https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43955431 Sign of the Digital age and clubs trying to cut costs. Would you miss them ?
I stop buying them routinely long before the internet and smart phones. I have loads from Gods first era, and each time i go to throw them out, i cant let go. But other than the team sheets there is little in them of much interest. Did I miss the half time scores pinned up against the Alphabet letters when they installed the scoreboard? No, not at all. The fact that I stopped buying the Watford Observer for Watford news years ago, is another sign of the times. Information is so instant now, the programme has little value other than as a momento of attendance.
I have a programme for every game I've been to for the last 30 years. Some I've never even read, bar looking to see who the ref is or who the opposition player is that I can't place. They take up a hefty part of my loft but I like that they're there. I was going to stop buying them this season but couldn't bring myself to not!!
Exactly that. one used to be able to read the programme with interest, and get plenty of news about the team, and about the opposition, but now with the information available on the internet, there is little of value to me in the programme any more. Do I want to read boring articles on player profiles, no, well not me anyway. Should think the last Watford programme I bought was probably about 1985. In the sixties I never missed buying, and I used to love them.
Not bought one for years. Thought about buying one last night at Wembley then though "what's the point"? I won't read it and it'll sit on a shelf for years gathering dust. Hopefully by scrapping them it'll make the thousands I have stored in the garage worth a few £.
I buy one if we've had a positive result in the previous game and don't if we've lost. I'm not sure what to do now. I may need to explore other feeble superstitions but I'm pretty certain I've tried them all by now.
The best thing about programmes for me was having something to read on the way home.. especially if you'd been on a long away trip. It's also great to have a memento of having been to a match. As such i keep the ones from "special" games. It would be a shame to see them disappear.. but i understand, modern world and all that.
i buy the programme from the last home game of the season - I then have almost the complete record of the season. So I shall be buying one saturday
Used to lose mine following the bundle after we scored...... sadly doesn't happen these days Do clubs make money from selling them? not so sure
Seems not - at lower level anyway . As suggested fans don't buy them due to the cost and extra media around .
I still buy a programme at all home games but I fully accept that it’s purely through habit. There’s very little of interest or value in them and I know I should stop but... I nearly gave them up a few years ago when they persisted in publishing those articles by some groundhopper going to ever more outlandish venues. They were pointless and boring. As for away programmes, I stopped buying those about 20 years ago when I realised the only part that was vaguely of interest was the section on Watford, but that was always basically the same and often riddled with errors. Anyway, why should I contribute to a rival club’s finances?
I only buy them for important games like semi finals or finals, or if it's a ground I haven't visited before. Stopped buying them for every game I got to as the loft is full of them. My grandad left me thousands of programmes dating from the early 50's.
I used to buy them to read before the game or at half time. Over the years they got harder and harder to read. I put this down to old age and deteriorating eyesight and started taking a pair of reading glasses to the games but even then I couldn't really read them. I then compared the font size with some old programmes and realised that the font has got progressively smaller over the years. No doubt it looks fantastic to the person who puts it together with their multimedia software package on a massive monitor with resolution so fine that you can use tiny font, but it just doesn't work when you try and read it in a blustery seat in the Rookery whilst trying to keep one eye out for wayward balls during the warm-up. I figured the club probably don't need the income any more and I don't bother to keep them as souvenirs any more, so other than the Graham Taylor special I haven't bought one recently and won't miss them at all.
I find them very good and they have become very professional with some very interesting articles - historic, player profiles, updates on other aspects of the club etc that you don’t easily get elsewhere. The problem is their bulk. They are now over 100 glossy pages it seems and thick and heavy. I had a recent clear out, came across loads of old programmes and wondered whether I should keep them and decided (after another shjte performance) to dump them as my kids aren’t interested. But I still buy programmes out of habit.
I have got rid of most of mine but have about ten left from the GT days, such as the League Cup win at Man U, a fully autographed 7-1 Southampton etc but the rest were just taking up space. Haven't bought one since the play off final v Leeds. £3.50 (?) now for a glossy rag full of pictures, adverts, 'clever' graphics and the same old bland, rehashed and ghost-written manager's comments, captain's corner or whatever they have now. Total waste of money. I do buy the W/Ob on the way to every match, but that is mostly to catch up on what's been happening in Watford as much as the football (cat stuck in tree etc!) as I don't live there any more but still have fondness for the s***hole town that was my childhood home.
When buying a programme on our last trip to Fratton Park, the seller assured me that I would be ok with it as they put pictures in for the away fans to look at.
That from a place where a bunch of numpties attacked a paediatrician because they thought the brass plate outside her premises meant that she was a child-molester
Fake news. They actually attacked a paedophile's house because they were upset with their foot manicure.
I really thought the thread said 'End of the Match of the Day programme' - I was gonna say aren't we always!
Please remove if this is not allowed. I'm trying to complete my collection of 1960-present day Watford Programmes only require 51 and was wondering if anyone had any for sale. I have attached my list, if anyone could help that would be fab?
I had a collection of programmes from 1974 toockdown, after which I stopped buying them. I reluctantly decided to save space by getting rid of all except those with special sentimental value but I failed to find a buyer, so a couple of weeks before Christmas I donated them to Sue Ryder at Ricky. If they didn't keep them to sell they should be able to tell you who they passed them on to. I first tried to give them to the Watford Sue Ryder shop but their head office contacted me and said that the Watgford shop was too small. They suggested I took them to their Luton shop ...
I have quite a few hundred homes from the 60's and a few away's, I'm selling at just £1.50 each feel free anyone to send me a wants list by pm.
Moved to relevant section. On this note, the only time I would buy a programme now is if it had Gino's mug on it. Something to throw darts at.
It's a shame but a football programme is days old news whereas back in the day it was a source of info .
That's the problem. 30 years ago it was the Club's main arm of communication. A programme that now goes to print on Thursday afternoon for sale on Saturday is out of date by the time supporters buy them. 24-hour news/sports channels, Club websites, social media etc, have all pushed the matchday programme down the pecking order.
I may have the Wigan away from 97/98 and the Macclesfield from 02/03 in my attic, I'll take a look over the weekend when I take my xmas decorations back up there.
Will have a check tomorrow, I may well have some recent aways available. As an aside, I'm preparing a set of articles for 'Programme Monthly' on the "square" issues of 1979 to 1989. I have one query on a postponed match from this era. During a cold snap in January 1987, should have entertained QPR on Sat 17th. Match postponed and eventually played on Monday 6th April. Have never seen an issue dated 17/1/1987 and assume it was pretty obvious early enough that the game would not take place that weekend, and therefore no programme issued. Is this the case ? (Am aware there was a similar postponement two years previously for Manchester United on 20/1/85, but know programme was printed).
I have a couple of hundred from 1977-1984 or so but none of those listed above. Mainly home programmes. I also have kept the Watford observer Watford FC pages over a similar timeframe. I saved the 2-3 pages each week and then put them inside eachother each week for the full season so I can effectively read a huge newspaper that tracks each season. Every time I move house I curse myself, they’re heavy !! Still in the loft, somewhere ! Loads of memories.
For some reason I cannot download your wish list but I do have some pre GT 1970s midweek Div 4 programmes . If you could let me know on here 1976\77 away programmes I may be able to help ?