Huddersfield Town fans have welcomed a decision to axe the club’s unpopular newspaper-style programme after just one season.
Programme collectors were unhappy at last year’s switch to a newsprint publication – even though the cost was slashed to just £2.
Town this week announced the newspaper programme would be scrapped and supporters have been asked what they would like to see for next season.
The programme – called Give Us An H – was the cheapest in the Championship last term but collectors found it difficult to store and fear it will deteriorate over time.
Avid collector and life-long Town fan Michael Scott, 58, said he had met no one who liked the programme.
“Personally I hated it,” said Michael, who has 5,000 programmes in his collection. “I probably have every Town programme from the last 30 years, having been to most of the games, and this was awful.”
Michael, of Mirfield, said what he hated as much as the newsprint was the ‘upside down’ content.
The programme had a unique ‘back-to-front’ format where Town fans could read it from one side or, by flipping it over, away supporters could start at the other end.
Michael is currently on a mission to visit all the obscure non-league grounds that Town played at before they reached the Football League.
He has seen a variety of programmes at the grassroots level with one tiny club only printing six copies!
“It does make you wonder if the football programme has had its day,” said Michael. “It’s the older end who buy the programmes. When you get to our age you need something to look back on and jog your memory!
“Young people who download the team on their mobile or read about the club on the internet won’t have anything to refer back to when their memory starts to go.”
Town are asking fans to complete an online survey on the club website, saying the programme will “revert to a more traditional style” next season.
The survey asks how much fans are willing to pay – up to £4 – and if they would like a digital version to download.
Michael said a couple of years ago Carlisle United experimented with a basic programme for just £1 and he reckoned less could be more.
“What fans want is information about the game – another bone of contention I had with the Town programme last season was they didn’t always put the match officials in – and articles about the history of the club.
“Fans want to know the name of the referee they are criticising or, on the rare occasions, praising and younger fans need to know their history.”
A Town spokesman said no decisions had been made on the new-look programme and urged fans to have their say by completing the survey at www.htafc.com by Tuesday (June 16).
