The results of our Programme of the Season award are now in!
We are delighted to announce that our Gold Award for the best programme in the Premier League for 2018/19 is given to Fulham. Our Silver Award for second place is given to Arsenal, whilst third place, and our Bronze Award, goes to Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Fulham programme, which was one of the most well-regarded programmes in the Championship last year, again offered a high-quality issue for the club’s first season back in the Premier League. The programme is packed full of interesting features, with some particularly well-written historical articles catching our attention. The issue is also very well designed, preferring an unfussy layout with simple design touches that make impressive use of the club’s colours.
Arsenal’s programme was also beautifully presented, featuring a retro cover to mark the club’s 100th consecutive season of top-flight football. The programme contained many interesting historical features to mark this occasion. Brighton’s issue impressed with the number of original features included, providing home fans with extensive reading and away fans with the best section of opposition coverage of any programme in the division.
In terms of scoring, the Fulham and Arsenal programmes were tied on 19 points out of 20 at the top of our rankings for the season, with the Fulham issue taking first place due to its greater ‘value score’. This is a reflection of the number of net pages in each programme, once adverts are taken out. The Brighton issue was close behind the top two, scoring 18 out of 20.
Close behind the top three were seven clubs – Bournemouth, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Leicester City, West Ham United, and Wolverhampton Wanderers – scoring 17 out of 20.
The overall quality of the Premier League programmes for 2018/19 was very high, with an average score of 15.9 for the season, up a full point on last season’s average of 14.9.
The overall ‘value score’ for 2018/19 was 19.4, down slightly from last season’s ratio of 19.7. This was a factor of a small drop in the number of net pages across the division, coupled with an average rise of three pence per programme, with only four clubs now charging £3.00 for their issues. Southampton remain the only club charging £4.00 for their programme, although their 2018/19 issue was greatly improved from last season. Over the next few months we will posting some more analysis on the value that programme buyers are getting from their clubs.
You can read all our 2018/19 reviews here and find more information about the way the programmes are marked here.