Me and the old man have never “collected” programmes in the train spotting way. Equally, we’ve never thrown any out. So at the start of lockdown I thought I’d have a sort out. And the home ones are now in season order. A treasure trove of memories. Every game, a game one or both of us attended.
Well over a thousand of the buggers all told. And like I say, we’ve never intentionally collected and the state of some of them is testament to some fine days out going back to the early sixties.
I am in a similar position . Not a collector but have collected plenty. My first is a match against Norwich City on the 5th October 1957. A much changed Walsall team won 2-1. We were much changed because half the team had “asian flu”…sounds familiar methinks. I had been to some matches before then but this is the first one I can remember with any certainty. I don’t have a thousand but would think my “collection” is a few hundred strong! Hopefully when I die my eldest daughter will have them…she has been a season ticket holder since 1984. I hope her house will be big enough and worryingly her husband and my grandson are Villa fans!!!
The home ones now boxed - probably won’t see most again. I thought the away ones would be easier. But alphabetical order is meaning I might need a bigger loft. Too many teams beginning with B.
As a kid in the mid 1970s I had a bad bout of flu. My aunt gave me loads of Walsall programmes to read as I was recovering. All from the 50s, 60s and early 70s. Really helped cheer me up. My mom threw them out and the only one I’ve got left is the one from the Slovan Bratislava friendly.
I have one from the Moscow Dynamo friendly, although I was way too young to have gone, not sure who passed it on to me.
I have a box of old programmes, not sure when I last bought one at a game, not this Millennium for sure, bought a few in the early 90s and the occasional one for a few years after that.
Yeah, you can’t see it on the top photo but my piles get less bountiful as the timeline progresses. Stopped buying them habitually in the mid noughties.
I did say we never chucked any away, but I think that the first half of the 79-80 season was tabloid newspaper style and i don’t have any of those. I’m guessing mum chucked them out with other newspapers rather than keep them.
Never been a collector but had the odd programme from the 83/84 League Cup and 85/86(?) FA Cup runs (remember those ). Started retrospectively collecting them via eBay etc. to the point of obsession - waited over four years to get the Blackpool away leg to finally complete both sets (paid 10x the cover price!!).
Packed them away nicely in folders and haven’t looked at them since - the sense of achievement was enough!!
My oldest WFC programme. First league game under floodlights although we had played Falkirk in a friendly in December 1967. Autographs look authentic but not 100% sure.
A friend of mine (not a Walsall fan btw) who met loads of players from the 50s and 60s, including several from those two teams, always used to say Albert McPherson was the nicest footballer he ever met. Bobby Robson was another he spoke highly of.
Bobby Robson was our football coach at school when he played wing-half for Fulham. Didn’t do me any good (I had no discernible talent) but remember him as a focussed, enthusiastic coach and a very nice gentleman to boot. It was normal then for professional players to give up some of their time for schools, don’t know if they got paid, they certainly didn’t earn a lot back then.
I too was having a sort out the other day and found a batch of old progs, although the majority of mine are still somewhere at my mam’s house…always amused me the cover from 78/79.
Have any of these youthfull looking enthusiasts that were about to watch us get miserably relegated, aged into UTS 50/60 somethings or are they recognised by anyone
). Started retrospectively collecting them via eBay etc. to the point of obsession - waited over four years to get the Blackpool away leg to finally complete both sets (paid 10x the cover price!!).
