Port Vale FC have emailed fans asking for feedback after the club proposed ending regular match day programmes.
The club says it may still produce programmes for special matches but producing one for every game creates an operating loss of £30,000 per season.
The email says: “For many years, our printed matchday programme has been a cherished part of the matchday experience at Vale Park, providing supporters with in-depth content, exclusive interviews and a tangible piece of our history.
“However, producing the programme has become increasingly unsustainable for us, with an average of less than 150 sales per matchday and annual losses amounting to £30,000. This is, of course, in addition to the significant resource needed to produce the programme itself, often several times within the space of just a few days depending on the fixture schedule.
“As such, we are proposing to cease regular production of the printed matchday programme as part of our wider review of all operations before the start of the new season. We believe it is important for us to adapt to the changing landscape, and we want to be transparent with you about the challenges this initiative has posed.
“That said, we remain committed to celebrating our key moments and milestones, and would still have the option of producing printed programmes for special matches, events and significant club milestones. We have also recently enhanced our digital offering through our new website and app, and these platforms will provide you with all the content you love from the matchday programme.
“We understand that this is a significant change and want to ensure that your voices are heard, particularly as we know how important the programme has been for match-going supporters not only at Vale Park, but across the country over the years.
“Your input is invaluable as we strive to provide the best possible matchday experience.”
The link for feedback is here
Programmes have been a part of football since football began but modern day football and modern day football club owners have no respect for anything. Everything is just down to money. Owner have sold out to TV companies not bothered if fans can attend the new dates and times forced upon them, these are the very same fans who have supported and financed their clubs for decades but the TV companies and owners don’t give a damn. We have gradually gone from1 to 3or4 kits a season being introduced plastered in advertisements, we have no ticket office and everything is done on line, or now through ticket master adding more expense to supporters and even alienating the elderly. For once Mr Hancock stop being lazy and come up with an idea of keeping the tradition of football programmes at the club going. Instead of the 50or60 pages of advertisements, and replicated pages week after week costing £3 try a simpler edition of say 10 pages similar to the 50s 60s and 70s costing just a £1.
Sorry Ian but where is the commercial sense in producing a programme that only sells 100 or so per match.
Times have moved on.
Right decision.
I used to buy programs every week and have a box of programs in the attic going back to the 70’s, but I haven’t bought one for a long time, I don’t think it’s our owners selling the fans out, media is changing, just like newspapers, I used to wait at the newsagents for the match report in the “green un” to get delivered, now I just click on my phone and watch the highlights…. £30,000 a year is an awful lot of money to lose and would be far better spent elsewhere in the club….I fully appreciate it is an important part of the match day experience for some people, but our average attendance last season was a little over 6,500, and weekly program sales of 150, from a business point of view it is unsustainable
Will, on the whole football is loosing money hand over fist every season as our £3.4 million looses prove . Are you saying football as a whole should cease as it’s not a profit making business? What I am saying is, a cheaper version of a match day programme could be produced, it’s strange how many non league clubs are able to produce and sell a programme but league clubs can’t. Could it be the unpaid volunteers who keep the non league clubs running from season to season put the effort in, whereas the well paid chief executive can’t be bothered and just keep pushing excuses and technology into our faces? Over recent years our club like many others have lost the personal touch where fans were appreciated and listened to.
Obviously losing 30k per season is not sustainable, I was surprised so few were actually sold. Correct decision imo. Though I could be wrong, I think they are actually obligated to provide programs under fa rules so maybe an E program like we had during covid is the way to go.
For the obvious reasons stated, match day program sales have understandably fallen off a cliff. The club’s decision to discontinue them is IMO is absolutely right one. All necessary match day information and more can be found on websites. That said, I fortunately have an extensive program collection dating back to the 1950’s and they are still a good read for nostalgia and history.
Do people think that we could do a slimmed down version costing less and if we only sell 150 just print 150 and see if demand increases then keep printing a few more don’t know if this makes sense
Hi Ron, I would imagine that the programme printers have a minimum run amount for each programme…. For example 500 units.
The point I am making is, if the sale of programmes have been making a lose of £30k a year why has Mr Hancock sat there and watched the club loose almost £100k without attempting to do anything about it ? My first question to him would be if I were the owners; “what have you done or tried to do to prevent these loses”. My second question to him would be “ how many weeks notice do you need “. Thousands of football clubs with smaller gates than the Vale successfully produced a match day programme. Why aren’t Mr Hancock and the Vale capable of doing the same ? It’s just another case of the club being lazy !
Absolutely ridiculous to suggest we should lose money for the sake of nostalgia. It’s the right decision and they’ve communicated it because they know how important it is to some people. But at only 100 being sold a game it’s time to move on from them.
Fond memories of going to the programme stall as a kid. My Dad used to get us in an hour early “to get a seat” even though we had season tickets. Always used this time to browse the programme.