Programme Reviews

Key

PP = Total Pages

Net = Total Pages Less Adverts

P = Perfect Bound

S = Stapled

 

Arsenal (v Liverpool 28/03/81)

£0.30 (24 pp / 22 net / S)

 

Aston Villa (v Southampton 28/03/81)

£0.35 (24 pp / 22.5 net / S)

 

Birmingham City (v Manchester United 23/08/80)

£0.30 (24 pp / 21 net / S)

 

Brighton & Hove Albion (v Everton 07/10/80)

£0.25 (28 pp / 15.5 net / S)

Brighton retained their ‘landscape’ style programme from the previous season, but now with a nearly square shaped issue.

‘Seagull News’ featured a page of updates on footballing matters around the club, including the information that the fixture was the 3000^th top-flight match for opponents Everton. ‘Scene Around the Goldstone’ performed a similar role for off the field news, while ‘Division One News’, written by Tony Pullein, had a write-up of the fortunes of various clubs from around the top-flight, noting the early season goalscoring exploits of Everton’s Peter Eastoe. ‘Football Around the World’ meanwhile gathered news items from various leagues in Europe and beyond

‘Albion on the Road’ featured in-depth coverage of the Seagulls recent visit to Liverpool, where they were beaten 4-1. Across a page and a half, the article provided a detailed match report and included two action pictures from the match. That fixture was further reflected on in ‘What the Papers Say’, which featured extracts from press coverage of the match. ‘Flashback’ contained briefer notes from another recent fixture at Coventry City.

In other Albion content, a player feature under the heading ‘Introducing’ profiled defender Gary Williams. The club stats page included line-up details and a league table, as well as information from recent youth team fixtures.

Coverage of visitors Everton was provided across the centre pages of the programme, with various snippets of information contributing to a lengthy introduction to the club, covering everything from recent form to notable honours won by the club. There was also a team group picture and pen-pics of the club’s players. In ‘Voice-Piece’ a young-looking Alan Parry wrote further on Everton, discussing their lack of success over the preceding decade and declaring Goodison Park “arguably the best stadium in Britain”.

The Seagulls programme contained 28 pages – along with Liverpool a high for any Division One club in the 1980/81 season. The space available for content was reduced somewhat by a high proportion of advertising content, although there was still a decent amount of reading material included.

 

Coventry City (v Brighton & Hove Albion 04/10/80)

£0.30 (20 pp / 15.5 net / S)

 

Crystal Palace (v West Bromwich Albion 04/10/80)

£0.30 (24 pp / 21 net / S)

 

Everton (v Sunderland 15/11/80)

£0.25 (16 pp / 13.5 net / S)

 

Ipswich Town (v Leicester City 15/11/80)

£0.30 (20 pp / 14 net / S)

 

Leeds United (v Norwich City 31/01/81)

£0.30 (24 pp / 18.5 net / S)

 

Leicester City (v Stoke City 08/10/80)

£0.30 (24 pp / 17.5 net / S)

Leicester’s programme for their first season back in the top-flight opened with a short column from Foxes manager Jock Wallace, who expressed concern that some of his players seemed overawed playing away at the larger Division One stadiums. General Secretary Alan Bennett also penned a column, in which he noted the increased use the team was making of TV coverage of the club for coaching purposes, while ‘City Desk’ and ‘City Extra’ both provided news updates.

The centre pages of the programme featured an interview with City midfielder Mark Goodwin, in which he remarked on the mental challenge of playing in Division One, following the club’s recent promotion. The spread included a full-page colour picture of Goodwin from a recent match. In other coverage, there was news of a cricket match played between the Leicester team and Loughborough Town, during which Gary Lineker (who had captained Leicestershire Schools) “hit an outstanding 80”.

The programme also contained two pages of action shots from the club’s recent 2-1 victory against Tottenham Hotspur and a comprehensive stats section. This included average attendances from the Division One clubs, with Leicester averaging over 23,000 on their return to the top tier of English football. ‘Guest Spot’ featured an article from local radio presenter Steve Lambden, a City supporter since the mid-1960s, while there were brief notes on Leicester’s other teams in ‘Reserve Report’ and ‘Youth Focus’.

Coverage of visitors Stoke City took the form of an article discussing the club’s early season results, as well as key members of the squad, noting the goalscoring form of Dutchman Loek Ursem. ‘Star Talk’ meanwhile featured an interview with Stoke defender Ray Evans and there were pictures of five of the Potters’ team.

This was a solid programme from Leicester, featuring a decent amount of content. Whilst not among the strongest issues of the season, this was a programme that covered all the basics, offering decent value for the 30p cost.

 

Liverpool (v Middlesbrough 07/10/80)

£0.30 (28 pp / 22 net / S)

 

Manchester City (v Arsenal 06/09/80)

£0.30 (24 pp / 21 net / S)

City’s programme for the 1980/81 season used the then familiar landscape layout that had been adopted by the club a few years earlier and which would be in place until 1984.

The landscape format lends itself well to photographic content, and this issue features four pages of action shots (two of which were in colour) from the previous week’s fixture against Aston Villa. City boss Tony Book is interviewed over two pages, reflecting on the first-team’s recent performances and the talent in the club’s reserve side.

The programme includes a full-page feature with striker David Wiffill, who had recently arrived from Bath City for £25,000, while former player Tommy Booth is interviewed about his favourite game, recalling how City overcame Newcastle United in the 1976 League Cup Final. There are also two pages of first-team and reserve-team stats and a look forward to the upcoming trip to the City Ground to face Nottingham Forest, including a report of City’s 4-0 reverse their the previous season.

Matchday opponents Arsenal are afforded a four page ‘Visitors Dossier’, providing for some excellent in-depth coverage of the Gunners. The first of these pages examines the club’s recent progress and analyses key players within the squad, whilst manager Terry Neill is analysed alongside notes on previous City v Arsenal meetings. Further player analysis follows with profiles of Graham Rix, Alan Sunderland and Kenny Sansom, with the section concluded by a more in-depth piece on striker Frank Stapleton. In addition, the pen-pics on the back page feature photos and basic notes on each player.

Featuring only three pages of advertising content, this City programme had plenty of content for home and away fans alike, with the visitor’s section being one of the more comprehensive examples of its time.

 

Manchester United (v Tottenham Hotspur 17/02/81)

£0.20 (24 pp / 20 net / S)

 

Middlesbrough (v Birmingham City 01/11/80)

£0.30 (16 pp / 12 net / S)

 

Norwich City (v Manchester City 04/04/81)

£0.30 (24 pp / 23 net / S)

The cover of Norwich City’s programme proudly stated that their issue had been voted either the first or second ‘Best Programme in Britain’ for three consecutive seasons. ‘Canary’ boasted 23 pages of content – more than any other programme in the division – and packed these with various readable features.

The cover of the Manchester City issue showed the Canaries’ Justin Fashanu on England Under-21 duty – in one of eleven caps at that level won by the striker. A column on the inside front cover discussed the safety improvements made by clubs throughout the country since the passing of the ‘Safety of Sports Grounds Act’ in 1975. The opinions of Ken Brown were then provided in the manager’s column. Brown bemoaned refereeing inconsistencies in recent games, with the Canaries perched precariously in the relegation zone with six games to play.

‘Press Box’ was penned by Jack Steggles of the Daily Mirror, who praised the work undertaken by the club in establishing a successful youth scheme, noting that this was due in part to the work of Ken Brown and John Bond, then manager of matchday opponents Manchester City. ‘Scene’ gathered various items of club news, including Norwich’s latest programme award from the Football Commercial Managers Association. There were two pages of pictures from City’s recent game against Arsenal, with the focus being on Fashanu, who scored one of his 19 goals that season against the Gunners.

A detailed retro article was presented across the centre pages, which in this issue featured Joe Mullett, who made 248 appearances for Norwich between 1959 and 1968, and forming part of the Canaries team that won the League Cup in 1962 with a two-legged victory over Rochdale. The main player feature in the programme was a two-page interview with Canaries midfielder Martin O’Neill, who reflected on the success he enjoyed at previous club Nottingham Forest and the reception he had enjoyed at the City Ground on the occasion of Norwich’s visit the previous week.

A couple of pages of stats provided the Division One table, and results and fixtures for the first-team and reserves, whilst there was a page of news and match updates for the Youth Team. The programme also included a page for members of the ‘Canary Kids Club’, a ‘Postbag’ column, and ‘Coach’, which captured the thoughts of reserve team boss Doug Livermore. Coverage of the visitors from Maine Road consisted of a two-page article, accompanied by pictures of John Bond and another former Canary in the shape of forward Kevin Reeves, who had left Norwich to join the Citizens for £1.25m a year earlier. The article discussed City’s improving form since Bond’s appointment the previous October and covered the key players responsible for lifting City away from the foot of the table.

It’s not hard to see why this Norwich issue was considered to be among the best programmes in the country in 1980/81. ‘Canary’ contained various features of interest, with a mix of retro and contemporary content, all well laid out with thoughtful use made of the club’s colours throughout.

 

Nottingham Forest (v Aston Villa 27/12/80)

£0.25 (24 pp / 18.5 net / S)

 

Southampton (v Wolverhampton Wanderers 07/10/80)

£0.30 (24 pp / 15 net / S)

 

Stoke City (v Leeds United 06/09/80)

£0.30 (16 pp / 14.5 net / S)

 

Sunderland (v Crystal Palace 11/10/80)

£0.30 (16 pp / 11 net / S)

 

Tottenham Hotspur (v Ipswich Town 17/12/80)

£0.30 (24 pp / 16.5 net / S)

 

West Bromwich Albion (v Nottingham Forest 20/03/81)

£0.30 (24 pp / 21 net / S)

 

Wolverhampton Wanderers (v Coventry City 13/09/80)

£0.30 (16 pp / 14 net / S)