Just One More Pack: Remembering the Sticker Album

The sticker album is a bygone trend, replaced by those flashy cardboard numbers which don't quite compare. But at a certain age they were the next best thing to Pokemon and Sunny Delight.

Flicking through the 02/03 edition which I managed to complete, the 'kits section' and all, never gets tiring. From Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's beaming smile to wondering what an earth happened to the likes of Liverpool's Igor Biscan.

Tough decisions had to be made. You'd reach the newsagents still undecided on whether to spend £2 on jawbreakers or as many packs of stickers as you could afford. Usually it was the stickers and there was always that initial disappointment when you got a 'spare'.

But this would always be undone if you were to acquire a new 'shiny'. Whilst most of the players made into a 'shiny' for the 02/03 album warrant their place, Gerrard at Liverpool, Beckham at Man United, one has to wonder how soon it was before Lee Hendrie went so spectacularly off the rails having being given such acclaimed 'shiny' status - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21790728

The album's were informative - goalscoring charts, all-time F.A Premier League records in the middle section of the album and even the contact number for each club. It was money well spent and an extremely addictive habit once you found yourself needing just Tugay to complete the Blackburn squad.

So who was where in the 02/03 season? Kevin Keegan looks rather frustrated to be in charge of Man City - if only he'd hung around. Man United are yet to realise that Luke Chadwick won't cut the mustard and in his picture portrait West Ham's Tomas Repka looks as if he just served a five year prison sentence. Francis Jeffers looks as awkward as he should be, considering he is sandwiched between Bergkamp, Henry and Wiltord.

At the back are the advertisements for the 'Swap Shop', also known as the 'Cheat Shop' for those who couldn't complete their album through sheer persistence. But it just goes to show how popular the albums were - shops ran in Belfast, Manchester, Leeds and even at Stamford Bridge in London. For that particular year Ian Rush even decided to make some easy money and appear at every 'Swap Shop' for a 'penalty shoot-out competition'.

I'm as proud as you can be of a sticker album that I didn't need the assistance of a 'Swap Shop'. Though it's alarming to think how much one has to spent to complete an entire album. It was in the primary school playground that I got my final elusive sticker. The Birmingham home kit, sponsored by Phones 4u for those interested.

The best part is looking back a decade later. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but one has to wonder how then Villa manager Graham Taylor was anywhere near a job just ten years ago. Remembering the forgotten gems - the successful ones and the dismal failures. Bolton's Jay-Jay Okocha, Middlesbrough's Juninho and Newcastle's Nobby Solano. Then there was Southampton's Agustin Delgado, Fulham's Junichi Inamoto and the forgettable Li Tie of Everton...

And what has happened to all the strange and amusing names? Middlesbrough had them in abundance - Joseph-Desire Job, Ugo Ehiogu, Massimo Maccarone, Szilard Nemeth; Colin Cooper added some normality.

There were always a number of entertaining 'couples' in the sticker albums too. As if the makers knew what they were doing when they had Thomas Gravesen and Duncan Ferguson opposite each other, both looking ready to kill. Stephane Henchoz and Sami Hypia look like twins and Richard Dunne can't seem to contain his excitement at how strongly his partner Steve Howey resembles Ray Winestone.

Sticker albums ruled our football childhoods once upon a time, but they are still enjoyable to flick through even now. Go dig yours out from under the bed.