Programme Reviews

Key

PP = Total Pages

Net = Total Pages Less Adverts

P = Perfect Bound

S = Stapled

 

Arsenal (v Birmingham City 06/11/76)

£0.15 (16 pp / 15.5 net / S)

 

Aston Villa (v Stoke City 16/05/77)

£0.15 (20 pp / 18 net / S)

 

Birmingham City (v Liverpool 28/08/76)

£0.15 (20 pp / 16 net / S)

Birmingham City’s ‘Blues News’ for the 1976/77 season was a 20-page effort, with 16 pages of content for the 15p cover cost.

The programme opens with ‘Blues Scene’, which describes recent improvements to the club’s ground and training facilities. The feature notes that a recent survey of playing surfaces in the Football League had voted St. Andrews in second place – an achievement that is also referenced by manager Willie Bell in his column.

‘Blue Boys’ is a two-page profile of full-back Archie Styles, who had found the net in City’s recent trip to Manchester United, while a column for the club’s junior supporters makes reference to the switch to using goal difference, rather than goal average, to separate teams level on points.

‘In Days Gone By’ is a fascinating article that looks at Albert Jones, who signed for Birmingham shortly before the outbreak of the First World War. The article reproduces Jones’ contract and other documentation from the time, including a letter that refers to a cheque for £3 for two weeks’ wages. Jones would find his Blues career cut short by conscription in the War, during which he would rise to the rank of Sergeant.

Elsewhere in this issue there is a detailed half-page column on the club’s reserve and youth teams. The usual first-team statistics pages are also provided and there are three pages of action shots from Birmingham’s recent game against Leeds United.

Coverage of opponents Liverpool takes the form of a column entitled ’15 Glorious Years’, which tracks the club’s successes since winning promotion from Division Two as Champions in the 1961/62 season. The article makes particular reference to the club’s European successes and ponders (somewhat prophetically) whether the 1976/77 season might bring the Reds their first European Cup win!

There are plenty of good features within this Blues programme, with a nice mix of old and new, providing some very worthwhile reading.

 

Bristol City (v Manchester United 07/05/77)

£0.15 (24 pp / 17 net / S)

 

Coventry City (v Norwich City 11/09/76)

£0.15 (24 pp / 18 net / S)

 

Derby County (v Coventry City 02/01/77)

£0.15 (16 pp / 12.5 net / S)

 

Everton (v Manchester City 05/10/76)

£0.15 (16 pp / 13 net / S)

 

Ipswich Town (v Derby County 18/12/76)

£0.15 (24 pp / 17.5 net / S)

 

Leeds United (v Bristol City 30/04/77)

£0.15 (16 pp / 11 net / S)

 

Leicester City (v Everton 04/09/76)

£0.20 (24 pp / 17 net / S)

 

Liverpool (v Tottenham Hotspur 18/09/76)

£0.12 (20 pp / 16.5 net / S)

 

Manchester City (v Leicester City 22/01/77)

£0.15 (24 pp / 19.5 net / S)

 

Manchester United (v Ipswich Town 30/10/76)

£0.12 (20 pp / 17 net / S)

The ‘Manchester United Review’ for 1976/77 was a 20-page issue, which featured 17 pages of content for the 12p cover price. The programme began with a page of club information, including an honours board, followed by a column from manager Tommy Docherty. The United boss reflected on his team’s indifferent home form in the early part of the season, as well as the challenges of competing in the UEFA Cup on top of the domestic schedule.

The programme included a letters page that, alongside correspondence from supporters, contained a table of average attendances for the season to date. United sat proudly on top of this table, with an average attendance figure of 57,672. This was a subject also touched on by David Meek of the Manchester Evening News in his ‘Club Topics’ column, in which he also reflected on the club’s upcoming trip to face Juventus in the UEFA Cup.

‘Players Profile’ provided brief career notes and a photo of one United player (featuring European Cup winning goalkeeper Alex Stepney in this issue) as well as two pages of extensive appearance records, including his time with Millwall and Chelsea as well as United. The issue also included a couple of half-page pictures from United’s recent game against Norwich City, including Gerry Daly converting a penalty and a shot of Steve Coppell in action. ‘Meet the Referee’ meanwhile provided a detailed profile of Jack Taylor – then in his 22^nd year in the Football League – noting that he had taken charge of the 1966 FA Cup Final and the 1974 World Cup Final.

A very busy stats section covered the centre-pages, including results and tables for the first team and reserves. The spread also included ‘Down the Years with the Reds’, which offered a statistical summary of a year from United’s history. In this issue, the focus was on 1907/08, when United won the league by nine points ahead of Aston Villa and Manchester City. There were separate half-page columns on both the juniors and reserves, with write-ups on recent matches and line-up details.

Coverage of visitors Ipswich Town was quite limited, although tidily presented, with a team group picture on one page accompanied by pen-pics of the club’s players.

There was a heavy statistical slant to this United programme. Although it was certainly well put together, the issue lacked much in the way of the kind of written content that would make it stand out from the crowd.

 

Middlesbrough (v Arsenal 15/02/77)

£0.10 (20 pp / 15.5 net / S)

 

Newcastle United (v West Bromwich Albion 06/10/76)

£0.12 (20 pp / 16.5 net / S)

 

Norwich City (v West Ham United 10/11/76)

£0.15 (24 pp / 15.5 net / S)

 

Queens Park Rangers (v Middlesbrough 20/11/76)

£0.15 (20 pp / 19 net / S)

 

Stoke City (v Newcastle United 03/01/77)

£0.15 (20 pp / 15 net / S)

Stoke’s programme had increased by four pages for the 1976/77 season, now containing a total of 20 pages with 15 pages of content. The issue was also subject to a rise in cost, from 10p to 15p.

The cover of the programme featured four pictures from recent games against a backdrop of the Stoke supporters, while inside the first column – ‘Victoria Views’ – featured words from Potters boss Tony Waddington. In the issue for the New Year fixture against Newcastle United, the boss reflected on the recent sales of Jimmy Greenhoff and Alan Hudson, which had been made “purely in the financial needs of the club”. The financial issues were the result of ground improvements carried out for the 1976/77 season and the team’s form had suffered as a result of the resulting player departures. Waddington would leave his job before the end of the season and Stoke would be relegated.

There was a two-page ‘City Scene’ column, which here was given over to quotes from players and management from the year 1976. ‘Whatever Happened To?’ was a profile of one former Stoke player, with Alex Elder the subject for the Newcastle issue. Elder had cost the club £50,000 when signing in the summer of 1967, but injuries meant his opportunities were restricted. In other retro content, the programme included a pair of articles looking back 10 and 25 years to Stoke’s fortunes at the time. ‘Point of Controversy’ also discussed times past, recalling the days where matches would take place on Christmas Day with teams asked to play four games in eight days!

‘Behind the Scenes’ told the story of the club’s physiotherapist Mike Allen, providing information in some detail of the contents of his ‘running-on bag’, while ‘Potters Pride’ featured questions and answers with one Stoke player. There were two pages of coverage for visitors Newcastle United, including a team group picture, notes on the playing squad, and pictures of Alan Kennedy, Tommy Craig, and Alan Gowling. The programme was rounded off with ‘Potters Statistics’, which offered results, fixtures, tables, and player records for the first-team and reserves.

This was a tidy, well-presented issue from Stoke. The programme benefited from a simple, consistent design throughout, with sensible use of the club’s colours, and a fair proportion of readable content.

 

Sunderland (v Queens Park Rangers 02/04/77)

£0.15 (20 pp / 14.5 net / S)

 

Tottenham Hotspur (v Aston Villa 30/04/77)

£0.10 (16 pp / 14 net / S)

 

West Bromwich Albion (v Sunderland 30/04/77)

£0.15 (16 pp / 13.5 net / S)

 

West Ham United (v Leeds United 06/10/76)

£0.10 (20 pp / 19.5 net / S)