End of Boro paper matchday programme

For me a program was an integral part of match day and something that I will miss even though I never read them.

I think that this stems from when buying a program was the only way to find out the team lineups.

When I first started going to to AP i used to use them to get the players autographs on. It invokes great memories of times when I had a membership in the North Stand as a 14 year old and they used to open access to it before any of the other stands. This gave us access to the players from both home and away sides coming out to inspect the pitch pre match....great times!!!
 
Not convinced that they have ended forever. When we get back to normal (whenever that may be) and attend again I cant see the Club passing up the opportunity to sell paper versions again.

That said good for FMTTM hopefully
 
Jonny2773 said:
For me a program was an integral part of match day and something that I will miss even though I never read them.

I think that this stems from when buying a program was the only way to find out the team lineups.

When I first started going to to AP i used to use them to get the players autographs on. It invokes great memories of times when I had a membership in the North Stand as a 14 year old and they used to open access to it before any of the other stands. This gave us access to the players from both home and away sides coming out to inspect the pitch pre match....great times!!!
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The lineups were often wrong though! But yeah, it was because of that.

Symptom of changing times. I loved getting them as a kid as they were the only souvenir you'd have of a match, but now people take photographs and everything without even thinking. I bet I haven't bought one in twenty years, and pretty sure the last time I did it was basically full of adverts. I won't miss them per se, but I do miss collecting them as a kid!
 
Yes, matchday programmes are one of the many little areas that are part of what we love about football.

Matchday programmes, paper fanzines, the Boro crowds, the BBC local commentary and phone-ins, local newspaper coverage.

All expendable from a business sense, but if Boro becomes purely just 11 players on a pitch, then it's not really Boro any more.
 
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Jonny2773 said:
For me a program was an integral part of match day and something that I will miss even though I never read them.

I think that this stems from when buying a program was the only way to find out the team lineups.

When I first started going to to AP i used to use them to get the players autographs on. It invokes great memories of times when I had a membership in the North Stand as a 14 year old and they used to open access to it before any of the other stands. This gave us access to the players from both home and away sides coming out to inspect the pitch pre match....great times!!!
Click to expand...

Sad about the programme going but as others have said its probably just until fans are back in the stadium.

To go back to the point about buying the programme just to find out the team. I used to sit in the North Stand when we were back at Ayresome and I have fond memories of entering through the famous old gates and then loitering by an office window that you passed on your way to your seat to get the team news (for those who never sat in the North Lower at Ayresome you used to have to walk right along the back of the stand then into the stadium next to the bob end then back along the stand to your seat which for me was right by the dug out so a long circular trek!).

Anyway, on route you would pass this office and they would stick the official team sheet up in the window and fans would be crowding around to find out who was in the starting line up. Some days it was like a big rugby scrum and sometimes you had to wait your turn to get near the front and all you could hear was grown men tutting and muttering 'for f**ks sake' or 'gerrin!' under their breath which just added to the anticipation! Not quite the same these days now you can easily get team news up on your mobile.
 
They needed a lot of subscribers to make it viable. The costs are far higher than for me and for every game it mounts up in price. Very sad.
 
I thought it was a good move to make it £2 and thinner and I bought it more as a result. I found it useful to quickly flick through for fixtures and records of who played in which games.

What has happened is a lot of information in the programme is issued as online news stories. Its so easy, quick and cheap to put up online stories nowadays.

Fans are often scrolling through on their smart phones at half time and before kick off when 30 years ago they were reading the programme. Many people don't use print at all now hence the decline in sales of newspapers and magazines.

I used to get the programme sent to me for £50 a season 15 years ago, but the Post Office now delivery much later and they are expensive to use. A £2 programme is probably not worth the effort of sending through the Post @ 80p a copy. It was a requirement to issue a programme last season, but that rule would have been dropped now.
 
I still find people want the printed fanzine and not the emailed fanzine. I hope to get 200 subscribers to the paper fanzine - I will be lucky to get 20 email subscribers.
But for the programme it is part of peoples match day ritual at a cost of £70 to subscribe - that mounts up. It is a big sum. If I was still doing fanzines every game I would not get enough subscribers at the price I would need to charge. Obviously only doing something once a month means it is no longer a business. More a labour of love, if you like. But that was probably the fanzine ethos in any case.
 
Rob - its good to hear that people still appreciate print copy. Maybe articles are more reflective in nature for print, because print can't keep bang up to date like digital. Good luck with FMTTM - nearly 32 years is a long relationship with the fanzine and about 19 years with the website - makes Facebook look like a new kid on the bloc.
 
Redwurzel said:
It was a requirement to issue a programme last season, but that rule would have been dropped now.
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The rule requiring clubs to issue a programme was dropped in 2018 so we are in the third season where programmes haven't been compulsory. I'm not as bothered as I thought I might be that the print version has been dropped but what I'll miss is the ability to look at squad numbers, particularly of the opposition. Not everyone uses a smart 'phone.
 
It'll come back. Imagine the first game back with fans? A programme would be a great way to mark the occasion and something for fans to keep for years to come, would be worth a lot to collectors.
 
Am not sure it will come back again. The club felt it was crucial to keep it going this season - but subscription costs for every game were always going to be very high, no matter how carefully they cut costs.
It could be the end of an era for Boro and many clubs. Very sad to say.
 
Sad times. Like Rob Im not so sure it will return either. I still think theres a market for it, but time will tell.
 
That is really good. From conversation with the club they were gutted at having to stop the print - do you think someone has approached them with a print on demand option possibly. You can do that with self-published books etc.
 
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