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Visitors' memories |
| Visitor memories are now welcome via my Nigel's Webspace Facebook page |
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2012 |
| October |
| re December 2009 post: Speed Kings- better late than never; they were definitely not Bazooka, they were by Prescotts as stated. and the gum came, IIRC, in foil covered 'coin' for, like chocolate money! David |
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Nigel, I can add fuel to the argument. I most definitely
collected
1967/68
FKS stamps and I lived in Lincoln. Not the North East, but not far from
Nottingham. Maybe the North East included the East Midlands! As an aside,
George Best was very hard to find and we all believed the rarest was Charlie
Cooke. |
| September |
| Saw those a&bc proofs on ebay, I wouldn't have minded winning one but they were a little bit too pricey for me! The three 'extra' cards on the second series sheet are in fact duplicates of #76 David Hay (Celtic), 86 Gregor Abel (Falkirk) & 131 Derek Whiteford of Airdrie so if the sheets were printed 'as seen' you would expect those 3 to be the commonest cards from the set as there would be twice as many of each. ( I have around half the set but only one of those three though). I remember that the English series 1 sets around that time included the 2nd series checklist as a 'teaser', which is why you often got a revised checklist printed later. However the series 2 checklist on the first series Scottish sheet appears to be blank so I don't suppose that any were distributed even if they were printed. Jerry |
| August |
| Hi Nigel, You state: "The existence of their first set of collectable stickers in England in 1967/68 is still subject to some conjecture. There is a story that the stickers were issued 'in the North East of England' only, as a trial. I've never seen any evidence to support or refute this." I can refute this. In 1967 I was an 8 year old living in Notts (definitely not in the NE of England) and I collected these stickers. IIRC the photo of Peter Grummitt and Terry Hennessey on the sticker packet was also on the rear cover of the album. I seem to recall that the rear cover picture was larger and showed that Grummitt was colliding with teammate Peter Hindley. Thanks for a marvelously nostalgic website. Greg (Many thanks to Greg for providing the first real evidence that these FKS 1967/68 stickers were issued other than in the North East of England - Nigel) |
| Have been whiling away many happy hours on your site......am 1964 born .............i particularly recall being the envy of my friends because in about 71 i got 3 leeds players in one packet!..............i remember swapping with friends........."GOT" "AINT GOT" !!...............i recall my mum berating me for spending 17 pence on the hartleys jam...........cant recall which player on the lid. awesome site!!!..........THANKS Steven |
| Hi Nigel. I’ve just been looking at your website and you asked about Pepys games. I have written a book about Castell Bros who published the Pepys games. This was a few years ago now but I have just reprinted some copies of the fourth edition and there are a few available. Rex Pitts (Rex's excellent book is called 'Castell Brothers Ltd of London, Pepys, the story of the company and its games, by Rex Pitts'. You can find out where to buy it via a search engine - Nigel). |
| July |
| Hi. Really interesting site and hats off to you for taking the time. I know you've got to draw a line somewhere, but it's just a pity it doesn't go back to 1960 to make it a nice round 20 years - some nice footie card issues for those 5 years could do with an internet airing. All the best, Toby |
| June |
| Recently on Talksport the Hawksbee and Jacobs show was asking for memories of collecting football cards, I always remember having two cards in particular that we're always available to swap at school they were Ray Train of Carlisle and Danny McGrain of Celtic, I had loads of these and it seemed that every other packet I bought had one of these cards. Sometimes the chewing gum was missing but Ray Train wasn't :-) Best regards Dave |
| I'm writing an article about the Topps 'orange back' card collection from 1978/79 for my blogsite, The Football Attic. I'd like to show a picture of the packet they were sold in and I saw that you have one on your excellent website. I think it would help greatly to show their appeal along with images of the cards themselves which I intend to scan in from my personal collection. Chris (Chris runs a really interesting blog featuring lots of nostalgia from the 70s and 80s - Nigel) |
| May |
| Hi Nigel, This is really a thank you as a while ago I identified some coins I had as the FKS Soccer Stars 80 bronze medallions (from your picture of the Notts Forest coin). I could find nothing more on the web about them until now! Eureka, I’ve just visited your site again and have seen Newsletter 13 and Newsletter 15 showing the complete set and presentation box like mine. Thank you for such a wonderful resource. Kind regards, Jason |
| Dear Nigel, I recently came across an excellent article on A&BC Chewing Gum. I was raised in Harold Hill, (a huge Council Estate) and lived there from 1951 until 2006. I worked in the factory in about 1965, along with most of my friends usually only for short lengths of time. I can tell you a story or two direct from the factory floor! Prior to working there, as young boys we would climb the barbed wire topped fences to steal discarded gum and cards from the bins. I digress, I now run a website, friendsofdagnampark.org.uk which is a not for profit community site devoted to community issues, local history and natural history. I really would appreciate permission to publish your article with appropriate acknowledgement. It will strike a chord with all of us who lived, worked and chewed in the area during the sixties. Best Wishes Del. (Following on from Del's approach he kindly provided more information on his time working for A&BC, which is written up in Del's story - Nigel) |
| April |
| This week I logged on and had a real shock as in the Deaths column I saw the name of Alfie Biggs, who may not be known to too many out there but if you followed Bristol Rovers in the late 50's and 60's then you would definitely know Alfie Biggs. Alfie Biggs was my first ever football hero. I had his pictures all over my bedroom wall and would shout his name before going to sleep. He was 6ft 1in, 12.5 stone and he was born to be a centre-forward. He had blonde coiffed hair, blue eyes and he could head a ball harder than some could kick it. Add to that two good feet, a natural goal scorer's instinct and Alfie a local boy was everybody's hero if you were a Rovers fan. Great for signing autographs with young lads a true legend for the blue and whites. I was very sorry to see that he had passed away and yes, something from me has now gone forever. However I still have the memory of watching him play, the goals the headers at the far post. Alfie Biggs born to be a centre forward, led the line with aplomb and never to be forgotten by those who saw him play. R.I.P. Adrian |
| Hello Nigel, First off I want to let you know how greatly I appreciate your website. It has been such an invaluable learning tool. My question is, I purchased a set of 1969/70 Nabisco Footballers, when I received them I realized all cards have a blank back. I received 24 cards, 23 were different and one was a duplicate. Have you ever heard of Nabisco cards having blank backs? I appreciate any feedback. Kind regards, David (And my answer was, no, I've never heard of these cards with a blank back before - has anyone else? Nigel) |
| March |
| hi nigel I've changed my website address to http://www.tonyssportscards.co.uk/ Can you please change it on your links page? Tony (I have done so, and am very happy to link to Tony's site) |
| Hi Nigel, Firstly I'd like to say what a brilliant website this is. The information you provide has so much detail and you should be very proud of yourself. Anyway, as a collector of football memorabilia for many years I decided to think back to when I first got interested in football which was watching the 1967 Spurs v Chelsea Cup Final in black and white and remember the Tiger or Tiger and Jag comic and collecting A&BC Chewing Gum cards. I can remember the shop I bought them from, the box the cards came in, picking one from the top, middle etc, opening them excitedly outside the shop (I think I had about 5 packs) the smell of the chewing gum and taking them to school to swap (except I was the only one collecting them!!) The set was Yellow backs and I am now trying to collect a full set of series I and 2 cards..... In any event, keep up the great service you provide to all football collectors and I look forward to hearing from you. Kind Regards Peter |
| Oh well Nigel, you did it again to me, every time I think I'm getting somewhere with my collection I read your site and there's still hundreds of things I want. On a serious note thank you for all your info it's becoming more and more valuable as my collection grows. One thing I would like to ask, could you suggest any sites to look at with regards to auctions other than e-bay ? sometimes I feel I've exhausted my options and get bored if you know what I mean. I've been reading your site properly for the first time, really really helpful, so thank you for now. Jon |
| Nigel, sure you heard it before matey, but well done sir, what a fantastic effort to bring back some brilliant memories from my childhood - well done sir!! Steve |
| January |
| Hello there, wonder if you might be interested in this item I acquired the other day, Its a compliment slip from FKS Publishers Ltd with a printed apology on the rear which reads 'We enclose your order of stamps which was sent in a long while ago. The company to whom this was given fell behind with deliveries because of the enormous number of orders which we received. We have now made alternative arrangements which will give collectors an up to date service and prompt attention. We sincerely apologize for the delay.' I don't know which season of stickers this applies to as its not dated & there were stamps from two different sets in the lot i bought. Jon |
| Hi Nigel. I have just found your remarkably comprehensive site for the chewing gum football cards. I was in my youth in the seventies pretty fanatical about collecting them and as such have hundreds of them. Mark |
| Just stumbled across your web site, fantastic information. I thought I had every FKS album that's been made! Back to the drawing board. Cheers Jon |
| Hi Nigel. I actually have this hobby cards wrapper but mine is a fake. Two Ebay sellers have been passing fake wrappers for a number of years. The copies are very good, they have a slightly extra greasy looking front, also you can feel the extra wax on the inside of the wrapper this is very noticeable if checked against any original A&BC wrapper. It’s possible the Hobby wrapper is totally fabricated, did not exist. If it does, the few currently in circulation are sadly like my wrapper a fake copy. Name withheld |
| Hi Nigel and Happy New Year! Those Hobby Card wrappers shown in your #15 Newsletter remind me very much of Topps Fun Packs that were issued in the US for many years. Fun packs were used to get rid of excess inventory and they would usually feature 2-4 cards per pack and no gum. They would be sold in a clear bag with other packs, sometimes as many as 15-20 but not individually unlike the wrapper you have shown. Topps would have sports themed wrappers and generic ones, depending upon contents and the cards could be current or 2, 3, even 4 years old. They started this practice in 1950, although those were sold to retailers directly and featured 100 packs of various returned product in its original wrappers, as shown here: http://toppsarchives.blogspot.com/2010/12/dollar-store.html. The true Fun Packs commenced in the mid 1960's I believe and continued well into the 1980's.They could be found in lower quality department stores in the US and probably toy shops and a few other retail outlets. I have some fun pack scans in this blog post among some other musings: http://toppsarchives.blogspot.com/2008/09/thats-rewrap.html. Some very rare cards entered the world in this way. Keep up the fabulous work on your site! Kind regards, Dave. Many thanks to Dave for linking the Topps Football world to the wider world of Topps. |
|
2011 |
| December |
|
Hi Nigel, As usual very interesting article on these
FKS 1967/68 variants.
I had not noticed the black/brown writing difference but having checked
my Southampton stickers I too do have a mixture. It is thought that all
stickers were issued with black and brown backs? Other than David Walker
being shown as "Jimmy" as previously mentioned there is another
error in the Southampton stickers where Ken Wimshurst is shown as Ken Wilmshurst.
Coincidentally I have this sticker with a plain back (the only one I do
have) and it is the only card/sticker I have ever seen of this player in
Southampton colours. I hope this adds a bit more to the picture and am sure
that others will provide further information. On another subject, in respect of the Nabisco 1969/70 series of 24 I do have the 7" x 5" photograph of Ron Davies which is referred to on the back of the cards. It is a very nice item being a colour head/shoulders photograph (completely different picture to that on the card) and a picture frame with a facsimile autograph saying "Best Wishes Ron Davies". Many thanks Martin |
| November |
| I have a few sealed and opened FKS 67-68 packets, so I can confirm the FKS 67 stickers are inside this larger sized packet. Hopefully your brilliant site will now make others more aware of these very scarce packets. Steve |
| October |
| Love your page of Golden Wonder 1977/78 -- Set of 36 World Cup Soccer All Stars. I almost had the full set. Do you own all the cards? To this day the smell of Smoky Bacon crisps still reminds me of these cards. Jim |
| This is a fantastic website. Many thanks for bringing back some childhood memories. Pictures I'd even forgotten about. Nigel |
| September |
| Hi. Just a quick line regarding the A&BC Chewing Gum 'Lucky Bags'. I'm 99.9% positive that these bags provided me with some of the 60/61 A&BC cards that now reside in my loft. I'm sure that in around 1973-4 these bags were in the local shops (Harringay, North London) and I ended up with about 20 of these cards 13 years after they first came out. I have Bert Trautman, Derek Reeves, John Atyeo and Don Howe to name a few. I love this website. Brilliant work all round. I've finished the English sets from 1967/8 to 77/8 and are now trying to finish the Scottish series which is difficult and expensive. I did, however, have a massive stroke of luck when I managed to get two mint condition 69/70 Scottish A&BC sets at a boot sale in a job lot of stuff that only cost £10! Regards Jamie (And the moral of the story is - get out to those car boot sales! - Nigel) |
| Further to the entry on the mystery items pages regarding the full colour picture viewers shaped as TV sets, I have recently acquired a set of 9 different ones of these. If you look through the right hand 'viewing window' and turn the wheel you will find that each different one is marked 'SERIES 1', 'SERIES 2' etc up to 9. They appear to be exactly the same as the ones illustrated, with no markings, the nine I have are two pink, two light orange, two red/dark orange & three acid yellow. Jon |
| August |
| I myself suddenly found a little box in my attic. It included 25 football cards of goalkeepers from the 1977/78 season in England! Suddenly I was 10 again! Tony, Norway |
| I collected the Topps football cards series in 1977 & 1978. Trevor Brooking, obviously a key player for West Ham wasn't in either series despite both of these being a comprehensive collection of cards. Do you know of any reason for his omission? Kind regards, Nigel (No, I don't - Nigel) |
| July |
| Hi Nigel! Good to hear from you again. I do keep popping onto your website to see any updates that you have added and I am always impressed by the quality of the overall thing - well done! As to your query re: BAB Town badges/crests, I can provide you with the following information ... The circular badge - which is actually an old-style football - with the team name around the circle and a shield in the centre has been around since the mid-1960s through and into the 1970s as can be seen on the Badges section of my website. The actual significance of the rams and castles can be gleaned if you scroll down to near the bottom of the article here. Then the Terrier (actually named Skippy in real life) was introduced in 1970 and that became the focus of attention for badges and crests. The terrier with a ball in front of stripes was used throughout the 1980s but by the 1990s he was moved onto the top of the official club heraldic/borough crest and there he has stayed ever since. In recent seasons the whole crest has been surrounded by a shield surmounted by three stars to indicate the three consecutive League Championship wins of the 1920s (the very first team to do this by the way!) I know that this probably doesn't help you much in your quest, but it certainly tells the tale quite well! Roger (Roger runs a brilliant website on Huddersfield Town football cards - Nigel) |
| RE: BAB stickers. I think that the straight sided George Best belongs in with the main set as a variant? The round sided Best is being sold along with other known round sided stickers on Ebay which would seem to suggest they have the same origins plus it is the only one we have seen and of course Best is the most obvious player of this period to produce a ‘special’ of for commercial reasons. I also still hold the belief that the straight sided with players belong in the same set as the straight sided with crest stickers, the fact that there are so few, they are always coming to light in sales with the crest varieties, the teams depicted don’t occur with ‘crest’ versions and crest on shirts were only just becoming the norm again and certainly for Sunderland, Huddersfield and QPR not until a bit later so perhaps there wasn’t a crest that BAB felt they could use for particular clubs that would resonate with fans both of that club and a wider market? Mark (Mark is one of the best researchers on BAB, and has added much to the information on this site - Nigel) |
| Although I have not made the trek to the National Archives, I think that I have discovered some more info to date this game a little more accurately. There is a website specialising in selling Pepys games. Each one is illustrated with sample cards and more importantly the front page of the rules booklet. Only those produced between 1940 and 1942 show "Copyright registered at Stationers Hall", as is the case with It's a Goal. The type font is identical to that with It's a Goal. Interestingly, like It's a Goal some of the games have no signs of a Pepys logo but the artwork is so distinctive, that its presence appears to be arbitrary. The 1939 cup final picture on the box and the fact that Birmingham only added City in summer 1943, leads me to believe that any vendor would be justified in ascribing 1940-42 as the date of production to this game. Best wishes Michael (Many thanks to Michael for this excellent research - Nigel) |
| June |
| I collect Aston Villa cards and stickers. I have often used your excellent site for reference purposes but I have never had anything to add - until now!! I am writing regarding the Top Sellers Football 77 set. I have just acquired the Aston Villa team badge stickers and for some reason the Villa badge appears on Two different stickers. I note that on your checklist the Villa badge is paired with the Sunderland badge. You seem to have a blank alongside the West Ham badge - I can tell you that West Ham is also paired with the Villa. I have no idea if one of them is a mistake as it seems odd that the Villa badge should appear twice!! Perhaps some other teams appear twice? Keep up the good work, Del |
| Hi Nigel- Brilliant site! Recently rummaged through the attic looking for my 'sticker/card' Footie books. Looking at them always reminds me of trying to copy Gemmill's dribble & goal in the back garden. Kevin |
| Just wanted to say thankyou for putting these cards online. I haven’t seen those photos for over 40 years, but I find I can still name 80% of them straight away! Happy days... Matthew |
| May |
| I am trying to trace the date of production of this game, which you describe as Pepys 1946-47. The teams are split into Divisions one and two, whose make up corresponds to either the 1946-47 season or the aborted 1939-40 war season. There is some evidence to suggest that they may have been produced earlier say 1940-42. The jerseys are all pre war design, several, e.g Aston Villa, had changed by 1946-47. Plain Birmingham, who did not become Birmingham City until 1942. Drawing on box is of 1939 Cup final. Why no reference to Pepys on cards or box? Were they made by Cassells Brothers who for some time only used Pepys on their stationery products? In favour of the 1946-47 case, I received my first pack about 1947, Had it been stored at the shop for 5+ years? seems unlikely. Michael Michael is continuing his hunt for the history of this lovely set of cards and this website will being you updates as we discover more. Thanks to Michael for his fascinating email. Nigel |
| My husband and I are opening up a small cafe in Brooklyn NY. We wanted to hang the set of 16 A&BC Chewing Gum 1970 World Cup Posters on a specific wall. While doing a search on line, we came across your informative site. Lena So, next time you are in New York make sure you look for the cafe with the A&BC posters on the wall! - Nigel |
| I thoroughly enjoyed surfing through your site. Perhaps it might help you to know that you're correct in your assumption about "The team That Won the World Cup" in the 1970's section. It was a presented in early 1970 with the Wizard, a comic of the day. I remember reading it often. It was a well written pamphlet. As I remember it listed the previous winners on the back page. I think I still have one kicking around the place somewhere. Kindest Regards Nigel |
| Great website, extremely interesting. A comment on the 1970/71 Scottish Footballers set. At number 93 is John Angus of Burnley. He was born at Warkworth in Northumberland, appeared seven times for the England Under-23 team and played once for the full England team (against Austria in Vienna in 1961). It would appear that his only qualification for inclusion is his Scottish sounding name!! Keep up the good work. Cheers, Steve |
| I've looked at your web site on a numbers of occasions, and seeing the cards from my childhood has brought back some great memories, even to the extent of the smell when opening the wrappers. I only wish I'd kept more than I did. An interesting bit of information regarding this collection (A&BC 1966/67 Footballers). Alan Hodgkinson (the ex Sheffield United keeper) is a neighbour of mine. When I came across the cards I gave him the card of himself (No 45) and he told me he was paid £8 for the photo. I bet the stars of today get significantly more for their image. Simon (An excellent piece of information from Simon. Douglas Coakley has previously told me about the amounts paid to the players for their images for A&BC cards, and this confirms the stories - Nigel) |
| April |
| Just a couple of points occurred to me while looking through my old A&BC football cards today - I am pretty sure that the final series (1974/75) were also available in transparent cellophane packaging, the only series that was - I remember thinking at the time that it was odd and not up to the usual A&BC standard...anyone else remember this?!! Some series (e.g. the 1971 purple back 3rd series) seemed very hard to find, I did not see them for sale anywhere in Bristol where I lived (a pretty big city) but I found them on sale in a newsagent right by Old Trafford on 11 October 1972 when I went to see Man U v Bristol Rovers (quite late for them to be on sale, as I remember thinking at the time). I don't recall seeing the 3rd series of the 1969 green backs on sale in Bristol either - were the later series sometimes only on sale in bigger cities perhaps? Also, am I right in thinking that most sets from 1968 to 1974 had 4 cards per packet except the bigger 1970 series that had 6 cards? The display boxes on your site are amazing, just found them today, I would love to have some of those!! Chris |
| Just to say what a fantastic website – it took me right back to all the hundreds of cards I had in the early 70’s – which I sadly burnt in my teenage years... Makes me want to seek them all out again – ebay here I come Moira |
| March |
| I've recently spent time visiting your excellent webpage dedicated to The Wonderful World of Soccer Stars. I would just like to congratulate you on your superb gallery.It really is a delight to behold. Being of a certain age (i.e. in my early 50s) it's prompted many happy childhood memories of collecting football cards. The pictures of the albums and indeed the packets in which the cards were sold are especially evocative. In fact, it's rekindled my interest in collecting football trade cards (sad I know) and to that end I'm trying to build up my collection all over again, although this time round it's obviously a lot more expensive. I must say I've found the pictures of players who represented my team (Ipswich Town) and listings more than a useful reference source. Once again congratulations on your wonderful website. Happy collecting. Regards Paul |
|
I was browsing on your very impressive website today and noticed the section
on A&BC Chewing Gum
1974 Scotland World Cup posters. I have all the ones you are missing
except No.11, Kenny Dalglish. They were indeed sold in "lucky
bags" - they did not appear to be very widely available, I found them
for sale in a shop in Bristol (but only one shop, a small newsagent) and
also included in the bag was a packet of A&BC Scottish football cards
from the 1972/73 season with the blue backs, the equivalent series to the
orange back English set. Apologies if you knew all this already! Great
to look at these old cards again, though I am still collecting and trying
to complete the sets I collected as a kid (which my mum threw away!) (And in reply to my request for more information please) I am 99% certain I bought them in 1974, I remember I was on my way home from school when I found them (so it wouldn't have been in summer half term!) I think it was probably after the World Cup had ended, but it could have been before I suppose. The bags contained a sealed pack of Scottish cards from 1972/73, blue backs, so these were already quite old by then, they must have been old surplus stock (otherwise why didn't they include cards from the 1973/74 season?) I'm afraid I don't have any of the bags but I must have bought quite a few of them as I have 10 posters plus 28 cards from the blue back 72/73 season (I just counted them! Were there 4 cards in a packet?) I think the bags may have also contained some other sweets or confectionery as well as a poster and a sealed pack of cards. I think the bags were 2½p each, I am not sure if they are the same bags you have photos of on your website but they probably were. I think they were a one-off thing just to get rid of old cards and throwing a new poster in, it's odd the posters don't mention A&BC. But yes they were very late in A&BC's history, even at the time I remember being puzzled by these bags and thinking the blue back 1972/73 cards were already pretty old then!! Chris |
| Hi Nigel, Excellent website. I want your opinion...1977 Topps Red Back card picture of John Wark looks more like Brian Talbot. What do you think? Nigel |
| January |
| I was interested to see the similarities between A&BC & Topps cards in your Newsletter number 9 I recently purchased a book called "Miint condition how Baseball cards became an American obsession". The book takes the reader from the beginning of Baseball cards given away with cigarettes from circa 1869 to the present day. There is an interesting chapter on Topps. I can see how they overpowered A&BC in 1974 by the way they acted in America. Seven American candy & bubblegum makers went out of business in the 1950's - 60's due to Topps cutthroat effort to freeze them out of the Baseball card market, they either sold out to Topps or were driven out of business, these were firms that had been trading in cards from the early 1900's. How Topps did this was by getting most of the Baseball players on contracts to have their images on Topps cards only. They had someone visiting the locker rooms of the Baseball stadiums and signing the players up for $75 (1951) twice the amount another company (Bowman) were paying, who had the contract. They also offered the players T.V's,Radios etc to keep them. They even went to spring training camps to sign the youth players, before they became stars for as little as $5!! The reason I am relating this to you, is whether you know how A&BC went about getting the footballers to sign up over here. I was also interested in Brian's comments on prices between American & British football cards. In the book it tells you how big money people invested in the early Baseball cards, driving the prices higher and higher (Honus Wagner cigarette card $2.8 million!!) even some of the Baseball bubblegum cards from the time when A&BC started, make thousands of dollars each. This is why Brian can buy Bobby Charlton, George Best etc for as little as £2 and long may it stay that way. |
| I thought you might be amused to hear that yesterday, while walking on a beach near Spurn Point in East Yorkshire, my wife and I found washed up on the beach a Martin Peters figurine from the 1971 Cleveland petrol set! Yours appears to be the only internet source that had the necessary information to date the head! It was in remarkably good condition (considering its age) and, while we can’t be sure, its great to think of it having been bobbing round in the sea for 40 years! It was in remarkably good condition – I guess the plastic they were made from is of a particularly indestructible kind! Thank you for the site – well done! You’ve inspired me to dig around in the garage for my complete sets of Esso 1970 World Cup squad coins, football club badges, and the FA Cup winners coins! My father used to buy a lot of petrol (and out local Esso station used to sell the coins to young football-crazed collector boys such as me!). Mike |
|
2010 |
| November |
| Hi Nigel. Firstly may I say what a great site. My time for collecting was the early 70s, and the big stand-out set for me was the A&BC "blue backs" of 1973-74 I have a number of questions about this set which you (or your readers) may be able to answer: *why no Wolverhampton Wanderers? *how come checklist 2 seemed to pre-date checklist 1 in my local shops? *was there a selection procedure/policy for each team? why were some players omitted from the set, even though they were first team regulars during both 72-73 and 73-74? examples would include Gerry Francis, Don Givens and Phil Parkes of QPR, Alan Stevenson of Burnley (is it because they were newly-promoted?), Keith Weller and Frank Worthington (Leicester), Dave Stringer and Max Briggs (Norwich), Bob Latchford (Birmingham/Everton), Johnny Giles (Leeds), Jim Smith (Newcastle), Colin Stein (Coventry), Mike Bernard (Everton), Pat Holland (West Ham) *what sources did A&BC use to obtain photographs of players? are these collections publically available (eg. those taken by Bob Thomas can now be found on the GettyImages website, together with shots from the same session of players who were not included in the A&BC set) best regards Richard |
| Maybe you can help me with something…Most of the older cards that I've bought online have been from the 1920s and 30s (though I do have a handful of cards from sets covered on your site) and most are pretty inexpensive. That's what really caught my attention at first…I could buy a complete set of 50 cigarette cards from the 1930s in pretty good condition for about $25. Complete sets of American baseball cards from that era sell for thousands of dollars. My question is this: why does it seem like most of the football cards/stickers/collectibles are so inexpensive? Were they produced in such large quantity that supply outweighs demand? Were hoards of these cards found years later? Did the people of the era really have a "collector's mentality" and so that's why so much survived? The fact that I can buy Bobby Charlton, Peter Osgood, George Best or Stanley Matthews cards from their playing days for such little money astounds me. Comparable American baseball cards of players like Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays or Hank Aaron sell for 10 times (or even 100 times) what their English football counterparts sell for. I'm not saying that there aren't expensive cards from the era or from these players, because I know there are…it just seems like most of the English football cards I come across online of great players seem like great bargains. Brian |
| I won a group of cards on ebay recently from a seller in Canada. He labelled them as “10 1960s European soccer cards”. He also scanned the backs, and they were obviously South African cards and, lo and behold, there was Derek Smethurst of Durban City. This may be the very card he referred to in his interview with you since he probably was not on very many cards in South Africa before he left for England. I thought that you might want a scan of the card to add to the interview (it will appear in the January 2011 Newsletter - Nigel). I haven’t researched Turnwright’s, the issuer of the cards. These are the first cards I have ever had from South Africa, so I don’t know much about them yet. Thanks again for all of your great work on the website. Jeff |
| Nigel. What a great site! How good to know I’m not the only one who persuaded his mum and his wife not to throw away these cards! Andy |
| October |
| Hi Nigel! I am grateful to you, for showing the cards of the teams of 70! Its the collection I had (I had them all and the harder to get was Bobby Charlton) and it's like seeing old friends! Thanks again! Umberto |
| Hi, Nigel. I hope you're keeping well! We're deeply involved in a discussion in the SPLAT Forum which has lead to the subject of how the A&BC Footballer transfers were printed. We're working it out by reverse engineering, since we know the size of Letraset's Rotary Gravure sheets, & therefore how many of these transfers could be printed on a single sheet. The answer comes out at somewhere between 64 & 66, which is a bit confusing... two seasons totalling 72 transfers... hmmm... doesn't work out. Anyway, we thought you might be interested, & maybe you even have some info that could lead to the right answer! If nothing else, you might at any rate appreciate the pictures... hope to see you there! Tom (Tom runs SPLAT, an amazing website dedicated to preserving Letraset Action Transfers. Letraset, apparently, were responsible for printing the A&BC 1970/71 Football Transfers - Nigel) |
| August |
| Hi Nigel I've been enjoying looking at your website. I love these cards! I remember collecting them as a kid and the fun I had swapping and trading! The Brian O'Neil "colouring in the shirt" error is repeated on a couple of other cards; Ian Ure & Bobby Gould. Both transferred from Arsenal and you can clearly see Highbury in the background, have a look at some of the other Arsenal players for comparison. Thanks again for all the hard work in putting the site together. Best wishes Andrew |
| I have just logged onto your website and saw that Brian Clark the ex Bristol City and Cardiff forward has died. I first remember Brian Clark when he was playing for Bristol Boys U15s. At that time they had a very good side and reached the final of the schools cup in 1958. I believe a number of them played professionally but Brian Clark was the star and scored many goals. He signed for Bristol City and in the early 60's he partnered John Atyeo the City legend as a strong forward combination. He had a bustling style of play, was quick and knew where the goal was. He was a friendly guy, who signed autographs for us kids no problem and was once featured in a full page colour picture in Charles Buchan's Football Monthly in his Bristol City kit. His father Don Clark was also a centre/inside forward who played for City after the 2nd world war. Adrian |
| July |
| Hello Nigel, I've been meaning to get in touch with you for ages but have never got round to it until now. Am a avid collector of Topps, Panini, FKS like yourself and my love of collecting started when I was a kid in the mid 1970s. In fact the first vivid recollection was when I went to watch my brother play for the school team on a Saturday and there was a newsagent nearby where my dad bought a few packets of 'Euro Soccer Stars 77' stickers. I think I collected sets prior to this but this was my first real memory of them. My worst memory and this will probably make your cry, it did me, was a few months after I got married, me and my wife moved into another house from some flats. Must say into this marriage I took all my loose stickers e.g. Topps, FKS, Panini, A&BC, they were all in a old carrier bag, must have been a few thousand of them. Now steady yourself Nigel, when we moved into the other house my wife deliberately left my stickers behind, in fact she put them in a stairwell cupboard which was at the bottom of the flats. Didn't cotton on for a few months after we had unpacked but alas not surprisingly the carrier bag full of cards/stickers had gone. Just think some binman or council worker probably got their hands on them and selling them on Ebay as I type. Just to say that I have now got my own back on my wife as I started recollecting about 5 years ago and have thousands of stickers/cards and albums. Martin |
| I don't have any information about the A&BC crinkle cut cards from lucky bags, but I am sure you will be interested in the following tale from my childhood. I grew up in Hanwell, West London, and like most other boys of my age I collected football cards. When I was 9 or 10, one of my local sweetshops started to sell lucky bags which included a clear wax wrapper containing A&BC black & white cards in pairs. This would have been around 1973 so quite a while after the cards were originally issued in 1966. After I had been buying the lucky bags for a while, just to get the cards, the shop started selling the clear wraps on their own. I can still remember going in and seeing them for sale for the first time, up on the top shelf of the glass display that all good sweetshops used to have. I think each wrap would have probably had at least 6 and possibly as many as 10 pairs in, so 12-20 cards when split. I can't recall prices, but I think that I would have probably got something like 10p a week pocket money at the time so I reckon that the wraps must have been around 2 or 3p each, and that it might have cost somewhere between 5 to 10p for the lucky bag with its additional 'goodies'. I don't remember the same cards or bags being sold anywhere else locally at the time so looking back I had always assumed that the shop was just selling off old stock and making their own lucky bags. However, seven years does seem like a long time for a small shop to keep a lot of cards 'out the back' and it also wouldn't explain the repackaging into clear wax wrappers. If this was the case though, I suppose that they may have stopped bothering to fill bags with old tat once they knew that the cards would sell on their own? As both series of cards were available, I was also thinking that maybe one series was sold in bags and the other loose, but then again they could have been mixed in the wrappers? I suppose I will never know for sure now. I do know that I used to carry a large stack of single cards around wherever i went for a while, though, and that I may well have even had the full set of 220. Most of my schoolmates were not interested in the old black & white cards, preferring the larger coloured cards of the day, so this made swapping doubles hard. I can remember sitting on my front step with my one fellow collector and ripping up all of our unwanted duplicates as we had so many and nobody else wanted them! Of course later on in the seventies I binned the small b & w cards during a clear out, as they didn't 'fit in' with the rest of my colourful collection! My other cards almost suffered a similar fate during my teenage years but luckily I had a last minute change of heart and they spent many years in a cardboard box in the loft before eventually being rediscovered. I now have a half decent collection which includes the first series of 1966 cards in pairs,(bought in the 90's for slightly more than 3p for 10 pairs I might add!) but how I wish that I had kept all of those spare pairs in good condition, along with all of the wrappers & doubles from other series that were discarded over the years. Jerry |
| I have been meaning to mail you for a while regarding your great website which I visit regularly, as my main collecting interest covers the years 1967-1982, roughly the same period as your own. I have a half decent collection of cards including all A&BC from 1967-1974 as well as many from earlier, all Topps 1975-1981, most FKS 1968-1978 and hundreds or maybe thousands of other cards from Barratt, Top Sellers, Monty, Anglo, Nabisco etc etc. I have also gathered a lot of information regarding cards and stickers over the years, and would be glad to share this with you if you require. Since starting a family I no longer have the spare cash to add cards to my collection, but am often online looking for more information or images of cards I don't own, and I check your site most days to see if anything new has been added. It was very interesting to finally see the pink A&BC world cup posters from 1974. I was beginning to wonder if these really existed as I had only ever seen them mentioned once before, when I saw a full set advertised for sale a few years ago. I knew that they were not a regular A&BC card issue but was not previously aware that they had been issued in lucky bags. It made me smile to see that even in a set as small as 12 A&BC had still managed to make a mistake, and had somehow transferred Celtic's George Connelly to Chelsea! What is that record chart about as well? How would the two finalists be chosen from eight teams in the semi-finals?? In my opinion the somewhat dubious quality control from many card issuers during the seventies, added to the sheer variety of cards and stickers that were available means that its always an interesting period to look back on, and I consider it to be the 'Golden Age' of football cards. I don't imagine that young collectors of today's' boring uniformly posed cards and stickers will ever be able to experience similar nostalgia in 30-40 years time. Regarding the Top Sellers mystery item you featured in your March newsletter, I can confirm that England in '74 was the only 'odd' card or sticker that they produced for any of the sets Football 72 - Football 77. As you know, Football 73 was their first set to feature self adhesive puzzle stickers, however you may not be aware that you could also peel the backs from the caricatures on numbers 196-206 and stick them into an 'All Time Greats' centre spread in the album. Also Football 73 was the first Top Sellers collection to feature un-numbered self adhesive team badges, 2 to a sticker, although I am not sure if there was a specific place in the album to stick these as there was in subsequent years. On your Top Sellers page you say that it is not clear to you where the adhesive is on the Football 74 collection. Although Football 74 & 75 have descriptive text on the back like F72 & F73, they are actually peelable stickers like F76 & F77. (Incidentally, these last two sets only contain 419 stickers not 420). If you ever update your Top Sellers page and need further info I would be glad to provide checklists for you as I previously stated. Best Regards Jerry |
|
I am a long time collector from |
| June |
| I remember to the Typhoo cards very well and had at some time all the cards displayed on your site, though I never collected them as a set more for individual reasons to obtain autographs etc. The Bristol Rovers team and players on the picture I remember ALL of them like it was yesterday. The coach Bobby Campbell who passed away earlier this year used to take me training as an associate schoolboy and the Physiotherapist Wally Mcarthur used to be the trainer for our football matches. The goalkeeper Bernard Hall was a great guy, he sustained a fractured skull diving at the feet of John O'Rourke then playing for Middlesbrough. Bernard spent almost a month in a coma, he then made an attempt at a comeback but it wasn't to be. He was a very good club cricketer and did very well as an opening batsman in local cricket, he lived at home with his mum. He also used to take the training and moved me back from an inside forward to an attacking wing half/midfield player which is where things started to take off for me. |
| May |
| Something which has always surprised me were the production times of the Orange back 1972-73 A&BC Scottish Set. Tom Forsyth [Motherwell], Joe Mason & Steve Chalmers [Morton] and Joe Hughes [East Fife] all had their new clubs - Rangers, Partick Thistle and Dunfermline - respectively - printed on the front with a footnote on the back saying that they had been transferred in October 1972. This would have been about a week before they went on sale. Talk about being up to date!! I don't think they did this before or after this. Robert |
| Thought I’d drop you a line as I was sorting through my cards as I had some spare time. I have taken some pictures for you of the box of 72 count Scottish footballers that I came across as a kid. The whole box was thrown away at a tip and I scavenged it with its contents intact containing all packs unopened. As at that time during the 70’s I was not at all interested in football, so I put them up in the loft and forgot about them for Almost 15 years. When I was sorting all my stuff out to move from home I discovered the box again and opened a pack. I noticed that the chewing gum had stained half the cards in the box. However, when compiling the set 80% of the total set I compiled was not stained. Some people get all the luck! - Nigel |
| April |
| I just want to say what an absolutely brilliant website you have. I used to collect all these cards in the 1970's which now have unfortunately long gone over the years. I have been sitting here ages looking through them and they bring back all the memories, ones which were hard to get, ones which you used to get nearly every time, ones which were the last you needed for the set, brilliant!!. Also all the old players, great days. I remember the Bazooka Joe ''offers'' when you had to send a ridiculous amount of the little comics back to get one, I wonder if anyone ever did. Anyway, needless to say I will be a regular visitor to your website now I have found it, just a thought what a brilliant book all of this would make as well. Keep up the good work. Alan |
| With regards to your query about Editorial FHER S.A. I'm pretty sure they still exist at: C/ Camilo Villabaso Nº 9, 48002 Bilbao. I know nothing of their history but I would guess from what I've seen on the internet that they are/were principally a publishing house that also did cards. They did cards of all sorts, film stars, flags, animals as well as football. You can see some of their stuff for sale on e-bay, through dealer and segunda mano websites. They don't appear to do football cards/stickers these days though they might be doing other stuff such as DC Comics characters. This comment was in response to my request for someone who is in Spain or who speaks Spanish to try to track down some history of FKS Publishers (known, I think, as Editorial FHER in Spain). The trail is still very cold, but at least we have started to ask some questions. Nigel |
| Top Sellers Football 72 excellent addition to already excellent site. Would just point out though that puzzle page 63 the Everton player is Roger Kenyon not Colin Harvey Barry The album says Colin Harvey, but I suspect Barry is quite right! Nigel |
| Just to say I love the page and spend too much time on it (and historical football kits). One other thing. I live in Spain and my sons have got 100's of swops of Spanish League cards and stickers from the past 7 or 8 years. Do you know anyone who would swop these for cards from any country or period? Barry Barry kindly sent me some of his football cards for my own collection. Is anyone interested in trading Spanish football cards with Barry's sons? If so, please get in touch with me through my email address and I will pass on your details. Thanks, Nigel |
| March |
| I came across your website by accident, I am one of Ian Moores brothers. Just to update your information on Ian. He passed away on 13th January 1998. Additionally, as an apprentice professional at Stoke City, he spent the close season one year playing for Western Suburbs in Sydney, Australia. Later in his career he moved from the UK and played for 5 years for Apoel Nicosia in Cyprus. He finished his playing days as a semi professional playing for Tamworth FC where he helped them to win the FA Vase. He retired from the game in 1990. He continued his connection with the game by coaching an under 16 team at Biddulph, Staffordshire where he lived. He coached them until he was taken ill in Sept 97. After a short illness he passed away in the following January. Philip My thanks to Philip. It's always very gratifying when relatives of past players get in touch and help add to the social history of football - Nigel |
|
This is amazing about Adam Blacklaw's death. I was only talking about him
today. I was telling my wife about the death of Highgate United's
Tony Allden in the 1/4 of the old Amateur cup, on the same day Blues played
Blackburn. I used to stand at the goal end at the blues when I
was a kid as I used to like seeing the players close up - although
I had a crap view of the game as a whole. Anyway, Blues played Blackburn
on the day that Highgate played Enfield. Highgate are a local team just
outside Birmingham and this was a big game. My dad took my sister down.
It was pissing down with rain and thundering and lightning. Tragedy struck
at Highgate when several players were struck but poor Tony Allden was killed,
The game was abandoned and played at villa park a few weeks later. The reason
why I recall Blacklaw is because when Barry Bridges scored our goal it was
a flick to the post where I was standing and I saw the look on the his
face when he realised he couldn't get it. I recall seeing the front of the
Sports Argus and there was a pic of poor Tony on the floor smouldering.
I'll never forget it. I forgot to mention that we lived two doors down from the then Highgate secretary, Alf Walker. He got us tickets in the 'directors' area at Villa park a few weeks later when they replayed the game. As I recall, over 30,000 people attended and Enfield won 6-0. I remember it teemed down with rain as well. Martyn |
| I think the top 12 teams referred to on the wrappers of the 1974-75 A&BC series are the team groups INCLUDED in the set and not EXTRAS as in previous years, although I'm not sure why Celtic aren't included after winning their 9th successive championship. Robert These mystery items were featured in Newsletter 4. Many thanks to Robert and others who, I think correctly, have identified that the Top Teams were part of the issued set, not giveaways - Nigel |
| February |
| I have found your website of enormous value over the last few years. There is one area that I have found very difficult to get information on and that is the puzzle cards that were issued with a number of top sellers sets. I do have a few of these myself but I have no idea as to how many were issued and what their subject matter was. I wonder if you or any of your site visitors might be able to provide some more information. Ric Ric's email led to the creation of the Top Sellers puzzle pages - Nigel |
| January |
| First I must say what a great website I have just enjoyed a long visit to your site which I must say I found informative and easy to use. The reason for my email is to ask for your advice I run the website www.rangersfchistory.co.uk as part of our project we are slowly building a digital archive of everything Rangers related. We would like to include a trade card section... You can take a look at some of the work we have already done to get a feel of what we are trying to achieve. Our programme archive will contain scans of every known Rangers programme. We would like to do the same with cards. You can find our programme archive here. http://www.rangersfchistory.co.uk/photoarchive/programme archive.html Rob As of April 2010 they have added a cigarette card section - Nigel |
| Hi there Nigel, can you tell me if on the 1972/73 Orange / Red backs A&BC Cards (as in the one on your web page with Gordon Banks at number 55, Stoke City) on the back next to where it says 'What weighs down Gordon?' I seem to remember that you had to rub next to the question with a coin and it miraculously revealed a 'secret answer' ?...... I think! Also.... I seem to remember that 'Tony Currie' was highly desirable (the card that is!) as there didn't seem to be many of them about! Anyroadup, thanks for the site, really took me back (along way!!) Min |
| I was ridiculously excited to find your site yesterday. I have been a lifelong fan of British Soccer and I can trace my interest back to buying the Action comic in 1976 and collecting the cards in one of the issues. Many years ago I unsuccessfully tried to find these on the internet and tried again a few days ago and came up with your site and the very cards that I remember so well – massive dose of nostalgia!! Very special thanks for this. Nik |
|
As I write this you must be a few drinks to the well and just about starting the countdown for 2010, so let me be the first to wish Happy New Year from the internet and hope that 2010 brings you happiness, wealth and good fortune. The website is still by far the best on the web regarding football cards and information. What a great find concerning those A&BC football boxes that were positioned on shop counter shops, its really surprising what's out there in attics, under the stair cupboards and garden sheds and that's what makes it all so fascinating for collectors. Adrian |
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2009 |
| December |
| Hi Nigel, Great site, just my era, brings back loads of memories. Just a quick request. Is there a site that gives you the week by week league tables throughout the Seventies? The Footymad site used to be able to give you this, but they seem to have changed the format. Hope you can help. Johnny Does anyone know? Nigel |
| I was interested to know if you have a checklist yet for the FKS Euro Soccer Stars 77. I remember some of the players and teams e.g. CSKA Sofia, Innsbruck, Real Madrid, Partizan Belgrade, Muller, Maier, Hughes, Cherry, Mills, Keegan, Pirri. I would be grateful when you have a complete list if you could let me know. Seasons Greetings. Chris I don't have the details for a checklist for this set as I don't own the album. Can anyone help? Nigel |
| hi. I have recently bought some a&bc crinkle cut real photographs from the 1969/70 season, my question is why have I got two alan gilzean cards with different photos one you have listed no 35 and another head and shoulders shot numbered 13 but not listed in the 1973 photos either, yours barry And the answer - Gilzean appeared in both the Scottish crinkle-cut set as number 13 and the English set as number 35. You therefore have one from each set - Nigel |
| I've recently come across a complete set of 36 mid-60s bubblegum cards that I collected as a youngster in England. I've tried to find information on them but I can't find anything at all on the net. They are called "The thrills and spills of Speed Kings" and are to do with car racing. I think they must have been Bazooka cards as I can't remember ever buying anything but Bazooka gum but they aren't listed anywhere. They measure approximately 3" x 2.25" and have coloured drawings on the front and information on the back. Any idea where I might find more information? Graham (Not football, but can anyone help out Graham? - Nigel) --- And an answer came back fairly quickly - "Speed Kings a set of 36 cards issued in 1966 by Prescott confectionery (gum). This is the only set they produced, current catalogue value £36". |
| November |
| I'm lucky enough to possess a complete "A&BC Chewing Gum, 1958/59, Topstars - Album of famous footballers". It's noticeable that the cards with the Planet offer do not fit in the album and you either have to trim the cards or have the no-Planet variety. I don't know if this was a deliberate ploy. Bob |
|
Hello Nigel. I was fascinated to find your site. I am now in Australia but
I collected the A&BC football cards as a boy back in 1959. I am on a
mission to find items to share with my son, who incidentally is 25, that
remind me of my happy boyhood days. With these cards I used to spend hours
playing on the floor with them. I used to roll into a ball a 1in square
piece of paper and use my shoes as Goals. I was very EXCITED to find the
pictures of the cards. I see JH is in the 1st series. John Hewie is a player I saw in my very first live football match at Charlton (The Valley) playing in the same team as Stuart Leary from the 1961 B&W series. Davie |
| October |
| I was given a 71 to 72 Sun Soccer stamp album by Don Reeve when I was in Leeds General Infirmary in 72/73. A young lad called Andrew Harper, whom at the time was on TV / Blue Peter for collecting/joining all the fan clubs in UK presented it to me. Andrew signed it for me. It is also signed by all the then Leeds United team, Billy Bremner signed across his stamp. Clive |
| In the late 1950's I collected bubble gum cards from machines. Put in a penny, turned the handle and out came bubble gum plus a football card. Usually individual players, but occasionally cards of the whole team. Do you, or is there anyone you know, who sells collections of these? Or are they impossible to get now? Jim |
| Just thought I'd let you know that Geoff Barrowcliffe appeared in the A&BC "Make-a-Photo" Series 1963-64 as Card no. 10. Always very sad to hear of the deaths of players like Geoff and Tommy Cummings - I have cards for both of them. Amazed that Bobby Thomson's death appears to have gone un-noticed - he was an England international! Super website, by the way, keep up the good work. Alan |
| I have been following your site for while now and must say it is quite impressive. My interest is not necessarily in Footballers but in Topps and A&BC cards generally from the eras you cover as I am a type card collector of all things Topps from the late 40's until the late 70's. I have found your A&BC historical article extremely useful and fascinating and if I can ever get my collection of US types in order I plan to start on the A&BC's someday. I have a blog you may or may not have interest in: http://toppsarchives.blogspot.com/. Dave |
| September |
| I'm after your help regarding some Prints/Trade Cards I have recently purchased. They are 12,black & white prints, drawn by Cecil Rigby, of the Everton 1968 squad. They measure approx 10 x 8" and came in a folder supplied by SUN publication. I'm not sure if this is the newspaper or not. I have attached a couple of photos for your perusal and I'm hoping you can help. Russ (Can anyone help identify who produced these prints - we don't think it was The Sun newspaper - Nigel) |
| Hi Nigel, Thanks for your lovely website, especially for the images of Mexico 1970. I used to possess this album, but it went lost many years ago. So I was very pleased finding nearly all images of the album on your website. Did you know that Panini started its first foreign branch in Belgium? It was set up in 1970 with the first product. Mexico 1970. It was immediately a huge success. Panini Belgium launched the "Sprint" albums in 1971, with cyclism as subject. This was done in the full glory period of Eddy Merckx and the albums sold very well. The concept Sprint stopped in 1979, but was relaunched this year. Steven |
| Found your website after much searching! I am interested to know where to obtain information regarding the 1977-1978 Topps Footballer set. I am a novice when it comes to "soccer" cards. I have always collected Baseball and American Football Cards, but I purchased the last 2 unopened packs of the 1977-1978 Topps from a shop here in Baltimore, and I want to advance my collection. Jim |
|
Great web site. Always checking for latest
news. Collected FKS stickers from 69/70 until 75/76. Does anybody remember
the 70/71 edition when you could purchase a printed sheet for second division
teams? Remember purchasing the Middlesbrough sheet but have never seen any
others. These sheets included the two players from each second division
team in the rear of the album. Remember walking into Middlesbrough town
centre one Saturday morning to purchase this from Romer Parrishs the main
toy shop in town which also sold all the subbuteo teams.
And in response to my question about these ultra-rare 2nd Division team sheets: I remember making the trip to purchase team sheet from local town centre toy shop. Left home early as the town seemed deserted and I arrived at the store as it opened. I must have just found out these were available as I have gone and bought at the first opportunity when I have got my pocket money. Cannot remember how I found out these were sold by them as I used to buy the album cards from the local corner sweet shop. Assume there also sold other team sheets as well. Do not know of anybody else purchasing any of the team sheets. Use to visit this shop with my brother and cousins every Saturday to look at the Subuteo teams/accessories and Airfix models. Team sheet used to be on my bedroom wall and must have disappeared during some decoration activities by my parents. Did not release it had gone missing at the time as I still have all my old FKS albums from 69/70 through to 75/76. Players I remember on sheet Willie Whigham (GK), John Hickton (in album), recent half time guest at Boro v Sheff Utd., Hugh McIlmoyle (in album), Gordon Jones (Cap), Bill Gates, Ray Lugg, Joe Laidlaw, Derek Downing, George Smith (?), Alex Smith (?). Jeff |
| August |
| In August 2009 Bobby Thomson of Wolves only 65 passed away on the 19th. Also Tommy Cummings of Burnley played in the 1962 cup final, though I remember him playing for Mansfield and obtaining his autograph. I think both of these have been in A&BC cards as has John Elseworthy of Ipswich who passed on two months ago. The other player I was surprised to hear about was Joe Livingstone who played for Boro, Carisle and Hartlepools. Joe took over at Boro from Brian Clough, he was an old fashioned centre forward a big guy, head down and woe betide anyone getting in his way. He broke his nose many times and it was squashed and made him look like a boxer, he died and he was in his 60's! Adrian |
| The A&BC cards with their colours captured an innocence and once they moved from drawings to real pictures, a head shot with a blue sky and a ball tucked under the arm it related to every young boy in the country that had ever kicked a ball and dreamt of becoming a professional footballer, in a phrase A&BC cards captured the moment. That is why there is such a strong interest in the cards today they take us all back to being young boys again! Adrian |
| Your gallery was of great help, myself age 62 (Spurs since 1957) and my brother age 48 were disagreeing on a birthday card he sent my son showing 4 Spurs defenders.Your gallery proved me correct in identifying Roger Morgan. Tony |
| It may interest you to know that I've referred a few people to your site as part of discussions on dating cards within Ebay lots. Its funny but people seem to be getting the cards (mainly Topps) wrong by one season, usually too low (i.e. saying cards are 76/7 when they are 77/8). One guy had made a mistake and not changed the word RED in a second listing for the PALE BLUE 79/80 cards. He hadn't realised and kept telling me that he was sure that the cards were 79/80 and that Murray's catalogue was saying that the cards had a pale blue back. Another seller was calling cards Topps when they were A&BC from a couple of years prior. Oh, the joys of Ebaying! Mark |
| July |
| I hope you don't mind me asking but do you have any information on Alex Spark (Scottish player, Preston North End 1967-76, died 1993). To let you understand, Alex is my husband's brother, but lost contact throughout the years. We are trying to trace his grave as my husband would dearly love to visit his brother's grave. Marie (If anyone can help with any information about Alex and where he now rests please contact this website - Nigel) |
| The website is looking good , I was on it today browsing around and enjoyed it. The death column is always the most interesting for me, not to be morbid but I remember getting many of the players' autographs as a young lad and can't believe they are gone. The latest one Bill Baxter of Ipswich, I can remember getting his autograph and talking with him. Ian Greaves who passed away in January, I called him about two years ago and had a long conversation on the phone before sending items to be signed. Adrian |
| June |
| I have been looking for the binders for Marshall Cavendish Book of Football from 1971. Do you have any knowledge of someone who is selling these old binders? I have the whole collection but missing the binders. Ulf. (If you have these binders for sale please contact me via this website and I will put you into contact with Ulf - Nigel). |
| I was a female bartender at Bestie's in the early 1970's. We would rent a bus and round up a bunch of fans and watch them play every (Los Angeles) Aztec game. George and I had a lot of talks in the afternoon's, not many people at that time. I worked most days and was only 17at the time and he of course knocked my pants off several times. We all had too much fun. Sometimes we would go to the park to play soccer. George his best friend Mike and some of the other boys would just play all afternoon. No drinking. That was when he was the happiest. Just playing with his friends. No one writes about the time he spent in Hermosa Beach, why not? There are some great stories to tell. Sue (What a story! - Nigel). |
| The Lead Moderator on my forum found your site and passed it to me as a matter of interest because I own the largest Top Trumps reference site online. I see that you are really only specializing in football packs but I have a number of football packs on my site that you might find interesting. I do have a search facility which you could use and I also have an index page listing everything on the site, so please feel free wander over and have a look! Nigel (I have now added Nigel's excellent site to my Links page). |
| Hi Nigel and congratulations for the great website, always between my favourites. I'll try to contribute to solve the mystery of BISVALIDA word printed on backs of Panini cards. In Italy the cards were sold in the sixties and early seventies in small packets containing four cards each at the cost of 10 lire. In each packet only one card have the word VALIDA or BISVALIDA printed on back. The card with VALIDA printed on back are one-point/premium cards and BISVALIDA two-points premium cards (BIS in latin means two). Italian boys send it to Panini all the VALIDA and BISVALIDA collected and received very desiderable items not always available at cheap prizes in shops like leather footballs, shirts of the favourite teams (in wool!), football shoes and so on. To give you an idea, to have a leather football a boy had to collect and send to Panini 300 VALIDA cards or 150 BISVALIDA, if memory serves me well. I hope that you find useful and plain my explanation and sorry for my first grade English gone bad. Best regards from Florence from a sincere English football enthusiast. Marcello (And many thanks to Marcello for this excellent information). |
| Don't know if this is suitable for your excellent website but it would be great to hear if anyone remembers this - or even just proves I didn't imagine it: In the 1970s my Dad used to take me to his local branch of the Royal British Legion for a lunchtime drink and a game of bar billiards. At some time in the early 1970s the bar ran a football promotion. Drinkers were issued with a blank team sheet with 11 spaces to "select" your England international team. A roll of self adhesive stickers was held behind the bar, the stickers were small rectangles with the name of a current England international on them. The idea was to collect as many stickers as possible and then select your squad - I guess stickers were "awarded" when ordering the promotional beer. I remember being given reels of unused stickers and selecting countless England squads. The one player that always sticks in my memory was Leicester City full back Steve Whitworth. Anyone recollect these? regards Alan. |
| May |
| I see from the site that Mike Keen the Q.P.R captain of the 1968 League Cup team has passed away, aged 69. I remember getting his autograph many times, he too was a friendly guy who enjoyed teasing us lads. I believe he had a son who was also a professional footballer who's Christian name escapes me. Another two ex players who have recently deceased are, BobbyCampbell ex Chelsea 1939 but I knew him as Bristol Rovers coach and manager, he passed me in trials and I spent four years training at Rovers under his expertise. The other player is Alex Munro who was a hard as nails Scotsman who played on the left wing but reverted to left back. He is remembered by fans for scoring an own goal on his debut against Bradford Park Avenue in 1964. His father was an ex Scottish International, 3 caps and when he finished playing he moved to South Africa and played for Durban. He returned to England a few years back and was living in St Austell in Cornwall, he was 64. I do not know why or how he passed away, but again I remember him well, he was around the same time as Roger Frude. Adrian. |
| Brilliant website ! No other words needed. Great resource for identifying “what’s what” in the footy world of my childhood/youth ! Barry. (Barry has recently been very helpful to this site in supplying many scans, including a number of the excellent A&BC Chewing Gum wrappers - Nigel). |
| Hi Nigel. I stumbled across your website after a Google search. Can't believe how many players that I watched play have died - I feel stunned - and many were so young! Here's a couple of contributions for your site. Harold was a good friend of mine, and I knew Ray as well. Harold Mosby Played for Rotherham in late 40s and was in the first-ever League match Scunthorpe team in 1950. Also played for Crewe. Died 15th June 2007 from cancer. Ray Dixon Ex Rotherham player, died 10th April 2008 from cancer. Regards Adrian. |
| Great web site. Always checking for latest news. Collected FKS stickers from 69/70 until 75/76. Does anybody remember the 70/71 edition when you could purchase a printed sheet for second division teams? Remember purchasing the Middlesbrough sheet but have never seen any others. These sheets included the two players from each second division team in the rear of the album. Remember walking into Middlesbrough town centre one Saturday morning to purchase this from Romer Parrishs the main toy shop in town which also sold all the Subbuteo teams Jeff. (This raises an interesting question. I had thought that you had to send away for the Second Division Team Sheets, but Jeff is suggesting that you could buy them directly from stores. Does anyone else remember this? - Nigel). |
| April |
| Hi Nigel, I came across you web site by chance today. It is very well laid out and very well presented. Keep up the good work. I am originally from Bradford (a life time Park Avenue supporter) who moved to Australia in 1986. It is always nice (and a little sad) to read about players and managers that you remember. Once again thank you and regards. Paul. |
| Hi Nigel I've just seen the Sugosa article on your website. The backs of the cards reminded me of the Barratt A14 series. Seeing as how Barratt manufactured sweet cigarettes could this be the company who supplied the cards? Keep up the good work. Bob. (Great idea!. The cards are very similar - what does anyone else think? Nigel). |
| Nigel, This is a quite magnificent website! Hats off to you. I have spent many a time browsing through it. I have recently started my own football card website dedicated to Tottenham Hotspur cards & stickers and have found your site a great source of information & no little amount of inspiration as well. Your pages an A&BC cards (for the history) and BAB stickers have been especially invaluable. I have, of course, linked this site to mine & would be much appreciative (especially as you are a Fulham fan!) if you could mention my site on yours - I have a passion for all football cards & hope that I can get both Spurs fans and football cards fans alike to become aware of my site which is at www.whitecardlane.me.uk. All the very best. Martin. |
| March |
| Hi! As a hobby project I'm working on a online collection of soccercard checklists. The site, www.soccercardindex.com, was launched a couple of weeks ago, and I know I have a lot of work ahead of me. Unlike you, I focus on cards newer than 1980. For my visitors looking for older cards I've put a link to your excellent site on my index page. I hope that is OK for you, if not please let me know. Best regards Tomas. |
| Can I just point out that Newcastle United 1969/70 season, The Wonderful World of Soccer Stars in Action, that number 182 and 188 is the same person (Alan Foggon) and not Ollie Burton (182). Regards, Colin. |
| Dear Nigel, Thanks for your lovely overview of FKS albums. I started with these because as a Dutchman some albums were issued a little different in Holland. The start of albums was just like in the UK. The first issue in 6869 was not successful and more or less copied in 6970. Only about 70 were different or updated. In Mexico 70 I have an other picture for Tommy Wright and El Salvador Vazquez. In my Mexico 70 about 30 Belgian players are shown, and England only 16 Brasil's and El Salvador keepers are in the same jersey in my album. In the 74 album Milisaljvic of Australia is missing. As well as Spain in the 82 (issue 81) album far less players are included, only 8 per team. Anthon. |
| February |
| Nigel, what a great site! I left Merseyside as a 10 year old in 1971 with my family emigrating to New Zealand and all my stickers and cards went with me. My collection is a real time warp/lapse as football cards were unheard of in NZ. It's amazing how the names of the players from that period-late 60's, early 70's-are so ingrained in my head! The section on players who have passed on is very moving and it's a tribute to fellas who lived the dream no matter how well known they were. You've provided me with another slice of history to trawl through....Ian |
| Firstly, thank you for providing a lovely site dedicated to football cards. I am sure you want the site to be accurate but I feel the piece about A&BC's history is not objective and correct. It's very interesting indeed to see that a founder of the company has contributed to the piece but unfortunately important details are missing and it shows prejudice against Topps: most probably arising from their broken relationship. Although very much in your defence you do say "according to...". Just a few points that you may wish to consider; I do not agree that it was Mr Coakley's concept to produce football cards nor do I agree that he was involved in their design. And despite loosing a court case confirming a subsidiary relationship with Topps he still believes the company was independent. Chix Gum were producing football cards and gum in the early 50's and also produced separate Scottish sets for the Scottish market and in the 1930's Klene were producing football cards with gum I believe also. Topps produced cards for sale all over the world and it did not just happen to stumble upon A&BC and the Coakleys. They were and I believe still are the world's market leaders in concept, design and sales. Nearly all the A&BC football issues have the same designs as the Topps baseball and American football issues and indeed those designs were produced by Topps artists and designers and not therefore by Mr Coakley. Much of the attraction of these products for children such as myself was that we were getting a little bit of America e.g. a football card instead of a baseball player and a piece of gum and (not Romford) from our own corner shop. Topps should also be given credit for their contribution to football cards (little pieces of history) and their marketing strategies and ideas for getting us to collect. They are not number 1 for no reason and are even now still producing cards/stickers via Merlin. This note is in no way a criticism of your piece, you have produced a fantastic website and the A&BC history is very, very interesting. Thanks again for that. All the best, Chris. I replied to Chris to clarify that the intention of my article was to attribute the design of A&BC cards to Douglas Coakley, not the design of all football cards! I have since edited the article to make this clearer. |
| My favourite memory was collecting Mexico 70 panini stickers/cards along with my older brother and him always buying more cards than me because of him having more pocket money. One day we came home from school to find our 2 year old baby sister had scribbled all through his precious album but not mine because I had put it away safely (not bad for an 8 year old!).I still have the last laugh as I sold mine a couple of years ago (though not complete) for a considerable sum on ebay! Regards Dave |
| Hi Nigel, I am interested in your theory that this set (A&BC Scottish) is 1962/63 rather than 1961/62. Although I do not have any cards from this set, I do possess a mint set [64 cards] from the English version. I Note your main evidence is on the four team cards at the end of the set. This set was the first one produced for players in Scottish teams, and not players mixed in with the mainly English sets previous to this. I have always assumed this set was released in tandem with the English set. One player [Card # 5] Willie Fernie left Celtic for ST. Mirren in 1961 and played in the 1962 Scottish cup final [April 1962]. 2 other players Pat Quinn # 2 and Tommy Bryceland # 18 played in England in the 1962/63 season. As for the English set at least 13 of the 64 players featured played for a different club in the seasons concerned, and 3 of them transferred during 1961.Ken Leek Newcastle ~ Birmingham, Stanley Matthews left Blackpool ~ Stoke in pre-season 1961/62 and won promotion with Stoke in his second season 1962/63 and finally Eddie Clamp of Wolves he joined Arsenal in November 1961. There is no doubt the 4 team cards puts the year of issue in question, whether they were due to be released the previous season, and were then held back and released a season later, as most players were still with the same club. Looking forward to someone coming up with the answer. Regards Martin |
| January |
| I am writing to you concerning your website on the AB&C card company. I well remember as a young lad collecting the cards, which included The Beatles, The Man from Uncle, Flags, Humour cards as well as a Cricket set in the early 60's. However the main collections for me were the Football cards. My first set was the 1960 Black back cards of which I still have the complete set stored in a clear sleeve folder. I also have one or two other later sets as well. I really enjoyed reading information about the company, how it was set up , its rise to the top and sadly its demise in the 70's. For me they were the best cards on the market and whilst these days the cards are more professional, the printing better as well as the pictures, somehow AB&C football cards seem to capture the moment of the time and period and that is what has set them apart and seen them last the ravages of time. I remember one card in particular of the 1960 set, it was Tom Wilson of Notts Forest, I needed it to complete the set. A friend of mine had two of these cards but needed about another ten to get his set, I had four of the cards he needed which I offered to him in exchange for the Tom Wilson card and he wouldn't accept because he didn't want me to be the first to get the full set. We ended up having a fight outside the school gates, I think I was 8 , such passion ! Adrian |
| Nigel, I wanted to let you know that I am using some of your photos for my website. I have referenced your site whenever I have. My site - http://nasljerseys.com/ - is dedicated to the North American Soccer League. I'd like to have a picture of every player that played in the league. Your soccer cards are a great source for the early players. Dave. Thanks Dave! - Nigel |
| Dear Sir, Would it be possible to swap links with yourself, I find your site excellent. Mine is: www.classicfootballstickers.co.uk. Many thanks Andy - January. Dear Sir, that would be fine, thanks Andy - Nigel. |
| Nigel, What a great site and I can appreciate it must be very hard work, but a real labour of love I’ll bet ?! I found it by googling ‘Football cards’ by the way. I’m a collector of anything to do with Manchester City from 1959/60 onwards and after completing my programme collection have moved onto cards. As for memories, well, being the youngest of 6 Manchester City supporting siblings who all collected these cards avidly you can imagine the arguments raged when a Colin Bell or a Franny Lee was unearthed. What great fun we all had on a Saturday Morning when we got our spends and it was straight to the Newsagent to buy Footy cards and then swapsies for the rest of the Morning before we all went to Maine Road with our Grandad. Happy Days ! Hey we even won on a regular basis in those days ! My own son is now 3 and I’m already getting him into Football sticker albums and cards ! Anyway, well done on a great website and one that I will be using a lot over the coming year when trying to find those rare Manchester City cards ! Best Wishes, Dan. |
| Hi Nigel, I have linked your homepage under my Link-Archive on my Homepage, because I think it´s a very interesting Homepage for collectors. Hope this is ok for you. If not, please contact me back, Kind Regards, Ralf http://www.sticker.li. Ralf has a very interesting webpage, and the first I have linked from Liechtenstein! - Nigel |
| Nice site - enjoyed seeing some players I used to run around the field with and against and a photo of me I had never seen. If you have any more of Derek Smethurst I would love to have them and hand them down to my daughter - thanks again. Derek Smethurst. It's always great to be contacted by an ex-player - Nigel. |
| 2008 |
| Nigel Congratulations on your website about FKS albums. I've just bought a rare 1967/68 album and your website helped me to explain the mystery of the duplicate Newcastle stickers. Two questions: Do you know what FKS stands for? I've been trying to find this out for years but nobody seems to know. Second, can you identify the player in white on the 1967/68 and 1968/69 album covers? The Sheffield Wednesday player looks like Brian Usher and the player in white seems to be a Spurs (or Fulham?) player. But I can't identify him from the stickers in the album. Many thanks Chris - December. Chris and I have agreed that FKS is perhaps either Spanish or an English equivalent of the Spanish company (FHER), but we are not sure - does anyone know? We are confident that the player on the front of the FKS albums is Cliff Jones of Spurs - Nigel. |
| Hi Nigel, I have set up a website for Panini stickers from past world cups and British seasons. Would you be interested in having a link to each others sites? My URL is www.retrofootballstickers.co.uk. Graham - December. |
| I know you already have these offerings on your own site (which is totally marvellous) - but a good friend of mind recently loaned my his prized set to scan and this has been added to my own website (see link below): http://www.seven-wonders.co.uk/abc_footballcards_set1.html Thought you might like a look at it - hope you like it. Dean - November. Dean, who I know through another website connection, has created a very interesting display of his cards, which you might like to see for yourselves - Nigel |
| Hi Nigel; Just wanted to say what an excellent site. Would you happen to have a scan of the card of #056 - Derek Smethurst (Chelsea) from the Top Sellers Ltd collection "Football 72" ? Just that I was a massive fan of his and can't find a copy of this card. Ian - November. Actually, Derek Smethurst contacted this site a few weeks ago - what a coincidence! Nigel |
| Hi Nigel, Just found your website and delighted to find lots of things i remember as a child from the early seventies. There is one item that i distinctly remember but i wonder if you`ve ever come across them at all. I guess it would have been 1971-72 and i remember these little tv shaped viewers about an inch or two square. You held it up to the light as inside was a round transparency of footballers of the day that you rotated to view. My brother and i had a collection of these little viewers that were bought for us from sweet shops. Have you ever heard of these, i guess they`d be super-rare now. Mates of mine of the same age (early 40's) don't remember them, do you? Regards, Patrick - November. Yes, Patrick, I do, though I don't own one now and can't remember who the manufacturer was. Does anyone else know? - Nigel |
| Hellow Niguel. My name is Juan.I´m 45 and of Barcelona (Spain). I´m a big collector of spanish football sticker an cards. I have discovered your web. It´s wonderful, spectacular, all my congratulations. I support Chelsea and Burnely, specially the clarets. Juan - November. |
| Nigel, Spotted or rather solved something that was troubling me with the BAB (rounded sides) set – the Luton shield has an image of a lion totally discordant with the clubs imagery, however just seen the Millwall card on eBay and it appears with the Luton coat of arms so I presume the two somehow got mixed up in production. Mark - November (Mark has provided invaluable assistance over some time to help solve BAB and Coffer mysteries. This is another piece of the jigsaw added - many thanks! See the stickers gallery here. Nigel) |
| Hi, I have a copy of The Wonderful World of Soccer Stars Picture Stamp Album England First Division 1967-1968, which is 100% complete and still has the original order form in the back. All of the stickers are stuck down by the top only. It was given to me by a rep from FKS Publishing at my Dads Newsagents in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. Chris, October (This is part of the discussion that the FKS 67/68 stickers and album were only issued in the North-East of England? Does Mansfield qualify as NE? Perhaps the rep was on his way to or back from the NE? Nigel) |
| Marvellous website! My childhood was illustrated by my older brother's A&BC set 71/72 and 72/73 of my own. Endless hours and days and months to years inventing playable games with them and drawing own hand-made cards.. Greetings from Finland, Juha - October |
| Hello Nigel I must say first of all how wonderful your website is. It must have taken endless work to scan all of the images. Thanks for all the hard work! I collect Cardiff City cigarette cards and I recently acquired from Ebay a collection of BAB Products football shields, one of which was a Cardiff City card. Anyway, imagine my surprise when the Preston North End card has a different colour from the one you show. I've added a scan of it for you to see. Bob - October (I think I've solved this one - see Nigel's Webspace - 1970s - BAB, team shields, rounded sides - Nigel) |
| I am a Norwegian cards collector and I have had my own cards site for a few years. I was wondering if you would permit me using some of the data from the A&BC Variants page you have? This is the page I am talking about: http://cards.littleoak.com.au/special_pages/abc_variants.html Please take a look at my site www.aalhus.no/cards and let me know. Kai - October |
| Today’s reports of the Watford/Reading
debacle over the weekend, (“The goal that never was”), reminded me of something
I remember seeing years ago in Cleveland’s ‘Golden Goals’ sticker album
– so I Googled “Golden Goals” and came up with your superb web site of Soccer
Sticker books! Can you remember or can you check? I’m almost sure there
was a black-and-white photo in that album of a “goal that never was”. I
think a goal was given in some important match even though the shot was
wide. It doesn’t appear on your list of stickers, but I don’t think it was
a sticker, just an ancillary photo somewhere in the album. If you could
put me out of me misery I’d appreciate it. Cheers,
Graeme -
September
Page 20, ‘Astle’s dramatic double’. ..the ball broke to Tony Brown on the
half-way line. In front of Brown stood team-mate Colin Suggett in an offside
position, but the referee ruled that he was not interfering with play. Leeds
stopped, Brown ran on – and Astle put his pass into the net’ With that goal
Leeds lost the game and the League title’. There is a pencil drawing of
players, the referee and a policeman and the caption ‘Storm at Elland Road
– crowds raced on to the pitch to add weight to the Leeds’ players protests.
But Astle’s goal had been allowed to stand. |
| hi Nigel could you help me to solve a query? I have some crinkle cut black and white photo's which are the same as your check list except for 4 cards. I have number 3 one is the same as your check list which is mike summerbee and the other number 3 I have is john Clark the next is card 8 mike England which is the same as your check list and the other number 8 I have got is Alex Ferguson. can you please get back to me if you can solve this error thank you .. Paul, September (Paul was referring to the Scottish edition of this A&BC set of cards, Nigel) |
| Just wanted to say how much I loved your football card site. Believe it or not I chanced upon it after "googling" Hartley's Jam Jar Lids! Yes, the footballers were atop jars of Hartley's, rather than Cadbury Schweppes, jam. For some bizarre reason the pineapple variety of the teeth rotter sticks in my mind! Anyway, as my heading says, I loved your site. Within a few minutes of browsing I could almost smell the anaemic looking chewing gum that accompanied some of the cards. Great stuff and very nostalgic. Did you set up the site yourself? It must have taken ages. I now collect autographed postcard portraits of footballers and would love to present them in a similar fashion, but I'm afraid my I.T. skills may well prevent same. I remember a card issue which may well have inspired my current collection. They were quite small black and white photo quality cards with a facsimile autograph of the player on each. I do believe they had a wavy, white border too. Are you aware of what this set is? Keep up the good work, nostalgia is a great antidote to the modern world. - August |
|
I found your interesting website through Google,
and I think it's neat that someone is taking the time to build a resource
on English Football Cards. When I was a small boy, I had a set of English
Soccer Cards, and forever, I was not sure what they were. Although they
were stolen during 1992-93, it was this website that finally gave me the
answer as to exactly what those cards were! I would, however, recommend
expanding this website to cover at least 1980-81 season, or even the mid
1980's. Great Work! Dan |
| I'm a scot who has lived in Australia for 21 years just to say I looked up Coventry city which has a mate of mine ernie hannigan in it great stuff I have a collection of hundreds of cards from the 60s and 70s as well as a collection of over 3000 programmes cheers Jim - July |
| Hi Nigel, I am an avid collector of non sports A & BC gum cards for the past 35 years and I have a vast collection that includes many sports cards as well. My main reason for contact is if you know genuine particular collectors who would want to trade football cards at their face value for mint non sports cards from any popular 60's trading card sets i.e. Somportex, Anglo, Topps and A & BC I would like to hear from them. I would point out again that I am only interested in mint or graded cards and would have to meet the person face to face if there was going to be any trading of non graded cards. (If anyone is interested, please let me know - Nigel) |
| Hi Nigel I have uploaded my first attempt at web site building derbycounty.me.uk it is by no means finished as I have at least another 700 cards to list!. I would like to thank you as your web site has been of great value with regards to referencing my cards. I have added a link to your site if that is ok. Andy - July. (Andy's great new dedicated Derby County football cards site is at derbycounty.me.uk, Nigel) |
| Hi Nigel. Did Typhoo ever issue rosettes with their 1965/66 Famous Football Clubs (10 x 8)? I have recently acquired some cards and in amongst them were two rosettes and the original Typhoo envelope. Look forward to hearing from you. Regards Russ - July. (Does anyone know the answer to this question? Nigel) |
| We are many lovers of English football here in Norway. I sell/trade cards with 50 persons on the Norwegian ebay (qxl.no). I collect cards from 1958 to this present day (Euro08 stickers). I like your webspace very much. You have helped me becoming familiar with many of the adorable series of cards. The reason why English football is so popular here in Norway is the TV-matches during the seventies here in Norway. At that time we weren't feed with international football. When the national TV-station started to send matches in the early 70’s , people was addicted at once. Heroes like Alan Ball, Ian Callaghan, Peter Lorimer, Archie Gemill, Kevin Keegan, Billy Bremner ++++ was heroes we had heard about, not seen and now was the chance. I collected Topps football cards, who was sold here in stores during 75-79. The reason I started collecting again, was the memories and nostalgia from that time. Erik - May |
| Hi Nigel, I already gave a feedback to your fantastic site months ago. Every now and then I come back to check what I may have found. I noticed your new Letraset page and had a look at my items. Letraset obviously produced a 24 paper folder set for the German market. They are similar, but have different features. Unfortunately, there is no hint to when they have been published. Certainly not an English series, but may be of interest for you or fellow collectors. With my best wishes, Thomas - May |
| (I bought a complete box of FKS Argentina 1978 stickers in their original display box, and wanted to know how these items can still exist after 30 years, Nigel) I will give you a bit of the history of the boxes my husband had a friend who asked if we wanted to clear out a shop in Pontypridd and the storage area upstairs. At the time my daughters partner had a large lorry so we spent days emptying it all out. There were hundreds of cardboard boxes when we got them home we found 8 large boxes of the FKS stickers with 6 display boxes inside, Joyce - May. |
| (This came following an ebay listing for BAB stickers in their shop display. Mark and I both emailed the seller for any details of BAB). Hi. the writing above "STARS" states "Sparrow & Barnet Ltd." I believe there are several shield shaped sticker sets depicting footballers and club crests and all are attributed to "BAB" as the issuer. The stickers that were contained in the holder were exactly the same type ie. illustrated portraits with team coloured border and so I believe these to be BAB as well: but would welcome any info. Back is blank. Thank you. Are we then talking SAB not BAB?!? The reply asks more questions than it answers. I’m presuming that the set in question is the one you’ve got as Football Shooting Stars judging by the star motif in common. Mark - May |
| Hi, Nigel I see on your site, the passing of Derek McKay. I also see you appear to have no card of him. If you e-mail me your address I will send you an A&BC card of Derek from the Scottish green back set 1970. Regards Martin - April.(And Martin kindly did send me the card which is shown on the RIP page, Nigel). |
| Hi, I was checking out Google looking for a mate of mine who played for Man U under the Doc. His name is Martyn Rogers. I see you have him listed. I was very friendly with him when I lived in Nottingham. Sadly he committed suicide around 1990 / 1991. (Carbon monoxide poisoning) I sat next to Tommy Docherty at Martyn’s funeral. Unfortunately I can’t remember the exact date but I have the local newspaper which is now in storage. Martyn also played for QPR and Sydney Olympic under Tel Venables. Quite a sad but moving website you have. I followed Mansfield for years and didn’t realise Gordon Hodgson had died. All the best Jon - April |
| Dear Nigel. A little story about Mick Harby. Me and my mate used to stand behind the goal at the old Colwick Road end on the cinder track and chat to Mick during the game when the play was up the over end. good old days. Yours John - April |
| Thank you very much for having the pictures on-line I was able to see my dad in the Uruguayan Team Oscar Zubia, (0256) If you ever need any additional pictures please contact me I will be more than happy in provide them although you should have way more than us Thanks again!!! Daniel - April |
| Nigel, My Dad was an employee of Esso and used to have a magazine called Esso news delivered every month. In early 1982 there was a competition to guess the finalists of the 1982 World cup final and the prize was one of six of these Bronze World cup sets. I guessed Italy v Germany and won one. The set has the same blue folder as yours and I don't know how many more of these were made. Regards Andrew - April |
Hi, Firstly, may I say your football
card site is an excellent resource for collectors of A&BC like myself.
Please can you help me - I have a Typhoo card 10x8 and its Billy Bremner
from Leeds Utd. BUT it spells his name Billy Bremmer - is this a usual mistake???
or have I got a rare collectors card???? have you seen one before or is
it common. Please will you help me as I am intrigued to know. Thanks
in advance of any help. Dave -
March (My copy of this card has
the correct spelling. Does anyone else own a copy of this error card? Nigel) |
| Nigel - absolutely brilliant web page!!! It's impossible to find info on the British football trading cards. Over here in Canada they call it soccer, and no one has ever seen one of these cards! I've been buying these for a couple of years now as I am a huge hockey card collector and stumbled upon the old 70's Topps soccer and subsequently picked up a small book on collecting football cards that was published a few years ago. It became my bible! I had no idea on prices/sets/checklists etc but through a great deal of searching on Ebay and now your site I can start to figure out what I am missing. As an ex pat (I was born in Edinburgh, 1972) I focus on cards of Scots-specifically Denis Law. Also Dave Mackay, Billy Bremner etc. The teams I support are Newcastle and Hearts so I always look for cards from those teams as well. I also focus on stars of the era (George Best etc.) or cards that I just think are beautiful to look at. Yesterday I picked up a 1959 Tommy Younger (#59) just because it looked so good! My favourite sets are the 1959 A&BC (which are very expensive!) and the 75-76 Topps which are the most colorful set I have ever seen. In fact, the Topps baseball cards from 1975 have the IDENTICAL design-but I am sure you are aware of that. If you need any reference scans from North American sports or if you are missing any scans let me know and if I have the cards I will gladly scan them for you. I do have one question for you. A few weeks ago a Denis Law card similar in design to the 74-75 A&BC cards came up for auction. I lost the auction and did not see the card on your checklist-any idea what set it is from? He was pictured with Manchester City if that helps...its the only one I've ever seen and I'd love to know the card # so I can hunt it down. Again thanks for creating such a great site, I'll be learning from it for quite some time. All the best! Chris - March |
| Hi Nigel, Just wanted to drop you a line from Sweden. I was on the Internet and saw your site, as my Dad in UK has the complete set of Anglo Football Cards from 1970 in mint condition, and we were wondering if they had any value. Your site was absolutely the best, so thanks for that! While he was up in the loft he came across a full set of little busts of footballers from the 1966 World Cup. I think they were free with petrol or stamps in those days. I've looked on the net but can't find any information about them. Just wondered if you might be able to enlighten us? Thanks anyway. I understand if you're to busy to answer individual questions. Loved your site anyway! Kathy - February |
| Thanks for the info on Southport FC . . . a little surprising that there's only four entries . . . but then again, SFC never DID set the footballing world alight when they were in the League. Working from (poor) memory . . . The rot REALLY set in the season following their championship winning season (72/73?) when they allowed several of their best players (Andy Provan, Laurie Calloway, Jim Fryatt, etc) to play in the USA during the summer months. Bit vague on exact details. Anyway, needless to say, they all came back from America jet-lagged and knackered, just in time for the following season's kick-off. Hardly surprising they went straight back down to Division Four !!! After that, then being VOTED out of the League in 1978, it's been a steady decline. Can't get far on average gates of 1000. Peter Davenport's doing a pretty good job with limited resources at the moment (2nd in league to Kettering) but, even if he DOES perform a minor miracle and get them into the Conference Premier, their chances of staying there AND their chances of getting back into the league are pretty slim. Desperate need of an Elton John millionaire-type investor coming along and throwing some silly money around . . . not much down for that either. Moan moan moan . . . When I win the lottery, I'll buy the club and do things properly (arf arf). Anyway, keep up the good work on the website . . . a constant delight !!! Rod - February |
| Hello, Thanks for your wonderful site. Brings back loads of memories. But do you recall....? When Leeds United met Arsenal in the 1972 FA Cup Final, my dad obtained a magazine that had a full page photo of each player from both sides, with profile and interview facing. I was only eight at the time, but one thing I do remember was that practically every player stated that they enjoyed eating Shredded Wheat for breakfast. It hit me later on that perhaps this Cup Final souvenir was a Nabisco publication. Do you have any ideas, or indeed any copies floating about? Just reading 'Double Bill' (Nicholson) by Alan Mullery and Paul Trevellion, and Trevellion stated that Liverpool players in 1971 all said the same sort of things so he tried to brand Shredded Wheat with Liverpool. Was Trevellion behind the Nabisco 1972 publication too? Yours in sport, Johnny - February |
| Hello. Stumbled on your website today and found you had my dad (Ray Bridgett) on there. which was really nice to see by the way and I thank you for that. Just thought I would let you know a few details you could update it with, he was on loan at Nuneaton for a while then he played for Oldbury, Rushall, and finished up at Blakenhall in Walsall were he also managed till he hung up his boots in 84. Sadly he died of cancer on 2/10/97... but left a lot of happy memories. Hope this helps and thanks again for the website. Gary, January I can't tell you how good it feels to receive these emails from relatives and friends of ex-players - Nigel |
| Hello - I visited your site at http://littleoak.com.au/cards/special_pages/abc_history/abc_history_part6.html & I see that one of the items listed is "1970/71 Action transfers (also known as Transparencies) 72". I am preparing a book on Letraset Action Transfers, & would be very interested if you had any more information about this series other than this simple listing. If you are interested in Action Transfers, we have a very good website (with a Forum!) - SPLAT (the Society for the Preservation of Letraset Action Transfers) at www.splat.lapidate.com. I hope to hear from you soon! Cheers, Tom, January. I've now joined Tom's forum and have decided to add the Letraset Soccer Action Replays to this website (when I can get some!) - Nigel |
| Hi Nigel. Sorry to say, but I'm "one of the guys" that continually has a moan at something they read in the paper and say to themselves "I must write a letter and put my point of view" but never do!!! Such is the case with your website not complaining, mind you, in fact just the opposite. I discovered your website ages ago and have willy-nilly used it as an absolute near Bible for football card collecting. I don't know how long it took you but however long it was, it was well worth the effort. It's simply superb. Solves all my queries in a flash....Just keep up the good work . . . don't what I'd do without you !! Cheers, Rod, January |
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I really enjoyed looking through your website. There was a little corner shop near the junior school I attended in the early seventies and they sold A&BC cards. Nobody ever ate the gum and the pavements were strewn with discarded pink strips. For some reason, nobody ever collected the FKS stickers that Nick Hornby waxes lyrically about in Fever Pitch. Perhaps they were a regional thing. I collect Derby County cards and the Terry Hennessey interview was nice to read. His best game for Derby was the European Cup game against Benfica when we drew 0-0 at the Stadium of Light. Regards, Simon, January |
| Hi
Nigel, I have set up a forum at
http://tonyswebspace.freeforum.me.uk/index.htm
dedicated to collectors of cards and stickers, have a look see what you
think, let me know if there are any categories you think should be there.
Cheers, Tony, January Hi Nigel, My new site www.tonyswebspace.co.uk , is dedicated to my collections of abc , fks and topps , it is still under construction at the moment , i am in the middle of redoing the abc cards i have already uploaded check out abc71 , everton , huddersfield and a few others , let me know what you think of the site. Cheers, Tony, December (It's good to see another collector showing their cards, good luck with the site - Nigel) |
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2007 |
| Dear Sir, I discover your webspace true Google's and I wanna to putt you a question. I've a blog in internet: www.cromodoscromos.com all about football stickers (panini, etc). I'm from Portugal and every day, me and a friend of mine, putt one sticker in the blog, to all fans "talk" about it. The most are stickers from Portugal, of the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's, but we also putt in the blog "internacional" stickers, like recently Bobby Charlton. Now, what is my question? In all your collections, do you have a sticker of any England Stickers Collection of GEORGE BEST? I've all Panini Collectios since World Cup Mexico 70 to World Cup Korea/Japan 2002, but unfortunately GEORGE BEST dont participate in a World Cup. If you can help me it was the most great sticker that I can putt in our blog! I'm a huge fan of George Best! I'll love to putt him in our blog. I hope you can help me and send me a digitalized sticker from him. PS - Sorry my bad english. Best Regards, João, December (Nigel's Webspace happily provided an image of a card for João and it was featured on his site) |
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What
a great website. I have been collecting football cards for 5 years and have
used your website as a reference. I was born in Romford and lived in
Harold Hill for most of my childhood in fact my dad still lives there. Our
house is some 2 miles from Spilsbury Rd where A&BC cards had their factory
in the early 70s. I will always remember a fire they had and my friends
and I rushing there to see the firemen throwing the gum cards out to all
the kids who were there. I remember getting loads of football, star trek
and horror cards. How much they would be worth now? Hope to get some photos
of Spilsbury Rd and how the factory looks today if you are interested keep
up the great site. Lee, November |
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Dear Nigel, Yes I collected the ABC gum cards I still have them today from 1954 to 1955 I have Stanley Matthews, Stanley Mortenson and Alan Brown. Jimmy Armfield was the under 23 captain and Blackpool and England Captain who took over from Johnny Haynes, Ronnie Clayton and Billy Wright. We bought Alan Ball from Everton he then settled in North London. Fraternally, John, November. |
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Hi, Just thought I had to comment this as I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere on your site, or anywhere else for that matter. Card no. 24 Alan Bloor doesn't show a picture of Bloor, it does in fact show John Ritchie. Just look at card no. 245. I've followed Stoke since the early seventies, and I'm 100 % sure of this. Cheers, Willy, October (Willy is referring to the 1970/71 A&BC Orange backs, see http://cards.littleoak.com.au/197071_abc_orangebacks/stoke_city.htm) |
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Dear Sir, I am currently building the Arsenal Supporters Club website and would like to to know if you would allow me to link your excellent web page of arsenal cards to our site? (http://cards.littleoak.com.au/196869_fks/arsenal.htm). We would also be very interested in displaying any other Arsenal related material that you have as it is of great interest to our members. In return we can offer to show a small advertising banner for your site. Kind Regards, Philip, Arsenal Supporters Club Webmaster. (I replied positively to this one, but have heard nothing since? - Nigel) http://www.arsenalsupportersclub.co.uk |
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Nigel, The Great Stars of Football (set of 16) 1970 , D C Thomson (Jeff Astle, George Best etc) were issued with The Wizard comic, I have them! Fantastic website by the way, superb! Nick, October |
| Hello Nigel, I firstly wanted to thank you for your great site which has been invaluable to me in these last few weeks as I have been trying to sort through a recently acquired wide ranging collection of cards and sets. I'm not sure exactly how you operate or if you are interested in feedback or adding information to your site but I have turned up a set of cards which I guess to be from the 1970s/80s which I can find no information anywhere on the web. Your site seems so wide ranging and inclusive I wanted to provide/share the information with you if you wanted it. The set is by the Anglo Confectionery Co and is entitled "Soccer Hints" It is a set of 72 and consists of small wax paper "cards" simular in style to the papers I remember having in Bazooka Joe bubble gum as a kid. I have turned up a full set of 72 so if you want any info on the set (or alternatively have any info as to date etc!) please contact me. All the best and thanks again, Mike, September (The Anglo ‘Soccer Hints’ are from 1961, so they fall outside the scope of this site, though it's always good to hear about other sets - Nigel) |
| Hi. I have a question for you regarding the A&BC 1969/70, greenback-series. I have a card that shows nr. 38 Bobby Ferguson, West Ham. The card is identical as the rest of my greenbacks, apart from that this card is blue back.The same sort of colour-mix-up is seen on another Ferguson-card I`ve got, from the 1970/71-series (orangeback). I have two of these cards, but they are green.Do you know anything about this? Best regard Sigmund, Norway, September (It turns out that Sigmund has some A&BC Scottish cards - Nigel). |
| Hi Nigel, this is Mike Berry, a journalist who is launching a new football nostalgia magazine. Really interested in your site... The magazine is fast taking shape, and one feature is a look back at one particular season, over three or four pages. In the launch issue, it is going to be 1970-1971. Mike (Mike originally wrote this email some months ago, and his new magazine is about to hit the newsstands. See the website here. Nigel's Webspace has made a contribution to the first issue - I recommend it, Nigel) |
| Hi, Just to say what a brilliant website you have, I was absolutely taken aback and shocked while reading through the death notices, players I was familiar with from the 60s and later to die at such young ages, also the reason for the death's saddened me greatly when thinking back that most of them were adored by thousands every Saturday afternoon and then to have their lives cut short, so sad. Keep up the good work. Mick (Nottingham Forest Supporter 1962 - Present) |
| Hi Nigel, Even over here in Belgium your excellent website has at least one fan. Wonderful to stroll down memory lane through your extraordinary collection. Keep up the good work, we’re watching you! Geert, September |
| I'm just about to flog some Greenbacks on Ebay and just going through them I notice an anomaly on the numbering and full stops. 2nd series numbers 85 Shilton, and 95 Rodriguez both have a full stop after their number. No one else in series 2 has and they both are Leicester players! I've checked with two other examples of the same cards that I own and they have the full stops too. More grist to the mill! Newy, August |
| Hello Nigel, I'm Chelsea FC's official historian, and I Googled your website while researching Mel Scott. Would you be able to tell me where you found out that he died in 1997 please, as I have had a query about his whereabouts. Many thanks, Rick, August (and later...) I can tell you that Mel is dead - a former manager and friend of his in the US was able to confirm this to me. He seems to have died in Florida. |
| Hey Nigel! Your webside is brilliant. Thanks for the trip down by Memory Lane. I think the is a few mistakes in FKS Soccer 82: Notts County - picture 214 is not Poul Hooks, it's Brenson Batson from WBA (same as picture 324). Sorry now your missing one. Liverpool - picture 144 is not Phil Neal, it's Alan Hansen, and picture 145 is not Alan Hansen, it's Phil Neal. Yours faithfully Tommy, July |
| Nigel, I collect West Ham United memorabilia, and I'm putting together my own website, which with the help of your site I've managed to confirm a lot of the cards that involve the Hammers. I've been collecting since 1968 and I believe I have the most comprehensive collection there is on the Hammers. I've somewhere in the region of 50,000 scanned images, everything from Autographs to programmes, trade cards to Players photos. Steve, July (Steve's site is here, and is well worth a visit - Nigel) |
| Love the feature on Derek Dougan thank you for taking the time in putting this feature together. I have always been a big fan of The "Doogs" ever since I saw him make his League debut for Aston Villa at Everton first fixture of the 61/62 season and just fell in love with him. I have been collecting memo re him since this time - Phil, July |
Nigel - I am trying to trace a Stuart Pearson (Man Utd) sticker from around
1976/1977/1978. I thought it was Panini but after looking at your website
it would appear it was a Soccer Stars album. The reason I am trying to buy
it is because I am on it in the background. Stuart Pearson is running out
of the tunnel at Highfield Road Coventry (I think holding the ball) If you
can help me I would be most appreciative. I am the one looking at the camera
with blond hair. Jonathon, July
(The sticker turned out to be from FKS
76/77. Research suggested that the image was taken February 7th, 1976, attendance
33,821 (highest of the season at Highfield Road). The result was a 1-1 draw,
with Pearson being subbed off. I sent Jonathon an image of the sticker,
and he replied below - Nigel) Yes
the blond-haired boy in the 76/77 Pearson sticker is probably me! I remember
having this sticker at the time. I was fortunate to be able to watch Coventry
games from the tunnel at Highfield Road in the mid-late 70’s. The two other
children are sons of the Coventry manager at the time Gordon Milne. My father
was good friends with Gordon for many years following Gordon’s stint as
player-manager of Wigan Athletic. It was a real privilege to be able to
watch the games sat on a little bench in front of the managers and sub (one
in those days) and walking down the tunnel with the players – it wouldn’t
be possible now I am sure. I do remember the game in question – thanks for
your research – and I remember the huge crowd because Manchester Utd were
the big crowd pullers in those days as well. |
| Just been on your site, and found it very useful. I like you collect various football related bits, Esso, Texaco, Sun etc. I have nearly completed the three sets of Sun 3D cards, I know that there are 50 Large cards, and 50 Action to collect, but I can only name 48 of each! can you help with the full list of names? Mark, June (With Mark's help we've now identified a total of 52 Action pix - Nigel) |
| Hi Nigel! Thanks for an excellent site! If you want more info on the Monty Gum cards, you will find it at: http://home.online.no/~strognli/Fotballkort/. Øivind, June |
| By any chance are you a Baggies fan? - I ask because I have spent the last 2 hours looking through your web site (captivated by the enormous amount of interesting information and at the same time reminiscing over players I have watched in the last 40 years) and have noted quite a number of cards and badges that depict players and club motifs from WBA, probably the most any team has on your web site - Regards Richard, June (Baggies fan for the past 41 years) (Richard, no, I am a proud Fulham fan. Nigel) |
| This is a mistake as the picture is of Arthur Horsfield and not Preben Arentoft http://cards.littleoak.com.au/196970_fks/newcastle_united.htm Regards, Colin, June (Thanks to Colin for pointing this out. Nigel) |
|
I was gobsmacked when I came across your site as there are so many items
that I remember from my schooldays..The CBFM MiniBooks, all the old World
Cup items from 1970, the A&BC Gum cards that you rubbed the coin over
the back to answer the question, the Typhoo Tea 'signed' pics you had to
cutout the small mono versions off the sides of the tea (leaves, not bags!!!)
packets and send off...used to drive my Mum mad constantly bothering her
to buy Typhoo when I'm sure she preferred PG!!!, just like I used to drive
my Dad mad trying to get him to buy petrol from ESSO for the wonderful World
Cup coins!! but,most stunningly, are the items I'd completely forgotten
about, the Team Pennants from A&BC Gum..I'd completely forgotten about
those but remember them distinctly now and can visualise my old bedroom
with them all skewed over the walls!!
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Dear Sir, I was browsing your web-site and
found it very interesting. I thought you might be interested in including
the following features, even though they are probably players for whom picture-cards
are not available. They are both former players for Barrow in the 1960's.
Firstly, Don McEvoy, who passed away on 9th October 2004. Don played for
Barrow in the 1960's and later managed them, as well as being manager of
Grimsby amongst others. I believe he passed away in a nursing home in Yorkshire.
Secondly, Bobby Knox, who passed away in July 2006 after suffering
from cancer. Bobby has two claims to fame in the Football record books.
In season 1965-66 he became the first substitute to score a goal. He followed
this on December 27th 1965 by becoming the first substitute goalkeeper to
save a penalty when he stopped a spot-kick from Alick Jeffrey of Doncaster
Rovers. I must say I am amazed at some of the "obscure" inclusions on your site. With the greatest respect, and no slight is intended, I was shocked to see that you even had reference to the passing away of one Peter Marshall who played just four games for Barrow. As I say, no disrespect is intended to the deceased. All I mean is that I think it's amazing that you have got records on a player who played so few Football League games. I knew Peter just vaguely and he had a terribly sad time in the last few years of his life. I think it's good that although he only played a mere handful of games in the Football League that he is still remembered in a site like this. Well done! Paul, May |
| Please include Wilf Manion in this list, who died in 2000. He was one of the great midfielders to play in an England shirt. George Hardwick was also one of the greatest defenders this country has ever produced. He played in 12 internationals and his claim to fame is that he captained a Great Britain side after WWII. Regards, David, May |
| Hi! Your website is brilliant! As my son Joe is now 11 I'm able to revisit my youth and collect footy cards and stickers! We have hundreds! On Sunday we got a shoebox full of Topps cards at a boot sale, nearly 2 full sets for a pound! Are you jealous??? Ha Ha! Keep up the good work. Stew, May. (Thanks Stew. Living in Australia there are not many car boot sales I can go to to pick up bargains like that, so yes, I am jealous - Nigel). |
| Dear Nigel, I am an Italian 45 age, big collector from cards and album. Very, very compliments from your web site is fantastic. Gianni, May |
| Just found about your web site, and I am very very impressed - keep up the good work. Any plans to go into the 80's ? Just going through it at the moment. I have been looking for a information site for cards and have just bought the Rob Jankovic book Swap Yer, which is okay but gives no real detail. Gary, May. (No, no plans to move into the 1980s! Nigel) |
| Hi Nigel. Superb Website and being someone very much into football from years gone by and slightly obsessed with how football was better 'Back in the Day' I visit your Website regularly. Especially as I used to collect Panini stickers when growing up!!! I am e-mailing you as I've just set up a site and being about football and player history etc. like your site, I thought you may be interested in me e-mailing you and getting an affiliation going! James, April(Interested? You can view James' site at www.retrofootballtshirts.co.uk - Nigel) |
| In case you had not noticed a recent Ty-Phoo tea International Footballer card sold a couple of weeks ago on ebay (for £82). My attention was sharply attracted to Derek Dougan of LEICESTER CITY. I can only consider, given/accepting the authenticity of item, that this is an 'oddment', perhaps one prepared for a collection pre Dougan's transfer to Wolves? and sent out in error?? or do you have any information of individual cards produced outside of sets? hope this is of interest to you, would be good to hear from you if you can add to 'history' of this item or other similar Ty-Phoo 'oddments. Jim, April (Thanks to Jim I've updated my Ty-phoo page with this information - see Nigel's WebSpace - English Football Cards - Ty-Phoo tea . Nigel) |
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Can
anyone tell me why Huddersfield Town did not feature in the 1970/71 orange
back A&BC football cards?....Stuart,
April |
| I was wondering if you could help me. Back in the seventies I used to buy plastic football team flags. The size of the flag was approx 6 inches x 4 inches with the club name, and badge pictured on it. It was attached to a black plastic stick with a red top. They were rectangular , and came in a long thin packet about 2 inches wide and about 8 inches long . When opened the flag was rolled around the stick. I can remember I had an Ajax flag attached to the front of my bike. I think they were sold with chewing gum (so possibly A&BC) . If you have any info on these, can you let me know....Kevin, April (Does anyone have any ideas? - Nigel) |
| his site is exactly what I've been looking for !!! Even the package is there - FAB !.I maybe can help ya a little.....Somewhere in my piles of collectibles I still should have a package of the stamps/stickers for the album of Soccer 76/77. I would be proud to maybe contribute with some small thing for your great pages. Back then I was in London and bought myself both the 75/76 & 76/77 albums and stickers - need I say it almost took my pocket money completely? I was 14 and still thankful for that my Mom could get me some extra £s back then. I started collect Swedish Soccer & Hockey 68/69 and I still have a lot of it. By experienced your site, some dreams comes to me to dedicate my own pages on the www, featuring the "complete" collection of every cards/stickers etc of my Swedish favourite team AIK. But it´s gonna be hard work, becouse I know its 100s of cards out there that I ain't got a clue about, but a hobby shouldn't be too easy...as I also have 2 small kids...! Cheers Mate...Janne, March |
| Hello, I've just been looking at your website and its brought back my card collecting memories. I started with the Yellow backs, and amassed a large collection, sadly no longer with me (swapped for fishing tackle) or something!. The crinkle edged photographs I had completely forgotten about, but had once also collected .Anyway upon sifting through my clutter (as my partner calls it!!) I came upon some old 1970-71 world cup team posters that I had forgotten about. Thanks for the memories, Nick, March |
| Neil Turner, Blackpool and Crewe, died on 29 May 2001 in Tung Shin hospital, Kuala Lumpur, where he was taken after a deep vein thrombosis during a stop-over on his way to Sydney. He was aged 59..Syd, March (I'm always happy to hear from family about their relatives who played League football. I've updated the website with these details. It's a small but genuine attempt to honour their memories. Nigel) |
| Dear Sir, I'm disturbing you because I visited your incredible web site and I wish to ask you if there are sets of cards you know, apart of Panini's collections between 1976 and 1979, especially dedicated to the European Cups for Club (especially the Champions Cup). All I saw was some collections (one dedicated to Celtic and another to Manchester Utd) with cards representing the programmes of the matches played by the winners during the tournament. Can you help me? Thanking you so much for your welcome cooperation..Aldo (Italy), March |
| Israel’s only goal was scored by no. 124. Mordechai Spiegler against Sweden....Roy, March (and Roy should know, since his father played in this Israeli team in the 1970 World Cup - many thanks, Nigel) |
| I am interested in OIL COMPANY history. I have started to look at your and have noticed your entry on CLEVELAND PETROL. Your site mentions that CLEVELAND was taken over by SHELL. I believe that CLEVELAND stations became ESSO stations....Robert (and he was right, Nigel) |
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Hi, found you after entering 'soccer dip football shields' into Google and wondered if you could help me or visa versa. Long story short, I got left 85 shield shaped football stickers, 44 of which are all different, the rest are just copies. They all look vaguely like the picture that you have but don't have a brown backing paper. Mine are definitely white.....Heather, February |
| Woah, the error cards list reminds me of my stamp collecting days and how, no matter how hard you try, you can never get a full set of anything. Interesting as it is (and it really is interesting) it just gives me that uncomfortable yeuk feeling which meant I never did become a collector. But the Ron Davies page, as always, I love..., Bob, January (Bob is a legend, and a valued correspondent - see his site at Bob and 1970/71 Footballers - Nigel) |
| I was just sorting thru my mums attic and come across a box full of topps football cards for the 78/79 season with the orange backs, January |
| What a work of art your site is,
Nigel. I take my hat off to you. I'm 45 (I think!) this year, so 68-74 were
my collection years. How many days did we say "got it, got it, got it, need
it, got it.." in the playgrounds of our youth? I've been locked on your
site for a couple of hours now and have learned so much, making my own checklists
for the crinkle-cut cards and the other A&BC extras! I was asked by
my mum recently to clear a cupboard out for her, and came across an old
box. Imagine how I felt when inside I found hundreds & hundreds of cards
from my childhood days. There were cards for everything, 72 olympics, flags,
weapons, planes, flowers(?), cards from comics and newspapers, all the 3D
cards and tons of A&BC footy cards from Planets to 74/75. It's taken
me ages to file them all into wallets etc but worth every minute. Mates
all ask why I'm doing it, I just say its coz I'm still a kid! So thanks
again Nigel for building such a great site, for all us kids out there...Nick,
January My earlier email was written after only seeing your A&BC pages. Now I've seen your home page and, well, you've got EVERYTHING on there. Even the jam jar lids I remember!! Stuff I didn't know what their origins were are there. Truly brilliant, my friend....Nick again, 40 minutes after the previous email |
| It's taken me ages to find a copy of the Malcolm McDonald footie card from 1974/75 series (red back). This card had almost mythical history as me & my friends remember it from school. Why?... you ask. Take a close look at Mr McDonalds shorts...... is he or isn't he exposing his tackle? You decide...!!! The evidence is plain to see... a playground legend if there ever was one. How did the photographer, printer & publishers not notice!... Sean, January |
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Apologies for this unsolicited Email but I clicked on a link in your Website. I have a number of football cards from the 1965 “International Footballers of Today” set issued by Reddish Maid, Reddish, Stockport. Looking through the collection – which I put together myself as a 10 year old living close to Manchester – now discovered in my loft – I have around 50 cards but cannot make a full set as I am missing card number 13...Alan, January (I just love these 'loft finds'. More people should go up into their lofts and search out old football cards. Alan and I did a trade and he now has number 13 to complete his set - Nigel) |
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Wow - just stumbled upon this site - I'm 43 and remember many of these collections, covers, etc vividly. Sadly I do not have any of them now, but collected fervently from 1969 through to the 1978 World Cup. I also remember collecting the Postcard set you feature (but do not have a gallery for - it would be good to see some of those pics again). I remember some strange clubs were featured such as Atvidaberg of Sweden and Magdeburg, teams I'd never heard of at the time. Also, in reply to the comment from someone who noted that all the WBA pics from the 1970-71 set were taken at Stamford Bridge - so were the Newcastle ones (my team). They obviously just sent one photographer round to each Chelsea game to take a few pictures to save on the budget! I stumbled on this site an hour ago, and have been lost in it ever since... David, January |
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2006 |
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Thanks a lot for your fantastic site! It got me collecting A&BC, Topps and Monty cards again which gives me great joy and brings back a lot of memories. I also collect Monty WC cards from 1982 and would like to ask you if you know where I can buy them + if there are checklists anywhere on the internet. The same goes for A&BC cards older than 1966. Do you know any sites who lists these checklists? Thanks a lot and keep up the good work....Øivind, December (I get asked these questions often, but don't know of any similar sites - Nigel) |
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I have some information on Alan Stephenson the old West Ham Player. He is now an attendance liaison officer at a Colchester school....Jack, December |
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Just wondered if you'd like to swap links. I illustrate and publish my drawings as cigarette style cards, so a link my be worthwhile for both of us. Please have a look at www.philneillcards.co.uk....Phil, December (Thanks Phil, no problems at all - Nigel) |
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Great site and very useful as I've been fulfilling childhood ambitions and FINALLY completing my A&BC gum and FKS sets from the late 60's after a gap of nearly 40 years. One little improvement for your records. In the A&BC Orange back 1970/71 series apart from the confusion over 174/216/Greenhoff/O'Rourke in both instances where John O'Rourke is shown in a blue shirt it is an Ipswich shirt rather than a Coventry shirt as it is the same photo from the Green backs of the year before... Newy, November 2006 |
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I have collected cig cards since early 1960s, always collecting Nature and Transport subjects, amassing over 60,000 cards. However I have started a football type collection and with your site and the effort it required to produce I salute you. It is a mine of useful info, you deserve a cartophilic award to say the least? [in my opinion]. I have improved my knowledge greatly...Ian, November 2006 |
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I have long admired your website; it is truly awesome! The yellow backs are my faves too though I never acquired all of them. Frustratingly you don’t have a gallery for this very set!! Any chance of one??? (I still need to collect numbers 63 and 95 - when I have those I'll add the gallery - Nigel). The green backs & the b/w crinkle photo cards as well as the Typhoo b/w cut-outs & all the Soccer Stars stick in sets were amongst my all time favourites too!... John, November 2006 |
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Found your site by chance. Wow, what memories, happy happy days of childhood innocence. Makes you wonder what it's all about today? Many thanks for loads of "I had them" & "those were the ones?"...John, November 2006 |
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Great site, do visit regularly, being 46 years old and an avid collector of 60's/70's footy cards, stickers, mags etc can really relate to it's content. Hate to read the latest R.I.P.s. Don't know why but I suppose when you were a kid you thought these players were immortal. Shoot magazine autumn 1969 did a series of stand up footballers taller than DC Thomson ones, think you collected tokens and sent away for them, they came in sets of 8 players. I reckon I have 30 odd of these... Jim, October 2006 (Jim kindly sent scans of his stand-ups for this website. Click here to view the gallery of Jim's collection). |
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Love your site. Just a quick note to let you know that it was selected as "Web Site of the Week" in a recent issue of the EPL Talk Email Newsletter...The Gaffer, September 2006 |
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Congratulations!! Your site is really cool! I’m from Brazil, and since some months ago, I found out your pages in the internet and I appreciated a lot the material. It’s very rare to find in the web good material and good memories about football history. The players, the teams, etc... Sergio, August 2006 |
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Nigel - this is utterly fantastic. I came on this site by chance 30 mins ago and I've emailed many of my friends to check out the 70/71 season. Talk about going straight back in time, I just now need to find those Esso World Cup coins!!!!...Rhys, August 2006 |
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You have stopped me doing any work today, what a fantastic site! Brings back so many childhood memories... Stuart, July 2006 |
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I'm a sad collector of 1970 World Cup memorabilia and thought you might be interested to know that Esso also produced a sterling silver set of the famous coins as well as the bronze set you mentioned. These were issued to the players and a few others, and I bought Geoff Hurst's set a couple of years ago!?...Nick, June 2006 |
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I wonder if you can help me? I have a collection of plastic football figurines, 5cm (2 inch) tall, gold coloured. I have had them since I was a child and can't remember where they came from but presume they were free gifts or similar, perhaps issued with breakfast cereal. I have eight of them, footballers represented are Jeff Astle, Alan Ball, Gordon Banks, George Best, Terry Cooper, Derek Dougan, John Hollins, Emlyn Hughes. Have you ever come across such figures or have any idea who might have issued them or what year they might be from? (I'm guessing 1970ish). I have searched the web including ebay but haven't found any reference. Your site has some similar types of things on it but not my figures. Sorry to take your time.I know that this is outside your stated scope of football cards but any help you can give would be appreciated...Rod, June 2006 (Newy suggests that these came with Quaker Oats. Does anyone know? If so, please email me.) |
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I recently managed to obtain the 16 busts from the Joe Mercer Cleveland Petrol collection for the 1971 soccer squad. I used to have this collection as a kid, but it unfortunately disappeared many years ago. I wasn’t able to get the base for these figures though, so I’m going to try and make a replica out of wood. I noticed on your website that you have a good picture that appears to identify a section of the locations for each bust with the players names. Would it be possible to get a detailed picture of the whole base so I can see the location for each bust, or if not a picture, then a list of the order the busts go in? As far as I can tell, it was 11 players on the top row and five on the bottom...Peter, Canada, June 2006 |
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Do you know who played in the No. 15 shirt in the 1974 Scotland World Cup squad? I own this shirt as my Dad bought it for me as a young boy at a Glasgow Hilton Hotel dinner dance auction. I’m trying to find out who played in it...Peter, June 2006 (Solved!!! The owner has confirmed that it was Peter Cormack, then playing for Liverpool. Interestingly Cormack was named in the Scotland squad but didn't get to play in any of their World Cup games - Nigel) |
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I've just purchased a selection of Purple back cards, and noticed that one of the cards namely Jimmy Robertson (Ipswich) is number 69, your list has him at number 8. I was wondering if there is an error on the list, or is my card a fake?...Dave, May 2006 (Turns out Dave has bought some cards from the 1971/72 A&BC Scottish set, which includes Robertson as card 69 ....Nigel) |
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That A&BC gum was tough old stuff wasn’t it. The coin sets, the cards – it all comes back. Is there any mention of the Soccer Action Replay Letraset Action Transfer series on your site? I have one I carried around for years featuring Arsenal beating Liverpool in 1971 – it has George Best on the front and my wife was able to get his autograph on it when he went into her shop a few years back! Strangely enough, I seem to have applied the transfers in a way which defies all known rules of perspective. Though I was around 7 at the time.....Luke, April 2006 |
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What great work! Bizarrely, almost all of the WBA 1970/71 orangebacks have been photographed at Stamford Bridge....Peter, April 2006 (Does anyone else recognise the setting for any of the other photo shoots? ....Nigel) |
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Regarding the Esso 73/74 Top team Collection: The packets the discs came in that you feature, had details of a world cup competition inside. I, believe it or not, won one of the prizes that took you over to Germany for a week to watch 4 matches of the 1974 World Cup. I vaguely remember, 1st prize was 50 winners to go to Germany (25 for the 1st week, 25 for the 2nd week), 2nd prize was a Pony trekking week somewhere in England, & 3rd prize was some rather fetching sports watches!! (which, I recollect is why I entered). I went over, with my Dad (I was 13), for the second week, and saw Scotland v Brazil, Scotland v Yugoslavia, Holland v Bulgaria (I think !!) & Italy v Argentina. Staying in rather a posh hotel for the week in Frankfurt. My Dad never moaned at having to buy his petrol in an Esso garage again. I suppose I should get to my point, and say that to win you had to cut out the faces inside the wrappers and stick on an entry form the 11 players from the 24 in the collection that you thought could win a World cup, & it had to match the judges team......Mark, April 2006 (What a fantastic story, many thanks for sending it in ....Nigel) |
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I am 55 tomorrow and used to collect the A&BC gum cards as a kid, all varieties including 92 footballers 1958, airplanes around the same time, flags of the world from 1958 again and most sorts including cricketers. I can remember around 1978 sending to Murray Cards of Hendon who had a cigarette and gum card business and buying Nos 1-46 of the 1958 footballers set for £1.....Pete, February 2006 |
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The cards (Nabisco, Footballers, 1968/69) were definitely single cards, unwrapped, just slipped in between the wrapped Shredded Wheats. Trouble was, you looked like a bloody Shredded Wheat by the time you collected the set !!!!.....Mark, April 2006 |
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I took another look at your website, and noted with interest your comment about the free transfers in A&BC Orange Backs, Series 3. I thought to myself.. yes, I remember those. Then it came to me in a flash. I still have some! I remembered a little box full of my little treasured things from when I was 10. I’ve kept it all this time, and sure enough, a big wad of transfers. Nearly all perfect.....Dave, February 2006 (Envy ....Nigel) |
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I must admit to having seen Pepys International Football Whist and It's a Goal when I played with them in the late forties. I think they were about 2/6 (15p) when my parents bought them for me. Unfortunately, I can't remember what happened to my original sets but the appreciation is significant over 60 years.....Michael, February 2006 |
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2005 |
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The first football season I followed was 1970-71 when I was seven and I loved seeing those orange back cards again - the memories evoked were so vivid I swear I could smell the gum from the packet they came in!! I'd forgotten about the jam jar lids - I think I had the lot, but I know for certain I had all of the tiny squelcher booklets. It prompted me to call my mother and ask what the Hell she did with them all!!!...Andy, November 2005 |
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Thank you for having the Typhoo Tea card of George Best on your webspace on this sad night. This was the first time I remember seeing him [I was nine] and little did we know then of the glory to come for Man Utd. thanks to him....John, November 2005 |
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I am collecting information on motor neurone disease and have found a connection to football players. I would like to know if pulsed electromagnetic treatment of any kind was used to heal football players injuries?... November 2005 (Can anyone help with this one? If so, please use the email link at the top of the page - Nigel) |
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First can I say what a great web site, it has brought so many good memories from my childhood, and now I've started to collect again....Peter, November 2005 |
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Just a quick word on the Thomson, stand up footballers. They were issued from 1965 onwards, the first sheets were in the Victor Jan 65 issues and consisted of 8 players, sheet 2 also had 8 players, sheet 3 had just 4 players. October 65 in the Hotspur they issued 2 sheets of 5 players each. February 68 Victor again and they issued two sheets of nine players...Gary, November 2005 |
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Just wanted to congratulate you on a great website, I collect soccer cards and its been a big help to me. I have taken advantage of your set checklist's and your team checklist's, its so helpful....Ray, November 2005 |
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Really good site but am very very sorry to see that John Charles died so young in 2002. I didn't know this until discovering your site. I have his autograph upstairs on the same piece of card as Bobby Moore, Frank Lampard and Harry Rednapp. My uncle had his wedding reception in the back room of the Black Lion, the pub where the team used to have a beer after a game hence I got to meet them there in absolute awe as I was only 12 at the time...Andy, November 2005 |
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I particularly remember a series of footballer cards, in colour, probably from A&BC from the early 1960's. My parents would not let me eat bubblegum, but I used to buy it, give the gum away and keep the cards. This meant though that I didn't have as many cards as most of my friends... Michael, October 2005 |
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Re Esso World Cup coins. Did you know that they produced two Bobby Moore coins. One with O.B.E and another with C.B.E.?... Robert, September 2005 |
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69/70 A&BC Green Backs. Carlin and McKay (Derby County) both wearing Millwall shirts…Apparently Derby forgot their strip and Millwall gave them a second strip. Trivia, but fun... Mark, September 2005 (click to view - Nigel) |
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Thanks for the information on the purple backs. One of very few A&BC sets with many Wolves players in it, which is a bit of a surprise to me. Wolves had a very good side in the early 70´s but that only reflects in the orange back and purple back series. The 1973/74 and 1974/75 sets seem to be completely without Wolves players. Any clue why?... Urban, July 2005 |
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Wow, what a fantastic site. I've recently cleaned out my loft & found untold amounts of "gum cards" & stickers from my youth (great days). I didn't fancy throwing them away (my wife's suggestion -- typical), so decided to try & find a site which could tell me about them. Three disheartening days I tried & the only site anywhere near was ebay. Then, I don't know how, I stumbled across your site & all my questions were answered. Thank you... Simon, July 2005 |
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I have a completed book of the Americana Munchen series. When they were published, I was living at my grandmother’s house because there had been a fire at our family home. The newsagent opposite her house must have had trouble selling this cheap and unattractive series (compared to the hugely popular FKS paper cards), and around Christmas time 1973, my grandmother bargained with the newsagent to sell her his complete stock for a knock down price. Even then, I remember that I still had to send off to this obscure company for about a dozen stickers to complete the album!... Alan, May 2005 |
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I have attached a picture of a particular album that is on your website. My father played for Red Star Belgrade from 1973-1979, and I am curious to know if my father is pictured in this particular album, since I already know that Red Star is indeed depicted in it... Marko, April 2005 (and yes, he was - Nigel) |
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Hi - and thanks for a very interesting site, which brings back a lot of memories. I wondered if you've ever come across a coin minted in error from the Esso 1972 FA Cup Centenary collection, which had the Tottenham crest on one side, but the Everton cup wins on the other side. I've never seen a reference to it on any website?... Rod, April 2005 |
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This site is tops! It's brought back so many memories. I'm forty two year old, and still jarred off cause I never got Pat Rice in my card collection. I'm a Leeds fan and I've lived overseas for a long time so finding this site recently has been great. I've passed it on to a lot of ex pats like me... Keith, March 2005 |
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Saw your website today - this is the only other place I've ever seen the footballers jam jar lids that I keep in an old tin, so nice to know someone else remembers them!... Neil, February 2005 |
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Have just found your site by pure accident and would like to congratulate you on an absolutely superb site. It brings memories flooding back. I see that there are a few cards of Ernie Machin who over the past 20 years has become a very good friend of mine. I will no doubt tell him about your site when I manage to see him... Gary, January 2005 |
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Hi, brilliant site! Had you ever noticed on the Esso World Cup Coins that they got Colin Harvey and Tommy Wright mixed up?... Alan, January 2005 |
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Great site, you have taken me back to my childhood and more importantly into my loft. I have managed to find lots of old things up there... Andy, January 2005 |
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You are correct that 'Reddish Maid' was made at the factory on Newark Rd in Reddish, Stockport, Cheshire. Were you aware that this factory was owned and operated by the Co-operative Society? I used to live about 200m from the factory and when we were children during the long summer break from school, we would all play on the fields that bordered the factory. At tea break and lunch times, some of the workers would sometimes throw handfuls of lollipops and other toffees from the upper windows of the factory to us kids on the fields! I can't remember collecting the football cards though!... John, January 2005 |
2004
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The Esso page was of particular interest to me due to the fact that I had collected all the sets listed. I was also a runner-up in the 73/74 World Cup competition. Instead of heading off to Munich, a group of us from N.Ireland had a week of outdoor pursuits at the Lake District Leisure Pursuits at Bowness-on-Windermere. It was a brilliant week with kids from all over the UK. I would love to find out what sort of a time the main competition winners had and if there are any other LDLP now middle-aged kids reading this. Thanks for a great site... Ken, September 2004 |
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Did you know that the sticker of Derek Statham in the England strip in FKS Soccer 80 is in fact Russell Osman?... Kevin, August 2004 |
