Our ‘On This Day’ feature today looks at the Tottenham Hotspur programme from the 1974/75 season. Read the review below and click here to go to our 1974/75 season page.
The Spurs issue for 1974/75 remained very similar to previous year’s efforts, being a 16-page programme with limited advertising content. The issue had changed little in the preceding decade, which was perhaps reflected in the 7p cover price, which was less than all but three other Division One clubs that season.
The front cover had a simple design, featuring the match details and a picture of the cockerel that could be seen at White Hart Lane and on the club’s badge. The inside cover of the issue featured action pictures from Spurs’ recent match against Birmingham City, while there were also images from a trip to Bramall Lane to face Sheffield United. An introductory article looked back at recent results, with the team plagued by inconsistency, sitting in 16th place ahead of the fixture against Newcastle United. The visitors were covered across two pages, with a team group picture and notes on the club’s players and the manager Joe Harvey. The programme also included Newcastle’s record for the season to date and details of past match ups between the Geordies and Spurs.
The match line-ups were included as part of the centre pages of the programme, along with a profile of referee Arthur Jones. The issue also featured a page of club news, a ‘Roll-Call’ of appearance and scorer details for the club’s first team, reserves, and youth team. There was also a picture of Alan Gilzean finding the net against Red Star Belgrade in the players’ testimonial match the previous week. ‘Flashback’ looked at events that had taken place 10 and 20 years previously, while the first team’s results and fixtures were included on the inside back cover, with tables for each of the club’s teams on the back page.
The Tottenham programme suffered by comparison with the better top-flight issues due to its lack of reading material. Whilst the programme served its purpose in acting as a store of club information and records, the lack of additional material was marked given the advances made by many other clubs.