Matchday Programme

[Duke of Inverness]

Be good to have one of these again? 

[IBM]

1 hour ago, Duke of Inverness said:

Be good to have one of these again? 

Yes but I think they are a thing of the past unless you would like to get involved with producing one and the printing and publishing costs would be huge!

[+Gringo]

They were good in their day. Too expensive to produce and buy nowadays unfortunately. I used to buy a programme for every match I went too. I had a clear out ages ago and got rid of loads (wish I hadn't done that now) but I kept some of the more 'iconic' (to me) issues. 

[High1ander]

You might be interested in reading the results of the supporters matchday survey report on the topic of a matchday programme
https://publuu.com/flip-book/183254/449329/page/66

[Jack Waddington]

Absolutely needs brought back, even if it is just a couple slices of paper for a quid. Along with paper tickets, its the best thing about visiting a ground.

People only stopped buying the programme cos they were hideously inconsistent with distributing the vendors, sometimes there was one in the North Stand, other times they weren't. The online version was just flat out terrible, cos you can do a dozen and one things on your phone at half time, but if you have a programme in hand, you're more inclined to read it.

[High1ander]

Any comments would be welcomed on the Trust's website so questions can be addressed to the Club
https://www.ictsupporterstrust.org/forum/digital-matchday-programme

[Scotty]

30 minutes ago, High1ander said:

You might be interested in reading the results of the supporters matchday survey report on the topic of a matchday programme
https://publuu.com/flip-book/183254/449329/page/66

I think the problem is not only cost but also time as well as the lingering death rattles of traditional printed media in favour of digital or virtual media .. Bryan Munro put a lot of passion, effort and time into the printed programmes throughout the years, and because of help from the likes of Ian Broadfoot and Peter McCallum and others around the club there was never any shortage of interesting content as well as stats and facts for the upcoming games. Throw in a piece or two from the manager or other staff and maybe a player profile or other article and all was good. However, you have to do that consistently, week-in and week-out which Bryan had down to a fine art even if he was still running around late at night just a few days before a game putting finishing touches to it to make sure it was accurate and up to date on the same week as the game.  I don't know that we could produce to the same level now, nor sell to the same level and therefore possibly not get the sponsorship or ads to fully pay for it. You also have to consider that matchday programmes are a throwback to the pre-internet days where the info was not at everyone's fingertips so the desire for a printed program is more about nostalgia and that wears off ...  I would buy one on my trips if it were available but would there be a critical mass, especially amongst the younger generation, to sustain it. 

I did download the electronic versions when they were available and found them to be ok. Definitely effort gone into producing them, so no criticism there, but lacked that 'feel' of a traditional programme and the 'love' that a bunch of volunteers were able to pour into something that was a 'passion project' rather than a task. 

 

Its funny - Toronto FC tried this in the early years in MLS as there was, and still is, a very large football supporting diaspora in Toronto, with many coming from countries where the matchday programme is traditional. Unfortunately, it flopped after one or two seasons because they - with all their resources - could not find the right balance to get folks to buy it so the stopped. I have about a dozen of them or so and they are all decent quality, informative, glossy, and were only $2 or $3 (cant remember exactly how much). I think they were a bit too corporate and formulaic in terms of the content for each issue, and lacking in enough interesting or different articles between issues. If a 25,000 crowd cant sustain a glossy programme, then perhaps we can let the club off the hook on this one a bit. Would be nice to see it back, but only if it were self-sustaining.