Our On This Day feature today goes back just a couple of years, to October 14th 2017 and Watford’s fixture against Arsenal. Read our review of Watford’s programme below and see the other 2017/18 issues here.
Watford’s issue gives the impression of a programme in search of a coherent identity, having something of an inconsistent feel. A significant part of this may be down to design problems, with many pages feeling under-utilised. The amount of blank space feels rather obvious on several pages, with a mix of font sizes contributing to a disjointed look.
One positive design aspect is the programme’s impressive front cover, which features an image of a Watford player on a dark backdrop, together with basic match details. Following the manager and captain columns, an eight-page player interview is an example of the problem of an excess of white space. Whilst this no doubt creates a comfortable reading experience, it leaves the feeling that there is insufficient content to fill the programme’s 100 pages.
A lengthy opposition section is the best element of this programme. The section kicks-off with a simple but effective full-page graphic of the visitor’s crest. This is followed by key stats, a manager profile, basic pen-pics, and an opposition player interview. ‘From the Away End’ is an interview with an opposition supporter, while ‘Dream Team’ sees a former player who represented both clubs select their best eleven from those they played alongside and coached.
‘We’ll Never Play There Again’ is one of the best features. This column looks at match programmes from visits to stadia no longer in use. ‘Forty Years On’ is a four-page look at Watford’s Division Four title-winning campaign of 1977/78.
It is good to see six pages given over to Watford’s Academy, including an interview with one young player. The club’s Development Squad benefits from a full results and line-up section of the type that most issues usually reserve for the first team only. However, the use of black text on a dark green background, coupled with the small font size, makes parts of these pages hard to read. This seems rather unnecessary given the amount of space that remains unused. The issue also includes two pages on Watford Ladies, including a player interview.
The first-team stats section has similar design problems to those identified elsewhere in the issue. The section suffers from very small text, surrounded by lots of white space. A basic league table is also provided, but once again in an unnecessarily small font.
Given the design flaws, perhaps Watford’s programme would benefit from more use of background colours or images. A move to a smaller paper size, along the lines of the Newcastle and Swansea issues, may also help.