OOF

**NEW EXHIBITION** Alfie Whiteman: 'A Loan' In 2025, aged just 26 and still in his prime, Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Alfie Whiteman retired from football. But back in 2021, he was still a professional athlete, slogging it out on loan at Swedish side Degerfors IF. Stuck out in the Scandinavian countryside – isolated, alone and bored in a small town on the southern shore of Lake Möckeln – he started taking pictures. The result is ‘A Loan’, a photography exhibition capturing the tedium, frustration and humour of life in the middle of nowhere for an athlete who was just starting to question everything. It documents the first steps in Whiteman rejecting the football dream, and realising that there must be more to life than the same routine he'd been stuck in since childhood. These are funny, sad, silly, angry, surreal photos filled with youthful dissatisfaction; a testament to following your own path, even when everyone thinks you're mad for doing it. Now working as a director and photographer represented by @somesuchandco , this is Whiteman's debut exhibition. 'A Loan' runs at OOF Gallery from 1 May until 27 September 2026. The opening night, on Thursday 30 April, will see the launch of an accompanying photobook, filled with images and diary entries from his time in Sweden. Published by OOF and Somesuch Editions, this limited edition book is available to preorder from OOF.  With thanks to @salomonsportstyle for their generous support.

The new issue of OOF is almost here, and this time, comrades, we've gone political. 'Going political in 2025? How gauche!' Gauche is right, because this issue is filled with left-wing invective and revolutionary polemic. We've got Juliet Jacques on @eugeniomerino_estudio and Indecline playing football with the heads of dictators, we've got @matthewjholman on @sheidajanam taking aim at Gulf states using football as sportswashing, we've got @ac__larsen kicking back against the FA's ban on trans players, we've got Will Jennings on division and rivalry in @cevdeterek 's Liverpool Biennial installation.  To balance that all out, we've got a feature on the role of football in the brilliant, influential work of photographer Roger Mayne, and there's @dionkitson and @ripitup_startagain 's Big Sam Allardyce eating some orange chips on the cover. Then to lighten the mood even further, we've got an incredible photo of Roberto Baggio missing a pen and losing the World Cup in the process, haha.  Hail comrades, the revolution may not be televised, but it will be written about in super niche art magazines.  Oh and if you subscribe to the mag, not only is it almost insultingly cheap, but you get an absolutely free, 100% exclusive postcard by Dion Kitson too. You're welcome.

2024 peaked in January.

Our @alf_whiteman show is now on and open over the Bank Holiday: Sat 11-5, Sun 12-4, Mon 10-5

On the eve of the Merseyside derby, here's a look at Ken Grant's 2016 photobook 'A Topical Times for These Times', an intimate portrait of Liverpool football culture stretching back to the mid-80s.  All images @kengrantinfo @rrbphotobooks

Alfie Whiteman: 'A Loan’ Our former Academy graduate, who spent 16 years at the club, will launch his debut art exhibition and accompanying photo book at the @oof_gallery at @tottenhamhotspurstadium from 1 May. Covering his 2021 spell on loan at at Swedish side Degerfors IF, the project documents Whiteman's first steps in deviating from the football journey.

Last chance to catch our Roger Mayne show - closing 5pm Sat.

Christian Jeffery's latest painting is a homage to curtains. Nah, not the heavy, velvety, flowery kind you find in the back rooms of run-down boozers, still reeking of fags and stale booze (though you could be forgiven for thinking that this shirt is a straight up tribute to classic pub decor). Nope, we're talking haircuts. Specifically, the peak '90s, centre-parted floppy fringe favoured by boy bands and Premier League footballers like David Beckham and perhaps the quintessential exponent of the style, Ian Walker. In many ways, the Spurs stopper's barnet summed up a whole decade: bold, distinctive and slightly unhinged, it's pure '90s-ness only matched by the ultra-lairy, Pony-produced goalie tops Walker donned throughout the '96-'97 season. With such evocative imagery to work with, it's little wonder that Christian couldn't wait to get stuck into this one - and he's pulled out all the stops. I mean, get a load of that Jacquard fabric, the club crest creeping out from behind the deep orange foliage, the matching collars and cuffs. Well fit. Christian Jeffery @christianjeffery_projects 'Stars In Bloom' 1/1 2026

Marcos Carrasquer @carrasquermarcos 'The Blunder' Oil on canvas 2025 @galeriepolaris

Beryl Cook 'Footballers - Plymouth Argyle' Oil on board 1979

We're back open this weekend with Roger Mayne: 'Football'. Fri 10-5 Sat 11-2.30 (before Spurs v West Ham) Sun 12-4 Roger Mayne 'Southam Street, London' 1958

It's been quite a year for @christianjeffery_projects : a dream collab with the Chicago Bears, an exhibition at the British Textile Biennial, a first museum commission and a series of sold-out football shirt paintings that just seemed to get better and better. Christian's final painting of 2025 is up there with the best of them, but this time it's a deeply personal project. 'Tales of Craven Cottage' is dedicated to the artist's grandad, Frank - a pretty handy number ten by all accounts who'd played in an exhibition game for Fulham during the Second World War. This nugget of family history prompted Christian to take his dad on a tour of Craven Cottage earlier this year - and what he saw inspired him to get to work on a very special painting. Noticing that the railings of the stadium's iconic gates resembled classic Adidas Predator branding, Christian incorporated the architecture into the design of the shirt, painting three arrowed stripes onto off-white fabric decorated with some of the flowers he'd spotted in nearby Bishops Park. A vintage snooker scoreboard in the Chairman's Lounge provided the typography for the shirt's number ten, which Christian embellished with tiny crossed swords, a nod to the club's original crest.  This one's full of intricate details - a lovely painting to round off the year and a fitting tribute to Frank Desmond Jeffery. Not for sale. Christian Jeffery @christianjeffery_projects 'Tales of Craven Cottage' 1/1 2025