Our Gold Award for the 2022/23 season is issued to West Ham United. Another hugely impressive programme from the Hammers, thoroughly meriting the title of Programme of the Season. West Ham become the first club to win this honour twice, having previously triumphed in 2020/21. Congratulations to all involved in the production of this brilliant programme. Read our full review below.
Our Gold Award winners from the 2020/21 season return with another fine programme. The Hammers have maintained a consistently high standard over the last few years, and they return to the top of the tree this time around.
West Ham’s programme is the largest in the Premier League, running to 116 pages – providing good value for money, despite the price rise to £4 for 2022/23, due to some eye-catching designs and well laid-out section, together with comprehensive coverage of the club and their matchday visitors.
As with the issues of the last few seasons, there is plenty of excellent historical content included, with the ‘Hammers History’ section running to some 15 pages. ‘My West Ham Scrapbook’ is a continuing feature from previous years, profiling a former Hammers player, with reflections on key moments from their career with the club, together with photos and newspaper cuttings from the time. ‘Hammerabilia’ also returns – spotlighting items and stories from the archives. ‘Programmed’ meanwhile looks back at issues published for games between West Ham and the visiting side – both home and away – with images from the programmes and reports from the matches covered.
Columnist Ken Dyer contributes an article that looks at games from the past against the day’s opponents, while ‘Flashback 00s’ by Sid Lambert recalls more recent times, and ‘Moose’s Memories’ offers up the thoughts of TalkSport’s Ian Abrahams.
On top of these retro features, there is an extensive interview with one squad member. These profiles are a fine example of the quality design work on show in the Hammers programme, with excellent use of page edgings, pull quotes, and clearly laid out text. There is also a separate pull-out for junior supporters, attached to the inside back cover.
There are nine pages devoted to the visitors to the London Stadium, kicking off with a short article looking at recent developments, alongside club honours and records, transfer activity, and a depth chart. The section also contains a head coach profile and three pages of notes on the squad members – organised by position – showing the options available in each area of the pitch. ‘Talking Tactics’ looks at how the team sets up and there is a collection of squad stats.
West Ham’s programme also succeeds in presenting a comprehensive picture of all aspects of the club. As well as the familiar manager and captain columns, there are multiple pages on the work of the club’s foundation, as well as a mix of news and supporter information. The latter includes ‘Over Land and Sea’, which looks ahead to upcoming away trips, with information for fans on travel arrangements as well as details such as the Hammers’ record at the ground.
A dedicated seven-page ‘Academy’ section looks in detail at the club’s other teams, with in-depth coverage of the under-21s, under-18s, and women’s teams. Previous first-team matches are covered with a report, pictures, quotes and match facts, while there is an extensive stats section. The double-page season spread is another impressively designed element to the programme, with use of white space and colour coding, making it one of the easiest such spreads to understand.
Once again, West Ham have delivered an outstanding programme, which deserves to be recognised as the very best in the Premier League. This season’s issue has achieved the joint-highest score we have awarded to a programme, reflecting its excellence in all aspects.