Today’s On This Day review looks at Blackpool’s programme for the 1970/71 season. Read our notes on the programme below and see all of the Division One issues for the season here.
Blackpool’s programme was one of the smallest in Division One, offering only ten pages of content – only the Leeds United issue was smaller. As with all the other issues in the division, apart from Coventry’s innovative production, the programme cost one shilling.
The programme’s cover was nicely designed, featuring an illustration of a Blackpool player in the club’s familiar tangerine shirt, shown against a backdrop of some fans and the Blackpool Tower. The inside front cover featured ‘Club Notes’, which anticipated the impending relegation the team would suffer. The column noted the feeling of the team that “we are not the worst team in Division One” although they lay ten points from safety.
The team would though lift the Anglo-Italian Cup in the summer and the programme looked forward to forthcoming home matches against the likes of Juventus and Roma. The programme also included details of a trip to the Italian Riviera – ‘Follow Blackpool to the Sun’ – for supporters who wanted to watch the team’s games in Italy. Perhaps reflecting the interest in the Anglo-Italian Cup the programme provided the latest Serie A table, which showed Inter two points clear at the top, despite having scored only 33 goals in 23 games.
The programme offered pen pictures of the visiting Tottenham Hotspur team, with the opposition’s ranks including names such as Mullery, Peters, Gilzean, Chivers, and England. There was also a team group picture of the Spurs side. Several of the other pages within the programme featured tangerine coloured advertising bars on their headers and footers, with some of those including information such as the club’s appearances and scorers for the 1970/71 season. The issue also included ‘Supporters’ Club Notes’, including in the Spurs issue information on the ‘Football Queen’ competition and the ‘Player of the Year’ vote, as well as results, fixtures, and league tables for the first team and reserves. There were also a couple of pictures from Blackpool’s recent fixture against Newcastle United, with one showing centre-forward John Craven in action.
As with many other programmes of the time, the main reading to be found in the Blackpool issue came through the inclusion of the Football League Review supplement. The programme nevertheless provides an interesting snapshot of a club that, following its relegation in 22nd place, would not compete again in the top-flight of English football until 2010.