Keeping parents, players, officials and staff informed of everything that's going on with your football club is essential to ensure an open and honest relationship with all parties. Doing so via a well presented newsletter, or matchday programme, can boost your profile, help individuals to feel part of the club and offer recipients a genuine keepsake. Here's how to do it for next to nothing.

The first step to producing a newsletter or matchday programme is to decide what format you wish it to take. By calling it a 'newsletter' you can take a more formal approach to your content, whereas the term 'matchday programme' allows more scope to include details on matches, opponents and fixtures etc. Whatever format you decide, the only restriction to your content is your imagination. Here are a few more points to consider:

NAME - A plain bit of paper with the word 'Newsletter' on top is hardly inspiring but 'Kick Off - The Official Bishop Sutton FC Matchday Programme' is much more attention grabbing, so pick a football term or cliché and go to town.

FORMAT - A single side of A4, double sided, two pages or four. There's plenty to choose from but bear in mind how much material you will have to find in order to fill the pages, the time scale in which you have to do it and the resources you will have available.

FREQUENCY - Weekly, monthly or quarterly? You could decide to produce a matchday programme for every home match you play, or just one a month, whatever you choose make sure you stick to it and don't promise more than you can deliver.

Most new computers come with some form of word processing software that will suffice for most of your needs. Take a little time to explore your software and its capabilities. You should be able to create columns, headers and headlines as well as insert photographs, tables and diagrams. You do not need to invest in hugely expensive software to create an effective newsletter.

To produce a simple four page newsletter/programme using one sheet of A4, printed on both sides, set up your document as follows

Page setup: landscape

Columns: 4 (or you may find it easier to insert separate text boxes for each story)

FRONT OF A4 SHEET (NEWSLETTER FRONT AND BACK PAGES)

BACK OF A4 SHEET (NEWSLETTER PAGES TWO AND THREE)

Once you have printed your newsletter - on both sides of a single sheet of A4 - you then just need to fold it in half and you have your finished article. For further pages simply insert another sheet of A4 - which will give you four more pages - and turn your matchday programme in to an eight page booklet.

Permission: Liaise with your club's Child Welfare Officer when taking or publishing any photography involving children. You need to be sure that you are allowed to do so by the club and by the children's parents/guardians.

Picture resolution and clarity: Your photographs must be of a high enough resolution so that they do not appear pixelated and grainy when printed.

Type of shots: Close up shots always work better than pictures taken from miles away that make your players look like ants.

Positioning: Choose your best picture to feature on the front of your newsletter and then choose smaller, illustrative pictures for individual stories.

Think about who will read your newsletter or programme and you should have little trouble working out what to write. Here are a few pointers:

Sections: Rather than having a random mix of stories, think carefully about your readers and what groups they fall in to. You can then divide up the sections of your newsletter or programme accordingly: Parents News, Players News, Club News, Match Reports, Fixture News etc. Don't forget to include information on your sponsors or local sports hall facilities etc, it may help you to secure favourable slots with them if you do.

Short but sweet: In this age of information overload people's attention spans are incredibly short, so keep all your stories and information succinct and to the point.

Style: Maintain a constant style throughout your newsletter, whether that's impersonal or personal. For example, either refer to your club as "we/us" or as "Bishop Sutton FC/the Club."

When writing news stories make sure you include all the necessary information - who, when, where, why, how much, time, contact details etc - and make sure that the most important information appears in the first or second paragraphs.

Remember the golden rule - short but sweet - so cut out all the waffle.

When writing match reports the same rules apply, make sure the most important details - result, scorers, key moments etc - appear early in your report. Remember as well that a match report does not have to provide a minute-by-minute, blow-by-blow analysis, in 99 per cent of all cases it can be summarised in a few paragraphs. See example below:

TOMMY'S TREBLE

In a hard fought match John Jones' boys put on a fantastic display to take them within one step of their first trophy.

"The whole team played brilliantly together and I was proud of them all," said Jones. "Tommy scored the goals but it was a real team effort, as it has been throughout this competition. So well done to all the lads."

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