Nigel's Webspace - Galleries of English Football Cards 1965/66 - 1979/80

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Season 1969/70. Quantity as well as quality. A number of firms jump on the football cards and memorabilia bandwagon. Magazines, newspapers and comics beef up their efforts and the marketplace gets fabulously congested. So many things to collect...
A&BC Gum
Footballers - Green backs. Another popular A&BC set. The backs included a Football Facts quiz. Series 1 comprises cards 1 to 64, Series 2 cards 65 to 117 and Series 3 cards 117 to 170. The 3 checklist cards are unnumbered. Two players (Lawrence and Woodfield) have card number 117.

Set size: 174 (171 cards, plus 3 checklists).
Variants: Cards 29, 54, 117, 125, 132, 145, 151 and checklist 2.
Teams: Arsenal, Burnley, Chelsea, Coventry City, Derby County, Everton, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Leicester City, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Stoke City, Sunderland, Tottenham Hotspur, West Bromwich Albion, West Ham United, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Checklists.

Checklists: Series 1 (1-64), Series 2 (65-117), Series 3 (117-170), Team checklist.

Crinkle-cut photographs. Attractive black and white photograph cards with a crinkle-cut edge. Numbers 1 to 18 were issued with Series 2 of the Green Backs. Numbers 19 to 36 were issued with Series 3.

Set size: 36.

Checklists: Series 1 (1-18), Series 2 (19-36), Team checklist.

World Cup Posters. A super set of posters. You bought the posters through buying the bubble gum packets (6d each). The player photographs (see below) came for free with the posters.

Set size: 16. Click for set gallery.

Checklists: Set checklist.

World Cup Footballers. Super attractive cards for the 1970 England World Cup Squad. Available in two forms - with or without an embossed Jules Rimet trophy. These cards were issued with the World Cup Posters above.

Set size: 37. Click for set gallery.

Checklists: Set checklist, Team checklist.

Anglo Confectionery
Football Quiz. Each card has Quiz questions on the back, with the answers available on the following card. The interesting thing about this set is the variety of players and clubs featured, not just the elite club players but inclusions from Bury, Chester, Darlington, Lincoln City, Port Vale, Southport, York City, to name but a few...

Set size: 84. Click for set gallery.

National Team Colours. A rare set of 56 attractive cards. Each card states 'Colours of national teams shown in this series are colours officially registered with F.I.F.A. - Federation Internationale de Football Association, the governing body of World Football.
It must be remembered that national sides wear, on occasions, alternative colours and also that some countries may have registered new colours since the publication of this series'.

I'm not sure who selected the 56 teams, but there are some strange choices. For example, Congo Kinshasa, Basutoland and Sierra Leone are featured while the likes of Czechoslovakia, Portugal, Bulgaria and Wales are not.

Set size: 56. Click for set gallery.

B.A.B. Products
World Cup Footballers. Round stickers with the player's head, name and team name. Plain white backs. This set includes English players with their team name, and non-English international players with their country name e.g. Riva - Italy. So, perhaps this was two sets? The set clearly targets the 1970 world cup so was produced perhaps just before, say March 1970? It includes players like Joe Royle who were non-travelling squad reserves.

Set size: 42 (perhaps, not really sure).

Team shields (rounded sides). This set is printed with white backs, with 'FasPrint', Fasson, Leiden, Holland discernible on the backing paper. The shield designs are different from the straight-sided sets. The set comprises the 44 teams in Divisions One and Two in 1969/70, plus the promoted teams from Division 3 from 1969/70 (Orient and Luton), plus Fulham promoted team from Division 3 from 1970/71 (Preston being already included from 1969/70), plus the Celtic and Rangers from Scotland, plus the four home international sides: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This suggests that the set was originally issues to coincide with the 1969/70 season, then refreshed in 1970/71 and again in 1971/72. This would be consistent with the general view that BAB liked to keep 'topping up' a series over a number of years.

There are a number of colour variations in these stickers. I am not sure whether these are re-issues or printing issues.

Set size: 53. Click here for an incomplete set gallery.

Click for set checklist.
Coffer
Postcards. A set of postcards produced by Coffer of London. The postcards are numbered P/XXX. The lowest number that I have is 105, and the highest is number 145.

I've dated this set based on the terms i.e. Martin Peters (P126) is recorded as West Ham, and Jimmy Greaves (P111) is recorded as Tottenham. The two swapped clubs as part of a deal in March 1970.

Set size: 48? (not sure). Click here for an incomplete set gallery.


Daily Mail newspaper
World Cup Wallchart. In anticipation of the Mexico 70 World Cup the Daily Mail produced a large colour World Cup Wallchart. The wallchart has spaces for the 22 members of the England squad. Each space on the wallchart notes that 'The coupon for this colour picture & biography will appear in the Daily Mail from April 6th. The set of stickers for the wallchart, available as a single sheet of glue-backed stickers, actually comprises 28 stickers, the sheet noting that 'These 28 players are the travelling party for Mexico named by Sir Alf Ramsey on March 25th. His final squad of 22 will be announced eight days before the May 31 World Cup kickoff". Each sticker has 'Daily Mail World Cup Souvenir' printed, plus a player biography.

Set size: 28. Click here for set gallery.


Daily Sketch newspaper
World Cup Souvenir. The World Cup Souvenir Cards were produced to acknowledge 'England World Cup candidates plus international stars of world renown'. The cards were obtained by cutting out coupons which appeared in the Daily Sketch. You needed to collect 5 coupons then send them to the newspaper who sent you 5 cards (as a strip of 5). The first coupons appeared in the newspaper dated 23 February 1970.

The cards were designed to be cut out from their strip of 5 and stuck individually into the Mexico 1970 World Cup Souvenir Album, which cost 1/3 at the time. Some cards therefore appear on the market in strips, while most appear singularly.

Set size: 40.

Checklists: Set checklist or Team checklist.

World Cup Transfers. These transfers were issued as two sheets, each of 14. They were often cut into single transfers and stuck onto school books.

I'm not sure how you got them or much more about them. Do you know?

Set size: 28. Click for set gallery.

Checklists: Set checklist or Team checklist.

Esso
World Cup Coin Collection. In 1970 Esso commissioned 30 coins depicting the England squad for the World Cup. The coins are made of solid metal, and were wrapped for distribution through petrol stations. You were given a coin each time you bought four gallons of petrol, or two coins if you bought eight.

Two options were available for storing and displaying the coins. The free red card provided 30 slots to hold the coins. The blue mounting board could be bought from Esso petrol stations for 2/6. The board was made of thick card and the coins pressed into holes.

There is a special, very rare, set of these coins made of solid bronze by the Franklin Mint for presentation by the Esso Petroleum Company Ltd. These coins come in a blue presentation folder (see picture).

Rarer still there is also a Sterling Silver set by Franklin Mint, presented to the players featured in the set (I think). Each of these sets has the player name embossed on the front of the presentation folder.

A special gallery of these coins is available below, including special statistics of the appearances and goals of each of the squad members at the World Cup.

Set size: 30. Click to see set gallery.

Checklists: Set checklist, Team checklist.


FKS Publishers
The Wonderful World of Soccer Stars in Action. Similar to the previous year's album, except that the player biographies are no longer printed on the backs of the cards. The now familiar phrase 'A full biography of this player will be found in the appropriate space in the album' first appeared.

Set size: 330. Checklists: Set checklist
Packet: 7 stickers for 6d.
Click for FKS packets gallery.
Teams: Arsenal, Burnley, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Derby County, Everton, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Stoke City, Sunderland, Tottenham Hotspur, West Bromwich Albion, West Ham United, Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Album: Price 2s 6d.
Click for FKS album gallery.

IPC Magazines
Shoot stand-up figures. Bobby Moore was the central figure when Shoot Magazine was released on 16 August 1969. The magazine used the phrase 'Bobby Moore writes for you...'.

In it's fourth edition (dated 6 September 1969) Shoot gave away a 'super stand-up colour figure of Bobby Moore - the player of players'. Inside the magazine was a full-page, colour advertisement with a 'sensational offer, exclusive to Shoot readers'. A set of 8 stand-up figures, with an average height of 7", could be purchased for only 3s 9d. This was the first set of 8, followed by three other sets, meaning that there was a total of 32 stand-ups which you could buy, plus the original Bobby Moore.

The second set was available in the Shoot magazine dated 13 September, the third set 25 October and the fourth set some time after that (not sure of the exact date).

Since you had to buy them, these stand-ups are very rare.

Thanks to Jim and Dee for providing the images for this gallery.

Set size: 33. Click here for set image gallery.

My favourite soccer stars (Blue backs). A set of 160 small cards that most boys of the period will remember. They were issued as sets of 32 cards in 5 different comics. The cards came in sheets of 8 per comic, so you had to buy 5 comics for 4 weeks to collect the whole set.

The cards could be mounted in small albums presented free with the comics. Fortunately the mounting was done by slipping the cards into slits by their corners, so the cards should never have been glued. This means that a number of the cards have survived in excellent condition.

The cards featured a number of players from lesser known clubs and lower divisions, so proved quite popular to a wide audience.

The comics were: Buster, Lion, Scorcher, Smash and Tiger.

The publication dates were: February 7, 14, 21 and 28, 1970.

Scorcher comic only commenced publication on 10 January 1970, so this was obviously a vehicle to promote the new comic.

Smash had begun in 1966, but didn't last much past these cards, ending in 1971.

Set size: 160 (32 x 5).


Monty Gum
International Football Teams. A set produced for the international market which includes 11 English teams. I'm showing a scan of the packet which they came in plus one card. The back of the packet is all written in Dutch, so its all foreign to me. However, I suspect that it says that the backs of all of the cards make up a 4-colour poster of Benfica

Set size: 72. Click for Set checklist of Team checklist.

Nabisco
Footballers. A set of 24 cards, though I'm not sure how you collected them. There are two varieties of these cards, perhaps representing an initial print run and a reprint. One set has 'Nabisco Foods, Welwyn Garden City, Herts' on the back, while the other has 'Nabisco Foods Ltd., Welwyn Garden City, Herts'.

Set size: 24

Panini
Mexico 1970. The Mexico 1970 production marked Panini's first international edition, and therefore their entry into the English football card market. This is a very high quality set of cards in an excellent album. It is very collectable, and therefore both album and cards fetch high prices.

Subsequent to this production Panini produced cards for the U.K. market under the name 'Top Sellers', until 1977 when they returned as Panini. See the separate Top Sellers page for details.

The set comprises a combination of stickers and cards. The stickers are self-adhesive, with a peel-off back. The cards are designed to be glued into the album. If you collect the stickers it is therefore ideal to collect them with their backing paper. If you collect the cards it is best to collect them in 'never been stuck in an album' condition.

The album and cards were printed in Italy by Edizioni Panini, Modena. They were distributed in England by Thorpe and Porter (Sales) Limited, Melton Road, Thurmaston, Leicester.

The set comprises the following (with galleries available via each link):

Mexico 70 (6 stickers)
World Cup history 1930 - 1966 (8 stickers, 32 cards)

Group 1

Mexico (2 stickers, 15 cards)
Belgium (2 stickers, 12 cards)
El Salvador (2 stickers, 12 cards)
C.C.C.P. / U.S.S.R. (2 stickers, 15 cards)

Group 2

Italy (2 stickers, 15 cards)
Uruguay (2 stickers, 12 cards)
Sweden (2 stickers, 12 cards)
Israel (2 stickers, 12 cards)

Group 3
Brazil (2 stickers, 15 cards)
England (2 stickers, 15 cards)
Czechoslovakia (2 stickers, 12 cards)
Romania (2 stickers, 12 cards)

Group 4
Bulgaria (2 stickers, 12 cards)
Peru (2 stickers, 12 cards)
Morocco (2 stickers, 12 cards)
Germany (2 stickers, 15 cards)

Set size: 288 (42 stickers, 242 cards).

Checklists: Set checklist or Team checklist.



Scott Paper Company
Scotties Famous Football Teams. Scotties were a brand of facial tissues launched by the Scott Paper Company in 1943 to compete with Kleenex. What is a company like this doing producing football cards I hear you ask?

This set of rare cards is labelled 'Series 1', but I'm not aware that a second series was ever produced, which is a pity since they are high quality cards.

Teams: Arsenal, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Tottenham Hotspur, West Bromwich Albion plus 3 others...

Set size: 9


Sugosa
Famous Footballers. Following on from the tremendous sales experienced as a result of the 1966 World Cup and the 'World Cup Willie' sugar lollipops Sugosa designed and wholesaled packs of sweet cigarettes through the UK, which included these Famous Footballers cards.

The soccer cards were supplied by a company who added Sugosa's name to the bottom of the cards, though the name of the production company has been lost over time.

A small set of 12 cards only, now quite rare. Checklist:
1.  Denis Law (Manchester United)
2.  Jimmy Armfield (Blackpool)
3.  Jimmy Greaves (Tottenham Hotspur)
4.  Terry Paine (Southampton)
5.  Ian Callaghan (Liverpool)
6.  Tony Hateley (Chelsea)
7.  George Eastham (Stoke City)
8.  Gordon Banks (Leicester City)
9.  Roger Hunt (Liverpool)
10. Bobby Moore (West Ham United)
11. George Cohen (Fulham)
12. Peter Bonetti (Chelsea)

The Sun Newspaper
Footballers. The Sun's first ever set of football cards, a set of coloured drawings given away, I think, with tokens from the newspaper. The cards obviously came as part of a sheet, though I'm not sure how many per sheet.

Set size: 22.

World Cup 1970 Souvenir Chart. In early 1970 the Sun produced a Souvenir Wallchart (price 1/-) in anticipation of the 1970 Mexico City World Cup.

The chart had spaces for a number of stickers, which you ordered from the Sun. The stickers were:

There appear to be more stickers than there were spaces on the wallchart. For instance, I have 28 different stickers for England's squad, but there are only 22 spaces on the wallchart. Perhaps you collected the 28 from the initial squad, and then only stuck them on the wallchart when the final squad of 22 was announced.

You sent away to the Sun on an application form for each of the different sets. The Sun then posted them to you.


Soccer Calendar 1970 Souvenir Wallchart. The wallchart has spaces for a number of stickers, which you ordered from the Sun. The stickers were:
  • Teams (22 stickers)
  • Club Crests (22 stickers)
  • Captains (22 stickers)

Each special coupon collected from the Sun newspaper entitled you to one sticker, though you had to collect 22 before you could send them away.

As with the World Cup wallchart most of these stickers ended up on the wallcharts, so it is rare to find them in sheets.

Texaco
Famous Footballers. In 1969 Texaco issued a series of coins, which could be placed into a plastic holder. These seem to be quite rare.

Click here to see each individual coin, plus a summary of their English League playing careers.

Set size: 20

D.C. Thomson
The Great Stars of Football 1970. A set of 16 cards in a plastic wallet. I'm not sure which comic these came from.

Set size: 24 (Click here to see image gallery).

Football Favourites, presented with the Victor. A set of 2 posters, each with 8 panels of colour and black and white photos.

No 1 includes Emlyn Hughes, Tommy Lawrence (Liverpool), Bobby Tambling (Chelsea), Brian Kinsey (Charlton), Peter Eustace (Sheff. Wed.), Gordon Banks (Stoke), Terry Hennessey (Notts. For.), Ron Davies (Southampton), Graham Cross (Leicester City), Maurice Setters (Coventry), Francis Lee (Man. City), Len Ashurst (Sunderland), Brian Whitehouse (Orient), Peter Gelson (Brentford), George Jones (Bury), John Hughes (Celtic), Tony Waiters (Blackpool), David Shaw (Huddersfield), Pat Stanton (Hibernian), Bobby Woodruff (Crystal Palace), George Graham (Arsenal), Ken Mulhearn (Man. City), Alan Oakes (Man. City), Henning Jensen, Preben Arentoft, Børge Thorup, Per Bartram (Morton), Rodney Marsh (Q.P.R.), John Cushley (West Ham), Mick Jones (Leeds Utd.), Richard Hale (Watford), Fred Pickering (Birmingham), Dennis Gillespie (Dundee United), John Trollope (Swindon), Ken Wimshurst (Bristol City), Oliver Conmy (Peterborough), Norman Piper (Plymouth), John Toshack (Cardiff), Neil Hague (Rotherham), David Best (Oldham), Maurice Kyle (Oxford), Norbert Lawton (Brighton), Barry Lines (Northampton), James White (Bournemouth), Hugh Curran (Norwich).

No 2 includes Alex Brown (Everton), Denis Law (Man. Utd.), R Moller (Hearts), Alan Ball (Everton), Roger and Ian Morgan (Q.P.R.), Roger Hunt (Liverpool), G Stewart (Dundee), Peter Osgood (Chelsea), John O'Rourke (Ipswich), Bobby Hope (W.B.A.), Gordon Wallace (Raith Rovers), Eddie Presland (Crystal Palace), Phil Parkes (Wolves), Gerry Taylor (Wolves), Peter Rodrigues (Leicester), Lew Chatterley (Aston Villa), Jack Charlton (Leeds), Bobby Moore (West Ham), Bobby Ferguson (West Ham), Sandy Jardine (Rangers), Alan Mullery (Tottenham H.), Bill Bentley (Stoke City), Chris Cattlin (Coventry City), Tony Dunn (Man. Utd.), John Gilchrist and Keith Weller (Millwall), Bobby Gould (Arsenal), Bobby Kellard (Bristol City), Jimmy Blain (Exeter), John Hobson (Barnsley), Peter Bebbington (Barrow), Vic Gomersall (Swansea), Anthony Gregory (Shrewsbury), Ray Dean (Reading), Graham Rusling (Scunthorpe), Ken Hodgson (Colchester), Les O'Neill (Darlington), Keith Jobling (Grimsby), Brian Gibbs (Gillingham), Tom Hallet (Bradford City).

Week-By-Week Record of All Football Leagues, presented with "The Victor". A fascinating booklet with pages for each of the English and Scottish leagues, including league ladders. In the centre of the booklet was a page of stickers with each of the 129 teams. The idea was that you cut out each of the team names, removed the backing paper and stuck them down in the correct place in the league tables.

According to D.C. Thomson there was no need to wet the panels, they stick by themselves! Each week you could unstick the panels, move them and stick them down again. The panels would 'retain their stickiness no matter how often they are moved'. Where has this technology gone?

P.S. I've got one of these, but unfortunately after 30+ years they are no longer able to be unstuck and restuck - pity!

Typhoo Tea
International Football Stars, 2nd series. The cards were able to be cut from the side of the tea packets. The quality of the cards therefore depends a lot on the person who cut them out, since this dictates how much of the packet was included, and how neat the borders will be. Some people cut them out with the accompanying text, while others cut around the picture only.

Click for full image gallery.

Set size: 24

International Football Stars, 2nd series, Colour Pictures. If you collected any 12 of the tea packet cards you could send them away to Typhoo Tea and obtain a 10" x 8" colour photo of your favourite team, 'suitable for framing'. The address for postage was:
Typhoo Tea Ltd.,
REF. "2FS"
Birmingham 5

Set size: 24


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