Question for Collectors of Reading, Swansea, Derby, BC, Blac

[GaryF]

Question for Prog Collectors of Reading, Swansea, Derby, Bristol City, Blackburn, etc...!

Hi Folks
I wanted to ask the Prog Collectors of the Teams above how they feel about their Clubs decision to stop producing Matchday Programmes, and has it changed your attitude about collecting your team's programmes?

I mentioned this in the thread on 'Whose Producing', that when Millwall announced they would no longer be making matchday progs I was very angry and annoyed -

It really made me question: "What's the point in collecting, if the Team I collecting no longer makes programmes anymore?"

It made me feel like it would all be a bit pointless from now on.

Luckily, a Millwall Supporters Group stepped up and have done a great job producing Millwall matchday progs. It maybe a slimmed down, smaller version, but it still contains all the traditional basics progs have, and for only £1 they have shown making programmes at an affordable budget (with smaller print runs) is possible.

And they have put to shame the club, who didn't even try to produce a more affordable and sustainable prog, and instead just ditched it straight off, with hardly any notice. It was a very poor decision.

So I luckily did not have to make that decision whether to collect or not.

Though I am very interested to hear from Collectors of any club who has stopped making programmes, and ask how it has affected your attitude to your collecting hobby?

Also, those Clubs that produce just online electronic versions; can you access them easily?

As an away supporter, it not always clear how to access: I can get Bristol City online progs, but can't get access to Blackburn's online prog?

Whereas Reading & Derby weren't producing any kind of programme (online or otherwise).

So I would love to hear from any Collector whose Team no longer makes programmes, and how this has affected your hobby?

Did anyone, like me, consider giving up collecting all together because of it?

Please feel free to post your opinions on this topic.
Many thanks
GaryF

Ps. - And what about those 'Pirate editions'? Often made in eastern Europe, and which usually have little relevant content?

[smk06]

Derby started printing programmes again from the start of last season after being taken over by a local businessman (who is also a programme collector). I expect we will produce a programme again this year but no official confirmation yet.
_________________
https://www.derbycountymemories.co.uk - Rams history & memorabilia
Twitter: @DCFCMemories

Derby County home wants:
1982/83 Sunderland Fr (s/s)
Reds v Whites & Whites v Blues 1948-1957
1946/47 Arsenal post 5/2

Derby County away wants:
1968/69 Carlisle post 8/2/69
1946/47 Middlesbrough, Liverpool
1945/46 West Brom

Also looking for Guiseley home programmes pre-1980s.

[GaryF]

Hi smk06
Thanks for heads up that Derby making progs again - Great stuff - Good to hear!

Unfortunately we were in different Divisions last season - It was the 20/21 & 21/22 Derby v Wall progs missing; just got the Teamsheets for those away games - The only thing around were these thin card like 'fans progs', which I don't think were made by real Derby fans. So good to know Derby Club progs are back.

Just gotta get promoted, so I can buy one again..!

You came so close last season; only 1pt off finishimg 6th spot - But, just like Millwall, all we had to do was win our last games & we'd be in the Play-Offs, but we both lost & missed out. -

It was so gutting; Lions were 3-1 up with 40 mins to go....but we lost 3-4 - Real kick in the guts - very hard to take.

Anyway - thanks for chipping in - I didn't know Derby back up & running.

Cheers
GaryF


Club

[ndg1860]

While QPR are still printing, I have been informed that this will be the final season they will be doing it. Strangely, I have also been told that the programmes are actually making money for the club, which is rather unusual.

That said, I think your question has two parts. The first is will you continue to collect the current season programmes of other clubs your club plays against and the second is will you continue to collect programmes of the past to build and, hopefully, complete your collection. I know you are asking about the first of these, but the second will keep many going.

Personally, I may halt all present date collecting if there are no more home programmes. That said, if they commence digital versions and someone offers a reasonable price for printed versions, I may continue. Or, if the club chooses a version like Swansea where the whole season can be bought at the beginning and is printed in one go and sent to you at the end.

[Dorking]

GaryF - the fact you are persisting with collecting what you can get - even though your home programmes are fan made, and you've had to make do with teamsheets and print from digital for some aways tells me that you've still really want to keep your Millwall collection going!

You are clearly a big fan of printed programmes, so why not reach out to the Millwall Supporters Club who produce the programme and see if they might want a small regular contribution from yourself? I don't know about the current content but you might be able to put together an article about your programme collecting?

The more hands that help, the more likely that the fan produced Millwall programme will continue after all.

[GaryF]

To Collect or Not; when your Team no longer makes Progs?

Hi Folks - Thanks for contributing to this thread - Always good to hear other's opinions.

First of all, ndg 1860 - I sorry to hear QPR planning to stop making programmes next season. Especially if it not losing money? As you say; depending on what happens; you've got choices to make?

Which, was exactly what I thought when I heard Millwall had stopped. And I did ask myself both those questions you posed: Am I just gonna collect Aways, and No Homes that season? Which felt too weird to work - And then led onto me thinking: 'Should I bother Collecting any of them at all now?

Luckily, I was saved from having to make those decisions as Supporters Group stepped in. Maybe QPR fans can do the same?

As for suggestion from 'Dorking' - Way ahead of you mate - I did write to Lions Supporters Group making the new Millwall progs and offered to help contribute, which they accepted, and I did write a few brief "Collectors Corner" pieces about collectable progs. Unfortunately, due to the limited budget, the programme can only be 16 pages long, and they were already running 3 x pages of various historical pieces, so that there wasn't room enough to include them.

Plus, we already have the legendary Chris Bethell working on the prog, who has been contributing to official progs, & writing books about Millwall for over 30 years.; so I think my stuff probably no where near as good.

I am just happy there is still a Millwall Matchday programme, and I have therefore not had to make those terrible decisions.

But I am very aware that this might not last, and we one day might not have a programme.

Which is why I interested to hear what other collectors might do if their club stopped making matchday progs?

Thanks everyone - Appreciate your comments.

GaryF

[BBlockExile]

Here is the perspective from a Bristol City Fan and lifetime programme collector.

In 1980 Bristol City won the Programme of the year award as a 'First Division' Club. However the clubs fall down the leagues led to less care and attention given to the programme, which really has never been rectified. The fall in demand for the club issue has been mirrored by the lack of quality in the programmes content and production. Covid was the final straw for the club issue, it being the opportunity for the club to stop producing the programme all together. Though the programme did return, albeit in digital form after covid, it does now appear that Bristol City Football Club will no longer produce any sort of programme for 2023/24 season.

How do i feel about this? Pretty rubbish to be honest. I see it as a part of the growing fracture between the club and its fans. It is part of a careless attitude, by the club, which only ceases when they want us to buy a season ticket or a shirt.

I certainly agree that the club programme has been hardly worth buying for many years and therefore can understand the apathy amongst supporters regarding its demise. But as with all clubs, there are a hard core of us fans and collectors that live in hope that one day someone at the club will feel that that the fans deserve better.

Hope.... well there is some hope and that came during Covid in the form of Darren at [email protected] . Darren is a lifetime Bristol City Supporters and a passionate collector. During Covid Darren produced a fans programme 'Cidereds', and has to date produced programmes when the club has not (Mainly for Friendlies) and has provided a service to Fans by printing the digital programmes. Thus, to date, the programmes have still been available and collectable. In terms of the forthcoming season we are led to believe that Cidereds will be available from [email protected] (i will confirm when i have more details).

As a footnote, Bristol City Fans produce two fanzine :-
One Team in Bristol : Please contact Robbo on [email protected]
This is an old Fashioned Fanzine which shares views on Bristol City written by its fans and comes out once a month and has been in existence for 30 years - Quite some achievement.

The other fanzine is 'One Stream in Bristol' which comes out once a quarter and is a new modern social take on supporting Bristol City. It is available through their website onestreaminbristol.bigcartel.com

So the long term hope is that I will be able to continue to collect my teams programmes, but we are very much relying on individuals to keep it going - so if your club do play Bristol City this season - please contact Darren and order a programme and help keep a tradition going that goes back into mists of time.

[Raxfactor]

Times change, back in the day the programme was the only means of communication between club and fans now it's considerably different.
Imo the programme is dead, it's reason for being defunct, technology has seen to that.
Everybody now has some sort of smart phone whether you want one or not you need one to communicate with your bank, doctor pay for parking etc the list is endless and getting bigger, you can't function in the modern world without one even buying a ticket for the match.
With pre season under way daily reports of training camps are available to view on twitter and club web sites with interviews and pictures of the days events, all clubs do this now even at the lowest levels.
Even the local hack covering your team is behind with the news.
The only folk interested in programmes for current games is the older fan stuck in habit younger fans are glued to their phones.
Just like cigarette cards and the Saturday Pink football paper the programme should be consigned to history and with it the full page adverts that nobody reads.
_________________
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

[stfc831968]

I was collecting Swindon home and away up to the end of the shortened 2019-20 season.

2020-21 i tried, got all the away ones which were produced either digitally or an actual paper copy. Swindon did nothing at home and i couldn't even got hold of a teamsheet.

Roll on 2021-22, i'd always had a home subscription service so only had to buy the away ones from the individual clubs. Swindon decided not to do that for the 2021-22 season and trying to buy them all individually for both home and away got too hard so i stopped around October 2021 time.

It was hard, but i don't regret it now as not all clubs are producing, some are digital only and whilst some prints i got were great, others weren't so good. And with gaps probably getting bigger every season going forwards i decided to stick with my decision.

Also i was collecting for the sake of it going forwards as most of the modern programmes were not a great read. They would have been much better off doing 16 pages for a cheaper price. Plus storage for the modern programmes was going to become an issue at some point.

I am still collecting going backwards, i've only got 6 programmes i need back to the 2nd world war now (league and cup that is, plenty of friendlies i need) and i keep searching for them. Plus i've got no intention of getting rid of the ones i have, so it hasn't stopped my interest in old programmes.

[Tynie Topics]

Raxfactor wrote:

Times change, back in the day the programme was the only means of communication between club and fans now it's considerably different. Imo the programme is dead, it's reason for being defunct, technology has seen to that. Everybody now has some sort of smart phone whether you want one or not you need one to communicate with your bank, doctor pay for parking etc the list is endless and getting bigger, you can't function in the modern world without one even buying a ticket for the match. With pre season under way daily reports of training camps are available to view on twitter and club web sites with interviews and pictures of the days events, all clubs do this now even at the lowest levels. Even the local hack covering your team is behind with the news. The only folk interested in programmes for current games is the older fan stuck in habit younger fans are glued to their phones. Just like cigarette cards and the Saturday Pink football paper the programme should be consigned to history and with it the full page adverts that nobody reads.

I would say that more then ever, programmes are relevant for the simple reason of recording history.

Where will future historians obtain information if we stop writing stuff down on paper? In years to come, how will anyone access old club Tweets or Facebook posts, or go back 10 years on the club website? who will pay for all this information to be preserved indefinitely on a server/hard drive?

I can look back at programmes from 70 years ago, newspapers from 200 years ago. In 70 years time, will I be able to read a report of a game which was only ever published on the clubs website?

The simple fact is nobody knows.

The written record (not just programmes) is disappearing. Newspapers are on their way out, magazines are declining. In 50 years time will anything be written down at all?

What I would ask of collectors of those club who have stopped, have you volunteered to help the club produce the programme. Perhaps coming forward with a team of writes to take the burden off club staff would help? Just a thought.
_________________
https://www.flickr.com/photos/footballprogrammes/albums

[Dorking]

I am very lucky that I am a season ticket holder at 2 clubs - Palace (Premier League) and Dorking Wanderers (National League)

At Palace I can always get a programme and indeed have a postal subscription for the home ones (even though they often arrive a day late)

During the pandemic I sent off for the aways - from memory Bournemouth only did teamsheets, Man City only did digital which I eventually got a print of, and Southampton I got a teamsheet and a fan produced effort.

I guess it gave me an insight into that it is like in the EFL - patchy coverage, and I empathise with fans who have the decision to make whether to persist with the hassle of tracking down teamsheets or getting digital ones printed up

As for my non league club, Dorking, well in non-league programmes are going pretty strong, probably more so than in the EFL.

I put this down to non-league fans and volunteers being a lot more traditional and old fashioned. Non league programmes are often the product of committed volunteers so that hasn't changed, whereas EFL clubs usually employ people to do it and its (apparently) an easy thing to cut.

Last season, for our season in the National League I had one 'double issue' at Aldershot where we played 2 weeks running, (which I don't have a problem with if it means I get a printed programme), two 'digital only' programmes, which I easily obtained printed ones off ebay, and one club even did a new print for a game which was originally postponed (rather than re-sell a 3 month out of date issue at the new date). Fair play!

So I'd say my conclusion is, that long term its going to be largely down to the efforts of fans, volunteers and traditionalists. We may all be writing articles to help keep the tradition going soon!

[Blackjack]

ndg1860 wrote:

While QPR are still printing, I have been informed that this will be the final season they will be doing it. Strangely, I have also been told that the programmes are actually making money for the club, which is rather unusual. That said, I think your question has two parts. The first is will you continue to collect the current season programmes of other clubs your club plays against and the second is will you continue to collect programmes of the past to build and, hopefully, complete your collection. I know you are asking about the first of these, but the second will keep many going. Personally, I may halt all present date collecting if there are no more home programmes. That said, if they commence digital versions and someone offers a reasonable price for printed versions, I may continue. Or, if the club chooses a version like Swansea where the whole season can be bought at the beginning and is printed in one go and sent to you at the end.

Swansea didnt do the printed versions last season, only ythe season before. I still havent heard if we are doing them next season as we have a few new people in the boardroon so i live in hope

[GaryF]

Hi Folks
Thanks again for you all sharing your opinions - Some really interesting points made:

Especially "Raxfactor" - I think you pretty much nailed it with your explanation about how technology and mobile phones are the future, and how dependant we all are on mobile phones to do all the basics in life: like paying bills, getting a doctor's appointment, or even just paying for parking space.
Though I really not want to agree with you that all this will mean "the death of the programme". Yet I think you probably right, but, as I prog collector, I very much hope they will continue for some time to come.

I agree with Tynie Topics that programmes are an important historical record.

And you also made the absolutely fantastic observation, that in this day of online digital programmes, digital records, and even digital photographs, etc, then what kind of record are we going to physically leave for our future descendants to see?

I have thought about this before: I used to have physical photo albums of my young family - But now, all my modern photographs of children, grandchildren, & days at The Den, are now all stored on my phone's memory cards, or computer harddrives. I have very few physical photos anymore.

So I ask: What's going to happen to all those digitally stored pictures (& programmes) in the future?

Are our kids & grandkids gonna go up in the loft to retrieve our old hard drives & memory cards in 50 years time?

Or will our hard drives lay there, undisturbed, until no one recognises what they are anymore, & throws them away? Along with my 10,000 photos from a lifetime?

Also, with the rate technology changes, our hard drives will become completely out of date & obsolete, and probably won't be accessible by future equipment.

Lastly, it only takes a natural disaster, like an extreme solar flare (or accident with an EMP charge), and our digitally stored archives could be wiped out?

It is a worry - How much of our digital archives will survive us? Excellent point Tynie Topics..! So having physical programmes is important.

Thanks to Swindon fan/collector stfc831968 for sharing what happened to him when Swindon stopped making home progs: You spell out one of my fears that just collecting Aways doesn't really cut it. And so you stopped. I can understand that. Though at least you still collecting old ones.

Thanks also to BBlockExile for links to get online, or printed Bristol City progs this coming season. Thanks, I def be checking out.

Can I ask Swansea fan Blackjack if you stopped Collecting Swansea aways when they stopped doing Home progs?

And thanks to Dorking for letting us know that programmes for non-league games seem to be doing ok. Although I did go to a VCD Athletic v Hythe Town Isthmian League SE Division game, and they had a digital barcode you had to scan on admission to get access to their online digital programme. So I think times are a-changing in non-league too!

Thanks to everyone who contributed.
GaryF

[Goonerak]

I think the problems for programmes started in the mid-1980s when supporters started to produce their own fanzines. They gave the fans what they wanted and the clubs had to try to compete with them. This resulted in more pages to fill which meant a higher cover price.

Some programmes have hit 90+ pages and it takes a team to produce this amount of copy.

However, over the last 10 years the fanzines have been replaced by social media. The clubs should have reacted to this by reducing the content of the programmes and reducing the cover price.

Sales of programmes have continually fallen as the majority of fans can't justify spending £3-£4 on top of an expensive ticket.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if the clubs reduced the programme down to 24 pages and reduced the cover price to £2.

[Tynie Topics]

Goonerak wrote:

Sales of programmes have continually fallen as the majority of fans can't justify spending £3-£4 on top of an expensive ticket.

I don't think that's really true to be honest, £3-£4 is in many areas of the country significantly less than the cost of a pre-match pint, or about the same as a coffee inside the stadium.

I believe sales have fallen for the simple fact that less people buy paper to read, be that programmes, or newspapers, or magazines. Books have bucked the trend in that regard, fighting back against the kindle, but otherwise people don't get their day-to-day info from reading a bit of paper.

That ties back to my belief that the disappearance of the written record is a concern.

There continues to be a market for programmes, albeit a much smaller market than years gone by. What clubs need to do is re-adjust their expectations, no need for a 100 page programme, scale it back and most importantly take it out of the hands of comms/marketing departments (who are only interested in social media content) and into the hands of people who care about it, even if they're outside the club.
_________________
https://www.flickr.com/photos/footballprogrammes/albums

[Blackjack]

GaryF wrote:

Hi Folks Thanks again for you all sharing your opinions - Some really interesting points made: Especially "Raxfactor" - I think you pretty much nailed it with your explanation about how technology and mobile phones are the future, and how dependant we all are on mobile phones to do all the basics in life: like paying bills, getting a doctor's appointment, or even just paying for parking space. Though I really not want to agree with you that all this will mean "the death of the programme". Yet I think you probably right, but, as I prog collector, I very much hope they will continue for some time to come. I agree with Tynie Topics that programmes are an important historical record. to be honest Gary, i managed to get the subscription for 21/22 season and for last season a member of this forum started doing the printed programmes from the digital version on the website. The copies were excellent quality actually but the content was crap to be fair as it was obviously made for reading off the intenet page and they cost a fair bit. howeever i understand why and as all of us collectors know its usually worth it lol ..... i also know Gwynn from the club who deals with the officilal teamsheets which he has sent up to Aberdeen for me for every game which is great and i still have spare copies for most game last season ..... with regards to collecting the away programmes i still collect them as I need to get every game ( you all know what i mean lol) .... my other collection is of Wales programmes which have stopped too, and the only teamsheets available are the ones on the uefa website ..... i still need a fair few from years gone by so still collecting the best i can... it is a shame quite a few clubs have stopped printing because to me part of the matchday experience is the programme And you also made the absolutely fantastic observation, that in this day of online digital programmes, digital records, and even digital photographs, etc, then what kind of record are we going to physically leave for our future descendants to see? I have thought about this before: I used to have physical photo albums of my young family - But now, all my modern photographs of children, grandchildren, & days at The Den, are now all stored on my phone's memory cards, or computer harddrives. I have very few physical photos anymore. So I ask: What's going to happen to all those digitally stored pictures (& programmes) in the future? Are our kids & grandkids gonna go up in the loft to retrieve our old hard drives & memory cards in 50 years time? Or will our hard drives lay there, undisturbed, until no one recognises what they are anymore, & throws them away? Along with my 10,000 photos from a lifetime? Also, with the rate technology changes, our hard drives will become completely out of date & obsolete, and probably won't be accessible by future equipment. Lastly, it only takes a natural disaster, like an extreme solar flare (or accident with an EMP charge), and our digitally stored archives could be wiped out? It is a worry - How much of our digital archives will survive us? Excellent point Tynie Topics..! So having physical programmes is important. Thanks to Swindon fan/collector stfc831968 for sharing what happened to him when Swindon stopped making home progs: You spell out one of my fears that just collecting Aways doesn't really cut it. And so you stopped. I can understand that. Though at least you still collecting old ones. Thanks also to BBlockExile for links to get online, or printed Bristol City progs this coming season. Thanks, I def be checking out. Can I ask Swansea fan Blackjack if you stopped Collecting Swansea aways when they stopped doing Home progs? And thanks to Dorking for letting us know that programmes for non-league games seem to be doing ok. Although I did go to a VCD Athletic v Hythe Town Isthmian League SE Division game, and they had a digital barcode you had to scan on admission to get access to their online digital programme. So I think times are a-changing in non-league too! Thanks to everyone who contributed. GaryF

[Blackjack]

Tynie Topics wrote:

Goonerak wrote: Sales of programmes have continually fallen as the majority of fans can't justify spending £3-£4 on top of an expensive ticket. I don't think that's really true to be honest, £3-£4 is in many areas of the country significantly less than the cost of a pre-match pint, or about the same as a coffee inside the stadium. I believe sales have fallen for the simple fact that less people buy paper to read, be that programmes, or newspapers, or magazines. Books have bucked the trend in that regard, fighting back against the kindle, but otherwise people don't get their day-to-day info from reading a bit of paper. That ties back to my belief that the disappearance of the written record is a concern. There continues to be a market for programmes, albeit a much smaller market than years gone by. What clubs need to do is re-adjust their expectations, no need for a 100 page programme, scale it back and most importantly take it out of the hands of comms/marketing departments (who are only interested in social media content) and into the hands of people who care about it, even if they're outside the club.

oh my God Tynie, i totally agree about the size of the programmes now, they are too big...... i wonder how many on this site actually prefer the smaller in depth programmes from the 50's and 60's like i do

[Tynie Topics]

GaryF wrote:

I agree with Tynie Topics that programmes are an important historical record. And you also made the absolutely fantastic observation, that in this day of online digital programmes, digital records, and even digital photographs, etc, then what kind of record are we going to physically leave for our future descendants to see? I have thought about this before: I used to have physical photo albums of my young family - But now, all my modern photographs of children, grandchildren, & days at The Den, are now all stored on my phone's memory cards, or computer harddrives. I have very few physical photos anymore. So I ask: What's going to happen to all those digitally stored pictures (& programmes) in the future? Are our kids & grandkids gonna go up in the loft to retrieve our old hard drives & memory cards in 50 years time? Or will our hard drives lay there, undisturbed, until no one recognises what they are anymore, & throws them away? Along with my 10,000 photos from a lifetime? Also, with the rate technology changes, our hard drives will become completely out of date & obsolete, and probably won't be accessible by future equipment. Lastly, it only takes a natural disaster, like an extreme solar flare (or accident with an EMP charge), and our digitally stored archives could be wiped out? It is a worry - How much of our digital archives will survive us? Excellent point Tynie Topics..! So having physical programmes is important.

The point about photos is a very good one as well. I recall a number of years ago a friend went on a bit of a holiday of a lifetime, his photos were uploaded to an online photo platform as he went along so friends/family could see what he was upto and for safe storage, I'm certain there were a few thousand in the end.

The hosting company went bust, I can't recall where they were based but it wasn't the UK, he couldn't recover the photos despite promises from the administrators of the company, lost the lot apart from those few that family/friends had downloaded and saved.

How many of us go to the bother of having at least a selection of our photos printed, probably not many. Makes you think.

There's not a lot of discussion out there surrounding how digital files will be stored for future generations. I have my doubts that digital/online programmes will be saved for public access for generations to come, they can be deleted with the touch of a button. Same with website content, tweets, Facebook posts etc.
_________________
https://www.flickr.com/photos/footballprogrammes/albums

[Raxfactor]

One way forward would be to issue team sheets for free at the now programme kiosks, for people who want a record of the fixture it ticks that box and records the players that actually started that game .
Programmes don't even do that basic function anymore with tick boxes for you to note the starting team with squads of thirty plus players.
I would favour something along the lines of the team sheets that were issued during the 2002 world cup in Japan, room for advertising on the reverse and plenty space for a bit more info for info than just line ups on the front if the club wanted to do so.
_________________
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England albums
https://myalbum.com/folder/Ra3kbhhnNbXH/?invite=562adfbf-6e67-4718-aab7-72e830745fd3

[Tynie Topics]

Raxfactor wrote:

One way forward would be to issue team sheets for free at the now programme kiosks, for people who want a record of the fixture it ticks that box and records the players that actually started that game . Programmes don't even do that basic function anymore with tick boxes for you to note the starting team with squads of thirty plus players. I would favour something along the lines of the team sheets that were issued during the 2002 world cup in Japan, room for advertising on the reverse and plenty space for a bit more info for info than just line ups on the front if the club wanted to do so.

I'm not sure many programme collectors advocate writing team changes on programmes, and with squad numbers in football nowadays the programme does indeed perform the function of identifying who each player is, if not the starting XI, but if someone really does want to mark the starting XI I'm sure they can.

Nobody wants to see teamsheets replace programmes. That said programmes can be slimmed down to both provide match specific information alongside a few other articles. 32 pages would be enough to get across the basics.
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