Or yesterday to be exact. September the 3rd is a more significant date in world history, but on September 2 1989, after a short labour (very short, judging by the contents) the infant Patgod received a slap on the back and drew its first breath.
At that time, football fanzines were the big new thing and everyone had to have one. A bit like an iPhone, but with dodgy lettering and staples. And swearing. It was simply a case of when not if for the Poppies, and a lively character called Lorne Cheetham seized the moment. When I first came across him, we both lived in London and arranged to meet at our fixture at Welling Utd, where he confidently assured me he would be launching KTFC's very own fanzine.
Lorne's advance description of the blockbusting first issue didn't quite match the reality of the single folded sheet he handed me on Welling High Street. Had the pages not been numbered 1 to 4 I might have been tempted to ask where the rest of it was. But he looked so pleased... and it was undeniably a start.
Not that everyone was so generous. The initial reaction from the Travel Club was lukewarm at best, with copies discarded on the terrace (just imagine what they'd fetch now on eBay!), and even before he saw it Peter Morris instinctively developed a nervous twitch.
It wasn't the happiest of afternoons for the team either. A 3-0 defeat to Welling's familiar mixture of dwarves and trolls left the travelling fans in a foul mood which not even Lorne's jolly glance back to the epic previous season could improve. In fact it probably made things worse.
But happy birthday Patgod and hope you like the football shaped bubble bath we bought you.
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