Programme Reviews

Key

PP = Total Pages

Net = Total Pages Less Adverts

P = Perfect Bound

S = Stapled

 

Programmes marked with an asterisk (*) next to the number of pages also included the 20 page ‘Football League Review’ supplement.

 

Arsenal (v Nottingham Forest 23/08/69)

1/- (16 pp / 15 net / S)

 

Burnley (v Ipswich Town 27/09/69)

1/- (12 pp * / 10.5 net / S)

 

Chelsea (v Tottenham Hotspur 04/04/70)

1/- (20 pp / 19.5 net / S)

 

Coventry City (v Manchester United 08/11/69)

1/- (24 pp / 16.5 net / S)

 

Crystal Palace (v Chelsea 27/12/69)

1/- (20 pp / 19 net / S)

 

Derby County (v West Bromwich Albion 27/12/69)

1/- (16 pp / 9 net / S)

The Rams’ programme was one of the more modest of the 1969/70 season, consisting of 16 pages, 7 of which were taken up by adverts. The issue was in keeping with Derby’s issues from their Division Two days in the 1960s, with one change being a small price rise from ninepence to one shilling on promotion to the top-flight.

The cover of the programme for the festive fixture against West Bromwich Albion featured an action picture of Willie Carlin heading goalwards in a recent match against Newcastle United, which Derby had won 2-0. Inside there were ‘Club Notes’ from George Edwards – Sports Editor at the Derby Evening Telegraph. Edwards discussed the prospects of the Rams finishing as the highest placed Midlands side at the end of the season, in a division that also included Nottingham Forest, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Coventry City, and Stoke City, as well as the matchday visitors from the Hawthorns. Derby would of course take those bragging rights, finishing fourth on their first season back in Division One.

There was also a message from the Chairman’s office, in which he offered festive greetings to the Derby supporters and expressed delight that managerial partnership Clough and Taylor had signed new contracts at the club. Captain Dave Mackay penned a short column, in which he reflected on recent results and admonished himself for picking up a yellow card for kicking the ball away! The issue also featured league tables and appearance and scorer records for the first team and reserves, as well as the Division One and Central League tables, while the team line-ups were shown on the centre pages. Visitors West Bromwich Albion were covered with pen-pictures of the players, some brief notes on the club’s form, and a full-page picture of centre-forward Jeff Astle.

Only two clubs offered fewer pages of actual content for the 1969/70 season than Derby, although the programme was tidily presented. Although Derby had made great strides on the pitch in the late 1960s, it would take until the club’s title winning season in 1971/72 for their programme to be overhauled with the introduction of the newspaper style issue that lasted throughout the rest of the decade.

 

Everton (v Derby County 20/12/69)

1/- (24 pp / 18.5 net / S)

Everton’s programme had undergone a revamp since the previous season’s advert heavy issue. Both the paper size and the number of pages had increased, with 24 pages now included. As with several other programmes of the time, Everton were moving into the era of the ‘match-day magazine’.

For the fixture against Derby County, the issue opened with a picture of Joe Royle in action in a recent Merseyside derby, whilst the opening article commented on several of Everton’s younger players hitting appearance landmarks. The programme included notes on new signing Keith Newton, a full-back who had arrived from Blackburn Rovers, while a ‘Player Profile’ section saw one Toffees player each issue answering questions alongside a full-page picture.

Coverage of Everton’s matchday opponents was spread over three pages, the first two of which were presented in landscape format. The content included a team group picture and brief profiles of each member of the visiting team. A separate article looked back at previous meetings between Everton and their opponents, alongside pictures of two visiting players. There were also notes on Derby’s dealings in the transfer market, with manager Brian Clough praised for his record in signing players, and a ten year club record, which shows how Clough had taken the club from an 18^th place finish in 1967/68 to the Division Two title the following season.

The centre-pages featured various action pictures from the recent Goodison match-up against Liverpool. ‘Everton Diary’ recorded results and line-up details for Everton’s first-team, reserves, and youth side, while there was also a two-page statistics section covering results, tables, and a list of the leading scorers in each division of the Football League. There was a column from Colin Wood of the Daily Mail, who wrote about the concept of a proposed Super League as a solution to the problem of fixture congestion, arguing that no new league system would be better than what existed at the time. ‘Those Were the Days’ was an interesting historical feature that here profiled former Everton player Charlie Leyfield, who first signed amateur forms for the club in 1931. The article discussed Leyfield’s time with Everton between 1930 and 1936, and his later move into being a trainer.

This Everton issue had shown a marked development from the previous season’s programme, with plenty of readable articles, detailed opposition coverage, and well-presented statistical content.

 

Ipswich Town (v Crystal Palace 15/11/69)

1/- (20 pp / 12 net / S)

 

Leeds United (v Southampton 28/03/70)

1/- (16 pp * / 6 net / S)

 

Liverpool (v Newcastle United 16/02/70)

9d (16 pp * / 10 net / S)

 

Manchester City (v Burnley 27/12/69)

1/- (16 pp / 13.5 net / S)

 

Manchester United (v West Ham United 27/09/69)

9d (12 pp / 8 net / S)

 

Newcastle United (v Sunderland 08/11/69)

1/- (16 pp * / 11 net / S)

 

Nottingham Forest (v Liverpool 31/01/70)

1/- (20 pp / 13 net / S)

 

Sheffield Wednesday (v Leeds United 13/09/69)

1/- (24 pp / 17.5 net / S)

 

Southampton (v Arsenal 21/03/70)

1/- (16 pp * / 11 net / S)

 

Stoke City (v Wolverhampton Wanderers 14/02/70)

1/- (16 pp / 14 net / S)

 

Sunderland (v Sheffield Wednesday 23/08/69)

1/- (16 pp / 11.5 net / S)

Sunderland’s programme for the 1969/70 season was the 16-page ‘Roker Review’. This represented a reduction of four pages from the previous season’s issue, although an increase in the size of paper used allowed the club to offer a decent level of content.

Following an introductory feature on the League Cup (which notes that all the top-flight clubs had entered for the first time – in the 10^th iteration of the competition), there is a page of notes from Manager Alan Brown. He writes in honest fashion about the plight of the club and the financial restrictions on it, noting that “our difficulties are tremendous” and “we have a long hard road ahead of us”. Indeed, the club would be relegated at the end of the season.

A basic player Q&A follows, alongside a profile of the referee for the day’s fixture against Sheffield Wednesday. Coverage of the visiting club is quite detailed and well laid out, with player profiles set alongside a squad photo and player picture across the centre pages of the issue.

The programme contains a couple of pages of statistics, including a list of first-team and apprentice professionals, as well as a fixtures diary and league table. Supporters are also provided with details of how to travel to support the team in their upcoming fixture at Manchester United.

There is little that is particularly remarkable about this issue from Sunderland, but the candid nature of the Manager’s notes is noteworthy, in terms of how far removed they seem from the typically ‘on-message’ nature of such columns today.

 

Tottenham Hotspur (v Everton 17/12/69)

6d (16 pp / 15.5 net / S)

 

West Bromwich Albion (v Stoke City 17/09/69)

1/- (20 pp / 16.5 net / S)

 

West Ham United (v Coventry City 07/02/70)

1/- (20 pp / 19 net / S)

 

Wolverhampton Wanderers (v Manchester City 21/02/70)

1/- (24 pp / 18 net / S)