Football Programmes Centre

BertD · Last edited by BertD on Mon Nov 07, 2011 8:28 pm; edited 2 times in total

A folded single sheet for this match sold on Friday at auction for £430 + commission. After a quick poll around half a dozen of the major Wimbledon collectors I know, nobody knows anything about this game. This includes people who were working in or around the office and collecting at the time, the club archivist and the club historian. All six of us would have been a fair bet to actually attend as well!

That's not to say we're not all wrong, so no aspersions cast on the seller or auction house!!

Does anyone have ANY further information on this fixture / programme?

Thanks.

[Edit corrected date from 1978 to 1979]
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Newest programme wanted:
11-08-1976 Wycombe Wanderers v Wimbledon (Friendly)

Posh1959 · Joined: 12 Sep 2009 Posts: 1218

I know nothing about the item but i was at the auction and have a pretty good idea as to who bought it.

PABLO76 · Joined: 01 Nov 2009 Posts: 753

And I'll bet it wasnt a Wimbledon collector!

I dont profess to know anything about the game, but going by the date its probably a hastily aranged friendly as both teams were out of the fa cup?

I'm just summising, i dont even know if they were both knocked out in the 3rd round or earlier, but i know of a similar instance for man utd.

1980Cossie · Joined: 16 May 2009 Posts: 830

I'm pretty sure it said Chelsea reserves in the description, estimate was something like £20-£30

BertD · Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 1:23 am Post subject:

Hi Pablo,

PABLO76 wrote:

I dont profess to know anything about the game, but going by the date its probably a hastily aranged friendly as both teams were out of the fa cup?

Thanks for the thought. Chelsea were still in the FA Cup and were due to play at Burnley on the Saturday, and Wimbledon were due to visit Southport. This is a "first season in the league" Wimbledon, and I'm a little incredulous it would have remained unknown before now, particularly to those who were around and involved at the time.

Another possibility is that it was also Wimbledon reserves, but even then for the game to be unknown for almost 35 years surprises me greatly.
_________________
Newest programme wanted:
11-08-1976 Wycombe Wanderers v Wimbledon (Friendly)

BertD · Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 1:24 am Post subject:

Posh,

Posh1959 wrote:

I know nothing about the item but i was at the auction and have a pretty good idea as to who bought it.

Thanks. Enough to possibly get some further information, maybe even a scan or sight of?
_________________
Newest programme wanted:
11-08-1976 Wycombe Wanderers v Wimbledon (Friendly)

chelseachris · Joined: 01 Mar 2011 Posts: 74

Listed in the Chelsea programme guide 'reserves and friendlies' 25/01 in the 1978/79 season as a non issue, but this would make it 1979.
hope this helps.

Eddie Reeve · Joined: 08 Sep 2010 Posts: 123

The Sportingold catalogue does actually say 25/1/1979

BertD · Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 10:33 pm Post subject:

Hi Chris,

chelseachris wrote:

Listed in the Chelsea programme guide 'reserves and friendlies' 25/01 in the 1978/79 season as a non issue, but this would make it 1979. hope this helps.

As Eddie notes below (above now!), it was actually 1979 in the catalogue, so I've changed the subject accordingly. 1979 makes more sense, Wimbledon only played two senior games in January and similar games were arranged at home to Millwall and away to Wokingham.

I'd still like to find out a little more about the game before deciding where in the "history pile" to place the game and how to prove the status of any issue.
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Newest programme wanted:
11-08-1976 Wycombe Wanderers v Wimbledon (Friendly)

treble99 · Joined: 31 May 2010 Posts: 1000 Location: manchester

i wonder if it was a programme or a teamsheet

did it have a price on it?

i'm not surprised at £430 with these Chelsea collectors.
i wouldn't have been surprised at £4300

i note the Chelsea-volume 1 number 1 sold for a small arm,a large leg and 2 bollocks
absolutely insane

GarryJones · Joined: 27 Feb 2012 Posts: 3

I can shed (pun) some light on this.

I was Chelsea home and away and didn't miss anything with Chelsea first team in those days. The winter of 78-79 was a bad one with many games called off. The 3rd round cup ties Man Utd v Chelsea, Stoke v Oldham and Wimbledon v Soton were called of on the 6th January. The 4th round was to be 27th January.

These 3rd round games were rearranged.

Wimbledon lost on Monday 8th. Chelsea lost on Monday 15th.

Wimbledon were in dire need of fixtures as all Wimbledon games from 26th December to 3rd February were called off. Chelsea did not have a game for the 27th as they had been knocked out so they agreed to Wimbledon's request for a friendly on Thursday 25th. A programme was to be printed for sure.

However:

Then Stoke lost at home to Oldham on 17th. Someone on staff called an old pal. Chelsea felt they would get a better game against Stoke. Chelsea then arranged a first team friendly against Stoke on 26th January. Therefore this Wimbledon game did not go ahead and the planned programme should have been pulled. However an old Chelsea pal of mine went over to Wimbledon to try and get his hands on a few. Until I found this post 33 years on by chance I thought he had failed.

That's where my story ends. I can only presume "They've not been printed" meant "I've got some that I aint telling anyone about".

This explains why the people that went to all games don't remember the game. It was the game that never was.

GarryJones · Joined: 27 Feb 2012 Posts: 3

The information I had was

The programme was not printed.
The game was never played.

I am now led to believe the programme was printed, at least some copies.

It is possible that Chelsea reserves turned up as a Chelsea XI but I should have known about it at the time. Chelsea 1st XI did play Stoke the following night

slightfold · Joined: 13 Oct 2009 Posts: 594

This is a brilliant thread, and shows the real value of the forum for providing information which is sometimes not known. There are a few programmes for games never played, Scunthorpe Maidstone 93/4 is one, as they went bust just before the season started. You are entitled to take the position, as some do, that postponed games never took place and therefore how can the programme be valid. If you are a completist then this viewpoint will save you a lot of money!!

GarryJones · Joined: 27 Feb 2012 Posts: 3

Seems I was wrong, Chelsea played Stoke on 25th January 1980 after both teams were out of the FA Cup and had no game that weekend. That which I was sure was 1979 was in fact 1980. However I never missed a Chelsea heartbeat back then so I am very surprised to learn of a game at Wimbledon. I still maintain the game was never played.

derby1884 · Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2012 2:50 pm Post subject:

I was a subscriber to the Wimbledon programme that season and the club were very "completist" at sending anything and everything, pre-season, during the season and post-season. Including the single sheet friendly v Millwall on 10.2.79.

But no Chelsea issue - and no mention of any match in any of the progs issued around that time either.

leaguefootballmag · Joined: 03 Jun 2015 Posts: 38

I went to all the Wimbledon home games bar the Torquay one in April in period January-May 1979 and I do not recall any match against Chelsea in January 1979. We did play them in August at a sweltering Plough Lane winning 2-1.

Had the game been played in January, it would have drew a decent enough crowd as loads of Chelsea went to watch the Dons at the time

bigearl79 · Joined: 03 Nov 2013 Posts: 440

slightfold wrote:

This is a brilliant thread, and shows the real value of the forum for providing information which is sometimes not known. There are a few programmes for games never played, Scunthorpe Maidstone 93/4 is one, as they went bust just before the season started. You are entitled to take the position, as some do, that postponed games never took place and therefore how can the programme be valid. If you are a completist then this viewpoint will save you a lot of money!!

Scunthorpe Maidstone is 15th August 1992. Quaint programme as no team for Stones is listed and no information on them really from pre season. Quite commmon. Not really worth more then a tenner.