A FARNHAM bookseller has paid a world- record £21,850 for a football programme at a London auction, more than double the £10,000 the rare Victorian programme was expected to fetch. Giles Lyon, of Bodyline Books, sports memorabilia sellers off Castle Street, emerged the victor after a fierce bidding battle for the programme - a single sheet of paper, slightly torn, with team line ups. The sale was organised by Graham Budd Auctions at Sotheby's, Olympia, in London last Wednesday afternoon. Before the auction, the 1889 Preston North End versus Wolverhampton Wanderers programme was expected to fetch £7-10,000. But Mr Lyon and one or two rival bidders were so determined to buy the programme that those cautious pre-sale estimates were swiftly overtaken. Mr Lyon successfully bid £19,000 for the programme, but he must also pay a further £2,850 in buyer's premium (15 per cent of the £19,000 hammer price) to auctioneer Graham Budd. Mr Budd said: "I thought that on a good day the programme might sell for five figures, but this is just fantastic." Mr Lyon's successful bid smashed the previous world record for a football programme by nearly £7,500. The highest previous price tag was £14,400, paid at Sotheby's in London on February 18, 2003, for a 1901 Spurs versus Sheffield United FA Cup final programme. The world-record breaking programme now on its way to Farnham was printed for a particularly important match in English football history. Their victory in the 1889 FA Cup final ensured that Preston North End, known as The Invincibles, became the first club to secure the so-called "double", having already won the championship that season. The match, played at the Kennington Oval in front of 20,000 people, was also the first cup final in the professional Football League, established that season. Mr Lyon said: "I have a customer who has most of the existing programmes from 1919 onwards, who was anxious to get his hands on this one. They deteriorate so easily that it's pretty remarkable this programme has survived. "I set myself a maximum limit of £20,000 and when the bidding hit £19,000 I was beginning to wonder if I would get it. Luckily, the other bidder pulled out."
