Barratt & Co.
Famous Footballers (Series A.13)

Famous Footballers (Series A.13). A series of 50 attractively coloured sweet cigarette cards, issued by Barratt & Co Ltd, London. Cards printed in England.

Number in set: 50
Gallery: N/A
Checklist sorted by card number: Set
Checklist sorted by team: Set

Reddish Maid Confections
International Footballers of Today

A set of 25 cigarette card size coloured drawings. Since Reddish Maid was a confectionery company I'm going to assume that these were given away in packets of sweet cigarettes, but I can't confirm this or tell you the name of the cigarettes.

Number in set: 25
Gallery: Set gallery
Checklist sorted by card number: Set
Checklist sorted by team: Set

D. C. Thomson
Stand up footballers

In the period from 1965 to 1976 D.C. Thomson issued a number of different stand-up footballers in the Hotspur and Victor comics. The footballers came in sheets, complete with their name on a separate base. The first stand-ups were issued with issues of the Victor comic in January 1965. Sheet 1 had eight players, Sheet 2 had eight players, while Sheet 3 had only four.

In October 1965 the Hotspur issued two sheets of five players each. The Victor issued two sheets of nine players each in February 1968. I assume that there were a few more issues too, though I'm not exactly sure of the details. Can you help?

A number of sizes were produced over the period, including 80, 90, 100 and 105mm tall. The full sheets with the footballers still intact are very rare. The individual footballers are sought by collectors, preferably with their accompanying bases.

The George Eastham stand-up pictured is from the Victor comic in 1968.The sheet displayed at right is from the Hotspur in 1970/71, and is named 'Stoppers' since it includes goalkeepers and defenders. It can be dated from John Holsgrove in Wolves colours. Holsgrove was transferred to Sheffield Wednesday in June 1971.

Martin recently advised of a Victor comic dated October 1976 with a sheet of 12 footballers.

Top Cup Teams

The Hornet comic commenced on 14 September 1963, and was merged with The Hotspur in February 1975. Starting in January 1966 the comic began the give-away of a set of cards called Top Cup Teams. The first issue included the wallet and four of the cards (Brazil, Celtic, Wales and West Ham United). Subsequent issues provided the later cards, for example, England, Real Madrid, Scotland and Manchester United were given away with issue 125.

Number in set: 12
Gallery: Set gallery (including player names)
Checklist: Set

Ty-Phoo
Famous Football Clubs, 2nd series

A second series of the packet clubs, with the offer of the premium issues As with Series 1 the club photos on the packets are different from the 10 x 8's, though the Stoke City photos are eerily similar (it looks like the same team photo taken on the same day from a different angle).

Number in set: 24
Gallery: Set gallery
Checklists: Set checklist

Famous Football Clubs, 2nd series, Premium

Number in set: 24
Gallery: Set gallery
Checklists: Set checklist