Special Clubs

[Wullie]

This is a pet hate of mine, dealers catalouges that list " special clubs "
What they mean are Manchester United and London clubs who programmes are very common.

[atletico]

hear, hear

[Footyfan]

"Special Clubs" = best sellers = more business = more profit!

I collect Leeds Utd and although we have been out of the top league for a while now Leeds stuff still sells at a premium and programmes Home & Away often sell out.

[Dorking]

I just assumed 'Special Clubs' means they've got tons of that clubs programmes - possibly because they bought up a huge collection. One dealer I looked at recently online had Palace as a special club, so it really doesn't mean much!

[footballprogrammes.com]

In my view, and with hindsight, the term ‘special clubs’ really should have been ‘speciality clubs’ and I agree it is pretty much outdated now.

It started in the mail order catalogues of the 80s and 90s and was used by the likes of Sports Programmes, Brentside and admittedly I jumped on the bandwagon. We were all based in the capital in those days so the big 4 London clubs along with the Country’s two best supported clubs Liverpool and United simply were our best selling clubs. Pre-Internet, a dealers location was important to who you contacted for your collection. The aforementioned for London clubs, Swashy for Birmingham based, Hewitt for leeds etc... Thats all changed now with ebay and websites.

Apart from the two Birmingham and Sheffield clubs, I think I can speak for all established dealers when I say I would rather purchase a collection of ANY club rather than one of the so called ‘special clubs’ Ironically the OP’s club, Sunderland would be right at the top of the list!

Its funny but only a couple of days ago I was chatting with a fellow long established dealer and I said if wasn’t for the fact it would take a huge amount of time, re-organisation and physical effort I would love to re-sort all the ‘special club’ aways into the respective section of the home clubs and do away with the term forever.
_________________
David Allen
http://www.footballprogrammes.com
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/FOOTBALL-PROGRAMMES-WAREHOUSE

[slightfold]

I was under the impression that the 'Special Clubs' were the ones, who way back when the term was coined, were best the supported. With a larger fan base there were more collectors and so using the law of supply and demand dealers could charge higher prices, as is the way of the world! Perhaps this is the view of a cynic, I do not know whether other members agree. I do agree with Mr Allen that would be nice to see the annoying term dropped and at least give the impression of a level playing field!