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glenglenglen.bsky.social
Glen Wilson
@glenglenglen.bsky.social
570 followers 340 following 230 posts
Gogledd-based writer | Senior Digital Editor at the Southbank Centre | popular STAND | Views not completely those of my employer, but we’ve time yet
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glenglenglen.bsky.social
In the latest edition of @alternativewales.bsky.social (out now) I’ve written about searching for ‘good soccer’ in the guise of Eduardo Galeano and finding it in a third-tier Welsh midfielder with massive calves.
A copy of Alternative Wales magazine, open on a two-page article titled ‘Keepy-ups with the Joneses’ which features a photo of a non-league footballer placing the ball for a corner kick. The words of the article are blurred out.
October 13, 2025 at 8:35 AM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Shout to Avanti for advertising the merits of visiting Colwyn Bay… with a picture of Barmouth… a mere four and a half hours away by train.
Part of an email from Avanti that encourages people to visit Colwyn Bay, North Wales. The text reads: ‘Bucket and space list. From beautiful beaches to massive mountains, have an adventure.’ Above the text is a picture of a small town by a sandy beach with a mountainous landscape rising behind it. The town is Barmouth.
September 20, 2025 at 9:02 AM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Still a buzz seeing my name in @wsc.co.uk after all these years.

In the latest issue (455) I’ve written about how weird (and ultimately rubbish) it is not being there for your hometown team’s big day.

Available in shops & online now, with a free Euro 2025 wall chart included! They’re spoiling us.
The front cover of issue 455 of iconic football magazine When Saturday Comes A close up of the opening paragraph of an article titled ‘From afar’ by Glen Wilson, on the page it’s accompanied by an image of Doncaster Rovers fans invading the pitch in April 2025 to celebrate promotion from League Two.
June 27, 2025 at 2:46 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Odd paragraph in a North Wales News piece about Reform, which suggests two independent councillors in South Wales joined the party having become 'disillusioned'

...disillusioned with their own independence?
A section from a news article about Reform that reads 'He also announced independent councillors Andrew Barry and David Hughes, both members of Merthyr Tydfil council, have joined Reform UK, as they also took to the stage to explain how they had become disllusioned and moved to Reform.'
June 9, 2025 at 2:25 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
The choice of image makes this read more like a threat than a promise
An advert for Donny Fest that features the words ‘4 days to go’ and ‘Heather Small will perform’ over an image of singer Heather Small, a Black woman with long straight hair. Small looks angry, pointing a finger skyward as she sings in a microphone, as if she’s saying ‘I will, I fucking will, you know’
June 3, 2025 at 8:45 AM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Maybe he just had a plug-in alarm clock
Screengrab of a BBC news headline that reads ‘Heathrow chief slept as power outage closed airport, inquiry finds’
May 28, 2025 at 7:34 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
The dating app Hinge has introduced AI powered ‘tips to improve your profile’ and, well, let’s just say humour is not in its wheelhouse…
A screen capture from the dating app Hinge in which the app’s in-built AI suggests a change to how a person has answered the prompt ‘Unusual skills’. It suggests changing the answer “Unicycling; Grade 8 bassoon; ice-sculpting; knowing exactly how much spaghetti to cook; singing a note so high it shatters a wine glass; being able to write a killer dating profile... sadly I do not possess any of these” by “considering elaborating on one unusual skill or share a funny story. What's the most surprising reaction you've gotten from your unicycling?”
April 4, 2025 at 6:46 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Haven’t posted any photos of great Welsh football grounds in a while, so to live up to @dannylast.bsky.social’s billing…

Here’s a few from a sunny Saturday at Mynydd Llandegai’s Penrhiw
Two teams of footballers and a referee stand on the edge of the centre circle to observe a minute’s silence, beyond the pitch is the mountainous landscape of Eryri with snow on top of its highest peaks A footballer in maroon volleys a shot over the crossbar from eight yards as a goalkeeper and two defenders in blue look on; beyond the pitch are a white house, a ruined stone outbuilding and the mountainous landscape of Eryri with snow on top of its highest peaks Football match action between a team in blue and a team in maroon; the ball is in midfield. There is a grey village hall pavilion and a small metal grandstand on the side of the pitch; beyond those is the mountainous landscape of Eryri with snow on top of its highest peaks A corner flag on a football pitch, surrounded by a low metal barrier on which a couple of advertising boards hang. Beyond these is the mountains of the Carneddau, they look yellow in the sun with the shadows of clouds drifting over them.
March 5, 2025 at 11:51 AM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
The bus stop in Mynydd Llandygai is well stocked…
although it doesn’t suggest your wait for a bus will be brief
March 2, 2025 at 11:24 AM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
It remains my go-to question for any scenario… although that’s not really panned out well for me on dating apps tbf
Screenshot of a dating app profile on which the prompt ‘The one thing I’d love to know about you is’ has been answered “Did you insinuate my wife was a prostitute on the Plymouth Herald comments section?”
February 28, 2025 at 1:52 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Attention culture lovers!

Today @southbankcentre.bsky.social launches 'The Tonic', a new content-only email newsletter.

It's something I've pushed for pretty much since I joined the place and I'm delighted to see it finally realised.

Check out issue 1, here: tracking.wordfly.com/view?sid=MTE...
An illustration of a yellow envelope from which the words 'The Tonic' are emerging.
February 7, 2025 at 10:06 AM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Joined the ‘Nextdoor’ app to help find a local tradesman and it is certainly something…
A post on the Nextdoor app from a user that reads “A few minutes before o clock today there was an enormous noise over Craig y Don as two very low flying jet aircraft flew over Craig y Don. Was this something to do with Trumps re-election, was the Senedd involved in some way. I think we should be told.”
January 26, 2025 at 8:09 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
I went to see the excellent exhibition, ‘The 80s: Photographing Britain’ at @tate.bsky.social Britain last month.

The photograph in the 4th image here really hit me. It’s not the most spectacular in the exhibition, but it was taken in the village I grew up in, when I was two years old...
In a gallery space an older man sits on a bench in front of a landscape photograph, around him other visitors look at photographs hung on the white walls A woman looks at a collection of black and white photographs hung in a grey gallery wall. The woman and the photos are reflected in the top surface of a glass vitrine in the foreground. Two black and white photographs on a grey gallery wall adjacent to a doorway; through the doorway additional colour photographs can be seen in the white walls of the adjoining gallery space. A black and white photograph on a gallery wall. The photograph depicts a march of striking miners and supporters in the village of Rossington in 1985. The march is led by women two of whom are holding aloft a banner of ‘Rossington women’s support group’.
January 19, 2025 at 4:08 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
I dedicate this pint to the four West Walian women who chose to have three separate lengthy chats with our already late bus driver meaning I missed my train and had an hour to kill in Bangor…
May your drive home to Aberystwyth be plagued by lengthy and poorly signposted diversions
A pint of bitter in a glass from the Purple Moose brewery on a table in a small bar
January 18, 2025 at 6:22 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
As a kid, I hated that there were ‘loads of old films’ on the tv over Christmas… now it’s one of the things I love most about it. Especially as they get added to iPlayer.

Casablanca, Strangers on a Train, The Big Sleep, Dial M for Murder, North by Northwest all helping kill cold January nights
A television screen on which is the title card for the film North by Northwest
January 11, 2025 at 8:05 AM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Is… Is Duolingo offering me out?
A screen capture from language learning app Duolingo with the Welsh ‘Wyt ti eisiau pel ddu?’ and its English translation ‘Do you want a black ball?’
December 28, 2024 at 5:17 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
In the latest issue of @alternativewales.bsky.social I’ve tried to cram two decades of watching #WalesAway into 850ish words.
I’ve probably done as good a job as anyone could.

Get your copy now. Makes a great* late Christmas present.

(*views of recipients may differ)
An open copy of Alternative Wales on a table top. The magazine is open on a two-page spread titled ‘Finding Love in a Hopeless Place’ though the article copy is blurred out. There is a large image on the spread of soggy Wales fans in the open away end in Zenica in Bosnia Herzegovina in 2015.
December 18, 2024 at 6:06 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Had to leave a WhatsApp group of mates planning the logistics of getting to Wales football matches, because I can't envisage a point where I'll be able to afford to go to any of them, and I don't want that disappointment to manifest into resentment of good people having a good time.
A screenshot of a tweet by Carl Anka that reads 'The rising price of 'everything' makes you feel as if you've gone backward in the key areas of your life. It's frustrating and maddening'.
December 17, 2024 at 10:05 AM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
For the latest issue of @wsc.co.uk I was asked to write about Doncaster Rovers’ former home ground Belle Vue.

I probably could’ve written a book, but mercifully for all involved, they kept me to 875 words.

It’s available in all good newsagents, and some ropey ones, now.
An open two page spread from When Saturday Comes issue 449. They feature an article titled ‘Belle Vue, 1922-2006’ written by Glen Wilson. There are five images of the old football ground - former home of Doncaster Rovers - across the spread. The text of the accompanying article is blurred out in a desperate effort to make people buy print magazines.
December 11, 2024 at 6:13 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
For all the huge names and stars the Southbank Centre manages to attract, it’s in its free and community events programme that it is at its absolute best.

Huge props and respect to my colleagues behind events like today’s joyous Simmer Down
December 6, 2024 at 5:36 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
But… but it has to… the track doesn’t go any further.
A graphic that reads ‘Disruption alert, the 7.40 train won’t stop at London Euston’
December 1, 2024 at 6:52 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Had cause to dig out some photos of old trips to watch #WalesAway for the next issue of @alternativewales.bsky.social and turns out I really am a sucker for a good shot of Wales fans entering a stadium.

Photos below are from Macedonia in 2013 and Lens and Toulouse in 'that' summer of 2016.
Looking through an entry way into the main stadium of RC Lens in France ahead of the match between Wales and England at the 2016 European Championships Finals. The entry way is dark, but two wales fans can be seen cheering in the light ahead; a red flag is tied to a barrier and a beachball is flying through the air. Climbing the steps into the main stadium bowl in Toulouse in France ahead of the match between Wales and Russia at the 2016 European Championships Finals. Wales fans in team shirts and bucket hats are stepping from the dark into the light of a clear blue sky; the bottom of a Wales flag flaps against the roof of the entry way. Wales fans in national team shirts and bucket hats form a line up to the turnstile of the main stadium in Skopje, Macedonia. The turnstile is a big metal gate with many stewards standing behind it. Directions and instructions in Cyrillic are in green type above the entrance.
November 26, 2024 at 2:03 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
The Deiniolen pictures went down well so here’s a few from Cae Sling, home of Penmaenmawr Phoenix, earlier this month.

There’s a lot more of this kind of thing - photos of mainly Welsh football (and occasional Doncaster Rovers games) at instagram.com/popularstand
Football match action from Penmaenmawr Phoenix’ 7-0 win over Llandudno Amateurs at their Cae Sling ground. Phoenix wear yellow and blue stripes, Amateurs wear red shirts and black shorts. The field has a metal fence round the touchline; behind one touchline the landscape rises up to the northernmost mountains of the Carneddau. It’s autumn so the foliage is red and brown. Five older men watch on from behind the fence. Football match action from Penmaenmawr Phoenix’ 7-0 win over Llandudno Amateurs at their Cae Sling ground. Phoenix who have an attacking corner, wear yellow and blue stripes, Amateurs wear red shirts and black shorts. The field has a metal fence round the touchline; behind one touchline the landscape rises up to the northernmost mountains of the Carneddau. It’s autumn so the foliage is red and brown. Football match action from Penmaenmawr Phoenix’ 7-0 win over Llandudno Amateurs at their Cae Sling ground. Phoenix wear yellow and blue stripes, Amateurs wear red shirts and black shorts. The field has a metal fence round the touchline; behind one touchline the landscape rises up to the northernmost mountains of the Carneddau. It’s autumn so the foliage is red and brown. The mountains drop down to the sea beyond the far goal. Football match action from Penmaenmawr Phoenix’ 7-0 win over Llandudno Amateurs at their Cae Sling ground. Phoenix wear yellow and blue stripes, Amateurs wear red shirts and black shorts. The field has a metal fence round the touchline; behind one touchline the landscape rises up to the northernmost mountains of the Carneddau. It’s autumn so the foliage is red and brown.
November 21, 2024 at 9:09 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Realised I’ve gained a few followers here under @dannylast.bsky.social’s promise of football photography so better post some.

Here are some photos of Y Bwthyn, home to CPD Deiniolen
Match action from Y Bwthyn the home ground of CPD Deiniolen, situated in the mountains of Eryri in North Wales. The pitch is cut into the landscape allowing spectators behind the goal to view from atop of a 20ft high bank. Match action from Y Bwthyn the home ground of CPD Deiniolen, situated in the mountains of Eryri in North Wales. The pitch is cut into the landscape allowing spectators behind the goal to view from atop of a 20ft high bank. Match action from Y Bwthyn the home ground of CPD Deiniolen, situated in the mountains of Eryri in North Wales. The pitch is cut into the landscape allowing spectators behind the goal to view from atop of a 20ft high bank. Match action from Y Bwthyn the home ground of CPD Deiniolen, situated in the mountains of Eryri in North Wales. The pitch is cut into the landscape allowing spectators behind the goal to view from atop of a 20ft high bank.
November 21, 2024 at 1:55 PM
glenglenglen.bsky.social
Incredible scenes here on the 6.16 to Cardiff Central where we’ve now reached ‘not even a box for that on the delay repay form’ levels of delayed journey.
An electronic information board onboard a train that states ‘this train is delayed by approximately 187 minutes’
November 19, 2024 at 11:06 AM