Aston Villa’s official matchday programme for the FA Cup Third Round tie against West Ham United in January proved to be the most sought-after edition in decades.
The collectable ‘News & Record’ upscaled to a B5 size and adorned a slick black cover with the original club crest to commemorate Villa’s 150th anniversary match.
The 84-page perfect-bound publication also featured gold foiling on the front to mark the milestone occasion in style and was sold alongside 30,000 free 150th anniversary newspapers, informing supporters about the new anniversary shirt.
Despite one of the biggest print runs for decades the edition, which retailed for just £1.50, sold out completely at Villa Park on the evening, as well as in the Club Shop, and an extensive reprint was required to satisfy demand as the Claret and Blue faithful came out in force to reminisce about the club’s illustrious history.
Ignition Sports Media’s General Manager David Middleton said the unprecedented demand had completely overwhelmed his team, explaining: “From Aston to Australia, Cannock to Canada and everywhere in between the popularity of the 150th anniversary edition far exceeded our expectations. The edition proved more popular than any of the UEFA Champions League issues this season, which was heart-warming to see, but also meant a significant post-match operation to satisfy such demand and to prevent copies from being sold at extortionate rates across Ebay.
“While the memorabilia has been exceptionally well received and many supporters have got in touch to say how “beautiful” and “impressed” they are with the end product, it has taken too long for us to fulfil orders placed.
“A publication of this nature takes longer to reprint because of the gold foiling elements on the cover and, as a consequence, with demand of thousands upon thousands it then meant our despatch team struggled to cope with the backlog and get orders out the door quickly enough.
“The final orders were due to leave us on Tuesday 4th February and we’d expect them to be landing on doormats this week. I’d like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding in waiting longer than our normal expected timescales to get their hands on this important piece of club memorabilia.”