Football

[DarloRich]

I would have gone if I could. Of course I would, its the football isn't it?

Exactly - I will be at Alfreton on Saturday where we will get beaten by thier land of the giants direct & ,erm, robust style!

PS we kicked off late on Saturday as the Chorley bus was late! clown townism all round

 

[SuspectUsual]

PS we kicked off late on Saturday as the Chorley bus was late! clown townism all round

Tinpot non-leagueism at its best

 

[DarloRich]

Tinpot non-leagueism at its best

and we loaded three points into the bus for them to take home!

 

[Bald Rick]

Apparently Southampton have already won as many home games this season as they did for the whole of last…

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Northern Premier League...Premier Division

Hyde United 1 ... Lancaster City 0

Northern Premier League...West Division

Bury FC 1 ... Newcastle Town 0....Attendance 3,631

A good start to the season by two local clubs. I see that Bury are still getting good match attendances.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Why have so many clubs, particularly in Leagues One and Two, stopped producing matchday programmes? Bradford (Park Avenue), average attendance 400, produce an excellent full colour issue while our dear neighbours at Valley Parade, average attendance 16,000+, can’t be bothered producing anything. No printed or online programmes, not even team sheets. Avenue even produced a full colour programme for a pre-season friendly against City’s juniors.

Cost surely can’t be a valid excuse. It comes down to laziness. Just get a media studies student in if your permanent staff can’t be bothered. Over our last three depressing seasons in National League North, the Northern Premier League Premier and the Northern Premier League Division One East, every single club bar one has produced either a printed programme or, in a small number of cases, an online version. The one exception was Gloucester City.

Fans who want a permanent souvenir can try and download and store and even print online programmes. But online producers like Issuu and Canva make it far too easy for clubs to ban downloads forcing fans to screenshot each page.

Football entrepreneurs have seen a gap in the market and have started producing unofficial issues. I have just bought a programme for Haverfordwest County vs Floriana from a gentleman in Belarus. And he did an excellent job. Last season I bought an unofficial teamsheet for Port Vale vs Carlisle on eBay but decided to miss last week’s Port Vale v Cardiff game as, to be honest, I prefer games where an official programme is on sale.

On the other side of the coin, we see ludicrously oversized and overpriced issues for some games like last season’s Wembley play-offs or this seasons England v India test matches. They are far too big to fit in a pocket and then have to be stored afterwards. The official programmes for the England v Spain Euro 20 final, and indeed earlier games, were huge and didn’t even mention many of the players taking part. I ended up sending off to a gentleman in Ukraine for additional unofficial fan programmes which were much more up to date and appropriate. This was before the war. Crewe and Bromley do oversized monthly magazines plus team sheets which is better than nothing but not ideal.

 

[75A]

Not just in Football, in Motor Racing some clubs only do an online programme (750MC) and some don't bother at all (BARC @ Bishopscourt - May 2025). They're happy to charge you to get in, but don't have the decency to give you a Timetable, the Formulas running or the names & numbers of the Drivers. Makes it a bit tricky for Marshals & Officials to report things!

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Rugby League is even worse - maybe because the opposition changes very little from season to season and, being a summer sport, many fans arrive without coats to put programmes in

 

[1D54]

Rugby League is even worse - maybe because the opposition changes very little from season to season and, being a summer sport, many fans arrive without coats to put programmes in

I paid £4 for a programme at Wigan earlier in the season and as good as it was there was very little content that i couldn't have obtained online. I suspect this plays a large part in the reasoning behind football and any other sport ceasing to produce them.

 

[Peeled Apples]

Why have so many clubs, particularly in Leagues One and Two, stopped producing matchday programmes? Bradford (Park Avenue), average attendance 400, produce an excellent full colour issue while our dear neighbours at Valley Parade, average attendance 16,000+, can’t be bothered producing anything. No printed or online programmes, not even team sheets. Avenue even produced a full colour programme for a pre-season friendly against City’s juniors.

Cost surely can’t be a valid excuse. It comes down to laziness. Just get a media studies student in if your permanent staff can’t be bothered. Over our last three depressing seasons in National League North, the Northern Premier League Premier and the Northern Premier League Division One East, every single club bar one has produced either a printed programme or, in a small number of cases, an online version. The one exception was Gloucester City.

Fans who want a permanent souvenir can try and download and store and even print online programmes. But online producers like Issuu and Canva make it far too easy for clubs to ban downloads forcing fans to screenshot each page.

Football entrepreneurs have seen a gap in the market and have started producing unofficial issues. I have just bought a programme for Haverfordwest County vs Floriana from a gentleman in Belarus. And he did an excellent job. Last season I bought an unofficial teamsheet for Port Vale vs Carlisle on eBay but decided to miss last week’s Port Vale v Cardiff game as, to be honest, I prefer games where an official programme is on sale.

On the other side of the coin, we see ludicrously oversized and overpriced issues for some games like last season’s Wembley play-offs or this seasons England v India test matches. They are far too big to fit in a pocket and then have to be stored afterwards. The official programmes for the England v Spain Euro 20 final, and indeed earlier games, were huge and didn’t even mention many of the players taking part. I ended up sending off to a gentleman in Ukraine for additional unofficial fan programmes which were much more up to date and appropriate. This was before the war. Crewe and Bromley do oversized monthly magazines plus team sheets which is better than nothing but not ideal.

As far as I understand it for the football league producing a programme was mandatory, now it's optional it seems some clubs can't be bothered.

 

[OhNoAPacer]

As far as I understand it for the football league producing a programme was mandatory, now it's optional it seems some clubs can't be bothered.

Proper programmes with The Football League Review stapled in the middle of them.

 

[Peeled Apples]

Proper programmes with The Football League Review stapled in the middle of them.

The football league review there's a blast from the past

 

[Mcr Warrior]

The football league review there's a blast from the past

Last one (by then renamed "League Football") was in season 1974/75, I believe. (January 1975, issue 920, to be precise).

 

[Siimo]

Apparently Southampton have already won as many home games this season as they did for the whole of last…

Saints supporter here, I can confirm this is correct if only counting the dire PL season, however in other competitions we did win at home against Swansea and Stoke.

 

[dangie]

Saints supporter here, I can confirm this is correct if only counting the dire PL season, however in other competitions we did win at home against Swansea and Stoke.

Winning against Stoke doesn’t count. We were cr*p (probably still are)

 

[Loppylugs]

As far as I understand it for the football league producing a programme was mandatory, now it's optional it seems some clubs can't be bothered.

To be honest, I don't suppose they can spell half the names of football players these days. Foreign names, double-barrelled names, ones that take up most of the surface on the back of the shirt. Gone are the days of being able to recite your team's players and make up little ditties about them.

My favourite song at Wimbledon was: Alan Cork, Alan Cork, Alan Alan Cork
He's got no hair but we don't care, Alan Alan Cork.
What a player and only eight letters! Marvellous.

 

[Peeled Apples]

To be honest, I don't suppose they can spell half the names of football players these days. Foreign names, double-barrelled names, ones that take up most of the surface on the back of the shirt. Gone are the days of being able to recite your team's players and make up little ditties about them.

My favourite song at Wimbledon was: Alan Cork, Alan Cork, Alan Alan Cork
He's got no hair but we don't care, Alan Alan Cork.
What a player and only eight letters! Marvellous.

That song reminds me one of our old favourites, Alex Rae, Alex Rae, Alex Alex Rae he's got no hair we don't care Alex Alex Rae. In an interview years later he said that his daughter who was about 3 used to go around the house singing it!

 

[DarloRich]

To be honest, I don't suppose they can spell half the names of football players these days. Foreign names, double-barrelled names, ones that take up most of the surface on the back of the shirt. Gone are the days of being able to recite your team's players and make up little ditties about them.

Foreign names like Lawrie Sanchez, John Fashanu or Mark Dziadulewicz?
Double-Barrelled names like: Jamal Campbell-Ryce
Takes up most of the back of the shirt: Carlton Fairweather? Hermann Hreiðarsson? Øyvind Leonhardsen?

​

 

[Siimo]

...ones that take up most of the surface on the back of the shirt.

Kane
Saka
Rice
Eze
Jones
Toney
Konsa
Toone
Hemp
Russo
Kelly
Mead
James
Walsh

That's nearly a full Three Lions and Lionesses squad each from players with five letters or fewer.

 

[Haywain]

Gone are the days of being able to recite your team's players and make up little ditties about them.

I really miss the days of having Forbes Phillipson-Masters and Chukwuemeka Nwajiobi playing for my team.

 

[dangie]

…Gone are the days of being able to recite your team's players and make up little ditties about them.…

Or when most of the players actually came from in or around the area the team was based.

 

[SuspectUsual]

double-barrelled names

For that’s just a reflection of society though isn’t it? They’re much more popular amongst the non-upper class than they used to be, so it’s logical and inevitable that more footballers have them

 

[Loppylugs]

Foreign names like Lawrie Sanchez, John Fashanu or Mark Dziadulewicz?
Double-Barrelled names like: Jamal Campbell-Ryce
Takes up most of the back of the shirt: Carlton Fairweather? Hermann Hreiðarsson? Øyvind Leonhardsen?

​

Great names ! And great memories, especially Fash the bash!!

In the early days of AFC Wimbledon we had a player with a Polish surname, can't remember what it was sadly,(first name Simon), but we had a large contingent assembled in the away end at Worthing. The old boy on the tannoy announcing the teams got to this fella and after half a dozen attempts at this one player (with us in fits of laughter) just went "Doh, Simon Seabiscuit" to more merriment and mirth in the away end.

 

[SuspectUsual]

And great memories, especially Fash the bash!!

A horrible excuse for a human being. A thug and nothing more

In the early days of AFC Wimbledon we had a player with a Polish surname, can't remember what it was sadly,(first name Simon), but we had a large contingent assembled in the away end at Worthing. The old boy on the tannoy announcing the teams got to this fella and after half a dozen attempts at this one player (with us in fits of laughter) just went "Doh, Simon Seabiscuit" to more merriment and mirth in the away end.

One of my mates from college is a big Chelsea fan, and at the time they had Eddie Niedzwiecki in nets. My pal and all his Chelsea mates knew him as Eddie Alphabet

 

[Bald Rick]

Great names ! And great memories, especially Fash the bash!!

In the early days of AFC Wimbledon we had a player with a Polish surname, can't remember what it was sadly,(first name Simon), but we had a large contingent assembled in the away end at Worthing. The old boy on the tannoy announcing the teams got to this fella and after half a dozen attempts at this one player (with us in fits of laughter) just went "Doh, Simon Seabiscuit" to more merriment and mirth in the away end.

I remember being at Maine Road when a new player was announced to the crowd as having just signed. I think it was Kakhaber Tskhadadze. The stadium announcer had a go at pronouncing his first name, paused, and then said “… I don’t know how to say his surname, but I can tell you it’s worth a load at Scrabble”.

​

 

[High Dyke]

I remember being at Maine Road when a new player was announced to the crowd as having just signed. I think it was Kakhaber Tskhadadze. The stadium announcer had a go at pronouncing his first name, paused, and then said “… I don’t know how to say his surname, but I can tell you it’s worth a load at Scrabble”.

​

I love those sort of challenges trying to announce a team sheet out.

 

[THC]

I really miss the days of having Forbes Phillipson-Masters and Chukwuemeka Nwajiobi playing for my team.

Gordon Strachan back in the day on a new signing for Celtic: "The fans wanted a big name so I've given them one".

The player?

Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink

THC

 

[DarloRich]

Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink

That has to be the longest name ever put on a shirt!

A horrible excuse for a human being. A thug and nothing more

I am not sure that is entirely true - you don't play c.400 games & score 150 goals without some thing about you! He was a nasty piece of work mind.

Or when most of the players actually came from in or around the area the team was based.

and get the tram to the ground whilst smoking a woodbine, have a pint of mild in the foundry arms round the corner after the match, play 76 games a season and retire penniless with a knackered body at 30.

Ah the good old days

( thankfully it isn't 1932 anymore!)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Aug 2025 ==

As far as I understand it for the football league producing a programme was mandatory, now it's optional it seems some clubs can't be bothered.

surely you will look at how many you sell v costs involved and decide if it is worth it.

Just like railway enthusiasts there are a lot of odd football fans. Many of them are just as obsessed with programmes as the railway people are abiout timetbale sor tickets or some such. I like (ok maybe more than that!) to get a programme but it is not always possible and is not worth getting in a strop if you cant.

I like a programme because I have a mind like a goldfish and cant recall what game is have been to! I now take pictures of every game i have been to for the same reason. Drives my mates mad!

 

[dangie]

and get the tram to the ground whilst smoking a woodbine, have a pint of mild in the foundry arms round the corner after the match, play 76 games a season and retire penniless with a knackered body at 30.

Ah the good old days

( thankfully it isn't 1932 anymore!)

Not sure I entirely agree with that. Bearing in mind this is a ‘Football’ thread, I would imagine football was a better game back then. Played by players whose life was really no different to the spectators who turned up to watch. No bad sportsmanship, no cheating, no diving, no conning the referee. I’m pretty sure anyone silly enough to try would soon be dealt with. Football was a game, not a business. The club owners were usually long life fans of the club, not foreign multi-billionaires. Rant over…..

 

[DarloRich]

I would imagine football was a better game back then.

I don't think it was! There s a rose tinted nostalgia amongst some for these alleged halcyon days which never existed. Yes players were getting the same wage as the normal man but there was a maximum wage and retain and transfer. They had no freedom of movement and could be held to a club for ever. You got paid less during the summer and if you were injured and your career ruined tough cheese - Look at Brian Clough!

There are so many stores of players being treated shabbily by directors. disgraceful.

No bad sportsmanship, no cheating, no diving, no conning the referee.

I am fairly certain that went on. Perhaps not the same manner but cheating happened. Conning the ref happened. Exactly as these days - you want to win! It isn't rugby!

Football was a game, not a business.

it was absolutely a business and those running the game made good money. It always helps when you get 60000 through the gate and have to pay all of your players a maximum wage of 2/6 and can treat them like slaves if they wanted to leave!

he club owners were usually long life fans of the club

The owners were usually local bigwigs who had done well out of life and wanted to do even better. They were not charities or philanthropists .