Today’s ‘On This Day’ article looks at Swansea City’s programme from the 2017/18 season. Read our full review below and click here to see all the 2017/18 programmes and reviews.
One of three smaller A5 issues in the league this season, Swansea’s ‘Jack Magazine’ packs a lot it, making good use of its 84 pages. The programme kicks off with columns from manager and captain, as well as Chairman Huw Jenkins (OBE), Guardian columnist Stuart James, and local journalist Julie Kissick. The programme then provides basic match reports from previous games, with stats and a brief write-up.
‘Where Are They Now?’ features a former Swans player and provides a reminder of their career and post-playing activities. ‘Swans and Dragons’ looks at former Swansea players that have represented Wales at full international level. This is followed by ‘Travelling Jacks’, which is a useful feature for Swansea fans following the team away from home. The column occurs a couple of times in the programme and looks at upcoming away trips with a range of useful information, including travel tips, places to park, and the best places to get pre-match food and drink.
The visitors section is well presented, covering five pages and a further two pages of club connections. This section makes good use of the visiting club’s colours and full-page photographs. These images are a good example of how the programme uses darker backgrounds with white text to provide a comfortable reading experience, while making optimum use of the space available.
The programme contains several features about the club’s work in the community, including a funding programme to support local groups, and a two-page spread on community work with club ambassador and former player, Lee Trundle. The programme successfully communicates the club’s efforts in this area and includes a page on awards won by the club for their community work.
A six-page player interview goes into some depth with its subject, before ‘Classic Seasons’ examines Swansea’s promotion-winning campaign of 1969/70. This feature includes pictures of players from the time, as well as putting their achievements in the context of world events from the time. ‘Looking Back’ examines matches from this week in the club’s history, again with player pictures as well as a background image of Swansea’s former ground, The Vetch Field.
‘The Academy’ reports on the club’s Development Squad and Under-18s, as well as mentioning Swansea’s other youth teams and highlighting some of the work the club does with its younger players. This is followed by two-page features on a member of each of the main youth squads, which includes the respective team’s results and tables. There is also a one-page interview with a young recruit to the Swansea Ladies team. The stats section provides the usual double-page spread for the season record, including details of the squad’s league and cup appearances.
‘Jack Magazine’ is one of only five Premier League issues still charging just £3, helping to make this programme good value for money. This is an example of how to deliver a more compact issue, with praise due for the quality of design and layout throughout the programme.