A Sticker's Worth 500 Words

Once again we are blessed with the insights of Richard Allinson for today’s blog. Not only has he reached into an obscure sticker album for his subject but he has tapped into the excellent Venn diagram intersection of players who have represented both Crystal Palace and Grimsby Town. Let’s get niche. Juventus, Sampdoria, Torino...Grimsby Town. 25 years on and Ivano Bonetti’s move to one of English football’s most unfashionable clubs still seems flat out bizarre. This was a man who had won two Serie A titles and appeared in a European Cup final against Barcelona at Wembley Stadium three years previously. This was a club who had won a few Lincolnshire Senior Cup titles and were more used to Barnsley than Barcelona. It made literally no sense but blimey it wasn’t half exciting. Think that all sounds a bit odd so far? I haven’t even begun. Ivano actually paid £50,000 out of his own pocket to fund the transfer, the other half of the £100,000 asking price being raised...

Professional sport creates drama that the greatest playwrights could only dream of. Ben Stokes’ one-man mission to win the Headingley test match for England against Australia in 2019. Ben Stokes’ one-man mission to win the Cricket World Cup final for England against New Zealand a few month’s prior to the aforementioned events in Leeds. James Hook’s last minute decision to boot the ball into touch against Italy in the 2007 Six Nations. They don’t all have to involve Ben Stokes or showcase the best decision making under pressure but it is what brings us to the edge of our seats and makes this period without live sporting contests yet another challenge in these troubling times. Unless you’re putting accumulators on the Belarusian league that is. Coventry City’s dramatic escape from relegation was one of the annual highlights of the Premier League’s final day during the 1990s. Despite boasting some talented players, such as the wily Gary McAllister and Homes Under The H...

There is very little more to be said about Diego Maradona. World Cup winner, FIFA Player of the Century, scorer of FIFA’s Goal of the Century, winner of the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball for player of the tournament in 1986 and top of almost every single football writer’s list of all time greats. I only remember seeing him play live in the 1994 World Cup when he was off his nut on ephedrine and even then he scored an absolute beauty of a goal against Greece. Apart from that all I have to go on is archive footage most of which shows a frighteningly talented footballer who regularly pulled off the impossible for club and country. Apparently he also scored a goal with his hand against England once but you don’t hear too much about that. Besides his narcotic induced screamer in 1994 my only other memory of Maradona was when watching him manage Argentina during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Argentina had struggled during the qualifying competition and had suffered an emba...

Talking about periods of relative stability seems trite in these disconcerting times but, for the first time in my life, Crystal Palace Football Club seem to be experiencing one. For the past seven years the Eagles have been a Premier League side and, despite a few wobbles and Frank de Boer, this position hasn’t looked too precarious. This is traditionally the point for solidly mid-table Premier League sides to reflect on a lack of European football, sign a host of questionable expensive players and drop down to League One, or ‘do a Charlton’, so there’s potential for everything to capitulate yet. How different it was in the 1990s. Palace were the archetypal yo-yo team: relegated in the inaugural Premier League season in 1993, promoted in 1994, relegated again in 1995, beaten play-off finalists in 1996, promoted play-off winners in 1997 and relegated again in 1998. At least you couldn’t say it was boring. Such fluctuating form led to an ever-changing cast of characters ...