I used to buy matchday programmes religiously, until I came to my senses. Yeah, sure, you’re supporting the club and that with the three quid, but for me, it was a one-read publication: save for the really big match programmes, each of them were placed neatly in a pile on my shelf where they have remained untouched for years.

These days I instead use the cash to pay for the Latics Player (formerly Latics World) to get phone quality, induction loop commentary live from all the away games. Well, I am being a bit harsh there as the quality really has picked up since the days of Matt McCann mumbling about half time pies, and I’m going to leave a critique on that for another day.

Apart from that, I also buy the club fanzine whenever I can. A few years back, when the Cockney Latic was in its heyday, I’d enjoy thumbing through the pages of endless rants on David Graham and Geoff Horsfield by Les Bagg and the like. Not long ago, the name changed to the Mudhutter Football Express, but the content remained just as irreverent and opinionated as ever.

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