By Mark Bradley, Publications Manager
Late last month it was announced that our programme had been awarded the 'Best programme' accolade by The Football Programme Directory.
It was, in truth, a relatively unexpected award. Although we've been very proud of our programme for a number of years, we've not won anything for it in my time at the Club and to be declared the best matchday magazine across the whole country is quite an achievement. Especially considering, this season is our first with new designers OTM, who have excelled on debut - Reading's is the first football programme they have ever helped to design.
Sometimes it probably goes unnoticed how much work goes into producing a programme for a Premier League football club. Often the programme is bought simply as part of the football fan's routine, something that is picked up before the match, rolled up and put in the back pocket, skimmed through before kick-off, at half time or on the way home, and then carefully unfolded and placed alongside the others on a tidily organised bookshelf.
It's naive to believe that every fan who forks out £3 each week reads every word. Some won't even glance at the women's reports, but others will be very keen to see if they can keep their unbeaten season intact and clinch promotion. Some will have read all the latest team news throughout the week on the website, but others will not know about Jimmy Kebe's knee knock at Arsenal. Some won't give two hoots about goals and games scored and played in the 1920s, but others are fascinated to read about the Club's successes throughout their 137-year long history. Getting the blend right is difficult.
The age range of the football fan is so diverse too. Hopefully the young supporter is enthralled in Young Royals features we have covered this season and tries to complete as much of the quiz as possible each week (although sometimes I understand it can be tough). The seasoned season ticket holder hopefully recalls some of the great days gone by in our two regular historical articles; David Downs had kindly offered an insight into our previous meetings with each opponent, while Alan Sedunary has this season focussed on a 'Golden Goal' scored at some juncture in Reading's long history. Both contributors must also receive my utmost appreciation for their efforts this season.
In my mind, the aim of a programme editor is to keep the quality of the publication as high as possible by ensuring there is plenty of information for every fan to engage with. But it also has to look good! Visually, pictures are vital and in recent seasons we have been blessed with a number of photographers who are happy to let us use their pictures for posters, in match reports, or as the parting shot at the end of every programme. To have high quality images at our fingertips sets recent seasons' programmes apart from earlier volumes alone. And the design process can be long and intricate work, but with tight deadlines to work to any errors are (hopefully) picked up in an often laborious but necessary proofing stage - each page is scoured by either myself or Head of Communications at the Club, Andy West. Any typos that do slip through the net, must have been proof read by Andy...of course!
It is sometimes difficult to make each programme unique. I think it is important not to slide into supplying the same information in the same tired way - new angles and new ideas need to freshen every programme up if possible. With the aid of our press officer's extensive top flight contact list, we have been able to do that with an article penned by a famous name every week. This is a perspective you very rarely see in programmes when travelling up and down the country, and it is a feature I hope is enjoyed by all. I'm very proud of some of the names we've attracted in 2007/8 - ex-England managers Glenn Hoddle and Graham Taylor, footballing legends Ray Wilkins, John Barnes, Les Ferdinand, Paul Merson, Peter Reid, Gordon McQueen and Alan Mullery, the faces of Sky Sports' coverage Jeff Stelling and Andy Gray, former Royals Keith Curle and Nicky Forster...and even up-and-coming indie band The Hoosiers!
As the vast amount of information is collected the week before a home match, it is difficult to find many people at the Club who aren't called upon for some sort of assistance. Whether providing me with the mascot pictures every week, updating me on the latest reserve team table, giving me the home and away ticket selling details, chasing artwork for advertisements, or telling me all about what the club has been doing within the community each week - all of the staff behind the scenes at Madejski Stadium come together to make each programme as up-to-date and as informative as it can be.
That naturally extends to Steve Coppell, who is happy to provide his programme notes over the phone - often at the crack of dawn - and skipper Graeme Murty never lets us down, sometimes wandering into the office to write his page in person. The eight-page interview still provides the centre-piece for every programme and this is rarely problematic; a text to ask for fifteen minutes of the featured player's time is followed by a trip to the training ground one weekday morning and a recorded chat gives us all we need. This season, we have needed some help from some very helpful translators - Marek's English teacher and my former French-teaching mother happy to convert our questions and their responses into English for the programme's uni-lingual editor.
But ultimately, the programme is written for you - the fans. And without picking up a programme every week a long-standing tradition would be broken and a big part of the matchday experience for many would be lost. I like to think, with the programme, we are reaching the same high standards Reading Football Club strives for in everything it does. But of course, next season, we hope to make it an even better read.
