A keen collector of Norwich City matchday programmes has been left with a gap in his collection – after programmes for the recent FA Cup game sold out.

Collector Tony Hudson has every Norwich City match programme – home, away and friendlies – for the last seven years.

But on Saturday, January 7 he missed out on buying a programme for the home tie against Burnley because they were sold out.

The 62-year-old, from Westacre Drive, Old Catton, is collecting the programmes for his son Shaun, 18.

The two of them and Mr Hudson's other son Jamie, seven, are all season-ticket holders at Carrow Road, and try to attend as many away matches as possible.

When they cannot get to away games, Mr Hudson's friend, another season-ticket holder, buys him a programme.

The retired Royal Mail worker said: 'I arrived at Carrow Road 30 minutes prior to kick-off and it was a bit of a blow when I could not buy the programme.

'I went to the club shop and was informed that they had sold out some time earlier.

'I know there are lots of people with more programmes than I've got and have been collecting them for many more years, but it's a gap in my collection.

'I've got about 380 programmes, and they're all packed away in the loft.

'I started collecting every programme about seven years ago. My boy was then 11 and he was seriously getting into football, and I thought I would start a collection for him.'

Mr Hudson said that his favourite Norwich City match was the game against Portsmouth, when the club was promoted.

A Norwich City spokesman confirmed that the club had sold out of programmes on the day, and had been surprised by the huge demand for tickets for the Burnley match.

He said: 'We have to order the programmes in advance and we did not expect to have a crowd of nearly 23,000 for the Burnley match, considering the FA Cup match last year only attracted about 18,000.'

He suggested that Mr Hudson contact Peter Rogers, the programme editor at the club, to find out if there were any Burnley programmes left over that he could buy. He said collectors could subscribe to get the programme at the start of the season.

Have you got a story connected to the football club? Call reporter David Bale on 01603 772427 or email david.bale2@archant.co.uk.