Nationwide Football Annual

The Nationwide Football Annual is a compact British football reference book which is produced at the start of each football season. It contains information from the previous football season, and also contains updated records going back to the beginnings of organised football in the 1800s.

This publication first appeared in 1887, produced by the Athletic News as a rival to the Football Annual. Like the older publication, it initially aimed to provided coverage of all football codes popular in England, including rugby football (both rugby union and rugby league after the codes split) in addition to association football. The final edition to date was published in the summer of 2022 for the 2022-23 season, as no deal could be agreed between the authors and prospective publishers for the 2023-24 edition.

The titles of this publication have been:-

  • 1887-88 to 1889-90 : Athletic News Football Supplement & Club Directory
  • 1890-91 to 1945-46 : Athletic News Football Annual
  • 1946-47 to 1955-56 : Sunday Chronicle Football Annual
  • 1956-57 to 1960-61 : Empire News & Sunday Chronicle Football Annual
  • 1961-62 to 1964-65 : News of the World & Empire News Football Annual
  • 1965-66 to 2007-08 : News of the World Football Annual
  • 2008-09 to 2022-23 : Nationwide Football Annual

Two long-serving previous editors were 'Tityrus' (otherwise J A H Catton, editor of the Athletic News 1900–1924)[1] and Ivan Sharpe (c. 1928–1956). Other editors or joint-editors appearing on the front covers or title pages include David Jack (1956–1958 – he also made later contributions, not to be confused with the England footballer of the same name); Malcolm Gunn (1958–1966); Frank Butler[2] (1961–1982); Patrick Collins (1967–1977); Harold Mayes (1978); Charles Sampson (1983–1984); Albert Sewell (1983–1997); Bill Bateson (1985–1994) and Eric Brown (1998–1999).[3]

The book has incorporated a number of illustrations for many years, and since 1948 these have regularly included team photos of a few of the previous season's most successful sides. Since 1985 the annual has also included very brief obituaries ('The Final Whistle') for selected former players and officials dying within the previous twelve months.[3]

Following the withdrawal of News of the World as sponsors, the Nationwide Building Society emerged to provide new sponsorship in 2008.[4] This sponsorship lasted for two years, with the title Nationwide Football Annual being retained after the end of the sponsorship.

Facsimile copies of the Athletic News Football Annuals for 1887-88 to 1900-01 and 1915-16 to 1918-19, were produced by the Association of Football Statisticians during the 1980s.[5]

Details edit

Editions produced since 1946:-

Year Edition Title Editor Price Pages
1946-47 60th Sunday Chronicle Football Annual Ivan Sharpe 1s 320
1947-48 61st Sunday Chronicle Football Annual Ivan Sharpe 1s 320
1948-49 62nd Sunday Chronicle Football Annual Ivan Sharpe 1s 6d 352
1949-50 63rd Sunday Chronicle Football Annual Ivan Sharpe 1s 6d 352
1950-51 64th Sunday Chronicle Football Annual Ivan Sharpe 1s 6d 352
1951-52 65th Sunday Chronicle Football Annual Ivan Sharpe 1s 6d 352
1952-53 66th Sunday Chronicle Football Annual Ivan Sharpe 1s 6d 352
1953-54 67th Sunday Chronicle Football Annual Ivan Sharpe 1s 6d 352
1954-55 68th Sunday Chronicle Football Annual Ivan Sharpe 1s 6d 384
1955-56 69th Sunday Chronicle Football Annual Ivan Sharpe 1s 6d 352
1956-57 70th Empire News & Sunday Chronicle Football Annual Ivan Sharpe & David Jack 1s 6d 352
1957-58 71st Empire News & Sunday Chronicle Football Annual David Jack 2s 384
1958-59 72nd Empire News & Sunday Chronicle Football Annual David Jack 2s 6d 384
1959-60 73rd Empire News & Sunday Chronicle Football Annual David Jack & Malcolm Gunn 2s 6d 384
1960-61 74th Empire News & Sunday Chronicle Football Annual David Jack & Malcolm Gunn 2s 6d 384
1961-62 75th News of the World & Empire News Football Annual Frank Butler & Malcolm Gunn 3s 6d 384
1962-63 76th News of the World & Empire News Football Annual Frank Butler & Malcolm Gunn 3s 6d 384
1963-64 77th News of the World & Empire News Football Annual Frank Butler & Malcolm Gunn 3s 6d 384
1964-65 78th News of the World & Empire News Football Annual Frank Butler & Malcolm Gunn 3s 6d 384
1965-66 79th News of the World Football Annual Frank Butler & Malcolm Gunn 4s 6d 384
1966-67 80th News of the World Football Annual Frank Butler & Malcolm Gunn 4s 6d 384
1967-68 81st News of the World Football Annual Frank Butler & Patrick Collins 4s 6d 384
1968-69 82nd News of the World Football Annual Frank Butler & Patrick Collins 4s 6d 384
1969-70 83rd News of the World Football Annual Frank Butler & Patrick Collins 5s 384
1970-71 84th News of the World Football Annual Frank Butler & Patrick Collins 5s 400
1971-72 85th News of the World Football Annual Frank Butler & Patrick Collins 25p 384
1972-73 86th News of the World Football Annual Frank Butler & Patrick Collins 25p 384
1973-74 87th News of the World Football Annual Frank Butler & Patrick Collins 30p 384
1974-75 88th News of the World Football Annual Frank Butler & Patrick Collins 35p 384
1975-76 89th News of the World Football Annual Frank Butler & Patrick Collins 40p 384
1976-77 90th News of the World Football Annual Frank Butler & Patrick Collins 50p 384
1977-78 91st News of the World Football Annual Frank Butler & Patrick Collins 60p 384
1978-79 92nd News of the World Football Annual Frank Butler & Harold Mayes 75p 384
1979-80 93rd News of the World Football Annual Frank Butler 80p 384
1980-81 94th News of the World Football Annual Frank Butler 85p 383
1981-82 95th News of the World Football Annual Frank Butler 95p 384
1982-83 96th News of the World Football Annual Frank Butler 95p 384
1983-84 97th News of the World Football Annual Charles Sampson & Albert Sewell £1.25 384
1984-85 98th News of the World Football Annual Charles Sampson & Albert Sewell £1.50 384
1985-86 99th News of the World Football Annual Bill Bateson & Albert Sewell £1.75 382
1986-87 100th News of the World Football Annual Bill Bateson & Albert Sewell £1.95 384
1987-88 101st News of the World Football Annual Bill Bateson & Albert Sewell £2.50 384
1988-89 102nd News of the World Football Annual Bill Bateson & Albert Sewell £2.75 384
1989-90 103rd News of the World Football Annual Bill Bateson & Albert Sewell £2.99 384
1990-91 104th News of the World Football Annual Bill Bateson & Albert Sewell £3.50 432
1991-92 105th News of the World Football Annual Bill Bateson & Albert Sewell £3.75 432
1992-93 106th News of the World Football Annual Bill Bateson & Albert Sewell £3.75 432
1993-94 107th News of the World Football Annual Bill Bateson & Albert Sewell £3.99 432
1994-95 108th News of the World Football Annual Bill Bateson & Albert Sewell £3.99 432
1995-96 109th News of the World Football Annual Albert Sewell £4.25 432
1996-97 110th News of the World Football Annual Albert Sewell £4.99 480
1997-98 111th News of the World Football Annual Albert Sewell £4.99 480
1998-99 112th News of the World Football Annual Eric Brown £5.99 480
1999-00 113th News of the World Football Annual Eric Brown £5.99 480
2000-01 114th News of the World Football Annual Stuart Barnes £5.99 480
2001-02 115th News of the World Football Annual Stuart Barnes £5.99 480
2002-03 116th News of the World Football Annual Stuart Barnes £5.99 512
2003-04 117th News of the World Football Annual Stuart Barnes £6.99 512
2004-05 118th News of the World Football Annual Stuart Barnes £6.99 528
2005-06 119th News of the World Football Annual Stuart Barnes £6.99 528
2006-07 120th News of the World Football Annual Stuart Barnes £6.99 528
2007-08 121st News of the World Football Annual Stuart Barnes £6.99 528
2008-09 122nd Nationwide Football Annual Stuart Barnes £6.99 544
2009-10 123rd Nationwide Football Annual Stuart Barnes £6.99 544
2010-11 124th Nationwide Football Annual Stuart Barnes £6.99 544
2011-12 125th Nationwide Football Annual Stuart Barnes £7.99 544
2012-13 126th Nationwide Football Annual Stuart Barnes £7.99 544
2013-14 127th Nationwide Football Annual Stuart Barnes £7.99 544
2014-15 128th Nationwide Football Annual Stuart Barnes £7.99 544
2015-16 129th Nationwide Football Annual Stuart Barnes £7.99 544
2016-17 130th Nationwide Football Annual Stuart Barnes £8.99 544
2017-18 131st Nationwide Football Annual Stuart Barnes £8.99 544
2018-19 132nd Nationwide Football Annual Stuart Barnes £8.99 544
2019-20 133rd Nationwide Football Annual Stuart Barnes £8.99 544
2020-21 134th Nationwide Football Annual Stuart Barnes £8.99 544
2021-22 135th Nationwide Football Annual Stuart Barnes £8.99 544
2022-23 136th Nationwide Football Annual Stuart Barnes £9.99 544

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Brake L & Demoor M, Dictionary of nineteenth-century journalism in Great Britain and Ireland, 2009. Retrieved 19 October 2011
  2. ^ "'News of the World' Football and Sports Annual". Bookfinder.com. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
  3. ^ a b Verified by checking copies of the original annuals, 1946–2010
  4. ^ Bill Wilson (23 July 2008). "New life for oldest football book". BBC. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  5. ^ Verified from copies of the facsimiles