We are somewhat overdue in publishing a blog post on the recent Premier League programme covers, so here is a catch-up article that covers all of the programmes issued between 8th February and 1st March 2020.
The first set of covers are from the extended ‘winter break’ gameweek when each team was given one weekend off.
This set of issues featured a cracking retro cover from Arsenal for the visit of Newcastle United on Sunday 16th February – one of the very best of the season to date. The picture on the cover depicts George Eastham, who played for the Gunners between 1960 and 1966, having previously turned out for the Magpies. Eastham is perhaps best known for his involvement in a court case against Newcastle in 1963. This followed a dispute with the club after Eastham was told he had to stay despite his contract having expired. This article from The Athletic, which outlines the significance of the case, is well worth a read. Another cover with a retro look was the Norwich City programme for their home game against Liverpool. The Canaries have produced some terrific covers this season featuring pictures of current players in throwback kits, and this effort saw City defender Ben Godfrey and Liverpool forward Mo Salah in their team’s respective shirts from the early 1990s. Louise Cobbold’s portrait for the cover of the Wolves programme for their home match against Leicester City, which featured goalkeeper Rui Patricio, was also as impressive as ever.
The second set of covers are from the games played from Saturday 22nd February to Monday 24th February.
The Manchester United programme for the visit of Watford featured a picture of club legend Harry Gregg, who had recently passed away at the age of 87. Gregg was one of the survivors of the Munich air disaster and is well known for pulling several of his teammates, including Bobby Charlton and Dennis Viollet free from the wreckage of the crashed plane. This article from the Manchester United website recalls Gregg’s stand out season in 1958/59, as the club sought to recover from the tragedy of Munich.
Finally for this post, we look at the programmes for the games played from Friday 28th February to Sunday 1st March. There were only eight fixtures played over this weekend due to the League Cup Final clash between Manchester City and Aston Villa.
Norwich City’s programme cover once again impressed, with the players featured on this occasion being Ondrej Duda and former Canary James Maddison, displaying their respective team’s kits from the 1983/84 season. Watford’s cover for the visit of Liverpool proved rather prophetic, featuring as it did winger Ismaila Sarr, who scored twice as the Hornets inflicted the first league defeat suffered by the champions-elect this season. Similarly, West Ham’s cover for their match against Southampton featured recent signing Jarrod Bowen, who duly opened the scoring for the Hammers as they overcame the Saints 3-1 at the London Stadium.