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I seldom get the opportunity to thank people on this site but tonight feels like an appropriate opportunity to do so, because this, believe it or not, is the two-thousandth post to have appeared on this site. In the beginning, the concept was a pretty simple one – to keep me off the streets for a few weeks while I looked for a new job and to see if, after a thirteen-or-so year break brought about by life getting in the way, I could actually still write. It took a while to get into the rhythm of it again and even now I occasionally doubt whether I should still be doing this, but even when it feels like a bit of a bind to be opening up the old laptop again, I know in the back of my mind that it would be a far greater bind to close the place down.
Times, of course, have changed, over the last four and a half years. Twitter has become the driving force behind people coming to the site, a medium that we hope to be able to make greater use of over the coming months. We chucked Blogger out of the window in 2008 and WordPress has been a sturdy workhorse since then. As some of you may have noticed, I have seldom been satisfied with the look of the site, but I do finally feel as if I have managed to balance the twin needs of being visually striking and drawing people’s attention towards the writing itself, which is, after all, what it is ultimately all about. There are, you will be either delighted or furious to know, no immediate plans to radically change the look of the site.
Heraclitus, the Greek defensive midfielder, had it right, though. The only thing that is constant is change. While Twohundredpercent as a site will be keeping many of the characteristics that has kept it ticking over since it started, there are tentative plans in place to begin the process of expanding it. There is a chance that there may be a podcast, starting in the new year, and we certainly hope to be able to increase the amount of video that we put on the site. As ever, we are looking for new writers for the site. We can’t pay you for it at the moment (I always feel guilty for saying that, even though there is practically no-one that can pay anyone to do anything in this line of business right now), but what I would like to do would be to build Twohundredpercent into more of a community. We have a forum that is covered in cobwebs, and maybe we’ll make greater use of that. It is only worth doing this, however, if you guys, the readers, want to.
I’m also going to take a moment to self-indulgently thank a few people for their help over the last few years. Ed Carter, Mark Murphy, Rob Freeman and Gavin Saxton have been brilliant with their help in writing for the site, and the same goes for those amongst you that have submitted more occasional pieces, the list of whom is almost too long to mention, but includes William Abbs, Jason MacKeown, Chris Taylor, Ben Shave, EJH, Neil Cotton, Lee Wagstaff, Keith Duncombe, Paul Grech and a host of others. I will also take a moment to thank a few others that have helped on other ways, through support and so on – Dave Boyle and Kevin Rye at Supporters Direct, Garreth Cummins at the FSF, Dr John Beech, Tom Dunmore, Phil Spencer, Dylan Roberts and everybody else at the various Supporters Trusts that have given us a helping hand in getting to the bottom of various bits and pieces over the years. And thanks, of course, to Kate, without whose patience none of this would ever have been possible.
Most of all, of course, thanks to you lot, who read this. I always set the bar for the minimum number of people reading this site for it to not be a complete waste of time to be about 50 per day. We currently average about 40 times that number, and it is a number that it still increasing, even though I am notoriously bad at selling this place to anybody or in any way. If you get the chance, please follow us on Twitter (it’s more than just occasional links back here, you know!), and feel free to get in contact with us if you wish to contribute in any way at all. With your ongoing support, we may still be here in another 2,000 posts’ time.
No Ian – thank you. Not just for the great writing that you’ve brought us, but also on a more selfish note, for the opportunity to write on such a great site.
It’s become essential reading for me over the past few months, not to mention a useful reference on occasion when I do stuff for my own blog. Thanks very much, it’s a wonderful site!
Here’s to 2000 more!
A fantastic site. Your hard work is an inspiration to people like me. Thankyou.
I’m with BlackthornEnder – I followed a link to the site from Andrew Collins blog during the World Cup and have been hooked ever since. The breadth of topics and writing is refreshing and enjoyable. Thank you!
Well done Ian, and everyone else involved. You’ve made the best English football site there is.
Well done to everyone involved, and here’s to 2000 more articles
Would certainly be interested in hearing an occasional podcast from the assorted cast of scribes here, too.
You’re a much better writer than indie DJ Ian so I’m glad you gave that up
It’s a privilege to post here, Ian. The future plans sound great, especially the podcast. I certainly hope to stay involved.
I’ve only just seen this (I try and read during the week but Thursdays are the one day you have a guaranteed visit from me thanks to Mungo – it seems Dotmund is of some small use to you after all), and it’s lead me to the realisation that HEGS will be 2,000 posts old within the next couple of weeks as well. Not that everything on my site can be called an article to the extent of the stuff on here, of course.
Hearty congratulations to you, Ian.
Keep up the great work. This site is a toolbar favourite on any pc I work on and one of the first sites I look at each day.
Along with people like David Conn there are not many wise contributors in this country on our great game.