English Football League clubs vote on the future of the match day programme

Sold for over £20.000

The bosses at the EFL have announced there will be a vote on the future of the match day programme in an upcoming meeting of all EFL clubs. Programmes could become an endangered species for some clubs. Although individual clubs may decide to continue with their programmes while others could look to cut costs.

Most leagues in the UK insist on the home club producing a programme or at least a team sheet in the lower end of the football league structure/ladder. Programmes are a well-established part of the match day ritual, particularly with older fans and can be seen by the number of programme collectors. Old programmes even modern day can command high prices at auction and on eBay, the rare copies are highly prized among collectors.

Social media can be a cheaper option that some clubs you can download the match day programme but they still sell the printed version. I can see the attraction of social media where you can see the match day team on your phone sitting in the pub and breaking news quickly where is the enjoyment in that. What could be better than having a flick through your programme before kick-off and listening to the stadium announcer rackling off the team all part of the pre-game atmosphere?

Then at half time having a fuller read eating a pie and trying to keep the programme from creasing or becoming damaged. Manager notes, star player, and other information makes a programme a good read.

I was a major collector many years back but due to lack of space I decided to down size and sold a chunk to the Cardiff City supporters shop that trade in buying and selling programmes and some on eBay. I now collect only cup and friendly programmes.

The clubs do produce a smaller, less expensive programme for cup matches and friendlies and that may be a model they look to explore in the future. There was a time programmes had strong competition fromfans publishing fanzines every club had one.

In a statement released by the EFL reads: “At its summer meeting in June 2018, EFL Clubs will vote on a proposal that will determine whether or not it is an absolute requirement to produce a match programme from the start of season 2018/19 onwards.

“A number of clubs have asked the EFL if the mandatory publication of a match programme can be addressed as a result of an overall decline in sales and the proliferation of digital and social media, which has the ability to deliver the same content in a more cost effective manner.

“Irrespective of the outcome at June’s AGM, The EFL will continue to produce a match programme for its five competitions finals - the Carabao Cup, Checkatrade Trophy and the Sky Bet play-offs.”