Historic Wolves and Albion programmes up for auction

The monumental 1886 FA Cup final programme is made up of just a single sheet, featuring the teams line-ups and an advertisement on the back.

The match was contested by Blackburn Rovers and West Bromwich Albion and is one of the rarest pieces of football memorabilia.

It is particularly important as it was Albion's first ever appearance at an FA Cup final.

The programme was worth two old pennies at the time and has been described as 'extremely scarce' in football memorabilia history.

It will now go up for sale at Graham Budd Auctions in a 'Sporting Memorabilia' auction in London on October 27.

The match was played at the Kennington Oval, now known as Surrey County Cricket Club, to a crowd of 15,000 on April 3.

Albion boasted four England internationals in their team, with goalkeeper Bob Roberts, midfielder Charlie Perry, forward George Woodhall and captain Jem Bayliss.

It was the first of West Brom's ten FA Cup final appearances and was the first time a midlands club had reached the final.

They beat Aston Unity, Wednesbury Old Athletic, Wolves, Old Carthusians, Old Westminsters and Small Heath Alliance to reach the final.

Auctioneer Graham Budd said: "Any programmes of this nature, pre First World War are exceptionally rare. This programme was worth only two old pennies in 1886, but we expect a number of collectors to show a very keen interest as it is a very scare piece of memorabilia.

"I imagine we'd be looking in the region of £20,000 to £25,000 for it."

The match finished 0-0, with one of the rules at the time being both teams needed to agree for extra time to take place. Albion were keen to continue but Blackburn Rovers refused, forcing a replay a week later at Derbyshire County Cricket Club's Racecourse Ground.

The replay was noteworthy as it was the first time an FA Cup final had been played outside of London and both the final and replay being refereed by Major Francis Marindin.

Blackburn Rovers went on to beat West Brom 2-0, making it their third successive FA Cup final victory, with goals from James Brown and Joe Sowerbutts.

At the same auction there will also be a 1921 Wolves versus Tottenham Hotspur FA Cup final programme, which was played at Stamford Bridge.

It originally cost 6d, which was sixpence, or three pence in modern money and was produced as it was one of the last finals played before the competition moved to Wembley in 1923.

Wolves was then managed by Wolverhampton-born Jack Addenbrooke, the club's first manager.

They beat Stoke, Derby, Fulham, Everton and Cardiff to reach the final, with Spur's Jimmy Dimmock scoring to beat Wolves 1-0, with the the cup being presented by King George V.

Mr Budd believes the programme will fetch between '£1,000 and £1,500.'