Our reviews of the current season Premier League programmes continues with our look at the issue produced by Norwich City. Our review is included below, while you can also click here to see all of the 2019/20 top-flight issues.
Norwich City have produced one of the most highly regarded programmes in the Championship over the last few years and the issue they have put together for their return to the top-flight is an impressive one. The programme retains the title ‘OTBC’ – relating to the Canaries’ famous ‘On the Ball City’ song, said to be the oldest football song in the world still sung today. The issue runs to 116 A5 size pages and uses these to deliver some high-quality content.
Among the best features are those included within a section called ‘1902’ in reference to the year of the club’s founding. Running to 14 pages across various articles, the section looks back at memorable games and players from Norwich’s history. ‘City’s Greatest Premier League Games’ revisits high points from the Canaries time in the top-flight. The article provides a write-up of the match, words from one of the participants, and a ‘match facts’ sidebar that includes the programme cover from the day. ‘My Top Three’ invites one former player to select various top three lists, including favourite goals, opponents, and memories, while ‘What If’ offers a hypothetical look at which might have happened if certain moments in the club’s history had turned out slightly differently.
‘One City Strong’ is a section that offers various items of fan-related content, including a message board, notes on the Canaries Trust, and ‘Junior Canaries’ pages. ‘Fan Talk’ is a consistently well-written piece that offers the thoughts of one Norwich fan on a pertinent subject of the day, whilst ‘Community Hero’ introduces a local figure whose work in the community is worthy of recognition. The section also provides updates on the work of the club’s Community Sports Foundation.
The programme also includes a column from manager Daniel Farke, while ‘Norwich City Talk’ offers the pre-match thoughts of BBC Radio Norfolk commentator Chris Goreham. There is a seven-page player feature, made up of an interview with one member of the Norwich team, which features several photographs. ‘Fantasy Dinner Party’ invites one Norwich fan to pick their ideal personalities to come to dinner – with the requirement that each visitor should have a connection to the Canaries. ‘Premier League Talk’ sees Totally Football Show editor Nick Miller writing on the latest from around the league, while ‘My Canary Memories’ has one former City layer looking back at key moments from their Norwich career. ‘Academy Talk’ features words from Academy Manager Steve Weaver, which precedes four pages of reports and stats from the club’s under-18s and under-23s. There are also three pages of stats for the first team, including a well laid-out fixtures and results spread and the league table.
‘Matchday’ is a ten-page section on the visiting club, which provides a welcome range of content. The section opens with a full-page picture of one opposition player, before a squad list offers notes on each member of the visiting team, together with pictures of key figures in the squad. ‘Last Game’ looks at the team’s previous fixture and the formation and players used, while ‘The Lowdown’ provides analysis of the visitors’ season to date, with tactical notes and key figures. ‘Numbers Game’ offers more stats from key moments and figures in the club’s history and ‘Seven Things You Might Not Know About’ selects various lesser known facts about the visiting club. ‘Travel Diaries’ is an interesting inclusion, exploring the “footballing history and culture of the area of each visitor to Carrow Road”. This is an informative and innovative piece that offers something a little different to much of the standard fare usually seen in opposition coverage. Overall, this is an opposition section that offers plenty of reading, incorporating plenty of use of the visiting club’s colours.
OTBC is well designed throughout, avoiding any overly fussy layouts and utilising Norwich’s distinctive yellow and green colours to attractive effect. The programme cover design is worthy of special mention, benefiting from creative artwork that features one Norwich player and one member of the opposition team depicted in retro kits. The issue offers a good range of reading, with some features that feel notably different from those provided by many clubs. This is a fine programme, with much of the content, such as the ‘One City Strong’ section, giving the impression of a club firmly rooted in its local community.