Leo, KC

To effectively launch a collection of football programmes, a person needs to choose a specialism to his or her collection. There are thousands of football programmes available in the United Kingdom, and even more worldwide. To give a collection some sort of purpose a theme ought to be adopted to avoid pointless accumulation and to keep to a preferred budget.

Of course, it will sometimes be the case that you come across a programme that joins or crosses two themes at the same time. These are likely to prove to be valuable acquisitions in years to come as they signify a special or historical occasion, which will muster memories for football fans from around the globe in the future.

The programme is a good way to remember a memorable event at a specific match. This could be in the form of an achievement such as a player milestone, which is featured in the programme. A player milestone could come in many formats, such as an appearance record, a goal scoring record, the final match of a players career, a number of years of service by a player, and much more.

The sadder side of soccer is also often recorded in the programme. These historical events attract collectors who see them as poignant reminders of the past. They are highly collectible and valuable as a result. The disasters at Hillsborough, Ibrox and Bradford have valuable programmes connected with them, not only for the day itself, but also the subsequent commemorative games.

A notably collectible set of football programmes to own are those associated with the Munich Air Disaster involving the Manchester United team and Busby’s Babes. The programme from the match against Partizan Belgrade who Manchester United were playing on the tragic trip can sell for over a thousand pounds. A similar amount can be obtained for the programme against Sheffield Wednesday straight after the disaster, where the team list wasn’t filled in for the Man United team.

Notable occurrences are usually reflected in the content and design of the programme. Important football programmes to collect are final matches in an old stadium, or the first issue within a new one. Most programmes of this type are easily available with interesting articles and historical information, making them a gem in any soccer programme collection.

Football programmes often mean different things to different collectors. You may value a prticular programme highly due to entirely personal reasons and memories which they may conjure up. For others the pursuit is one of passion, finding out more about the history and traditions of a football team that they support. Whatever your reason, collecting football programmes is a very rewarding hobby, and comes highly recommended to any soccer fan.