A Sticker's Worth 500 Words

Today Mat Jolin-Beech takes comparative study to new levels which may be beyond the comprehension of many football fans. This may be a particularly intriguing read for those familiar with the antics of a certain national treasure as, to the best of our knowledge, today’s subject hasn’t been bothering anyone’s granny or falling asleep on a night out recently. Over to Mat for the rest. As I’ve said here before on A Sticker’s Worth 500 Words every club has those cult heroes . The legends that, outside of the four stands of that ground, are rarely respected, sometimes vilified, and often ignored. Andy Hessenthaler at Gillingham is a hero as both player and manager. Philippe Albert at Newcastle United for that goal against Manchester United. I mention this because, a few years back at a friend’s wedding, football (obviously) was the topic of discussion amongst a group of us slightly drunk lads. One of us was (and still is for his sins), a Stoke City fan. Somehow as the conversation flowed,...

We have another request post today from Gary Cook of Twitter’s excellent Retro Football Network . Last time out we had a look at the inimitable Cyrille Regis who, among his many achievements, helped Coventry City to FA Cup glory in 1987. Today’s subject also had a significant impact on that particular part of the West Midlands in the latter days of his career proving, in Gary’s words, both his adaptability and longevity. We hope this does the trick mate. If you haven’t already got the message from the previous 211 posts on this blog here it is again: football was better in the 1990s. The kits were snazzier . The international tournaments were more inspirational. Top players were doing irreparable damage to their stomach linings and/or lungs and still putting in incredible performances. New stars were emerging and household names were having one last hurrah before the advent of the new millennium. For some of these ageing heroes this swansong allowed them to gracefully move away f...

For today’s post Emlyn Jones brings us not just one but two flying wingers who were terrorising full-backs up and down the country as Reading pushed back towards the Premier League. Both men also played for Crystal Palace and must therefore be considered as among the finest footballers to ever grace the game. The latter somewhat underperformed at Selhurst whereas the former inspired one of the all time greatest terrace chants with a little help from KC and the Sunshine Band. Na-na na-na na-na na-na na-na…over to Emlyn. The 2009/10 season for Reading was one of cautious optimism when it began; legendary boss Steve Coppell had resigned following play-off defeat to Burnley, however, young manager Brendan Rodgers was brought in with the goal of building on a third place finish in the Championship to help us return to the Premier League. He attempted to instil a patient, passing game into the squad, however had been sacked with the club in 21st place when this backfired. New boss Brian Mc...

Today Richard Allinson brings us one of the great underdog stories from European club football’s recent past providing further evidence of why the Champions League will always be an inferior competition to the UEFA Cup (and of course the Cup Winners’ Cup ). As for the pasta debacle that kicks the post off I can only apologise to Lasagne Diarra that he didn’t make the list. Over to Rich. Jefferson Farfalle; Penne Carbone ; ParpaDelle Alli; FusilLee Bowyer; Chris Riggottoni; SpaghEtienne Capoue; TagliatAli Dia... All good puns*, all good footballers** but not all are subjects of this blog. That dubious honour falls to Massimo ‘Macaroni’ Maccarone. *They’re all terrible puns. ** Ali Dia wasn’t a good footballer . Throughout a career lasting 22 years, Massimo racked up 693 games and 228 goals for twelve clubs as well as earning two full international caps for Italy. However, he is perhaps best known on these shores for the role he played in Middlesbrough’s charge to the 2006 UEFA Cup fina...

You may be forgiven for thinking that Graeme Souness is the epitome of all that is wrong with football punditry. Earlier this season the former Liverpool and Scotland hardman was quick to criticise Manchester United’s mercurial French midfielder Paul Pogba for his poor challenge on Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Ruben Neves stating that “any player who has ever played the game will tell you that's a dangerous challenge." Pundits and armchair critics alike were quick to dredge up various clips of Souness doing far worse with considerably less remorse in the 1980s as well as pointing out that the Sky Sports man might have a bit of an issue with Pogba. Let it go Graeme, you’re never going to meet him. The Scotsman wasn’t adverse to some inflammatory behaviour once he’d moved from the pitch to the dugout either. During his time at Galatasaray he sprinted on to the pitch to plant the club’s flag in the middle of the Fenerbahce centre-circle following his side’s victory in the Turkish Cup...

Mat Jolin-Beech takes a look today at what has been often chosen as the greatest football kit of all time due to its simplicity and the incredible team that won the 1970 World Cup wearing it. Personally I don’t get the obsession and would much rather see something garish and questionable but taste has never been one of my strong points. I will also forgive Mat this transgression for making use of an incredibly niche football card. Over to the man himself. Football kits are, on the face of it, very simple things. They differentiate one team from the other. Shirts v skins. Reds v whites. Stripes v solid colours. Or, when after-school park football was underway, reds through to yellows v blues, greens and stripes – except those with red and white stripes. (Always a fan favourite). In this vintage World Cup 1970 card, the classic Brazil home kit is the subject. Yellow shirt, blue shorts, and white socks. Timeless and one that kit manufacturers, which has been Nike since 1997 but also inclu...

Today Richard Allinson takes a look at a follicly challenged shot stopper who performed heroics to help his nation defy the odds at a World Cup which was clearly enough to persuade Berkshire’s finest to snap him up the following year. As footballers’ hair has become so influential to fashion, much to the chagrin of the previously permed Graeme Souness, it’s nice to think back to a simpler time when just whacking a syrup on was enough for an international captain. Over to Rich. “He looks like a f***ing balloon with Weetabix crushed on top.” When Wayne “Wazza” Rooney ventured into the world of hair transplants, I’d imagine it would’ve been with a degree of trepidation bearing in mind the likely reaction from most football fans. However, he probably wasn’t expecting his new hair do to be met with such a surreally accurate assessment as the above viewpoint that was put forward by Liam Gallagher. Quite what the ex-Oasis frontman would have made of today’s blog subject is unknown. However, ...

Between July 2018 and June 2021 Matt Hancock served as the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in both Theresa May and Boris Johnson’s governments which meant that, in theory at least, he was in charge of the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. During one of his early press conferences he called upon the nation’s footballers to solve all manner of problems he was struggling to cope with and then had to pretend he was happy when Marcus Rashford actually did. Hancock’s colleague Gavin Williamson, who was Secretary of State for Education from July 2019 until September 2021, was slightly more grateful and used an interview with the Evening Standard to commend the Manchester United striker for his charm, compassion and engagement. It later transpired that Williamson had actually been speaking with England rugby star Maro Itoje. This wasn’t the first time a leading member of the Conservative Party had got their sporting entities confused. After all former Prime Minister D...

Richard Allinson takes on a request post for Martyn Lee who found himself acquainted with today’s subject on a number of occasions when he started his first sticker collection back in 1990. Thankfully for Martyn this man’s commitment to his tournament tan and later career performances for Watford and Queen’s Park Rangers more than made up for the piles of doubles. We hope this does the trick. Over to Rich. Loosely, this blog is based on football stickers and the characters behind them. I don’t actually remember ever having collected a sticker for today’s subject, however, what I do vaguely recollect is having an Italia ‘90 commemorative silver coin of him from the local ESSO garage. Buy some Four Star petrol, get a free diminutive midfielder. Bit of a bargain really, and not too dissimilar to some lower league club’s transfer policies. Normally at this point I would segue into another misty-eyed look at the best World Cup ever , but I think I have done that subject to death now and Ste...