Not a ball being kicked, not a game to watch on television and not a football programme being printed.

Starved of seeing their club in action, inter-club games of Connect 4 and noughts and crosses played out on Twitter have gained mass followings, footballers playing keepie-uppie with a toilet roll, essential viewing.

While the beautiful game – indeed, all sport - has been plunged into crisis, for football memorabilia enthusiasts, this could turn out to be one of the game’s golden years. 

In Brian Johnson’s Leith shop, barely a free kick away from Hibs’ Easter Road ground, there is plenty to keep the most football-starved fan engaged during the game’s unprecedented hiatus. 

Football programmes, some with covers slightly faded from age, others glossy and new as if they’ve come straight from the printers’ – which, indeed, some have – are piled across every available surface. 

Each one is a goldmine of football knowledge, some carrying names of the sports’ most famous alongside long-forgotten players, others from ‘meaningless’ games that everyone else has forgotten even happened and some emblazoned with the names of teams that no longer exist and long gone grounds.

With this season now set to go down in history, even programmes which a month ago seemed to have little real significance have the potential to become a future collector’s prized possession.

“People will collect everything and anything to do with their club at the best of times,” says Brian Johnson, who runs Almondvale Programmes in Albion Road, barely a well-driven free kick away from Hibs’ ground at Easter Road. 

“People can have weird collections. Some people will be collecting programmes from this season right up to two weeks ago when the matches stopped. 

“There will be people out there who want programmes related to the last games that took place before everything stopped, or programmes from games that were due to happen, but didn’t. They will be looking to complete their season’s collection and probably getting in touch with printers to see if they still have copies.”

Some clubs may have chosen not to release programmes for games which were scheduled to take part but cancelled with just days’ notice. 

That could boost their attractiveness to some collectors, and push up the value, adds Johnson. 

“For example, I’m waiting for a copy of the programme for the Hibs v St Johnstone game that was called off,” he adds. “I’ll get it - collectors tend to know how to get these things.”

One of the most coveted of programmes will be the one that was printed for the crucial Old Firm clash at Ibrox which was halted in the wake of the Scottish Government’s decision to curb gatherings to less than 500 people. 

The programme does not appear to have been released - while the Ibrox side’s Europa League programme for its match against Bayer Leverkusen is currently available for fans to download digitally, there’s no sign of the Old Firm match programme content. 

“If it was printed and not released – and assuming there aren’t that many copies - then the value already could be around £100,” suggests Johnson.

The 2019/20 season was already shaping up to have a degree of added value for certain enthusiastic collectors. Celtic’s push towards a historic tenth league championship already meant every Hoops’ game held a little more romantic significance, while the side’s League Cup win – their tenth successive cup trophy in a row – gave collectors extra reason to snap up memorabilia. 

Looking ahead, meanwhile, programmes for the 2020 Scottish Cup semi-finals and final – whenever they may be held – are also likely to hold more significance for collectors. 

“The Scottish Cup final is always played in May. This final will be unusual for many reasons, including the fact that it definitely won’t have a May 2020 date,” adds Johnson. 

Brian Hamil of Perfect Memorabilia in Glasgow agrees that the health crisis and its impact on the sporting calendar makes this an extraordinary year for collectors and fans of all sports. 

“As the term suggests, memorabilia is all about the memories that people have connected to sport, and all our memories from this season are going to be remarkably different to previous years’,” he says.

“We just don’t know who will get through it. Some players might not be playing for clubs by the time we get to the end of this season, some clubs might not even survive. Genuine collectors will always want something that is a bit different or special about it, and this is not a normal season.”

Hamil deals mainly in players’ shirts and signed prints and believes that there’s a good chance that this season’s events could inspire people to take fresh interest in memorabilia and start new collections. 

“There are a lot of people already out there who collect as a hobby, they like different shirt designs, a particular shirt sponsor or name on the front. 

“People will always want to collect, and this season is certainly unique.”

Back in Leith, Johnson, whose first football match was aged six  watching Hibs against Rangers in 1969 – a 2-2 draw – has accumulated a personal collection of “tens of thousands” of programmes. 

His shop, he reckons, has “hundreds of thousands” covering a range of sports including rugby and – perhaps oddly for a football programme specialist – his favourite sport, ice hockey. 

“My wife is very understanding,” he adds. 

Top sellers are programmes from the 1940s and the aftermath of the Second World War, as clubs regrouped from tragedy. 

“Those 1940s and 1950s programmes are becoming very rare,” he adds. “For example, if you happened to come across a Falkirk programme from the 1946/47 season, you could expect to get around £400 to £500 for it.”

There is no rhyme or reason to what collectors will want. “I get a lot of current season programmes along with the antique programmes and the special programmes,” he says. “People love them. 

“For me, it’s buying them that’s the problem, not selling them. There’s so much demand.”

Key for anyone inspired by this season’s event to re-evaluate the value of their programme collection, he says, is to look after it. 

“I keep my programmes in folders inside ring binders. Don’t fold them, don’t write on them. Keep them flat and don’t damage them.

“And keep them for a long time.”

 

It might not have been a particularly memorable game, but for programme collectors, the Third Lanark clash against Aberdeen may be worth its weight in gold. 
The programme is one of a selection of Scottish football programmes currently going under the hammer at an online auction being held by Midlands Auctions. 
The match, at Third Lanark’s now defunct ground, saw 17,000 fans watch the teams slug it out for a 1-1 League Cup draw in September 1948. The programme is estimated to make between £150 to £200. 
Also for sale is a programme from the 1967 Celtic-Inter Milan European Cup Final in Lisbon, valued at around £180, and a programme from the 1946-47 season Scottish Cup match between Dundee and Celtic. 
Because of its post-war timing, it is expected to sell for up to £150. 
The auction contains more affordable lots, however, including a 1948 Scotland-England match programme, estimated at around £30. 
For details, visit www.midlandsportsauctions.co.uk