Take a peak behind the scenes of Southampton’s Teenage Takeover

Saints Foundation, the charity of Premiere League club Southampton FC and close friend of The Big Issue, has released a behind-the-scenes video showing how a dozen teenagers from Southampton put together a special edition magazine with The Big Issue.

The short montage shows how the pupils from six secondary schools in the city spent five months creating Southampton’s Teenage Takeover, from coming up with the ideas for articles to writing them and then visiting Big Issue HQ in Glasgow to design the pages.

In the unique project, the pupils grilled Southampton mayor Stephen Barnes-Andrews as well as Southampton FC star Mario Lemina and joining Saints Foundation’s walking football veterans to discover the sport at a different pace.

And that was before they gave new Saints boss Ralph Hasenhüttl a tour of their view of the city, taking on the Austrian at everything from basketball to mini golf and air hockey to bouldering.

Not content with all that, kids then turned their hand to marketing and promotion – appearing on BBC Radio Solent as the magazine was published before handing out copies at St Mary’s for Southampton’s last match of the season against Huddersfield Town.

Greg Baker, head of Saints Foundation, Southampton FC’s official charity, said: “It was great to see the young people handing out the magazine that they have written themselves to hundreds of fans before the game at St Mary’s – we hope that those that picked up a copy enjoyed reading their stories.

“It’s been a real pleasure for both Saints Foundation and The Big Issue to work with those young people, who have showed such a creative spark throughout.”

Big Issue editor Paul McNamee added: “I am delighted that we are collaborating once again with the mighty Saints Foundation and this time with such an inspiring bunch of young people.

“If my regular team had editorial meetings buzzing with as many ideas as this young team have, I’d be over the moon!”

The one-of-a-kind free edition is available around Southampton now.