Football Programmes Centre

Stats

About Me

What do you do for a living?

Trained Youth Worker but currently working as a delivery driver

Which club do you support and why?

Cheltenham Town its my home town team

What do you collect?

Cheltenham Town home programmes going back to as far as I can. Also collect a few aways such as the 1998-99 title season and first season in league also get our 1st away games against a club or 1st at a new stadium. Also collect programmes from whatever games I go too.

How did you get into programme collecting?

I used to collect a few non league programmes when I visited grounds that took my interest and would then swap them at another club when I had finished with them.

Your Collection

What was your first football programme?

Think it might have been a team sheet from a friendly against Bristol City I remember Clive Allen was playing.

What was the last programme you bought?

Our last home game

How big is your collection?

Not had the chance to properly catalogue it all yet just started doing that but at a guess its close to 500

How do you store your collection?

At the minute in a few seasons are in club binders others in various boxes and piled up here and there.

Whats the oldest programme you own?

Have 3 programmes from the 1955-56 season

What is the rarest item in your collection?

Not too sure.

Which programme from your club is the rarest and most expensive to obtain?

Because of the level of football we played getting further back than the mid 50’s is proving a bit hard to get hold of and will be way out of my budget

What is...?

What is your worst buy?

The wife would say all of them but I think it would be when I spent £40 on a box of programmes and most of them were in quite a bad state they were either unsellable/swappable or worth collecting.

What is your best buy?

Cheltenham Town v Everton 1990, because I got it for 50p at a car boot and had just lost out on ebay for it with a bid of £13

What is the most you have paid for a programme and which one?

Cheltenham Vs Kuwait friendly in 1977 think I paid £9 for it and turned out to be a fake anyway.

What is the most you have received for a programme and which one?

Got about £13-£15 for a few different ones. Cheltenham Vs Stoke City 08-09 and Cheltenham Vs Everton 1990 friendly. Recently got £9 for a Cheltenham Vs Trowbridge programme from early 1960’s

What is your most prized programme?

Don’t really have one too be honest

Whats your biggest regret in collecting?

Not buying a collection from the clubs old programme editor from the late 1970s early 80s as he was moving to the far east and couldn’t take them with him. Would have had ever programme he ever produced in that period including postponed games that I fear I will never get. Still getting over it now.

The Hobby

In you opinion, is the programme collectors communtiy shrinking or growing?

Growing. With the advent of the Internet and eBay it has made it easier to collect

What do you enjoy most about the hobby?

The looking back over small pieces of your clubs history

Where do you buy most of your programmes from?

eBay have got a few from fairs but they are few and far between

The Future

If money was no object, which programme would you most like to add to your collection?

Original 1966 World Cup Final and any very early Cheltenham programmes

Would you ever sell your collection?

No would like too think I will be able too pass it on too one of my sons to continue

How do you wish to develop your collection over the coming years?

I want to try to complete programmes from our promotion to the league. Only missing a few league, friendlies and county cup games a postponed games against Tranmere Rovers.

Really want too get everything from the club centenary season.