Interview: Co-founder of OTPN Richard Amofa

We like it when Southampton students do amazing things. Ex-student Richard Amofa co-founded website Off The Post News last year while completing his History degree, and it’s already up to almost five million views. We caught up with the man himself to find out more.

When did OTPN come about and what is it all about?

Myself and co-founder Tyrone Callender-Edwards (ex-student at the University of Bedfordshire) set up the website last July. We write articles based on current football issues, but the key focus is on the development of young footballers in England.

Why did you start the site?

I wanted a place where I could get my views across in more than 140 characters. I always had an interest in journalism, especially when I stopped playing football properly, so I set up Off The Post News with a few mates.

I also want to give readers an insight into youth football in this country. It’s a topical issue in England, especially with the regular shortcoming of the national team. After every tournament we hear the same old moans that “we’re not producing enough talent”. I can assure you we are, and OTPN wants to showcase this. In addition to news and views on this topic, we interview young footballers in order to give our readers an insight into their careers and journey to where they are now.

What’s the proudest thing that has happened to the site?

Hitting 1,00,000 views after a couple of months. It was a crazy feeling knowing that that amount of people have come onto the site and shown their support really. It was proof that the hard work was paying dividends and we just took that as motivation to take it forward. We’ve still got lot of hard work to do but I am pleased with the progress we’ve made so far. We’re just about to reach 5,000,000 views, so it’s great to see that people are taking notice of what we’re doing!

What does your site offer that others don’t?

The one thing I wanted to establish from day one is that we’re more than ‘just a blog’, and I think the angle we take on youth football shows that. As well as providing information and the players we interview, we get views from academy coaches to psychologists, parents to physiotherapists. We want to get a view from every perspective not just to showcase the talent but to highlight the problems we have and do something about them. So over the next few months and years we will be working with the relevant organisations, especially grassroots ones, to take English football forward.

How can people get involved?

We’re always looking to expand our team… all you need to do is email: [email protected] for more information. We currently have 42 writers in our network all over Britain and France and it’s great to see some of our writers going on to write for The Guardian, The Independent, Daily Mail and Goal.com.

What’s your best memory at Southampton?

Tough one. I had three great years so it’s hard to pick one. I guess Juiced Fridays at Voodoo wouldn’t be far from the top of the list though.

Jesters or Sobar?

Would have to be Sobar.

Visit Off the Post News at www.offthepostnews.co.uk or find them on Facebook at OTPN (Off The Post News) and Twitter @offthepostnews!