Tales of Premier League sticker collection from two people who completed 1990s albums
Does this bring back memories?
A classic Premier League tradition has been the collecting of football stickers – with swaps, shinies and completed teams all part of the fun.
But did you ever know anybody who actually completed an entire album?
Well some people managed the tricky feat, including Gabby Miller and Matt Elms – these are their stickers and the stories of their collections.
Gabby Miller
Completed the 1995 album, and came close with albums in 1996, 1998 and 1999
“Leicester City had been promoted to the Premier League via the play-off finals the previous year (1993/94) and I was just starting to take a real interest in football.”
“Given that Leicester were in the Premier League in the 1994/95 season, and it was the first album I’d done, I was determined to finish it. Also, these 3D glasses came with the album that worked on some stickers, which was cool.”
“The album has lost its cover now, probably from overuse, but I’ve still managed to keep it nearly in one piece other than that!” said Gabby.
“I clearly learnt from the mistake of losing my cover in 1995 though, as my 1998 album has got a proper hardback folder around it, so I can’t have been the only person to suffer that problem.”
“So if anyone needs to complete their sticker albums circa 1995 to 1999 you know where to come!”
Matt Elms
Completed six albums from 1994 to 1999
“I remember them being 25p a packet and every Saturday morning my Dad would take me to the local newsagents and I’d buy six packets.
“I’d open them whilst watching Saturday morning TV, excited at the prospect of getting some more shinies – they were the ones everyone wanted.”
“School lunch time was when most of the swap business would take place,” said Matt. “We’d all be there, me with my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles bum bag. Inside were my swaps and a hand-written list of all of the numbers that I needed.
“I remember one of the dinner ladies used to bring her son’s stickers in to swap. I loved swapping with her as she always swapped one for one – the correct way in my eyes!”
“When the albums had been out a while, Merlin used to provide the option of buying the remaining few that you needed,” he said.
