Phil Brennan has for many years been a freelance journalist providing match reports and articles on a weekly basis for The Non-League Paper, having also spent several years as the editor in chief of TheNonLeague, a national football magazine that covered the beautiful game across the non-league pyramid.
Phil’s love of writing came as a young boy when he would spend summers staying at his aunt’s boarding house where some of Manchester’s finest young journalists were living whilst starting out their journeys. A young James Lawton, who went on to be one of Fleet Street’s greatest sports writers, was one writer who made a big impression on him.
Phil has contributed to several magazines over the years and with his late friend and writing partner Richard Harnwell, wrote both the official 125-year History (DVD) and A Pictorial History of Stockport County FC
Following several years as ‘Press and Media’ manager at Stockport County, Phil wrote and released The Man from Uruguay, the official biography of Danny Bergara, the first foreign national to coach an England football team.
Phil has worked with photographers Alan Burge and David Featherstone to produce the outstanding ‘Non-League Groundhopper’s Diary’ series and ‘Lost Football Grounds of the 1980s’.
Phil has also written several children’s books, including ‘Granny’s Galactic Garden,’ ‘Football Football Football’ and ‘Clear Blue Skies’ all superbly illustrated by Rob Purdon, James Richardson and Ric Pennington.
2023 sees Phil release his collection of poetry and spoken word ‘The Transient Curmudgeon’ and also his novel ‘Those were the Days’