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)Brake L & Demoor M, Dictionary of nineteenth-century journalism in Great Britain and Ireland, 2009. Retrieved 19 October 2011 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 (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).
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.Verified by checking copies of the original annuals, 1946–2010
Following the withdrawal of News of the World as sponsors, the Nationwide Building Society emerged to provide new sponsorship in 2008. 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.Verified from copies of the facsimiles
Details
Editions produced since 1946:-
Year EditionTitleEditor 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 Football Annual (published from 1868 to 1908) The Football Yearbook (published from 1970 to the present) Playfair Football Annual (published from 1948 to 2012)
References