Vintage football shit

[IANdrewDiceClay]

The old toys thread got me quite nostalgic, and reminded me of all sorts of crap that was released to bite off the new generation of Premier League fans when Footy got really commercial back in the early 90s. Anyone remember some of the stuff they used to sell and ultimately we used to buy by the handful?

 

Merlin Premier League 1994 Sticker Album:

All of us had this in school. We all collected the sticker albums every year, but this is the one that sticks out for being the most popular. Everyone wanted Giggsy. He was the aim. He was the sticker that you could only send off for, because they only put about 4 of them in each city. Also, everyone wanted these:

SHINERS! It also was the birth of the joke "do you want a shiner" followed by a pretend punch, which we would all (fake) laugh at.

 

Premier League POGZ~

The Pog craze caught on with the football world as well. These were really expensive at the time, so I wasnt a massive collector. I still remember to this day, everytime I bought a packet, I'd get the same one footballer in the packet all the time. It wasn't Cantona. It wasnt Shearer. It wasnt even Joe Parkinson. It was ...

Brian fucking Roy. Not slagging Brian off, but if you have him about 4 times and he was a centre forward for Liverpool, fair enough. But nobody in the play ground was desperate to swap their last Jurgen Klinsmann for Brian Roy, no matter how well you're sales pitch is.

 

Kenner Sport Star figures:

These were sort of before my time, but I still had them because my brother bought one and my Mam didnt want to make me feel left out, so instead of buying me something with Perfect-Plexing Action, she bought me one of these that didnt move. We had a Neville Southall and a Bryan Robson. Big Nev was awesome to look at, both the man himself and the figure of him. He was a presence. He was still playing long into the Premier League era as well.

 

Corinthian Bobbleheads:

The natural progression for the Kenner figures. These were brilliant. I had so many of them and collected them for years. Especially when Euro 96 was upon us. Corinthians had every England player than played around that period on the market kitted up in the 3 lions. The line is still going strong to this day I believe. If you collected enough tokens on the backs of them you could get a free one of your choice. I went for a figure that I'd searched for forever:

They sent me Gary Alblett. Gary Ablett wasnt just a free figure. It was a labour of love. It was a struggle to find Ablett anywhere in Sunderland town centre and even more useless trying to cherry pick him from a random packet behind a newsagents counter. I still have Ablett now. It wouldnt do it justice to explain why there was such a hunt for him, but he was a big favourite of mine at the time. I dont even know how it started. As a 9 year old, Gary Ablett appealed to me for some reason, so to get his bobblehead after such a long hunt was a day I still remember.

 

What did you lot remember?

[air_raid]

Those Sportstars, every lad at my school had loads of those. I was quite jealous for not having any, but that was because I'd spent all my money on Transformers or later WWF figures. Well, I say I didn't have any but I had a couple, although the only ones I remember was Lineker (England) which was a decent one, and Lineker and Paul Stewart (Spurs) which were basically the same figure with different heads on, both making that strange martial arts style shot that Beardo and Rushy are making in Ian's pic up there.

 

You missed the king, mind. These bad boys :

 

 

I mean, to truly admire the depth of knowledge we gleaned from Pro Sets, check out this bio of Paul "Terrier" Walsh :

 

 

Hours of learning, and hours of fun huddled around in groups to the relentless babble of "got, got, got, NEED!, got, got, NEED!, got, got" etc.

 

I miss being a kid and having enough money to waste, even on pocket money rates, to support several addictions. My habits these days are so fucking expensive in comparison.

[Richie Freebird]

What a brilliant mullet. I hope I

[Dil|kid]

Along with the Pro Set cards I collected and still own loads of Shooting Stars cards

 

 

The pride of my card collection is the complete set of USA 94 cards I have, mine are in crap condition but Ive managed to keep hold of them for over 15 years tied together with an elastic band

 

 

I had a few of those Sport Stars figures including Nigel Spink for Villa and a random German goalkeeper (Bauman?)

 

Back in the day if I wasnt buying football cards/stickers Id be buying Match, Shoot or 90 minutes magazine. And later Match of the Day mag before it turned into a kids mag.

 

 

Ive got loads of random stuff collected over the years like those shields that were given away with wotsits during the 98 world cup.

 

One thing that I wish I still had were the sticker albums that match magazine produce and had stickers to collect every week, about 93-94 and introduced me to world players Id never heard of.

[PowerButchi]

The second you become a man is when you start buying Four Four Two and WSC instead of Match and Shoot.

[KFR42]

Premier League POGZ~

The Pog craze caught on with the football world as well. These were really expensive at the time, so I wasnt a massive collector. I still remember to this day, everytime I bought a packet, I'd get the same one footballer in the packet all the time. It wasn't Cantona. It wasnt Shearer. It wasnt even Joe Parkinson. It was ...

Brian fucking Roy. Not slagging Brian off, but if you have him about 4 times and he was a centre forward for Liverpool, fair enough. But nobody in the play ground was desperate to swap their last Jurgen Klinsmann for Brian Roy, no matter how well you're sales pitch is.

 

Ah, Magicaps, I remember those. In fact I've still got a bagful at home. I remember there was only one other person I knew collecting them. I was just about to give up on em when suddenly several new slammers started appearing in the packets. Originally it was just red or blue. Sometimes plain silver logo , some times holographic silver. And then suddenly one day....purple!

 

I also remember the merlin football marbles too:

 

[JNLister]

I've got a complete set of the 1990 Esso World Cup Coins collection:

 

 

Just discovered they go for

[Craig The Hunter]

The Scottish Panini sticker album getting bought and traded in the school playground every year. Getting a Brian Laudrup shiny in about 1994 was a major highlight of my childhood!

 

I also loved Subbuteo. I still have all my old teams (complete with little short arse players that had been melted back together when they got broken) up the stairs in my"study". My USA '94 limited edition is a personal favourite.

 

Played Subbuteo constantly growing up, we used to have school wide tournaments on the last day of term!

 

[PowerButchi]

I've got this which I picked up from a Car booty in Penycae about 15 or more years back for 10p or so.

 

 

It's got a writeup on Steve Heighway, some steeplechaser and a story when Melchester go to America and they get kept up all night and play poorly the other day.

 

Football hasn't changed much since 1973 really, has it?

[Rule One]

The second you become a man is when you start buying Four Four Two and WSC instead of Match and Shoot.

 

QFT

 

I remember winning a football set out of FFT in 1998, was really chuffed and it saved me the

[NEWM]

I vividly remember that Spice Girls footy mag because actual Watford fan Geri said she loved SuperKev, and was gutted he had left to come to us. Good eye for player, was Ginger Spice.

 

Sitting safely in a box in my loft is a completed one of these:

 

 

Before Mrs NEWM eventually gets up the spout, this is my legacy.

[Halitosis Romantic]

Merlin Premier League 1994 Sticker Album:

All of us had this in school. We all collected the sticker albums every year, but this is the one that sticks out for being the most popular. Everyone wanted Giggsy. He was the aim. He was the sticker that you could only send off for, because they only put about 4 of them in each city. Also, everyone wanted these:

SHINERS! It also was the birth of the joke "do you want a shiner" followed by a pretend punch, which we would all (fake) laugh at

 

Ian, do a pic of the ones to watch page, or whatever they called it - some wonderful pre-stardom pics of Adie Mike

 

EDIT - just went to check out Adie's wiki, and it appears that

 

{Persondata | NAME = Mike, Adie | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH = 16 November 1973 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Manchester, England | DATE OF DEATH =24 September 2011 | PLACE OF DEATH = Moss Side (Gangbanging incident)

 

He was ganbanged to death on Saturday, or else was killed in some other gangbanging-related fashion.

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

used to collect the premier league stickers every year, never completed a damn album

 

loved the corinthian figures, still have my andrei kanchelskis figure from 95/96 in the everton home kit. remember getting ones of luis enique, figo and ivan de la pena from the barcelona club shop in 97

 

the pogs i didnt have many of, had more wwf and cartoon ones

 

loved getting the footie mags back in the day, the only one i buy now is the official everton one as i find fft a rip off at

[PowerButchi]

Ian, do a pic of the ones to watch page, or whatever they called it - some wonderful pre-stardom pics of Adie Mike

 

EDIT - just went to check out Adie's wiki, and it appears that

 

{Persondata | NAME = Mike, Adie | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH = 16 November 1973 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Manchester, England | DATE OF DEATH =24 September 2011 | PLACE OF DEATH = Moss Side (Gangbanging incident)

 

He was ganbanged to death on Saturday, or else was killed in some other gangbanging-related fashion.

 

God. Bummed to death! I can't imagine a worse way to go.

[air_raid]

God. Bummed to death!

 

This instantly made me think of....

 

 

"Poor Eddie! Raped to death! Raped to death and then cast aside like some soggy tissue..... Good! I hope they ruddy well hurt you up the garden path area! You little shit!"