The next in our series of programme reviews today looks at Tottenham Hotspur’s programme for 2021/22. Read our full review below and see all of the season’s Premier League issues by clicking here.
Tottenham’s 84-page, perfect-bound programme has a similar look to issues from recent seasons, although the amount of original content is still rather limited when compared to the league’s better programmes.
Perhaps the best of the features included here is ‘Paper Chase’, which has club historian John Fennelly looking back at what supporters were reading about in and around the ground on the occasion of a past fixture against the day’s visitors. This includes some notes on the match programme from the day, as well as other news from the time. ‘Treble Top’ is another interesting historical article, looking at Tottenham hat-tricks against the day’s opponents, including some background career information about the players involved.
‘Fifty 50’ marks the occasion of Brentford becoming the 50th club to play in the English top-flight during the Premier League era, profiling Spurs’ record against each of them over the course of the season – looking at the first meeting between the teams, Tottenham’s best win, and memorable goals. There are a couple of supporter-based features, namely ‘In That Number’, with one fan offering their memories of supporting the club, and ‘My First Game’ where a supporter reminisces about the first Spurs fixture they attended. Other content consists of interviews with current and former players, a three-page section for younger fans, and ‘Home and Away’, in which one Spurs player looks at the stadiums that have featured prominently in their careers.
The opposition section is rather limited, being predominantly focused on images of the visiting team’s players, with a few key squad members having brief pen-pictures. These are spread across several pages, with the only other content of note being a short manager profile, a ten-year record for the visiting team, a form guide, and notes on the last meeting between the two clubs. Some additional articles, such as tactical insights and the history of the club, would be welcome here.
Fortunately, club information is more detailed. There are two pages for each of the women’s team, development squad, and academy teams, which are well laid-out over two pages, including match updates, results, fixtures, tables, and pictures, as well as a short interview with one member of the under-18 squad. The usual manager column and news pages are present, while coverage of previous matches is spread over two pages for each game, with pictures and each team’s line-up. The first-team statistics section runs to three pages.
When set against the best issues in the league, the Tottenham programme feels somewhat disjointed, with little coherence in terms of the flow of the issue. There is some worthwhile material included, but more than anything, this feels like an issue in need of a refresh for next season.