For today’s On This Day feature we take a look at Southampton’s programme for the 1978/79 season. Read our review below and Click here for all the 1978/79 Division One issues.
For the 1978/79 season, the Saints marked their return to the top-flight with a move to a landscape shaped programme. The issue opens with brief introductory notes from manager Lawrie McMenemy, while ‘Saints Scene’ contains various items of information from around the club, as well as ticketing updates.
‘In the News’ gathers together stories from around the league, reflecting on the early matches of the season, while there is a page on ‘New Faces at the Dell’ in the shape of first-team coach Lew Chatterley and winger Terry Curran. ‘Do You Remember’ recalls Southampton’s fortunes from 5, 10, and 15 years ago, as well as providing a league table for the 1947/48 season.
In terms of club information, there is a page on the club’s reserve and youth teams, with reports and line-ups from recent games. The centre pages are given over to the first team’s results and fixtures spread, together with a league table and attendance information.
The day’s opponents, Middlesbrough, are given two pages, with a team group picture accompanying some detailed text on the visitors’ players and notes on the club’s form the previous season. The section also contains ‘When We Met Before’ – results from the Saints’ most recent fixtures against Middlesbrough.
With 24 pages, only the Chelsea and Liverpool issues had more pages than Southampton’s during this season. However, the Saints programme contained more pages of adverts than any other, reducing to 15 the number of pages of actual content. It is the resulting lack of readable material that is this programme’s biggest downfall.