2011-12 was torrid for the blogs. Two trailblazing club websites, Viva Rovers ^[1] and Boy from Brazil ^[2] called it a day and the circumstances behind these closures made a significant impact, provoking a serious amount of existential, ‘why do we do this?’ mutterings. Then, just a fortnight ago, Ben Mayhew decided to discontinue his Greenwich Gull ^[3] site although he will remain active via his Experimental 361 ^[4] persona.

Thankfully, some terrific sites remain. Our own John McGee did a sterling job with his relaunch of Carlisle United soapbox, Bring Me the Head of Keith Mincher ^[5] and last year’s winner FC Boro happily decided to make a return after a hiatus.

Elsewhere, Watford’s BHaPPY ^[6] continues to set an extraordinarily high standard of writing, while The Exiled Robin ^[7] (Bristol City), The Sky Blues Blog ^[8] (Coventry City), Seat Pitch ^[9] (Nottingham Forest), The Scratching Shed ^[10] (Leeds United) and The Tilehurst End ^[11] (Reading) continued to set high standards.

Design wise, it would be nigh on impossible to beat Steve Welsh’s simply magnificent Miniboro.com ^[12] and The Notts Blog ^[13], Girl on a Terrace ^[14] (Rochdale) and Fever Bitch ^[15] (Kerry Andrew’s smart take on Wycombe Wanderers and other topics) provided zesty highlights. In League 2, The Washbag ^[16] (Swindon) and Oxblogger (Oxford United) are just two of a number of good platforms.

But our 2011-12 winner is A United View of Football - it was a real coup for Ian Rands to scoop interviews with a host of ex-Blades such as Brian Deane and Jamie Hoyland and it’s a credit to Ian that his is one of the few club blogs ^[17] that manages to step above the petty partisanship and in-jokery that let so many down - Ian expertly sidestepped the pitfalls that might have accompanied a less thoughtful writer when Ched Evans was jailed and his cheerful bonhomie is blissfully bereft of the prickliness that seems to plague some tweeters.

Not that that in-jokery is always a bad thing - one site ^[18] which has plenty of this but which also entertains neutrals is Crystal Palace online zine Five Year Plan - having a larger team helps but we really appreciate Jim Daly’s scatalogical editorship and their line on some big campaigns has been admirable.

2010-11 winner: FC Boro ^[19]
2009-10 winner: BHaPPY ^[20]

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