Retro: 36 Fantastic Examples Of British Football Programme Cover Art From The 1960s, 70s And 80s (Photos)

Chris Wright

15th, September 2015

2 Comments

In the eternal spirit of ‘things were so much better in my day-ness’, Pies have traipsed back to the time when football programmes were lovingly crafted, bought for pennies and teams could show their players on the cover without negotiating with image rights lawyers.

Before we proceed, we’d just like to mention that this post would not be possible were it not for the admirable work of retronaut supreme Miles McLagan (follow him on Twitter, @TheSkyStrikers), who has dedicated his precious time to collecting and archiving these wonderful nuggets of footballing folk art.

So without further ado, let’s get going – starting with a personal favourite…

aberdeen-mirren

You just know he still dresses like this…

AvManU

Ayr United employ the town’s leading/only graphic artist to full effect…

ayr-rangers

One hell of a barnet…

BarAth

Birmingham revel in all the glamour of Co-op milk…

birmingham-reading

birmingham-tampa

The ‘keeper seems remarkably pleased about conceding here…

boro-forest

‘Cherries’ obviously being local Dorset slang for LSD tabs…

BouSwa

Old-school sash action from the Bantams…

BraAlv

Followed by some real Roy of the Rovers stuff…

bradford-bolton

Wishing you an extremely terrifying Christmas from all at Brighton & Hove Albion…

brighton-newcastle

Like a young Rod Stewart…

bristol-liverpool

Powerful imagery from the future European city of culture…

Bz_hL1IIQAAAfwR

Milky skills…

CityWBACover

Tucked inside the back of Coventry City’s new-look programme for the game against Stoke City at Highfield Road, 1971…

CovSto2

Steady as you Mo…

dumbarton-watford

Jim McGregor certainly has the look of a man who hasn’t breathed for a week…

EveSpu77

Skol beer, the breakfast of champions…

forest-bolton

GraMac

Why, there must upwards of £50 in that attache case…

ipswich

No smoking at the back please…

motherwell-dundee

What better way to hype Watford’s visit than by having Graham Taylor shot backwards out of a cannon…

15603639447_5083337d4c_z

Hank Marvin obviously heard there was £195 to be won…

newcastle-shrewsbury

Norwich City bag themselves one hell of a cover girl…

norwich-man-city

Sensational work from Palace…

palace-doncaster

PelSan

qpr-villa

Harry Bassett meets his namesake…

sheffield-bassett

The kind of fixture that doesn’t come around very often…

ShrZam

Spot of late 1960s brutalism from 21st Century brutalists Stoke City…

stoke-asante

Bobby Kerr limbers up for his Sunderland testimonial…

SunLee

WatRoc1

Gary Robson and the strategically placed football…

west-brom-wigan

And what might just be the greatest, most intriguing football programme cover of all time…

AldCol

A version of this post originally appeared on Flashbak.

(All images via Miles McClagan/Flickr)