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193: Lucas Radebe, Leeds United, Merlin’s Premier League 97 Official Sticker Collection

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The cultural impact of David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and The Lightning Seeds’ Euro 96 anthem ‘Three Lions’ is undeniable as proven when any England side in the Gareth Southgate era progressed beyond the group stage of a tournament. If Thomas Tuchel enjoys the similar stratospheric joy of barely surpassing expectations then it will be impossible to hold a conversation in the summer of 2026 without someone informing you “it’s coming home”. That being said it is rarely heard outside of England internationals and only then when there’s more at stake than a Nations League point. Perhaps the real breakout musical success of the football tournament genre was Dario G’s ‘Carnaval de Paris’ released ahead of the World Cup in France in 1998 . Not only did the instrumentation for the song cover more nationalities than a Benetton advert but the earworm melody has been adopted by multiple clubs, and the England team, as a stirring terrace anthem. The dance trio actually gained inspiration for this a...
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18: Robin van Persie, Arsenal, Topps Match Attax Trading Card Game, 2009/10

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In the spirit of the season Mat Jolin-Beech brings us some festive fun via the medium of a prolific Dutch striker who scored some truly wonderful goals for club and country during his career. As with many of our posts this has absolutely nothing to do with the card in question and Mat has gone back to his roots and gone all chairman of selectors again . Hopefully this goes down better than your fourth cheeseboard of the weekend. It’s Christmas time, and ‘tis the season for some pun-derful blogging. So why should we here at a Sticker’s Worth 500 Words not jump on this festive bandwagon? A quick WhatsApp later and the puns came rolling in with Emlyn left with 718 unread messages of football related festive nonsense. Serves him right for having a social life. So here we go: a full squad and manager of Christmas crackers. (No, I won’t stop. And yes, I know this is as bad as all of the Dad jokes come 4pm and a few too many beers on the 25th.) The first and most obvious one was the big man h...
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380: Stephane Guivarc’h, Newcastle United, Merlin’s Premier League 99 Official Sticker Collection

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In 2017 the country musician Brad Paisley released the album 'Love and War' featuring the track 'selfie #theinternetisforever'. The song is a cautionary tale of the historic tweets that have proven the downfall of politicians, English fast bowlers and several prospective employees. However vanilla your Internet activity may have been those lovely people at Meta do like to remind you of your 'memories' whenever you have a look at Facebook. I can only apologise to the contestants of the seventh series of X Factor and Garth Crooks for some of my misguided grumpiness back in 2010 and I should probably pre-emptively resign my future cabinet position on the off-chance Cher Lloyd becomes leader of the opposition. Occasionally this feature does unearth a more fascinating moment from the past. In September 2011 I was one of a mere five thousand people to witness Calvin Andrew score for Crystal Palace in a 2-1 League Cup win over Middlesbrough. While there is a precedent...
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248: Taribo West, Nigeria, Panini World Cup France 98

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Congratulations then to Rodri for winning this year’s Ballon d’Or following another season of success at Manchester City and victory for Spain in this summer’s European Championships. Some critics suggested he may have been more deserving of the award last year after City’s treble exploits while everyone in anyway affiliated with Real Madrid were so horrified by this coronation ahead of their own Vinicius Jr that they binned off the entire ceremony. Meanwhile Brazil ’s politicians described the perceived snub as “the biggest injustice in history” which is fairly hyperbolic when one considers such hideous phenomena as slavery or genocide. Amidst such controversy it would have perhaps been crass for Rodri to revel in the limelight and extol his virtues as the world’s best player. That being said it was something of a let down when he reeled off a host of bland platitudes such as “I am a very calm person until I get upset. I am just a normal guy, you don't have to be crazy." As ...
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119: Nani, Portugal, FIFA World Cup Russia 2018, Panini Official Licensed Sticker Album

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Mat Jolin-Beech takes a look at a player equally capable of brilliance and brain fade with little indication of which you’ll be getting on any given day. Then again it must be hard balancing club and international duties with the pressures of being part of one of the noughties’ biggest boy bands alongside Darren Bent . As Mat says below look at the photos. Some players are great. Some players are not. Some have careers better than their potential led them to have any right to have. Some fail to hit that potential and underwhelm massively. Then there is Nani who, somehow, managed to fall into all of the above. Plus, he is seemingly still playing. I thought he’d retired years ago. But alas, he is still playing and currently (at the time of writing at least) back in his homeland of Portugal with Estrela Amadora. As well as various trophies, he also has the accolades of being a founding member of JLS (seriously, look at photos – he’s in there), and being a full-time wind up merchant. Top o...
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U8: Paul Dalglish, Newcastle United, Merlin’s Premier League 99 Official Sticker Collection, Transfer Update Edition

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There are many signs you are getting old. It could be the three days of exhaustion you suffer after daring to take part in something resembling social activity. Maybe it’s the insidious emergence of more and more grey hairs everywhere and anywhere. Perhaps it’s the increasing level of effort needed to vacate a chair. Following any form of professional sport is unhelpful too. In this year’s County Championship the children of former England captains Mike Atherton, Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff have all made telling contributions across the various cricketing formats. A few months earlier the progeny of both Neil Danns and Jason Koumas scored for Liverpool in their FA Cup win over Southampton while Ipswich Town celebrated their return to the Premier League by signing Rory Delap ’s son Liam to join David Hirst ’s lad George. Apparently Manchester City’s Norwegian goal robot also had a father who played in the English top flight but that would suggest he was in anyway human. Footba...
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230: Tim Wiese, Germany, Panini UEFA Euro 2012 Official Sticker Album

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Our new post sees Emlyn Shepherdson-Jones step off the hallowed turf and into the squared circle. There is a lot of commonality between the two and perhaps both worlds could learn more from each other. Perhaps the road to Wrestlemania 41 could see the WWE’s superstars complaining about fixture congestion or VAR intervening to sort out some steel chair skulduggery. The introduction of the aforementioned folding furniture could add even more to those “scenes no one (literally everyone) wants to see” on the football pitch. Today’s subject might have some pointers. Over to Emlyn. Professional Football and Professional Wrestling have crossed over more often than one might expect. In 1998, the World Wrestling Federation held a live event in London known as Capital Carnage. Keen to generate some buzz around the event, the PR machine decided to try and attract some of those 'soccer' fans to watch some grappling. Which glamorous player would they go for from the available London clubs?...
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