There had
been a few 'away' programmes featuring Saints, most notably for the 1934 Scottish Cup final.
The earliest Saints programme is believed to be for a Scottish Cup match at Elgin City in 1923.
The first issues
of the Saints matchday programme were simple in design and usually comprised of a four page publication with many adverts
and very little actual information about the match or the club.
The
front cover designs were retained for several seasons at a time, with just three variations between the first in 1945 and
1965.
For season 1965-66 the format changed to include an
action picture on the front cover which changed for each match.
This
was continued into the 1970's with the addition of a red border, the first colour used in the programme.
1974-75 saw
the first of three seasons of orange covered programmes with slight differences each season.
Promotion to the Premier Division in 1977-78 saw
a return to a standard black and white issue with an action picture on the cover.