Stockport County’s official matchday programme has been crowned as the best in non-league football in the prestigious annual Soccer Club Swap Shop Programme awards.
Soccer Club Swap Shop each year takes every club’s programme through from the Premier League right through to the non-league and judges the overall quality of each publication.
For the second season running, Soccer Club Swap Shop has rated County’s retro-style programme as their National League North winner but the club went one better this season by winning the coveted first-place prize for the entire non-league pyramid!
Our matchday programme beat off competition from excellent programme publications produced by St Helens Town and last season’s overall winners Royal Wooton Bassett Town.
And in the divisional awards the Hatters were awarded first place ahead of second-placed Gloucester City and third-placed Chorley to claim the Soccer Club Swap Shop National League North Programme of the Year award for the 2016/17 campaign.
County’s programme was recognised for its wide variety of features, including its regular in-depth coverage of the club, historical pieces, as well as its hugely-popular retro cover.
Now in its 25th year, Soccer Club Swap Shop undertook its first programme awards for the 1991-92 season which proved a successful exercise for the hundreds of clubs that entered and the competition has gone from strength to strength.
Editor Keith Chapman, who has edited the County programme for the past three seasons, was understandably delighted at the double-award:
“We were delighted to win the divisional award last season but to win the overall award for the whole of the non-league as well as the National League North top prize is a brilliant achievement we can feel proud of.
“Last summer we decided to introduce a retro-style cover based on a County season from the past and it proved so popular that the programme sold out on a regular basis.
“We have an excellent team of writers that produce a mixture of informative and light-hearted articles and these awards are a richly-deserved recognition for the hours they put into producing an excellent publication and make it the best it can possibly be.
“As well as the team behind the scenes at the club I would like to thank everyone at County for their support, Senior Advisor to the Board George Hudson for his guidance, our designer Andy Calvert and our supporters who regularly provide feedback and buy a copy.”
You’d expect the programme team to be taking a well-earned break from their efforts over the summer break, but work has been going on to get this season’s programme ready for many weeks, with a new look already in the pipeline.
County’s double award-winning matchday programme will return for the Hatters’ first home game of the National League North season against near-neighbours Curzon Ashton on Tuesday 8th August (7.45pm).
