Programme Reviews

Key

PP = Total Pages

Net = Total Pages Less Adverts

P = Perfect Bound

S = Stapled

 

Arsenal (v Sheffield United 11/09/73)

£0.05 (16 pp / 15.5 net / S)

This Arsenal issue relies heavily on photographic content to fill its 16 pages. As well as the action shots that are used on the front cover of the programme, there are four pages within the programme that contain pictures from recent fixtures. The games included here include a 1-1 draw at Newcastle, earned through a Charlie George goal, and a surprising 5-0 defeat at Sheffield United – one of nine away defeats suffered by the Gunners over the course of the season.

In addition to the match images, there is a full-page photo of defender Jeff Blockley and, under the heading ‘Young Players of High Promise’ pictures of David Price and Brian Hornsby. Also shown is an image of Bob Wilson and Bob McNab from the club’s summer tour visit to Toronto.

In respect of written content, ‘Topics of the Week’ does what the title suggests and considers Arsenal’s recent form and the need to bounce back from the defeat at Bramall Lane. The programme includes letters from supporters, details of travel arrangements for forthcoming away trips, and a crossword. There are also two pages of stats, including results and line-ups from recent matches and fixture lists for the first team, as well as the reserve and youth teams.

Visitors Sheffield United, fresh from trouncing Arsenal the previous week, are covered over two pages, with profiles of the likely starting eleven accompanied by a team group picture and a list of past league and cup clashes between the Gunners and the Blades.

Given that the Arsenal issue was at the time one of just five issues in the league still costing only five pence, the programme represented decent value for money, but lacked the reading included in the season’s better issues.

 

Birmingham City (v Leicester City 24/11/73)

£0.10 (24 pp / 19.5 net / S)

 

Burnley (v Birmingham City 12/04/74)

£0.08 (20 pp / 14.5 net / S)

Includes 24 pp ‘League Football’ supplement

 

Chelsea (v Derby County 19/01/74)

£0.05 (16 pp / 15 net / S)

 

Coventry City (v West Ham United 20/10/73)

£0.10 (24 pp / 18 net / S)

Coventry’s ‘Sky Blue’ issue was one of seven in the 1973/74 season to have 24 pages, offering 18 pages of content. The programme’s design gave it the feel of a newspaper-style issue (without going so far as to turn the programme into a newspaper as Derby County had). The issue utilised large bold headlines on many pages and a mix of column layouts.

The front cover of the programme featured 19-year-old Sky Blues striker Alan Green heading home the opening goal in City’s recent game against Everton. Inside, Coventry manager Joe Mercer sung the praises of matchday opponents West Ham United, praising boss Ron Greenwood for the quality of their play, and pointing out their “keen, friendly, and knowledgeable supporters”. There was also an interview with Coventry’s First Team Coach Tommy Casey, who (perhaps predictably) stressed the importance of coaching in aiding a player’s development.

The programme featured match reports from recent games, noting Coventry’s exit from the Texaco Cup at the hands of Motherwell. The centre-pages meanwhile included pictures from the club’s recent 5-1 League Cup victory over Fourth Division Darlington. There were several pages of first-team news and stats, including detailed appearance records, together with the club’s fixtures and results. There was also detailed coverage of the fortunes of Coventry’s reserve and youth teams, with match reports, league tables, and appearance records.

More unusually, the programme included a column called ‘In the Garden’, which provided a range of gardening tips for green-fingered Coventry fans! The connection between the city of Coventry and car production was also clear to see from the advertising content included within the issue, with four separate advertisements related to the industry.

Coverage of West Ham was provided over three pages, with an in-depth lead article commenting on the Hammers’ struggles so far that season, when they had been heavily fancied to compete for honours. The section provided ‘Pen Pictures’ of the West Ham squad, which included Bobby Moore (then approaching the end of his time with the club), Billy Bonds, Frank Lampard Sr, and Trevor Brooking. Bonds was the subject of ‘Star Portrait’ – a full-page picture that included a box for budding autograph hunters to capture his signature. There was also a page looking back to the previous season’s matchups between Coventry and West Ham, with the sides enjoying one win apiece.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given the newspaper-style approach to the design of this programme, the Coventry issue favoured club news and reports over other types of content. On its own terms ‘Sky Blue’ no doubt achieved its aim, but the inclusion of a few longer-form articles would have been needed for the issue to stand comparison with the better programmes in the league.

 

Derby County (v Queens Park Rangers 03/11/73)

£0.08 (16 pp / 9.5 net / S)

 

Everton (v Tottenham Hotspur 03/11/73)

£0.08 (24 pp / 19 net / S)

 

Ipswich Town (v Wolverhampton Wanderers 27/10/73)

£0.06 (24 pp / 14 net / S)

 

Leeds United (v Newcastle United 02/03/74)

£0.10 (24 pp / 18.5 net / S)

 

Leicester City (v Ipswich Town 19/01/74)

£0.10 (16 pp / 6.5 net / S)

 

Liverpool (v Coventry City 05/02/74)

£0.05 (16 pp / 11.5 net / S)

Includes 24 pp ‘League Football’ supplement

 

Manchester City (v Burnley 22/12/73)

£0.10 (24 pp / 19 net / S)

 

Manchester United (v Leeds United 09/02/74)

£0.06 (16 pp / 13 net / S)

 

Newcastle United (v Arsenal 01/09/73)

£0.07 (16 pp / 12 net / S)

 

Norwich City (v Southampton 12/09/73)

£0.07 (16 pp / 12 net / S)

 

Queens Park Rangers (v Manchester United 01/01/74)

£0.10 (20 pp / 19 net / S)

 

Sheffield United (v Manchester City 20/10/73)

£0.07 (16 pp / 12.5 net / S)

 

Southampton (v Stoke City 20/10/73)

£0.07 (16 pp / 15 net / S)

 

Stoke City (v Norwich City 10/11/73)

£0.08 (20 pp / 13.5 net / S)

 

Tottenham Hotspur (v Liverpool 09/02/74)

£0.06 (16 pp / 14.5 net / S)

 

West Ham United (v Everton 16/02/74)

£0.05 (20 pp / 19 net / S)

 

Wolverhampton Wanderers (v Chelsea 22/12/73)

£0.08 (24 pp / 16 net / S)

Wolves’ ‘Molinews’ programme had, by 1973, lost some of the distinctiveness that marked it out as one of the best issues around in the late 1960s. The amount of advertising content had increased to eight pages – fully one-third of the programme – resulting in 16 pages of content for the eight pence cost – down from 21 pages in the 1968/69 season.

The pre-Christmas issue for the match against Chelsea included a Wolves team-group picture with Christmas wishes from all at Molineux. There followed a column from Alan Williams of the Daily Express, in which he reflected on attendances since England’s exit from the World Cup qualifiers a few weeks earlier. Whilst some had predicted that fans would stay away from grounds, the figures did not bear that out.

The section on visitors Chelsea included two-pages of player biographies, including a picture of defender David Webb, as well as a team group picture of the Blues. ‘For the Record’ detailed the head to head record of Wolves and Chelsea with results and scorer details for each match up since the 1946/47 season.

Coverage of previous matches was well presented, with a two-page spread containing action pictures alongside brief commentary and the match results. The centre-pages featured more photographs from a recent Midlands derby against Coventry City, while ‘Follow the Wolves’ provided travel information for those Wolves fans planning to make the upcoming trips to Leicester City and Burnley. A three-page statistics section included the usual results, fixtures, tables, and appearance details, including records for Wolves’ reserve team.

Whilst the Wolves programme remained one of the larger issues in Division One, the content offered had become far more limited than in previous seasons. For a 24-page issue there was a surprisingly limited amount of reading, with photographic and statistical content to the fore.