Programmes to be optional in EFL?

[sharrowblade]

As always some interesting comments.

I too, was waiting for TalkShite to finally talk about the topic but they kept promising but time just ebbed away, and I finally nodded off, due to all them adverts and West Ham fans ranting,even a special feature on Japanese sumo wrestling appeared to be of more importance.

I did hear the guy from Programmemaster suggest that clubs could all have the 'same issue' at a weekend.

Doesn't work I'm afraid, Rugby League tried it, with the 'Game on' programme. It sounded good in theory all the championship clubs and League 1 contributing a small amount at the beginning of the season, pooling their resources, a programme covering all the games, but fans hated it and the bigger clubs reverted back to printing their own because of the advertising revenues they were losing.

Not a fan of the digital version, cant see the point, if its just a case of wanting the team line up, don't have to pay for a download. Anyway just my thoughts on it.

Finally, there's no finer smell then that of a newly printed football programme.

Long may that continue.
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A Sheffield United Programme guide

[DySporting]

Rochdale have announced they will continue with their award winning programme next season.

The only club who I’ve seen in League 1 who don’t give a stuff about a programme is Fleetwood.

[bigdavethemaddog]

i think Inverness scrapped it for a while and produced a monthly magazine but soon reverted back to a programme. a few scottish clubs no longer produce programmes. i will be disappointed if they are scrapped.

[Ronsaunders]

I'd forgotten that the price has reduced for the last game and, as like yourself, the stickers remain firmly attached to my copy!

However, whether it's £5 or £6, the point is still valid that the DFB produce something that is good quality and distribute it FOC.

Whether reducing the number of pages etc will increase sales I doubt we'll know until someone tries it. What I would say is that from my perspective, it may slow down the reduction of sales as more people, like myself, are stopping buying the current issues because they are just too large to store and have little meaningful content. As for clubs losing money, I somewhat doubt that unless they are extravagant. I've done the accounts for a fanzine since the early 90's and, whilst it will never be something that will facilitate an early retirement, it's never actually made a loss. If some scratty fans can at least achieve a break even position on fanzines, most clubs should be able to with programmes IF they actually WANT to.

[Tynie Topics]

Ronsaunders wrote:

I'd forgotten that the price has reduced for the last game and, as like yourself, the stickers remain firmly attached to my copy! However, whether it's £5 or £6, the point is still valid that the DFB produce something that is good quality and distribute it FOC. Whether reducing the number of pages etc will increase sales I doubt we'll know until someone tries it. What I would say is that from my perspective, it may slow down the reduction of sales as more people, like myself, are stopping buying the current issues because they are just too large to store and have little meaningful content. As for clubs losing money, I somewhat doubt that unless they are extravagant. I've done the accounts for a fanzine since the early 90's and, whilst it will never be something that will facilitate an early retirement, it's never actually made a loss. If some scratty fans can at least achieve a break even position on fanzines, most clubs should be able to with programmes IF they actually WANT to.

Spot on Ron.

Germany, Norway and Sweden produce quality A4 programmes (in my experience from following Scotland) and hand them out free after the turnstile or leave them in a pile to help yourself. Hungary did likewise last month although a smaller issue. OK, most are advert heavy - which pays the cost - but they still have good content. Hungary though was not advert heavy and a smashing issue. Benefits? advertisers get their message to a wider audience if the programme is free.

As for clubs, correct. They can make a profit if there is a will to do it. It's not even up for debate frankly. They could even try following the above model.
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[Eck]

I think a concern would be if some teams decided not to produce a programme but still produced a limited VIP version for hospitality guests.

[Wullie]

Eck wrote:

I think a concern would be if some teams decided not to produce a programme but still produced a limited VIP version for hospitality guests.

My thoughts exactly . Imagine a team like Sunderland visiting Fleetwood. No programme available , BUT a few teamsheets available from office . We all know what will happen. These "" scarce "" items will appear on eBay and will sell for more than gold. I think football clubs have a duty to protect collectors, who have collected for years, from been ripped off by club officials . If they print off teamsheets, then make them plentiful to all who want a copy. Looking at ebay over the years , i genuinely believe that people in the know, who work for clubs are taking advantage of genuine collectors. It's easy to blame the collector for willing to pay stupid money , but if you have a copy of every game for many seasons , then it's so hard to stop.

[Dorking]

Nice full page article in yesterdays Mail on Sunday, covering many of the sentiments expressed on this thread

[Wullie]

Dorking wrote:

Nice full page article in yesterdays Mail on Sunday, covering many of the sentiments expressed on this thread

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/spo.....rvive.html

[Benno Spire]

Smaller clubs and many larger clubs should try this

All collectors register with a club with a committment to purchase all programmes for a season, each club shares this number with each other so they know a minimum number of programmes to print and also guarantee genuine collectors a match day programme, clubs can then print additional programmes based on expected sales but minimising loads of unsold programmes,this will also hold up the value of the programme as there wont be lots sold to dealers for next to nothing to flood the market and lower the value

[Wullie]

Not a bad idea but clubs will not do that. They really aren't interested in collectors. The guy in the office who normally orders 500 programmes knows fine well they'll quickly sell out for a visit from a club such as Sunderland. Why bother printing more when he can put a few aside and sell them personally on eBay for ten fold plus the day after the game? Think about it. What a nice little tax free earner .
The hobby will die a death. What 12 year old is going to pay £40 for a £4 programme ? And a few clubs won't print a programme at all so a A4 teamsheet will go for £50 plus .

[manchesterunitedman1]

Wullie wrote:

Not a bad idea but clubs will not do that. They really aren't interested in collectors. The guy in the office who normally orders 500 programmes knows fine well they'll quickly sell out for a visit from a club such as Sunderland. Why bother printing more when he can put a few aside and sell them personally on eBay for ten fold plus the day after the game? Think about it. What a nice little tax free earner . The hobby will die a death. What 12 year old is going to pay £40 for a £4 programme ? And a few clubs won't print a programme at all so a A4 teamsheet will go for £50 plus .

I better get rid of all my stuff now as no one is ever going to be interested in buying it.

I can get the ball rolling as I have a couple of dusty Newton Heath Homes from 1888-job lot, I mean who wants some tatty bits of decrepit paper that will be soon worthless as if no one will buy current stuff what chance have these bits of tat got to get sold.

I better start a fire sale and I suggest others do too-let's all get out of this going nowhere hobby where no one under 60 is interested these days.


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[New Forest]

Can I have four Newton Heath programme please - no tatty ones. Shall we say £5 each? That will give you £20, just enough to buy this seasons FA Cup Final programme.

[Dorking]

99% of cigarette cards stopped being issued about 80 years ago, still surprisingly quite a hobby of dedicated collectors

[manchesterunitedman1]

New Forest wrote:

Can I have four Newton Heath programme please - no tatty ones. Shall we say £5 each? That will give you £20, just enough to buy this seasons FA Cup Final programme.

I do not have 4-i had three, sorry they have gone well 2 have I did well I got 12.47 for the pair and I have kept one as I have an old rickety table and I can fold it into 8 so it will stop the rocking, but thanks anyway, I will start on the first season man utd 1902-3 in about a week-remind me to let you know


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Leslie Millman
Twitter: @manyuman1

To see 19,900++ original items relating to Newton Heath & Manchester Utd 1878-2023 then visit www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/sets to see entire uploads.

1000's more images to be uploaded, to view the latest uploads go to www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/

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[manchesterunitedman1]

New Forest wrote:

Can I have four Newton Heath programme please - no tatty ones. Shall we say £5 each? That will give you £20, just enough to buy this seasons FA Cup Final programme.

[img]

Hmm got me thinking, maybe I could get a few pounds for this, or is it that old no one would want it ?, it is not one of those copies.





_________________
Leslie Millman
Twitter: @manyuman1

To see 19,900++ original items relating to Newton Heath & Manchester Utd 1878-2023 then visit www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/sets to see entire uploads.

1000's more images to be uploaded, to view the latest uploads go to www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/

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[Wullie]

There will always be a market for quality items. But almost everyone here started their collections many moons ago , and without exception the running theme would have been a programme from each home game, followed by each away game. All affordable and accessible. Once that link is broken i can't really see how a youngster would wish to continue.
Funny you mention cigarette cards. I thought it went the other way. Died a slow death but i guess football cards seem popular. Stamp collecting has all but vanished . I remember shops that actually sold collections years ago. I doubt you'll ever see one today. Postcards the same. Football is a different kettle of fish, because it's as popular as ever. So no need to bin you collection Leslie. There will always be an interest in historical items. But for modern football programmes in general , i see the end of the collector as we know them.

[manchesterunitedman1]

Wullie wrote:

There will always be a market for quality items. But almost everyone here started their collections many moons ago , and without exception the running theme would have been a programme from each home game, followed by each away game. All affordable and accessible. Once that link is broken i can't really see how a youngster would wish to continue. Funny you mention cigarette cards. I thought it went the other way. Died a slow death but i guess football cards seem popular. Stamp collecting has all but vanished . I remember shops that actually sold collections years ago. I doubt you'll ever see one today. Postcards the same. Football is a different kettle of fish, because it's as popular as ever. So no need to bin you collection Leslie. There will always be an interest in historical items. But for modern football programmes in general , i see the end of the collector as we know them.

Surprised that u did not answer my pm i sent to u a few weeks ago? It was opened and read. Thanks

_________________
Leslie Millman
Twitter: @manyuman1

To see 19,900++ original items relating to Newton Heath & Manchester Utd 1878-2023 then visit www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/sets to see entire uploads.

1000's more images to be uploaded, to view the latest uploads go to www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterunitedman1/

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[se20blue]

Wullie wrote:

There will always be a market for quality items. But almost everyone here started their collections many moons ago , and without exception the running theme would have been a programme from each home game, followed by each away game. All affordable and accessible. Once that link is broken i can't really see how a youngster would wish to continue. Funny you mention cigarette cards. I thought it went the other way. Died a slow death but i guess football cards seem popular. Stamp collecting has all but vanished . I remember shops that actually sold collections years ago. I doubt you'll ever see one today. Postcards the same. Football is a different kettle of fish, because it's as popular as ever. So no need to bin you collection Leslie. There will always be an interest in historical items. But for modern football programmes in general , i see the end of the collector as we know them.

our local stamp shop

[New Forest]

Funny you should mention Stamp Shops as there was a programme on Timeshift, a repeat, on stamp collecting, last night. I remember seeing many in the sixties and there are still a few around today. It seems like most collecting its in decline. When I used to travel into Waterloo daily there used to be a group of boys/youths/and men standing on the end of the platform collecting numbers, where are they today?

Football Programme collecting to me seems to have dwindled over the years. One the one hand there are many more pre-war programmes available, I suppose as us old men give up, and there are no youngsters to follow on. Any 19th century ones will demand the biggest prices and there seems to be enough out there to keep that going. Ditto pre Great War. Between the wars is where I have noticed the largest increase in selection and prices either have stayed the same of slightly dropped, but there are clubs/matches that show an increase. The area that has suffered most is from the sixties onwards. You can't get them away for even 99p on eBay. You might be lucky if two guys want the same one which they missed first time round. I still see today sellers trying for £14.99 or £19.99 for late forties and early fifties. That ship has long gone.

Having said all that I gather the cost of 2018 FA Cup Final programme will be £19. Pass the sick bag, Alice.