The amount of central sponsorship adverts in matchday magazines makes me think they will stay but never underestimate the EFLs ability to get it wrong.
The problem is, there was a time when the programme was a valuable source of information, but we can get all of that and more online and more up to date due to printing deadlines.
I'll be honest I haven't bought one since well before our current numpty owner arrived. I can kind of see why people pay the extra for the club handbook/programme combo at the start of the season but after that everything I want to know is available eleswhere and is probably more up to date.
I suspect programme sales are more about people keeping it in their matchday habit & collectors than much else.
I recall a few years back there was a supplement in the middle that had general football articles which I assume other clubs shared. There was a lot to read.
Used to collect them for every game i went to, after i had 300+ I realised they were just chucked in my cupboard and forgotten about. Also i realise that Saturdays programme was a Jacko special but £5 is a joke
Frankly, clubs shot themselves in the foot when they got on the spiral of going for bigger glossier editions. They eventually ended up with a product that was unnecessarily costly and hugely unweildy. It must have looked like a sensible move in the nineties and early naughties when the only access to t'internet was via pop dial-ups. Nowadays people can get better quality images on their phone than you can get in print.
Muttley is right about getting more up to date information elsewhere, but the programme should fulfil another function other than conveying team news. Collectively over time, programmes form the major source of a club's history. We can't rely on the internet to do that job because 1. It is populated with largely second-hand information. 2. There's no quality control over what's on the internet. 3. What is published on the internet is largely headline level material with very little depth 4. There are no guarantees that information will be kept or maintained.
By publishing a printed programme and making it directly available to supporters, you disperse the storage of historical data thereby protecting the club's memory. Just because some club owners do not care or understand, does not mean that clubs shouldn't do it. Owners ought to act as club guardians and that includes being guardians of the club's ongoing memory, yet if we were to think long and hard enough about it, I bet we could think of some that aren't. For this reason the league needs to keep their rules in place. It does't need to be a massive undertaking, just a team sheet with a few additional pages detailing other club news. The smarter ones would use this document to produce longer articles that would give the product some value as reading material. Whatever they chose as additional material, it is still a must.
Frankly, clubs shot themselves in the foot when they got on the spiral of going for bigger glossier editions. They eventually ended up with a product that was unnecessarily costly and hugely unweildy. It must have looked like a sensible move in the nineties and early naughties when the only access to t'internet was via pop dial-ups. Nowadays people can get better quality images on their phone than you can get in print.
Muttley is right about getting more up to date information elsewhere, but the programme should fulfil another function other than conveying team news. Collectively over time, programmes form the major source of a club's history. We can't rely on the internet to do that job because 1. It is populated with largely second-hand information. 2. There's no quality control over what's on the internet. 3. What is published on the internet is largely headline level material with very little depth 4. There are no guarantees that information will be kept or maintained.
By publishing a printed programme and making it directly available to supporters, you disperse the storage of historical data thereby protecting the club's memory. Just because some club owners do not care or understand, does not mean that clubs shouldn't do it. Owners ought to act as club guardians and that includes being guardians of the club's ongoing memory, yet if we were to think long and hard enough about it, I bet we could think of some that aren't. For this reason the league needs to keep their rules in place. It does't need to be a massive undertaking, just a team sheet with a few additional pages detailing other club news. The smarter ones would use this document to produce longer articles that would give the product some value as reading material. Whatever they chose as additional material, it is still a must.
Mmmm... no, you are going to have to help me out here mate?
I'm old school - OK an old git - and I for one would really miss buying a programme.
That said, our programme these days is a shadow of what it used to be and, sorry to say not one of the better ones in this division.
I like programmes, especially at away matches, it's quite interesting to read about rival clubs and communities
Our programme is definitely one of the worst certainly in terms of content and value for money, as just about every other club produces a programmes with 20-25 more pages than ours for the same £3.
And when we actually produce a programme with some decent stuff in it (the Jacko on) we then charge a rip off £5!
As an avid programme collector, obviously I am in the we must have one camp, but if i'm honest It has got to the stage of having so many, it does not bother me if they are 48 pages for £3 or 4 pages for 50p. What I would ask though is with an upcoming vote how many clubs have canvassed their supporters for their reaction? My guess is none as once again the supporters are the least important people in a clubs infrastructure or so so many the clubs believe.
I have saved football programmes since I first started going to games in the late 1970s and as I have spent the last 20 years of my life going to two games a week, that is a lot that are presently stored at home.
Barnsley was a particular favourite and, given they are in the news, so too Rangers from the European away games in the early years of the Graeme Souness era.
And what about the Charlton v Fulham game on 27 December, which included manager's notes from Les Reed. But he had already been sacked.
Just to clarify, this isn't a vote to stop production of match day programmes, its a meeting to abolish the rule making it mandatory for every club to produce them.
The meeting in and of itself won't stop any club producing a programme, just give the clubs the choice.
If the proposal passes then every club can still produce programmes, and if you are worried about Charlton taking the opportunity to stop production then you need to raise that directly with the club.
Comments
The amount of central sponsorship adverts in matchday magazines makes me think they will stay but never underestimate the EFLs ability to get it wrong.
I dont think Programmes should be abolished yet allow clubs to make up their own minds
Is pathetic how every minute thing has to be approved by a Governing Body these days
That said, our programme these days is a shadow of what it used to be and, sorry to say not one of the better ones in this division.
I suspect programme sales are more about people keeping it in their matchday habit & collectors than much else.
Muttley is right about getting more up to date information elsewhere, but the programme should fulfil another function other than conveying team news. Collectively over time, programmes form the major source of a club's history. We can't rely on the internet to do that job because 1. It is populated with largely second-hand information. 2. There's no quality control over what's on the internet. 3. What is published on the internet is largely headline level material with very little depth 4. There are no guarantees that information will be kept or maintained.
By publishing a printed programme and making it directly available to supporters, you disperse the storage of historical data thereby protecting the club's memory. Just because some club owners do not care or understand, does not mean that clubs shouldn't do it. Owners ought to act as club guardians and that includes being guardians of the club's ongoing memory, yet if we were to think long and hard enough about it, I bet we could think of some that aren't. For this reason the league needs to keep their rules in place. It does't need to be a massive undertaking, just a team sheet with a few additional pages detailing other club news. The smarter ones would use this document to produce longer articles that would give the product some value as reading material. Whatever they chose as additional material, it is still a must.
Some non league clubs have stopped producinget a Match Programme and it hasn't gone down very well.
Our programme is definitely one of the worst certainly in terms of content and value for money, as just about every other club produces a programmes with 20-25 more pages than ours for the same £3.
And when we actually produce a programme with some decent stuff in it (the Jacko on) we then charge a rip off £5!
The meeting in and of itself won't stop any club producing a programme, just give the clubs the choice.
If the proposal passes then every club can still produce programmes, and if you are worried about Charlton taking the opportunity to stop production then you need to raise that directly with the club.
BTW. IF RD does NOT fuck off, I understand that he has authorised the following for our match day program next year.
The Valley Review has declined over the last few years. Aimed at an audience that won't be reading it.