ONE of the country's oldest and best loved football fanzines may be about to close.

Rob Nichols, editor of Middlesbrough's Fly Me To The Moon, said dwindling crowds at Middlesbrough have hit sales and he is considering finishing the print version of the magazine which began in 1988.

However, any decision will not impact on his website, which has about four million hits a month.

Mr Nichols, 49, currently prints about 600 to 700 copies which sell for 1.50 for every game. This compares with the 2,000 when the Riverside Stadium first opened and 34,000 fans were turning up.

Crowds now vary between the mid and high teens and the fanzine will only make about 20 for each edition. There's still a mathematical chance Middlesbrough could make the play-offs, though unlikely, and if they ended up in the Premier League Mr Nichols would certainly keep the fanzine going.

He said: "I'm only considering it, I'd like to keep it going really. We print a new copy for every game and in the Championship division you often get games back to back, so that means everybody writing and giving up all that time twice in a week for no money. It's not about money, there's only me who takes anything out of it, and I'm considering other options, maybe having occasional editions.

"The reaction has been moving. People talking about benefit gigs and subscribing, even though the price of stamps is about to go through the roof, and urging me to keep it going, which is really nice. I've been really chuffed about it and just want to say, 'thanks.' I'm not in debt or anything, it's just when you have a decline like that you think, maybe it's coming to an end."