Suggestions for a club that has gone digital?

[Raxfactor]

Sadly I feel the programme has had it's day, and no matter how much we would like to save it technology has moved so far and fast it's just outdated, it's that simple people can't take part in the modern world without a mobile phone from car parking to doctors appointments you need one, and so it is with information about your football teams latest news, interviews on lineup the days before then manager and player interviews after the match.
Reading the meagre sales achieved what's the point turning a profit on 40-50 progs it's just not worth the time and effort.
Digital is the way forward, probably a fixtures page with results and a video highlights 1-2 mins of goals near misses etc, team sheet that's it.
Sad as it is times change, sometimes it's forced change sometimes it a natural transition some may hang on for traditional reasons but slowly that will be eroded until it's gone.
_________________
Wigan Athletic non league albums
https://myalbum.com/folder/wrJpuuSMYwJc/?invite=17c1f62b-d770-4abd-9d18-a0007d200b84
England albums
https://myalbum.com/folder/Ra3kbhhnNbXH/?invite=562adfbf-6e67-4718-aab7-72e830745fd3

[Tynie Topics]

Raxfactor wrote:

Sadly I feel the programme has had it's day, and no matter how much we would like to save it technology has moved so far and fast it's just outdated, it's that simple people can't take part in the modern world without a mobile phone from car parking to doctors appointments you need one, and so it is with information about your football teams latest news, interviews on lineup the days before then manager and player interviews after the match. Reading the meagre sales achieved what's the point turning a profit on 40-50 progs it's just not worth the time and effort. Digital is the way forward, probably a fixtures page with results and a video highlights 1-2 mins of goals near misses etc, team sheet that's it. Sad as it is times change, sometimes it's forced change sometimes it a natural transition some may hang on for traditional reasons but slowly that will be eroded until it's gone.

I would strongly disagree with that, and in a few cases the programme is fighting back.

I recall when vinyl was supposed to be dead, overtaken by digital technology, now look at it.

We are very much in danger of losing the historical record. There is a very real possibility that content only available digitally may have disappeared in 20/30/50 years time. A new dark ages.

Print the information and it survives.
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/footballprogrammes/albums

[Raxfactor]

In my mind I see digital information being stored in albums as per season.
Some club heritage societies may wish to store each complete digital programme maybe as a flip book, video clips similar to the old Pathe News Reels of England and other famous matches in the past eras stored accordingly with the programme, I don't see any data being lost, just no need in this day and age for a paper programme when more often than not it appears in digital format first anyway.
Yes it's sad, but I would wager if a club asked for donations directed towards areas of the club the supporters wished to support say youth academy, they would generate more cash than programmes could.
The only way I can see the programme surviving is if it produced by supporters perhaps without advertisements to save on wasted pages that folk skip anyway,
basically a labour of love for those who are prepared to devote time and energy towards it's production, maybe more importantly it's not official so no legal obligation to promote sponsors and the like, even if the club approves of it's publication.
Whatever happens things never stay the same there is always change with that in mind it might suprise us all.
_________________
Wigan Athletic non league albums
https://myalbum.com/folder/wrJpuuSMYwJc/?invite=17c1f62b-d770-4abd-9d18-a0007d200b84
England albums
https://myalbum.com/folder/Ra3kbhhnNbXH/?invite=562adfbf-6e67-4718-aab7-72e830745fd3

[Tynie Topics]

Raxfactor wrote:

In my mind I see digital information being stored in albums as per season. Some club heritage societies may wish to store each complete digital programme maybe as a flip book, video clips similar to the old Pathe News Reels of England and other famous matches in the past eras stored accordingly with the programme, I don't see any data being lost, just no need in this day and age for a paper programme when more often than not it appears in digital format first anyway. Yes it's sad, but I would wager if a club asked for donations directed towards areas of the club the supporters wished to support say youth academy, they would generate more cash than programmes could. The only way I can see the programme surviving is if it produced by supporters perhaps without advertisements to save on wasted pages that folk skip anyway, basically a labour of love for those who are prepared to devote time and energy towards it's production, maybe more importantly it's not official so no legal obligation to promote sponsors and the like, even if the club approves of it's publication. Whatever happens things never stay the same there is always change with that in mind it might suprise us all.

Data storage and servers cost money, and as we know technology moves on at rapid pace. Look how quickly video tapes, laser discs, DVDs and CDs all came and went. Few laptops and PC's have a disc drive anymore. How do you get data off a floppy disc these days? not easily and you'd probably need to hand it over to a specialist.

There is no guarantee that something saved on a server today, will still be available in 10 or 20 years. Look at websites and how quickly they can disappear, gone, but was the data contained in them saved? Once a clubs online programme has moved on to the next issue, what happens to the previous issue, is it saved, is it deleted? Are they all deleted at the end of the season?

That is what concerns me. We can all look back to programmes from any era and find valuable information. Where do the historians 50 years from now look if someone has hit the delete button on some of these servers?

I do appreciate that the future of programmes at many clubs hang by a thread. Once the guy who has done it for years steps down, there may be nobody to take their place. It needs more fan involvement where possible and as you allude to, perhaps fan organisations taking them over completely and out of club hands.

But we as collectors need to keep positive about programmes, and don't accept that their demise is inevitable. The kindle was going to wipe-out books, but like vinyl, they're on the comeback trail.
_________________
https://www.flickr.com/photos/footballprogrammes/albums

[Laalaa]

Raxfactor wrote:

In my mind I see digital information being stored in albums as per season. Some club heritage societies may wish to store each complete digital programme maybe as a flip book, video clips similar to the old Pathe News Reels of England and other famous matches in the past eras stored accordingly with the programme, I don't see any data being lost, just no need in this day and age for a paper programme when more often than not it appears in digital format first anyway. Yes it's sad, but I would wager if a club asked for donations directed towards areas of the club the supporters wished to support say youth academy, they would generate more cash than programmes could. The only way I can see the programme surviving is if it produced by supporters perhaps without advertisements to save on wasted pages that folk skip anyway, basically a labour of love for those who are prepared to devote time and energy towards it's production, maybe more importantly it's not official so no legal obligation to promote sponsors and the like, even if the club approves of it's publication. Whatever happens things never stay the same there is always change with that in mind it might suprise us all.

In 2019 I went to an Essex Senior game and the club produced a team sheet but also a online programme. At the time no smart phone (still don't have one) and I didn't know anyone who would print it of.
I decided to try and get the programme and found the link, pressed it and up came "PAGE NOT EXISTS" and that is only 5 years! I really hate to think in 20/25 years time what the state of printed matter not just programmes.
Give me a hard copy thriller anyday, at least it won't get nicked like your phone.

Rant over

[Raxfactor]

The only other thing that comes to mind that has been done for years is the Year Book as per Manchester United if they still do one, every match covered in detail, lineups league table each week, plus player profiles the experienced pros and youth.
Wigan heritage society has produced one in small numbers for last season the first time they have done one, so maybe that's one alternative to a matchday programme a hard copy so data on the season just passed will still be around for later generations.
_________________
Wigan Athletic non league albums
https://myalbum.com/folder/wrJpuuSMYwJc/?invite=17c1f62b-d770-4abd-9d18-a0007d200b84
England albums
https://myalbum.com/folder/Ra3kbhhnNbXH/?invite=562adfbf-6e67-4718-aab7-72e830745fd3

[das]

Raxfactor wrote:

The only other thing that comes to mind that has been done for years is the Year Book as per Manchester United if they still do one, every match covered in detail, lineups league table each week, plus player profiles the experienced pros and youth. Wigan heritage society has produced one in small numbers for last season the first time they have done one, so maybe that's one alternative to a matchday programme a hard copy so data on the season just passed will still be around for later generations.

Man Utd do still do one but it may be only members can access it, I don't know as I can access it as a member

[giorgio]

I stopped buying matchday programmes 6 or 7 years ago. My opinion is that they are filled with far too much information these days, too many adverts etc. and I just have no more room to store them any more. When I first started going football, back in the 70s, programmes only contained a few pages and you could get several seasons in one box. Not anymore. I think the format used today has turned many people away. Maybe going back to 4 or 8 pages would be a lot easier and cheaper to produce and fans wouldn't have to pay a fortune for them either.

[ndg1860]

Raxfactor wrote:

The only other thing that comes to mind that has been done for years is the Year Book as per Manchester United if they still do one, every match covered in detail, lineups league table each week, plus player profiles the experienced pros and youth. Wigan heritage society has produced one in small numbers for last season the first time they have done one, so maybe that's one alternative to a matchday programme a hard copy so data on the season just passed will still be around for later generations.

Fascinating discussion that will no doubt reappear in a few years time and again in a decade or so...

I use the above quote here as Yearbooks have their place, but they are, as you say, limited to just the briefs of the games, including lineups, stats and a report. The programme has a lot more, especially about the opposition, latest news from the club, etc. Yes, some of these are available on the internet and so can be sourced that way.

Speaking from a QPR point of view, the club has actually realised that the programme makes a profit. An unusual situation and perhaps that is the case for clubs at the top of the pyramid. The programme contains quite a bit of information not available on the web, especially for kids. More extensive player profiles and discussions about players/coaches, etc who have links to both teams. There are quizes, etc. Thus, to the fans of the clubs in the top leagues, they do get a lot more than what you would see in a non-league programme.

However, on the other side, as the manager of the QPR programme web site, I was dismayed at the internet presence for the club. At the end of last season the club chose to revamp their web site. Unlike a lot of clubs at this level, QPR uploads their team sheets to the web for all to download (instead of paying exhorbitant prices from eBay scammers). In the transfer to the new site, they had lost all that they had. Yes, a club that size had zero back up from the old site! So, this can happen. A paper version will remain available and can be digitised. I think that the idea of having both (print plus digital), some redundancy is certainly the best solution, but as mentioned, this creates a new cost that some clubs may not be keen to take on.

A small note on this that I may have mentioned some years ago. I went to a Cup game of Sevenoaks v Red Hill a few years ago. There was no programme at the game. When I was lining up for some food, the person behind me was the GM/CEO for the Cherry Records Combined Counties League. At that time, he stated to another person in the queue that for his League, all clubs are forced to have a programme. Not too sure that would be the case still.

[Tynie Topics]

Like programmes, vinyl is dead.....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cz6x9e1lpvlo
_________________
https://www.flickr.com/photos/footballprogrammes/albums

[Dorking]

For my non league club I am making my own 8 page programme each game from copying and pasting the key bits from their digital offering (as its not in ready to print programme format.... and making sure I get a proper teamsheet each game to go with it.

I guess I could try and do a complete programme using all the published adverts and other published articles but to be honest I haven't got the energy to make myself a 40 pager each game when they come so thick and fast.

I think pretty much all of the other teams in the NLS do printed, and when you but them in pristine condition straight out the box they really are lovely things in the way that small print run, glossy programmes often are!

As for Palace where I also have a season ticket, the programme seems to be doing fine - this season is the 100th year of Selhurst Park, and they are doing a different cover artwork each issue, which looks quite lovely. Also the 19 Prem home programmes all follow on from each other to make a giant mural, which is like what Brentford did last season with all of their covers joining up

Palace have both a printed and a digital version of the programme, and the digital version is included in some membership and season ticket upgrade packages