The Oatcake

The Oatcake was a fanzine dedicated to the English football team Stoke City F.C.[1][2]

It is named after a local delicacy: the North Staffordshire oatcake. The fanzine is well known for its cartoons featuring stereotypes both from within the city of Stoke-on-Trent and from the footballing world. 'The Oatcake' cost £2.50, and while the front cover shows the red colour of Stoke, it is generally black and white format. Inside there is satirical football humour, letters (from Stoke City fans), as well as match reports, and information about away games (where to park, drink etc.), and so on. It ran for over 30 years before publishing its 653rd and final issue for the opening EFL Championship game against Queens Park Rangers in August 2019.[3] It was edited by Martin Smith.[4]

  1. ^ Phil Shaw (24 September 2005), "FOOTBALL : Boskamp the cosmopolitan adventurer brings 'total football' cool to Britannia; One of the Dutch stars of 1978 has broken the dour Potteries mould to reshape Stoke City's fortunes.", The Independent[dead link‍]
  2. ^ "oatcake.co.uk". Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  3. ^ "Oatcake bows out: Martin Smith reflects on 31yrs running Stoke City institution". 3 August 2019.
  4. ^ Anti-hooligan scheme a 'big success', BBC, 22 January 2003