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

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Season 1978/79. The battle between Panini and FKS builds, with both companies producing a variety for the buying public. FKS try to show how long they have already been in the market with the release of the popular Golden Collection. Topps produced another attractive set, but the cards look doomed to be beaten by the stickers.
AVA Americana
Football Special 79. An attractive set of cards produced for the 1978/79 season including First Division line-ups, Second Division Teams, The International Scene and National Squads (4 cards each to make up a composite picture of the England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland squads).

The album gives very little away about the manufacturer, suggesting that extra cards can be purchased from:
Football Special 79,
Americana Picture Service
Kings Avenue House,
New Maldon, Surrey

The album was printed in Italy.

Set size: 384.
Album price: 10p

The image below is a shop poster used to advertise the cards:

Bassetts
Football. A set of 50 cards depicting English and Scottish players.

Set size: 50.

FKS Publishers
Argentina 78. Another FKS World Cup special. This one appears to have been produced for the general European, as well as English,market. FKS have learnt from their errors and now publish the biographies under the sticker spaces, so that you can still read it once the sticker is stuck in!

Set size: 300.
Packet: Click for
FKS packets gallery.
Teams:
(Qualified) - Argentina, Brazil, Deutshland (West Germany), Espana (Spain), France, Iran, Italia, Magyarorszag (Hungary), Mexico, Nederland (Holland), Österreich (Austria), Peru, Polska, Scotland, Sverige, Tunisie.
(Not qualified) - Belgique, Danmark, England, Ireland, Wales.
Album: Price 10p. Click for
FKS album gallery.

Soccer Stars 78/79 Golden Collection. One of the rarer FKS sets. This collection included, for the first time, the Scottish Premier Division as well as the English First, and various team photographs.

Set size: 448.
Packet: 5 stickers per packet. Click for
FKS packets gallery.
Teams:
Arsenal, Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Bolton Wanderers, Bristol City, Chelsea, Coventry City, Derby County, Everton, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Queen's Park Rangers, Tottenham Hotspur, West Bromwich Albion, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee United, Hearts, Hibernian, Morton, Motherwell, Partick Thistle, Rangers, St. Mirren.
Album: Price 15p. Click for
FKS album gallery.

Panini
Argentina 78.

The album cover is shown.

Set size: 400.

Euro Football 79.

Set size: 400

 
Football 79. The second Panini production for the U.K. and Eire. Somehow Panini had managed to do a deal with the Football League, and proudly announced in the album that the collection was 'the only one to be approved by the Football League'. The album states that information in the album was 'compiled up to date on 30 September 1978'.

The collection was again distributed by Minicards Ltd, of Regina House, Queen Street, London, as sole U.K. and Eire distributors of Figurine Panini. The self-adhesive stickers came in packets costing 5p each.

The album was printed in Italy.

Set size: 594.

The Sun
Soccercards. A massive set produced by the Sun newspaper for no apparent reason. This was their first football cards production for 6 years, and it was another 8 years after this one before they tried again.

The set includes 1,000 "full colour drawings" of players, flags and trophies. Presumably they were unable to obtain the rights to the player photos so they commissioned an artist to draw the pictures. A typically neat way of avoiding the payment of image rights.

The cards were available in packs of 50. The information printed on the cards was correct as at November 1978. The fixtures printed in the albums was correct up until 16 December 1978.

The set is divided into a number of categories:
Cards 1 - 200 International stars
Cards 201 - 350 All time greats
Cards 351 - 546 Defenders
Cards 547 - 742 Midfielders
Cards 743 - 938 Strikers
Cards 939 - 988 Flags of soccer nations
Cards 989 - 1000 Major football trophies

Four albums were available for the set, though they had unnumbered spaces, and not enough for 1,000 cards (each album has 150 spaces). Apparently you decided what you wanted to stick into each album.

The albums were named:
No 1 - Soccer Souvenir Album
No 2 - My Gallery of League Stars
No 3 - Gallery of Superstars
No 4 - Gallery on International Soccer

Set size: 1000 cards.

Checklists: Set checklist, Team checklist

Topps Chewing Gum
Footballers (Orange backs). A set comprising individual footballers from the First and Second Divisions. One section of cards (Nos. 135 to 149) includes Topps All Stars. Cards 336 to 346 provide a brief history of the World Cup.  The cards have '© 1978 Topps Chewing Gum Inc.' printed on the back.

Set size: 396
Checklist cards: 96, 219, 303

Waddington
Top Trumps - British Soccer Stars. A set of 32 cards in a plastic box with cover cards and rules.

Set size: 32

 
Top Trumps - British Strikers. A set of 32 cards in a plastic box with cover cards and rules.

Set size: 32

 
Top Trumps - International Greats. A set of 32 cards in a plastic box with cover cards and rules.

Set size: 32

 
Top Trumps - World Cup '78. A set of 32 cards in a plastic box with cover cards and rules.

Set size: 32

 

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