No more match programmes
Received the following email from the club today...
"Dear supporter,
Wycombe Wanderers regret to announce that it has ceased publication of its matchday programme for the foreseeable future due to the impact of Covid-19.
The club were pleased to launch a revamped version of Parklife for its first season in the Championship, enabling fans to order the programme and have it posted straight to their homes ahead of kick-off for behind-closed-doors fixtures, but also in the hope that the planned pilot events would pass successfully and supporters would be present on matchdays in the near future.
However, sales figures so far have not generated sufficient revenue to break-even on the production costs and the club have reluctantly taken this decision now to prevent further losses as the season progresses, with no plans currently in place to remove the restrictions which prevent supporters from attending matches.
Our records show that you have purchased a 10-game bundle of programmes and a pro-rata refund will be issued to you - via our publishers Ignition Sports Media - for the unfulfilled editions.
We thank everyone who has bought, contributed to, or volunteered to sell the programme during its many decades of existence and hope to revive the programme in some printed format at such point that fans are able to return to Adams Park."
A sad day, but not altogether surprising.
Comments
Makes sense, but they will be back when we're back in at least.
Not surprised huge numbers weren't queuing up at £7 Inc postage. Also must take up a fair amount of time. Noticed Chairboys live this week was almost all clips that had already been on the clubs social media.
£7!?! Wow.
The programme this season has been a good quality read and I had hoped to continue collecting them in this historic season. Having match reports and photos from the games would have been a good collector item. It's a sad day that a home game with Watford doesn't get a match programme.
Having said all that the price was too steep. Other clubs on the Ignition site charged £3 plus P&P. Adding £2 to that seemed odd and must have contributed to the loss making venture.
It's clear that a number of measures were only meant to be temporary, with the expectation of getting back into games fairly soon.
Now it's apparent that we're not, you can understand programmes stopping, no unique ifollow code per game and the pre match youtube offering getting skimpier each week.
Not sure why the lack of an ifollow code is relevant. It's still available without having to pay
Looks like the printed version, at least, is about to be permanently discontinued (apart from the odd 'prestigious occasion').
https://www.wycombewanderers.co.uk/news/2021/november/pick-up-a-blueprint-this-saturday/?fbclid=IwAR2xlan_JMwgkInAlex4Q_yyYNcnuTwM3F1UvgnTkbXfWuO_-Vz8ZhQpgKY
A bit strange that this is happening mid-season.
I think the club are getting into the habit of using environmentalism as a figleaf for making changes which are in reality purely driven by financial considerations.
If they really put environmentalism front and centre they wouldn't be trumpeting the arrival of the new "smoker" for burgers etc which must either use far more wood per match than goes into all the programmes printed, or worse still, coal. Wonder what David Wheeler makes of it all. Greta, of course, would describe it as greenwashing.
Sure I read somewhere that the "smoker" is purely wood burning & sourced from a local company, (Oxfordshire)? Mind you that doesn't mean that the wood is sourced locally, could come from Australia by coal powered steamship for all I know!
I imagine that the club is just not making money from the programme anymore, in which case, sad though it is, I don't think there would be many who'd resent it's withdrawal. But then why not just say it's no longer profitable, or at least cite hard economics and the environment?
I would imagine broader profitability issues as well. Social media is the primary medium for fan engagement and content generation has to be the media teams priority. Ink on paper takes manhours as well as up front cost, even with ad revenue I can’t see the programme ‘washing its own face’ so end of an era and the Trotters Blueprint becomes an instant collectors item!
Sad sad news when I read about the programme dissapearing. End of a valued product for me and a document of record for some of my best memories.
It has though been inevitable for a while as the club clearly lost interest in it. The lockdown meant the people writing it did others things and now don't have time. The club made it harder and harder to buy a programme and now have an empty memorial to a valued supporter.
The content has been awful this season. No opposition player run downs. Shocking content to advert ratio.
I've no doubt it has become unsustainable but the club have killed it off. If it were me I'd ditch the website and make the stadium announcer inform rather than cheer lead.
I wonder if we are alone in doing this. What other league clubs have ditched their programme. I suppose I've written this acknowledging all the reasons the club have ditched the programme but I don't like it and it's another brick gone from my memories of great match days.
That third paragraph is almost unreadable it has so much jargon in it. No programme sounds a bit tinpot to me. Have to say that whilst my “match day experience” is the best I’ve known it on the pitch, off the pitch it progressively goes downhill
Time to start collecting your POAP tokens.
All gone a bit Mike Graham there fella. Coal in a smoker?
I don't see any real jargon in it. They'e being quite open and honest about it being a loss maker, with nothing on the horizon that suggests it will stop being a loss maker.
The article from the club at the top of this thread is from the original aborted attempt to can the programme in October 2020.
Yes, this is the paragraph being referenced:
_
However, sales figures so far have not generated sufficient revenue to break-even on the production costs and the club have reluctantly taken this decision now to prevent further losses as the season progresses, with no plans currently in place to remove the restrictions which prevent supporters from attending matches._
I wouldn't say any of this is incomprehensible jargon even to the most non-commercial of layman.
I agree with you @Right_in_the_Middle. I have been a season ticket holder since 1990 and although I acknowledge the Couhigs have invested in the stadium, my match day experience as totally changed and not for the better. Expensive food, expensive parking, no programmes. I know a lot on here will just think this is unnecessary moaning but I fear we are losing sight of exactly what makes this club of ours unique.
I hope I am wrong.
Here come the ‘end of the world’ comments!!!!
But it's from an article over a year ago. We've got by for a year not picking up someone on their grammar so why bother now?
Oh for the days of struggling anonymity , Gaz buying nets on eBay, no development squad, struggling to pay the vat, sticky carpets in The Vere happy days
Apologies, should have been clearer - third para in the article linked to above by NW. I work in an industry overwhelmed with jargon, and often end up rolling my eyes at phrases such as “we are committed…”, “moving further”, “the digital world”, “continuing our journey” etc etc. that sound like they mean something but really could have been summed but better with “we’re hoping to bring you more content online at some point in the future”
The program used to be a key part of my game going experience. I used to pour over it repeatedly after games, the stats, looking at upcoming fixtures etc.
Eventually you realise you're getting 100s of the things, and they're not really something you'll re-read time and time again in years to come.
Printed press is simply becoming an outdated idea though. Anything you want to read is out there online.
I used to look forward to reading the Bucks Free Press friday Wanderers footage for example.
Such a premise is laughable now! You'd have read it all, and a lot more interesting stuff, online way before Friday.
Oh progress, I hope it doesn’t lead to the end of the earth, surely it won’t.
To @Jonny_King and everyone at The Wanderer..fire up the presses...there's a gap in the market!!
I suppose that could be the silver lining if fanzines can plug the gap.
Maybe some of the former programs contributors might like to write the odd column in the Wanderer?
I miss the opposition player profiles, always interested in which clubs the oppos have played for before. We lost that run down in the programme and I stopped buying it.
With tomorrow seeing the last regular matchday programme, I thought I would post my oldest 'Wanderers' programme which is dated 3rd March 1923 featuring Chesham United v Maidenhead United in the semi-final of the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup, match played at Loakes Park High Wycombe - I hasten to add I wasn't present that day!
Looking at that programme it mentions Picton stores, the owner was Benny Picton. The lovely curved building which goes from Busbys insurance round to where the Phoenix bar is now situated used to be known as 'Picton's Corner' as I believed he owned all the property there.
It never gets referred to that these day, I wonder if any of our vintage Gasroomers remember Mr Pickton ?
There are many photos of Benny Picton on the "Sharing Wycombe's Old Photographs" site, but they now seem to block direct address of the image.
This one, https://swop.org.uk/swopimg/web/BFP68396.jpg, has a caption of:
"Frank Adams with Mayor Picton opening the new ground, donated by Mr Arthur Wilks to Flackwell Heath F.C. Magpie Lane, Flackwell Heath. 24 Dec 1955".
You can access it by searching for "Picton" and "Adams" on https://swop.org.uk/swop/swop.htm. Picton is in the dark overcoat. He died in 1962 aged 75, living in Slough at the time.