Brown, launch Editor of Loaded magazine, former Editor of _GQ, Jack_, and winner of a number of PPA and BSME Editor and Magazine of the Year awards, will have full responsibility for the editorial direction of all aspects of the brand, across both print and digital, and will report to MD of Future’s Hobbies Group, Alastair Lewis.

On the appointment, Lewis commented: “James was the outstanding candidate in an incredible field of applicants for this role. I am hugely excited to be bringing an editorial icon like James to FourFourTwo and to see the impact he will have on an already huge football brand. James’ passion, knowledge and expertise for great consumer content is matched by his understanding of football culture and how to engage with football fans, players and the industry, making him a perfect candidate for this important job.”

On returning to a full-time editing role for the first time in almost 20 years James Brown said; "I love football and I love magazines. When I saw this job advertised, I was surprised to realise I really wanted to do it. I knew it instantly and that's the first time I've ever felt like that. FourFourTwo is the biggest football magazine in the world and I've been reading it since it started. It has a very dedicated and passionate team writing some excellent stories, and it is a major player in the world of football media.”

He added: “My recent 5aside memoir Above Head Height was an Amazon football best seller and I've been broadcasting a lot for talkSPORT over the last five years so it's a world I know well. For the last decade I've been working with leading brands and ad agencies on digital content campaigns but in 2017 I helped Matt Kelly launch The New European newspaper, quietly commissioning over 250 stories for him, and that reignited my love of print, features, headlines and covers. Since then I've been thinking about editing a magazine again but didn't think there'd be one out there for me. So I was really pleased when this opportunity came up and delighted when they appointed me.”

He joked, “The Leeds United coverage in the magazine is about to go through the roof."

Brown joins FourFourTwo in March and will be actively involved in the plans celebrating the football brand’s 25th Anniversary in June this year.