When I was a kid, there was always one gift under the tree you could rely on – the trusty annual.
For a while, it was the Beano (my brother read the Dandy). After that, I got the Shoot Annual, and I think he got Match. Whatever we’d done through the year, however hard up my parents were, we always got an annual. Typically, I still have them all on my bookshelf upstairs, full of quizzes and interviews which I sometimes look back on and flick through, laughing at the lengths of player’s shorts or my poor attempt at a crossword, inevitably filled in with a felt tip pen.
I suppose, like the programme, there’s as much value in printed media 30 years on as there was when it first came out. Sadly, the club programme has gone, lost forever in the name of progress. Financially, it was the right decision for the club, and there is still a teamsheet you can collect, but it does feel odd not getting a programme, even if most of mine were bought retrospectively.
When one institution dies, another (hopefully) takes its place, and that’s where the Lincoln City Annual 2024 comes in.
I think if someone had told me when I was ten that Lincoln City would release an annual, and I could open it on Christmas Day and find it packed with colour pictures, interviews, and quizzes, I’d have binned the Scaletrix and Commodore 64 from my Santa list and added that product. It’s a dream I had when I was ten, but at 45, I should know better. I don’t – if something printed around Lincoln City comes out, I buy it. I’ve bought the annual, and whilst it hasn’t been in my house for 8 hours yet, I’ve already read a couple of features.
Of course, I love it – it’s a product aimed at placating those who wanted a club programme, a printed item to collect that brings together features and articles you might see in the programme. It’s got bits for the kids, but also plenty for us oldies as well. I won’t need to unwrap it; I bought it for myself as an early gift for being good(ish) over the year.
Here’s the bottom line – it might be great to have as a product, but if people don’t buy it, it’ll be a one-off. Getting fans to buy a programme every week wasn’t easy, but a one-off album? Anyone who supported the programme should find value in it.
Details on how you can get your hands on a copy can be found here https://www.weareimps.com/news/2023/december/buy-your-2024-annual-now/
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