This is currently the oldest programme in my collection.If I remember, I think I brought this from outside Highbury before a home game for about 25p.
The game was a 2-0 home win for the Gunners, with goals by John Barnwell and George Eastham in front of 18,761 supporters.
The programme itself is smaller then today's programmes - A2 in size and only containing 16 pages. You didn't have the managers notes then, but you still had the Voice of Arsenal.
In a lot of programmes you would normally find the team selection in the middle, along with the way the teams would form up. Offen, there would be late changes to the line-ups and you would make a note of the changes in the programme yourself. Some collectors like their programmes to be in perfect condition with no pen/pencil marks at all. But it doesn't bother me, and adds to the history of the programme. Was the person noting the changes a collector himself and wanted to look back at the game knowing exactly who played? Why did the person part company with the programme - was it given to a friend, a son or a daughter?
The same again with the back page. Today you have-time and full-time scores displayed on a big screen at most grounds as well being read out in full. But here, you have the 'Half-Time Scoreboard' with all the matches given a letter. Then at half-time the letter along with the score was read out, so you would know who was winning, drawing and losing. Like with the team selection, was this person was a collector who again wanted to look back and remember everything from the day, or did it have some other kind of importance to him?
The team that day was Kelsey, Magill, McCullough, Brown, Neill, Eastham, Petts, Griffiths, Barnwell, Armstrong & Clapton.
There are also a lack of adverts - if this was today, there were would be at least 10 extra pages telling you to buy drinks, shirts and airline tickets!
The 1961-62 season wasn't a great one for The Arsenal. They finished 10th on 43 points, 13 points behing the league winners Ipswich who were managed by Alf Ramsey.
The manager of the Arsenal that day was George Swindin. He had made 297 first-team appearances for the club as a goalkeeper. He managed Arsenal from 1958 - 1962 (indeed, this was to be's last season in charge). After leaving, he went on to manage a number of other clubs before retiring to Spain. He passed away in October 2005, aged 90.
