born and raised?
I’ve worked in Norwich all my career, ever since graduating from college back in 2000. I was born in Norwich but have lived on the border in Beccles pretty much all my life, roughly 20 miles south of the city. Personally, I love the commute – gives me a couple of hours to decompress every day.
What led you to setting up Glory?
Back in 2016 I saw a post on Facebook from a former colleague, who had an idea about setting about a new football magazine and was looking for a Creative Director to help him. I immediately jumped on it, and within six weeks we found ourselves pitch side at a UEFA Qualifier, covering the Faroe Islands team playing Romania. With Glory, our ultimate aim was to create something disruptive in the sector – football journalism had become so fast-paced and disposable, we wanted to produce something with real longevity, and selfishly, something we’d want on our own coffee tables. Since launching we’ve sold in 70 plus countries, so we must be doing something right.
How does it differ from other publications about football?
Every issue is dedicated to a different country, city or club. In a world where the English Premier League and fellow elite leagues dominate 90% of the headlines, we source undiscovered, authentic stories from some of the furthest footballing outposts. Each issue also acts as a rough travel guide to that destination – reviewing the best places to eat, drink, stay and visit – to give every aspiring groundhopper the perfect inspiration to jump on a plane and experience it themselves.
Does it involve you and a team going to all these far-flung places?
It does – after the aforementioned Faroe Islands, we’ve found ourselves in Kosovo, Qatar, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Switzerland…plus many others. I’ve always loved travelling, so Glory combines my two biggest passions.
Where is the remotest place you have covered and am I right in thinking you featured NCFC not so long ago?
Just before the pandemic we found ourselves on a tiny island off the coast of Scotland, called Eriskay. They’ve got the most incredible pitch (voted one of the best in the world by FIFA), surrounded by stunning coast. With just a population of 143, the team faces a constant struggle to maintain players, so we told their story of island life in a short film.
And regarding Norwich City, we documented them across six months, during their successful promotion season in 2018/19. It was an incredible experience to get that close to a football team, and we got to chat with many of the players, fans and backroom staff. The issue proved to be one of our most popular ever.
Do you support Norwich, by any chance?
Actually…no. Glory’s photographer, Ryan, and Head of Copy, Andy, are both die-hard City fans, so thoroughly enjoyed working on the issue. I, however, am a season ticket holder at Portman Road, so I had to hide my allegiances for the duration of the production!
You also produce pocket guides – where is the most football-mad city, in your opinion?
This will surprise quite a few people, but we spent last summer in the US, in Philadelphia and San Diego, and were blown away by the passion of the fans, and their thirst for football/soccer. The US have invested a lot in recent years in growing their game and it’s paying dividends. Other than that, the Seville derby between Sevilla and Real Betis was incredible – again, amazing passion.
Most memorable interview to date?
Every interview we’ve conducted has been amazing (bear in mind we’re not trained journalists, so each is a pinch-me moment), but I’d say the interviews with Xavi, Samuel Eto’o and Landon Donovan are up there – legends of the game, and each incredibly down-to-earth.
What did it mean to win the recent award?
It came completely out of the blue – we were nominated by a reader so didn’t even have a clue we were in the running. But to win Gold for the ‘Best Sports Magazine’ globally was ridiculous. We’ve put in thousands of hours (and air miles) to get Glory off the ground, so it was a nice milestone to achieve.
Where is the focus for the next Glory publication and how can people get hold of a copy?
At the end of January, we’ll be releasing our issue dedicated to Scotland. It’s a great issue with some of the best writing we’ve ever produced – we started collecting content for it last May, with four trips North of the Border across the past few months. We even got to review the best deep-fried Mars Bars available! The issue is available to buy across a large network of independent stockists, or direct from our website: glory.studio.
What are your plans for 2024 and beyond?
There are still quite a few destinations being finalised (including Monaco and Texas) but one trip we’re really looking forward to is Naples – we’re taking a team of readers with us for the first ever ‘Glory readers trip’ – they’ll get to shadow us as we collect content, including sitting in on interviews, and even appearing in the magazine itself. We think it’s pretty unique and is just another way to bring us and the readers closer together – our community is everything.
Visit Glory Studio and follow @glorymag_ Instagram and X. Glory Mag is now stocked in Barnesandnoble.com, Inc. across 23 states in the US. Glory Issue 10: Scotland will be released at the end of January and is available to pre-order.
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