Football and Life from Wartime to Lockdown is a love letter to football’s rich, eccentric heritage, told through the lens of over 2,000 collected matchday programmes. Drawing on his own childhood in post-war Manchester, Hague paints evocative scenes of drizzly streets, idolised heroes like the Busby Babes, and the simple thrill of rifling through a fresh stack of programmes. His writing, shaped by decades as a respected urban planning academic and columnist for publications like The Scotsman and The Independent, is both deeply personal and effortlessly authoritative.
Hague excels in revealing the hidden treasures concealed within the pages of these programmes. He shows how each artefact, from the chaos of wartime football—where players dodged air raids and borrowed boots—to the oddball adverts and clumsy poetry that coloured the margins, serves as a window into the social, cultural, and economic backdrop of its time. These programmes are more than memorabilia—they’re living documents, capturing the spirit and struggles of communities across Britain and beyond.
As the book moves through decades, Hague explores football’s transformation: from the gritty “Slum Game” to the global spectacle it is today, complete with superstar players, corporate sponsors, and the rise of fan-owned clubs. Yet, amid all the change, the programmes remain a constant—chronicling everything from World Cup triumphs to the fleeting glory of schoolboy internationals who never quite made it. Hague’s knack for finding the funny, the quirky, and the poignant in these stories makes for irresistible reading.
Programmes! Programmes! isn’t just a nostalgia trip. It’s a tribute to the way football—through the humble match programme—mirrors the world around it. Hague’s unusual combination of scholarship and fan devotion ensures that every reader, whether a diehard collector or a casual supporter, will find something to cherish. This book is a testament to his lifelong passion and his remarkable ability to bring football’s history to life, one programme at a time.
Soccer programmes have become a smart investment for collectors and fans alike. Unlike mass-produced memorabilia, each programme is a unique time capsule—capturing the teams, players, and cultural quirks of a specific match day. As football’s popularity has soared, rare programmes from historic games or milestone events have only grown in value, often fetching impressive sums at auction. Beyond the financial rewards, they offer something priceless: a tangible link to the past, filled with stories, adverts, and line-ups you won’t find anywhere else. Collectors know that as clubs evolve and digital replaces print, these physical programmes will become even scarcer. Whether you’re after the thrill of the hunt, the joy of nostalgia, or the hope of future profit, investing in soccer programmes is a way to own a piece of the game’s living history—a small, paper window into football’s soul. ~ The Soccerbooks Team
ROYAL MAIL TRACKED 48
Price: £16.99
Published: 2021
Hardcover: 384 pages
ISBN-10: 178531856X
ISBN-13: 978-1785318566
Dimensions: 223 x 147 x 38 (mm)
Lavishly illustrated
