JAMES BOND
As you read this, I want you to run your finger down the page. Can you feel the sweat (as well as the blood and tears) seeping out of the paper?
Ian Whitfield is the editor of your excellent Matchday programme – and has had the difficult task of compiling two issues back to back with this one and Saturday’s against Southend.
“I’m really grateful to have a great bunch of contributors (thanks Ian, I’ll take that as a personal compliment) and understanding printers at WPG in Welshpool,” he told me as I put Town’s media officer on the receiving end for once.
“I do the featured player interview and the player- quiz, I sit down with Ian Sharps as we put together the captain’s column, and Graham Turner handwrites his and pops it on my desk – my next step is to get him to write it in Word!”
This club anniversary season of course has seen each issue of the match programme as part of a 125th year celebration run, with a programme from the past featured on the front cover and four collectors’ cards making up the back cover. “We all love a bit of nostalgia, and the articles by the likes of Mike Jones and Mike Robinson have gone down really well,” Ian told me, “and the cards format – with one current player, two past legends, and one of a classic image or moment – has proved really popular.” So much so, I’m told, that the launch of a Hall of
Fame as part of the 125th anniversary is in the pipeline, with the likes of you and me asked to pick the players we think deserving of representing the club’s different eras. The club currently prints about 1,700 copies per game, with just under a third of fans buying one on Matchday.
“The exact total is a bit of a guesstimate,” Ian said. “I try and take into account what sort of crowd it might be, who the opposition are, even what the weather might be. “But we’re always looking at ways to improve it and to make it reach more fans, which is why one consideration on the table is a possible smaller and cheaper programme backed up by a monthly STFC magazine.” (What do you think? Ian welcomes any ideas or
comments). Anniversary or not though, the quality of the Town programme has proved very consistent – third best in League Two last season, ‘best value’ programme the year before, and the year before that the best in the division and the seventh best nationally from all the top divisions. “I am proud of it,” Ian conceded, before modestly adding: “It’s not just down to me, but to all my contributors with whom I’ve built up a great relationship.”
James Bond BBC Radio Shropshire 96FM
* Don't forget: as you leave the ground today, tune in to 96FM to hear immediate reaction to what's happened over the 90 minutes from the Town gaffer Graham Turner and the players, and let us know your take on the game: 01743 248321 - or text 81333 (start your message with ‘SHROP’). You can also put your view to our reporter Matt Wallace, who will be with the BBC Radio Shropshire radio car in the Meadow car park.
SHREWSBURY to LONDON - just £40 Return Travel
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