Our final Premier League programme review for the 2021/22 season is published today as we turn the spotlight on Everton’s programme. Read our full review below and click here to see all of the other top-flight issues and reviews for the season.
Everton’s programme for 2021/22 is a familiar looking 84-page issue. The great majority of the original content in each programme is made up of interviews and other features with players past and present.
The pick of these articles is a single-page heritage feature, which recounts the career of a former player. Along similar lines is ‘He Wore Blue’ – a retro feature in which one past player from the Toffees is interviewed. ‘My Hometown’ is a Q&A with a player looking at where they grew up, while ‘The Lowdown’ delves into the archives to see what was happening on the date of one player’s birth. There is also an eight-page interview with a current squad member and ‘On the Spot’ – another Q&A – as well as a couple of pages for younger fans.
The section on the visitors to Goodison Park covers eight pages, opening with a history of the opposition including honours, and information on record holders, the club badge, and their home ground. Following this is a two-page action shot from a past match-up with the visitors. There is also a page of stats and a short profile of a ‘key man’ to look out for, with four pages of pen-pics for the full squad completing the section. All nicely put together, with good use made of the opponent’s colours, but the section feels rather light on readable content.
Club information is presented in some depth, with plenty of information about Everton’s other teams. There is a feature on one of the players from each of the club’s women’s team and the under-23s, as well as a page of Academy news, with a detailed statistics section towards the back of the programme covering each of Everton’s sides. In addition to the usual manager and captain columns, there are various pages of news and updates on the club’s community work.
The overall impression is of a programme that is certainly well put together, but which lacks the quality or depth of content to stand comparison with the league’s better issues.