1987/88

Programme Reviews

Key

PP = Total Pages

Net = Total Pages Less Adverts

P = Perfect Bound

S = Stapled

Arsenal (v Queen’s Park Rangers 02/01/88)

£0.60 (24 pp / 19.5 net / S)

For the eighth successive season, Arsenal’s programme – ‘The Gunner’ – contained 24 pages. There was a slight decrease in the amount of content included, with four and a half pages of the issue now given over to advertising. The price of the programme remained unchanged at 60p, following the price rise of the previous season.

The issue was attractively presented with most of the cover taken up by a picture from a recent clash with Coventry City, which showed Gunners’ winger Perry Groves. The inside cover featured a new year message from Arsenal Chairman Peter Hill-Wood, who described the club’s “rapid transformation in the past 18 months”. Hill-Wood praised the job being carried out by manager George Graham and noted that the club were ahead of schedule in building a team capable of challenging for the championship. ‘Gunners News Desk’ welcomed the visitors from Queens Park Rangers and noted the forthcoming New Year Programme Fair at the Great Western Royal Hotel the following day! George Graham’s column meanwhile – titled ‘The Boss’s View’ – noted Arsenal’s frustrating results over the Christmas period.

The programme included two pages of coverage of Arsenal’s reserve and youth teams, with words from the respective coaches of the two sides – Stewart Houston and Pat Rice, while ‘The Young Ones’ featured a ‘half-term report’ from Rice. The youth team were then sitting in third place in the South East Counties League with mention made of several promising players, including Stephen Morrow, David Hillier, and Kevin Campbell – who had “blossomed as a high scoring striker”. The issue also featured a two-page review of 1987, the main highlight of which had been the club’s success in the League Cup. The article recounted the semi-final clashes with Tottenham Hotspur and victory over Liverpool in the final at Wembley.

The centre-pages of the programme contained various photographs from a recent draw with Everton, including a shot of David Rocastle striking the equaliser. Rocastle was also the subject of an interview within the issue, in which he talked about having just signed a long-term contract extension to stay at Highbury. The article noted the goal threat that Rocastle had added to his game, having notched eight times at that point in the season to put himself joint first in the Arsenal scoring charts. The usual first-team stats section was well laid out, including results and fixtures, line-ups, and the league table. The issue also included a letters page, crossword, and ‘Junior Gunners’ page. With the back page featuring an advertisement, the team line-ups were shown on the inside back cover.

There were two pages of coverage for visitors Queens Park Rangers, with notes on the club’s season to date alongside profiles of the first team squad. The pages also included a form guide, results of recent fixtures between the Gunners and Rangers, and a section on QPR boss Jim Smith, which detailed his career and achievements at the club since landing the job in the summer of 1985.

Although ‘The Gunner’ was of the smaller programmes in Division One in the 1987/88 season, the issue nevertheless offered a decent amount of readable content. Given that only one team (Manchester United) was charging less for its programme that season, the Gunners issue remained better value for money than several clubs that were offering more pages but charging up to £1 for their programmes.

Charlton Athletic (v Chelsea 20/12/87)

£0.80 (24 pp / 16 net / S)

Chelsea (v Luton Town 29/08/87)

£1.00 (36 pp / 30 net / S)

Coventry City (v West Ham United 28/11/87)

£1.00 (32 pp / 22.5 net / S)

Derby County (v Sheffield Wednesday 19/09/87)

£0.80 (32 pp / 21 net / S)

Everton (v Oxford United 28/11/87)

£0.60 (32 pp / 25.5 net / S)

Liverpool (v Charlton Athletic 15/09/87)

£0.60 (32 pp / 25 net / S)

Luton Town (v Derby County 16/01/88)

£1.00 (40 pp / 27.5 net / S)

Manchester United (v Tottenham Hotspur 26/09/87)

£0.50 (28 pp / 18.5 net / S)

Newcastle United (v Liverpool 20/09/87)

£0.65 (32 pp / 22 net / S)

Norwich City (v Everton 16/01/88)

£0.70 (24 pp / 17 net / S)

Nottingham Forest (v Coventry City 28/12/87)

£0.60 (24 pp / 16.5 net / S)

Oxford United (v Norwich City 03/10/87)

£0.70 (32 pp / 23 net / S)

Oxford’s programme for their third (and currently most recent) Division One season was a 32-page issue. The programme benefitted from good use of colour in parts, and a simple, clean design.

The programme contained a decent amount of content, opening with brief notes from Oxford boss Maurice Evans, who remarked on how positive it was for the club to be in the First Division at a time when big names like Wolves, Burnley, and Sunderland were languishing in the lower leagues. A two-page ‘News and Views’ section by club Secretary Jim Hunt contained updates from around the club.

‘First Division Scene’ provided an update on developments from around the top-flight, noting the early season difficulties faced by Oxford’s matchday opponents Norwich City and the form of pace-setters Queens Park Rangers and Chelsea, (the latter of whom would end the season relegated.) The programme included a lengthy column on Oxford’s recently launched membership scheme, which had been introduced as clubs were coming under pressure from the government to tackle hooliganism, with the ongoing threat that clubs could be required to participate in a national membership scheme.

There was a one-page ‘Reserve & Youth Report’, containing news from the respective sides’ recent matches, whilst the first-team stats section was well laid out over two pages, including a picture of Oxford striker Dean Saunders celebrating a recent goal. One item worthy of note was that four Division One clubs (Oxford, Charlton, Luton, and Wimbledon) had, at the time, average attendances for the season of less than 10,000. ‘United Focus’ meanwhile had black and white action shots from recent games, while the centre-pages featured a colour picture of Oxford winger Peter Rhoades-Brown.

The issue included a very well-presented section on visitors Norwich City, making good use of the club’s colours and including a full-colour team group picture, a write-up of the club’s squad, and a ‘Spotlight’ section on Canaries’ striker Kevin Drinkell, who had notched 45 goals across the last two seasons.

A separate feature recalled ‘Previous Encounters with Norwich City’, with basic details of the various fixtures and a report from the meeting of the two clubs at the Manor Ground in the 1968/69 season. ‘Looking Back’ featured brief notes on the fortunes of Oxford and Norwich from 5, 10, 15, and 20 years ago, while ‘Played for Both’ had profiles of six players who had pulled on both the Oxford and Norwich shirts during their career.

Neatly put together, the Oxford programme provided good value for money, costing 70p at a time when as many as six Division One clubs were charging £1 for their issues.

Portsmouth (v Southampton 22/08/87)