The Magic of Merlin Premier League Stickers - 90s football memories - That 90's Premier League: Retro Football Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(00:10):
Hello and welcome to episode 14 of that 90s Premier League
podcast. Woody, what are you?
Reading, mate. Oh, hello Jonesy, I am reading.
I am reading a Merlin sticker book my friend.
How are you doing? Good.
Why are you reading that? Oh, I don't know mate, it's
probably just one of the greatest books of all time.

(00:32):
We don't need Harry Potter. We don't need Lord of the Rings,
we just need Merlin. This is what we.
Need delving into Merlin, aren'twe?
Pictures and facts make the world go around.
Me. So I guess this could be one of
the first part of the collectible series, isn't it,
when we're talking about? Yeah, yeah.
I mean, Sabutio took the world by storm, right?

(00:54):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Yeah. So.
We wanted 2 episodes. Get really niche into this attic
collectibles mate. Didn't we for episode 14?
Yes, absolutely. So we're just going to delve
into the world of Merlin. Yeah, looking forward to looking
forward to this one. For those of you that are
listening that probably don't have a sticker album, we aren't
talking about the wizard warlockthat used to support King

(01:18):
Arthur. We are talking about Merlin as
in the brand of sticker album. The greatest sticker album of
all time. Jonesy, right?
Yes, yes, it's what we grew up on it, wasn't it?
I mean, paninis are for tomato, mozzarella and pesto.
Merlin is where it's at. And This is why we've got

(01:39):
today's episode. Josie, tell me very fast before
we go into any about what the pod is about.
What does Merlin mean to you? Brings me back to my childhood.
Yeah, what specifically though? Remember the days of the old
schoolyard where we used to collect a lot?
Yeah, yeah, the God God needs. Just good times and we'll go

(01:59):
into it as well. Like there was a there was a
year when I just kind of kind ofgot into nearly all the million
books because they brought out alot.
So yeah, we'll deep dive into that.
I think my, my kind of my my first kind of memory of stickers
was my school rucksack. It would have my lunch box, my
books for my epis episodes for my lessons, and then a great big

(02:24):
stack of stickers wrapped in a real tight elastic band for
those lunchtime deals. That's it.
That's where my school money, mylunch money used to go.
He didn't go to this, to my lunch.
He went to the newsagent. Habits mate.
It's not it's, it's difficult tobreak.
Hence why we are here talking about nothing but the beauty of
stickers. Absolutely.
All right. What are you wearing anyway?

(02:46):
Well, we have decided to recreate the, would you say the
best front cover of the Sticker album of all time.
So you're holding up the 1994 Sticker album there, Jonesy.
So today Jonesy is Paul Merson and I am Ryan Giggs.
There we go. So I'm wearing the Manchester
United 92 to 94. Or is it 93?

(03:11):
Yeah, 92 to 94 home shirt. I think it's a wonderful home
shirt. I know we reviewed this all, but
last week we did so it's got theUmbro drawstrings which are
very. Mate.
Yeah, I won't tie them up, they are very tight, but the detail

(03:32):
on the shirt is glorious. But again, like there's there's
not a great deal of anything else on it other than the
drawstring and the white collar,other than the jacquard print,
which is lovely. But why are you wearing MERS?
I am wearing the Arsenal 9394 away.
Adidas Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, the lines.

(03:53):
Better than the bruised banana. No, I don't think so.
I don't know. It's beautiful though, right?
It is. Yeah, it is.
It was. It's an Adidas re release from a
few years ago. Yeah, forgot, forgot I had it.
I've taken the tag off. What beautiful find as well.
You did this the other day Jonesy, didn't you?
What was it? The Barcelona on your personal

(04:14):
account? I forgot I had it.
Goodness me. Deep diving into I'm like, oh, I
didn't know I had this. Yeah, this one gives me.
I think the first time I saw it was, I think it's the Charity
Shield, Manchester United. Well.
That's taken from the Charity Shield.
That picture isn't it. Yeah, yeah.
And that's yeah, it is. Yeah, you're right.

(04:37):
It's someone where David Seaman misses the penalty.
Yeah, yeah. I mean.
I've just always been a fan of it, like you've got the JVC, so
it's a cracking shirt. Yeah.
It's a large but tar out. It's like a tent.
It's 90s mate, 90s I. Know Oh yeah, I.
Know it was built for everyone all in one shirt.

(04:58):
What I love about this one just exactly.
I was just looking at that myself, right.
So look at the the actual picture of Paul Merson.
Look how big the tongues are in his high tech boots as well.
Like I always remember Paul Merson, she used to have the
really flappy tongues on his boots.
Yeah. I mean, Ryan Giggs was a Reebok
man all the way through, wasn't he?
That was pretty boring. But if you're going to pay you

(05:22):
to wear boots, why not? But I mean just the images of
all this stuff. I mean, yeah, I like the the,
the lines, you know, the three lines down the bottom.
Yeah, on the top as well. Shorts are cracking as well.
Yeah, yeah, they carry on with the diagonal, don't they?
So they go like almost like tyremarks across.
Yeah, and it actually nailed it.Yeah.

(05:42):
Well done. Yeah.
And I've got the goalkeeper shirt for that one as well.
Somewhere you. Don't.
It's. Like the blue one as well.
Yeah, it's just that. You've got the Arsenal 90s
goalkeeper top from that season.The Adidas one, yeah it's a blue
1. I don't know where it is.
I'll share it one day. It's not in the best condition,
but it's cracking shirt. Yes, right.

(06:04):
Go tell us how today's going to work then, Jamesy, I'm ready.
Tell us how it's going to work mate.
Yeah, like we said, I think we're just going to reminisce,
aren't we? Just deep dive into our
memories. Got a few things to show.
Yeah, a few, a few, probably a few stickers to laugh at and
things like. That a few.
Yeah. I like today's episode, right?

(06:28):
I think right. Picture this, listeners, me and
Jonesy, we're sat on a pub bench.
They've got a beer. We've got a couple of hours to
spare. We're going to reminisce about
Merlin's stickers. That's how today's going to
work. We're just going to talk about
what we loved, what we found hilarious, and all of the stuff
in between, because there's a lot of stuff in between, right?

(06:49):
Oh absolutely. Yeah.
I've got lots to share. I think this is going to be a
fun episode like they all are. They all are.
Fun, don't we? Yeah.
Yeah. Cool.
All right. I think we're going to get to
your stat of the week, the binder.
This is actually. Yeah, it is.

(07:10):
This is a Merlin binder for, oh it would have been 9596 album
because obviously your beautifulfont for today's episode, as
many of our viewers will see, isthe glorious black and gold
Premier League sticker album font, right?
Yeah, there we go. Show us.
Look at that. This is, this is battered, this

(07:32):
is falling apart, right? Yeah.
Oh, so. But I quite like the fact that
it's a little bit warm. Do you know what I mean?
It's like sort of Indiana Jones kind of like in the Temple of
Doom, kind of like finding like,bad parchment.
And he's like, Oh my God, there's mysterious Craig
Hignett. Yeah.

(07:54):
Anyway, I digress. So what have you got for us?
My Football stat of the Week is sticker related and this is what
I didn't know. But David Dean, the former chief
executive of Arsenal, not only had a huge impact on the Premier
League's creation because he wasone of the front runners with

(08:15):
Manchester United to recommend the league in 1992, but he was
also the front runner to promoteMerlin stickers.
So basically he approached Merlin back in 1993 as he was
friends with then director Patricia Klug to make a 9394

(08:37):
official album. Because the 1993 album was not
Merlin, it was penis. I remember that and it was
unofficial. Yes, yes.
So this album that me and Jonesyhave just held up the 94.
The 9394 album had 479 stickers across 80 beautiful pages which

(09:02):
consisted of 22 teams, 15 players in each, a club Crest,
shiny A-Team photo, a shiny jersey which is my favourite one
of all time and the match day programme sticker.
Yes, how beautiful was that tell?
You it's a work about this. So that's my start of the week

(09:25):
is the fact that I think we owe a lot to David Dean here, not
only for our podcast mate, for for stickers and our content.
It's incredible. Excellent.
Good that one. Yeah, Thanks, mate.
Excellent. Thanks for that.
All right. Unfortunately, I've got some bad
news. Well, satire Backpage.
You haven't. Yeah, sorry mate.

(09:47):
Why is that, Jonesy? Going through it, I mean this is
a football podcast, it's not cricket or rugby and all the
back pages cricket and rugby related.
I love the fact though that we are actually role-playing this
because before we started recording you went I haven't got
a hold of Backpage this week mate, because everything's rugby
or cricket. And I was like, Nah, I don't
blame you. And now to everyone listening,

(10:09):
I'm like Jonesy, tell everyone, why all?
Right, welcome to the Rugby Packpage.
Today we're talking about Will Carling scandal.
So yeah, I think for a few weeksbefore we get back into back
into the season because I like Ilike I said, I like to keep it
current like on this day back inSo mate, I feel the pressure of

(10:31):
start of the week. I try and keep it relevant to
each episode, which is becoming more and more stressful.
So I don't blame you. Holder pack page needs to have
time off too. Yeah, a second.
Yeah, somewhere that for Season 2 next month.
Yeah, all right, as as a fellow Australian may also say, season
3 or season 2 is always the better and.

(10:54):
How did that work out? How did that work out, mate?
He's a he's a legend in this country.
I like him. I'm sorry, Ange.
If you're listening, buy a sticker album.
All right? Collect stickers on your summer
holidays. Yeah, listen to the pod as well,
mate, and subscribe and writers and do everything.
Share it. Yep, exactly all.

(11:15):
Right. Cool.
Let's. Get in.
All right, let's get into stickers.
All right. Sorry.
When did it start for you? But I've most of my memories of
stickers, right? So one of my fondest memories
was my mum used to buy me and myolder brother a lot of stickers

(11:35):
and we would then also do house chores, car washing, whatever.
Sticker packs would cost 20P at that time, so I'd be able to
collate a few pennies, I'd go down to the local corner shop
and then I'd buy myself some packs of stickers.
I can always remember my mum as a gift to me and my older
brother. When my little brother was born,

(11:57):
she filled his baby grow with packs of stickers.
So when he came down in the morning and said good morning to
me and my older brother, we patted him down and he was all
sort of squelching was what on earth is this?
And there was just loads of sticker packs.
What glorious morning that was my little brother bringing me
the gift of stickers. Such a gift an early age.

(12:22):
But then, then it meant everything mate.
I think the stickers were, I mean not only just from like
family memories, it was earning the pocket money to buy them.
The sensation of feeling the packet, the RIP, you know, and
discovering a shiny. It was a glorious thing.
Like it was, I don't know, you felt like you were the only one

(12:45):
that had that sticker, if that makes sense.
Yeah, yeah. And then obviously now we're
older, we know what a worldwide phenomenon.
Nerlinda Kane. But yeah, it was, it was
beautiful. It was I think what what
collecting is about really well.Yeah, just open in the packet
and see in the shiny and you're like, whoa.

(13:08):
Charlie Chocolate Factory material, right?
Yeah. Because apparently, like I was
reading into it as well, their Premier League logo, Shiny, was
apparently one of the rarest ones to get.

(13:28):
I can imagine. Yeah, yeah.
I've got a picture here. I mean, just just going down to
the newsagents and like seeing that on the counter.
Yeah, like 23 pay. Yeah, sharing a picture of the
box of the Merlin Premier League1995.

(13:48):
Just that on the counter and you're like whoa.
And back then where it was like obviously everyone was into.
I remember the guy who ran the newsagents kicked everyone out
because every. There's just too many people in
there trying to reach her over. And he's like, everyone get out,
get here. Oh nice.
I used to love like the, the maths and stuff in my head when

(14:10):
I was going there because I'd walk there and I'd be like,
right, I've got 1234. I'd be like, how many do I ask
the guy for? And yeah, nothing looked better
than a full box of stickers. You know, like where you used to
look over the shoulder at WH Smiths and you'd be like, have
they got the stickers in? And I'll be sort of looking over
and thinking like, they haven't got them in.

(14:31):
And then they'd be on the front desk and she'd RIP the top bit
off and it was like, oh wow, there we go.
Thinking about it now, if I justgot a whole box of stickers for
Christmas, I would have been happy.
Stuff all the other all the other presents.
Absolutely. Yeah, I don't.
Know if anyone if anyone did? If anyone got a box of stickers

(14:52):
in the 90s for for Christmas letus know because I'm jealous.
Can I also ask that's did you ever complete an album as a kid?
I'd. Have to ask my brother that I
think the 95 one was the closest.
But do you think, did you actually like complete them by
buying just the stickers themselves rather than like,
Because I remember there used tobe a little tear off slip,

(15:15):
didn't there? Right into Merlin with the
numbers that you were missing kind of thing.
So I never did that. And I don't think I ever
completed a sticker album. I mean, I'm very fortunate now.
I own from 94 to 2000 completed albums, but only because I've
bought them completed. I've I've cheat code you know.

(15:36):
Yeah, some of the ones I got arejust not not completed, but
still, if I like I said, I've won on eBay before and I was
like, oh. Oh, it's that sensation of the
shiny though sticker being thicker than the other ones as
well, wasn't it? It was almost like a bit of
card. I can still feel that peeling it
off now. Do you know what I mean?

(15:57):
But I just remember as well. Do you remember newspapers?
Because you used to be able? There used to be deals.
I've got 1 here. It's a WWF one.
Do you remember the WWF sticker book?
Yeah, and I remember that was. Merlin, yeah.
So they used to have like where you'd buy a paper and get a
token and you'd have to attach the token, yes, to the
newspaper, to the newspaper slipand then take it to a newsagents

(16:21):
or they hand it in. Like a permission.
Slip. Yeah.
But the problem is, though, if your parents didn't buy the
bloody paper or Mr. Day, you know, you had to roll eye on
them. Like, yeah, yeah.
So yeah. But I just remember the tokens.
You just cut them out. Yeah.
Yeah, how? How innocent was that though

(16:42):
mate? Honestly, you don't see that now
do you? I don't.
Know mate, don't read the paper.No, I mean.
Newspapers. But yeah, I know you mean.
I like even for like, because I've, I've noted here that like
after sort of Merlin took off inthe 9394 album, the next few
stickers they were doing free packs in like Kellogg's.

(17:06):
I'm going to that. Yeah, I've got a few of them to.
I won't stay anymore but but it was amazing how it just took
off, didn't it? Like stickers were like
currency. Yeah, and it was it that they
didn't make enough? Was it the 94 one?
They didn't make enough albums, is that right?
They had to produce more? Yeah.

(17:27):
Yeah, because the demand was just crazy.
But you think about like, I've got Shoot magazine here and you
love this one, but there you go.Chris Waddle on the front right.
Do you remember these little? Have you got that cover?
No, I found this one online. Oh my God, that's the greatest
shoot cover album of all time. Yeah, so just sort of listen is
it's a shoot magazine from the 29th of January 1994 with Chris

(17:48):
Waddelon. Yeah, but this one is shoot.
I'm sorry. It used to be, you know, they'll
give you a on the front of the cover.
It would be here's some stickers.
And then it would be like next week, get your free album and
you're like, whoa, what? Get your free album next week.
Like that was 94. Then you've got 95.

(18:08):
Stick with shoot for an advertisement free sticker album
next week. Shoot.
So then I mean, you screw. I remember being having like
three of them because you'd be like, yeah, yeah, kept giving it
away. But like, oh, you'd basically be
like right, got to buy shoot match next week.

(18:29):
But that was great for me and mybrothers because obviously my
mum probably didn't then have tobuy loads of sticker albums for
us all because we could then just divvy the stickers out
between us. But yeah, yeah, I mean, it just
encouraged such beautiful habitsthough, didn't it?
And I think that's probably the oldest man statement.
Look such lovely to see collectors.

(18:51):
But it just, but it it just do, you know, like it's so like
simple. Like if I add a shoot magazine,
a bag of pick and mix and some stickers.
Yeah. You've won over Woody.
Yeah. You, you don't need to do
anymore. You've wooed me.
Right. Right.
That was just incredible. The 94 one, the first page is so

(19:15):
90s with the colour. I don't have the the Premier
League one, it's one by Andy Grey.
Andy Grey on the first page we've seen the one like the
fonts, the colour. Like the balls.
I read that earlier and I don't know why.
I read the whole four word from from Andy Grey as though he was
like the King of Merlin. Yeah, Sky Sports featured Heavy

(19:37):
in this album like you did back one as well.
Look at that. If you're missing any players,
find them all on Sky Sports. Have you seen the fact bit
though about the bit in the middle where it's like, did you
know about Sky and. It was like Richard Keyes has
travelled over 40,000 miles thisseason.
Yeah, Sky was massive in this. Like, yeah, they've got their
own. I've got a Richard Keys.

(20:01):
And to think now, like with what's happened with Andy Grey
and Richard Keys, you're like, oh, I've got a Richard Keys
sticker. Oh.
Did anyone be like, anyone want us to swap a Richard Keys for
Alan Shearer? Did that happen?
Yeah, swapping Andy Grey, Backstreet dealer.

(20:23):
Yeah, 94 was a cracking one. Yeah, as I said, the cover, I
mean, we spoke about football, like.
Yeah, on other things like Sabudio boxes, the cover, the
box that drags me in. Look at that.
Yeah. Yeah, there's a cracking one as
well. And Wi-Fi.
Yeah, sorry. Go on.
I. Was going to say what I've
learned though from. I mean just on just on the 94

(20:46):
the 9394 is that or is that not mate the the greatest ever 2
pages. Yeah.
So I've got the Home and Away Chinese for the 9394 Sticker
album, and it's just from a kit collector's perspective.
I hold up to the screen a bit more.

(21:07):
It's just the most beautiful page.
We've said this before mate. Haven't we though That we don't
need all this writing and all this stuff?
It's the pictures, the imagery of like the the players, the
kids and and this we're sold, aren't we?
We are like. Yeah, we're just just, I'm just
going to sit here and now and just admire the kids.

(21:28):
Sorry, we're just going to. I'm going to take your time,
play some Let's hold music. For like a programme geek like
me as well, I love the programmes as well.
Yeah, they're amazing, aren't they?
This 94.1 if you haven't got it,get it because it's so much
detail in it. Yeah, I like the fact though

(21:48):
that I think like because I don't know how much David Dean
or the Premier League had in this in terms of a say, but they
pretty much covered everything, didn't they, in terms of how to
promote the Premier League to fans.
Not only did they get to see what kits were there, the
players, the managers, fact about the club, they also got

(22:10):
what the programmes look like. But there's also sections here,
which is what I really love, right?
If you look at Newcastle United's bit here, now you've
got a page, you've got a pictureof Saint James's Park.
So you've got a picture of SaintJames's Park, but you've also
got like telephone numbers to their ticket hotline.

(22:30):
How to get to the game, like travel N follow the A1 into
Newcastle signs for Hexham. Like no stat math, no Google
Maps, just your Premier League sticker album.
Often you go like unbelievable, right you?
Still have the team photo as well.

(22:50):
I love how old Newcastle that Kagan and Terry McDonald would
be in kit. Full kit.
Yeah, but also if you go to Newcastle, right pay on the 9394
album, do you not think they've done Malcolm Allen dirty with
this? Because I think he's the only
player. Just Kit.

(23:15):
Sorry, sorry, Malcolm got no kit.
Could you whack on AT shirt mate?
But. What do you mean I'm not a part
of the squad? Yeah, I think he's the only one.
Yeah, I can reckon. But yeah, you've got Kevin
Keegan there and the awake it look with his with his mullet.
Yeah, yeah. It's like, yeah.

(23:38):
So we could just talk about thisall day, but just deep dive.
Tell you what, it's cracking. What made me laugh first though,
when I started flicking through the album, was in the Blackburn
team. So I'm holding up Blackburn's
squad. Stuart Ripley looks like he's a
member of Duran Duran. Some of the haircuts in this are

(24:02):
incredible. But did you think the?
Players though, did they look like football players to you?
No, no. And I don't mean that
offensively. I know nutrition and everything
kind of kicked in kind of in thelatter part of the 90s, ninety
697 with Wenger, etcetera. But these players were just men,

(24:23):
weren't they? And that's why I think they
played like men. When men were men.
Yeah, they're just like they were.
They were. There was no athletes.
Obviously they were physically fit.
They played all these games, 90 minutes, etcetera, but there was
no like fancy haircuts, diamond earrings, like all these kind of

(24:44):
poses. It was just like blokes proper
football. I mean some of these mug shots
are horrendous but. Yeah, it's a Neil.
Neil pointing yet from from. From Oldham, Neil, let I'll

(25:05):
raise you mate. I've got Peter Reed.
Oh, have they just added his head on?
Yeah. That's the added head on there
and then you've got Terry hair lock Francis Banali looks like
he's from Hall and Oates like so.
This is unbelievable, the pictures.
But you knew everything about the club, didn't you, with this?

(25:27):
It did, absolutely. I mean they've got Dion Dublin
mid sneeze hair that. Yes, forgot about that one.
Yeah. So he's, he's not obviously the
the favourites within Merlin, clearly.
You don't want to mess around with Andy Clark.
So I'm looking at some of these players, I'm thinking who is

(25:51):
that? Because they are obviously
within that one, they only had 15 players to each squad.
And, and as the kind of sticker albums evolved over time, I
don't know if you noticed mate, but like in the 95, the 96 ones,
they had the 15 players or how many players they had.
But then the second page, they had like a little cluster of
like 6 players in the top corner.

(26:12):
But they weren't stickers. They were just like the
additional members of the squad.So how are we talking off?
Remember that the Backpage? Yeah.
So that's the ones I've actuallygot.
Oh, OK, the I've got the So on the Backpage there's exclusive
limited edition official PremierLeague collector cards which

(26:34):
have here beautiful. These are detailed as well.
Look, just got every stat. Yeah.
So what stuff have they got on there?
They've got like height and like.
Yeah, they're, they're kind of got the history as well, but I
love it how it's just got like like a Premier League badge in
the background there. Look at that.
Beautiful. But yeah, if you can get your

(26:55):
hands on these collector cards, they apparently they only made
5000 of them. It's 120 cards.
What number's your box mate? It was 3521.
So you heard it live on air, guys.
Jonesy is a member, an elite member of the 5000 club.

(27:15):
This is good. I got this dirt cheap off eBay.
I don't think anyone knew it. Like, yeah, a few years ago, I
don't think the person knew whatthey had.
It looks a bit like a cigarette.Packet, doesn't it?
Well, someone's taken the box because it's meant to come in a
box, a couple, and they've just kind of taped it to like a,
which is not a bad thing, I guess.
The box has fallen apart, so they just taped it to like, a

(27:38):
little. Yeah, good idea.
But I just, I just love how they've kind of continued this
Premier League kind of merchandise and marketing just
from the thicker album. Yeah.
Like, because you've got kits, you've got club merchandise,
brilliant. But for a whole Premier League
to then start doing stuff like this like ring binders,

(27:58):
collectible cards, What what arethe Pogs you showed me before we
went on on air mate so. That was another thing they went
into, wasn't it? The Pogs We got John fashion new
Aston Villa shiny. So those are the 1995 ones as
well. Remember when?
Was their official term as magiccaps, wasn't it?

(28:19):
Magic caps. I don't think they could use the
POG title, could they? Because I.
No, it was because. Like Tazos?
Remember Tazos? Yeah, I had the Star Wars ones.
Yeah. You used to stick them in like a
little book, but then you alwaysadd like little, what's it,
fingers or Dorito fingers? You were like, oh, crumbs.
It was good. There was there was a tasso
folder going on. This is how I was saying I'd

(28:39):
fall down the rabbit hole. I play.
I had my I was watching a tasso folder on eBay it went for and
it went for $15 a full 1 and I forgot Oh.
Sorry, I thought you were like watching someone complete a Tazo
ring binder on like no. On eBay.
Oh, sorry. I was watching it like I was.

(29:00):
Yeah, oh, it was. Someone got it for $15.00.
It was a completed Tazo. Yeah, I don't want to talk about
it. Not being.
Defeated, yeah. Well, but this is a thing,
right? And this is what we love.
So firstly, thank you to Steven Hewitt, who's recently been
promoting the pod on his personal Instagram page.
He actually sent us, didn't he, an image of Mattie Caps recently

(29:24):
and he was like, saw these, didn't know if you'd seen them.
And I completely did not link the fact that they were Merlin,
which which again links us back to the whole point of like the
extra bits and they just went the extra mile with it, didn't
they? Because from a kids like you
wanted all of it, didn't you? Do you?
Remember this? This is, I think this is 9394.

(29:46):
Oh no, sorry, 95 sticker books. You remember the 3D glasses?
Yeah, I think you did. Breakfast.
I think they came in a breakfastseal, like cornflakes or
something like that, yeah. Because that was.
Cool wearing that. Yeah, there you go.

(30:06):
You got the 3D sticker. So you got the sticker the the
actual glass. They're not the actual glasses,
but there. But then that one let's Tony
Adams. So obviously Tony Adams would be
stood out in front of you, wouldn't he, with a crowd
blurred in the background. So.
Yeah. I mean, you were talking about,
I mean the first page. So onto the 95 one, that's swap
shop tour I think we spoke about.

(30:29):
It was my dream to go to one of them.
They didn't, you know what, right.
So the only thing that I'm goingto say mate, would it have been
during half term? Because like, they're all 10 AM
till 2:00 PM, like throughout April and May.
April. May, June, would I've been at,
would I've been at school, I wouldn't have been able to go,
no. I wouldn't even thought about

(30:51):
going to them. But look at the pictures of that
swap shop though. For those on YouTube, look, it's
heaven. I mean it looks like a lot of
collectors fairs now, but they're all wearing their club
football kits. They've literally got every
piece itemised. Oh, I mean yeah, there was one

(31:13):
local to me on the 20th of April1995 in Oxford.
Jonesy. Was there any?
Cardiff would have been the probably the nearest you'd have
to travel maybe Or Liverpool. Yeah, as I said, yeah, I wasn't
a bit out of my reach, bit out of my bubble.
But you had to rely on your mates to be the dealers though,
didn't you? Did.
Yeah, did. And it was almost going.

(31:35):
There was no WhatsApp. Go go to school with a big big
big wad of stickers to with the.Elastic band round and then
someone be like, yeah, have you got a an F and a cuckoo at
Wimbledon? Like you get on with class,
please. Yeah, I'll speak to you at
lunchtime. No problem.

(31:55):
Oh, you've got that, Bixby. Mark Wright Oh no, I don't want
nose. It's like my yeah, my brother
was saying, like he used to havea hundred 100 copies of Daryl
such. Daryl Such?
Who's Daryl Stach? From Norwich, it's got nice.
He's probably got the best hair in the.
Oh, boom. Yeah.

(32:17):
Backstreet Boys haircut. That's it.
Mike Sheeran. Have you seen Mike Sheeran?
It looks like a serial killer. Course a bit of an intense glare
in there. But yeah, probably my peak
memories are yeah, 94, oh 95 sticker book.
I think it's probably the only one that completed, but kind of

(32:40):
one I saw on this one and I was thinking, where is it?
So this one is tattered. Andy Pierce.
Yeah, I know. Is that the best hair in the
book? Yeah, it looks like a basis from
like Metallica or Megadeth then.They like their hair is
incredible. Looks like Edge from WWE.

(33:02):
Oh yeah, it does. But yeah, look, Leicester City
didn't have a manager at the point of this, so they left it
managerless. That was the only I was going
through this, right, Because I've bought, like I said, these
are all completed. So I'm very lucky to have these
and I was going through them andI thought, hang on a minute,
someone's done me over it. But it actually says underneath
no manager had been appointed atthis time of going to press.

(33:25):
Never. Because obviously Mark McGee was
given the boot from Leicester atthat point, clearly.
Or it was just before maybe. Still, they're brilliant, aren't
they? The massive pictures of the
stadiums as well. Yeah, so I was a stadium geek.
So you still have that because Iused to get those stadium books
as well. But yeah, this is great.

(33:48):
So 95 was a cracking. Yeah, they followed on.
I think they there's a few things they didn't have was
there from the 94. Well, because I wanted to
quickly touch upon this. So we're not only talking about
stuff they started missing out, right?
But actual album prices started to go up.

(34:09):
So the 9394 album was 50 P. The 95 album was 90 P, So we're
already starting to go up a bit.Jonesy I know it's inflation, I
know it's popular and it's not breaking the bank.
But for us kids, we had to wash a few cars for this, right?

(34:30):
I was sorry before about other albums I had.
Did you? I mean, this was hot stuff in
the in the schoolyard. Do you remember the Gladiators
one? I put Wolfs Yeah on there
because I didn't want to get putjets on there and get flagged
like this is another one as well, like Gladiators I
remember. Is that Merlin as well?
That was Merlin as well. They literally went.

(34:52):
Into God. Everything and like talking
before like I even had the RugbyWorld Cup 1995 one I didn't even
like rugby and the Batman Forever is.
Batman Forever you mentioned this earlier, didn't you?
So has that got like the Riddlerand two faced and stuff in it?
Yeah, but like. From no that's what I'm saying

(35:12):
mate, you've got to get onto it.Like they had the WWF one.
Yep, even like this one as well which they gave away.
The Sky Sports sticker album, which they gave away in a shoot
magazine. Well, they're already in Merlin.
What's the point, Merlin Sky Sports sticker and this was had
like boxers, tennis players. No, like a Sky Sports pole

(35:36):
thing. Like Sky Sports football, right?
Wow. Yeah, not not not just a Richard
Keyes album. Oh God, see, like like an Andre
Agassi sticker. But what they had as well was
like if a movie. So for example, they had like a
damask. They had one of them, Street
Fighter, Power Rangers, RoboCop,Polly Pocket, Wallace and
Gromit, TAS, Sailor Moon, Like everything.
Lost World, Jurassic Park, Independence Day, Literally.

(36:00):
I remember the Jurassic Park 1 well that was that like black
with like the logo on the front I think it was.
I remember that. Yeah, and literally anything
that would come out. Independence Day.
Oh, I've got a sticker of half of Will Smith's boot next week.
I'll try. Captain Scarlett bike a mice

(36:21):
from Mars. I love Captain Scarlett.
Yeah, Tiny Toons. Literally anything you can poke
him on obviously as well like. That was all, Merlin.
Yeah. So yeah, because.
I didn't, I didn't know because obviously Merlin was founded in
1989, right? So they were then purchased by

(36:44):
Tops in 1995. S Tops.
I think they're now doing the Premier League albums now,
aren't they? I think haven't.
Collected an album for years. But well, I got one recently
just to have a look, but it justdoesn't give you that kind of
that same nostalgia and that kind of inspiration to and, and,

(37:07):
and also it costs an absolute fortune to do stickers now.
Like, I honestly don't know how kids in 20-30 years time will be
able to do an episode of that noughties Premier League
podcast. And they'll be like, yeah, look
at these sticker albums. Yeah, I remember it cost me £7
back in the day. I'd be like, Oh my God.

(37:28):
Felt like moving on to 96. See, I have a gripe about 96,
right? Have you got the 90?
6 on there. Oh dear.
Yeah, let me get my book. We're doing, we're doing a read
along today, aren't we mate? Yeah, we are.
Welcome to the book. Flower wrapping cover, right?
There you go. Jamie, Edna, Nick Barn.
What a strange no Man United to play Insight.
What's going on? Yeah, but.

(37:49):
Like. Bit of a weird cover as as kids
go as well do you not think likeNewcastle, Middlesbrough and
Liverpool? Bit weird, right?
I like the trophy on the back, but yeah, going back at your
price, £1.50. Yeah, why?
What I didn't like about this one, right, which was a gripe.
It started from league position 9495, so it started with a

(38:10):
Blackburn at the front. So it didn't start with Arsenal
and then Aston Villa. No.
So your last three are Middlesbrough Bolt in the
promoted teams? Oh, actually it was just middle
of them, Bolton who got promoted, wasn't it?
But they were the last though, so.
Mike Newell looks like Jim Carrey from The Cable Guy for

(38:31):
Black. Story.
You have to show me. I'm missing that one.
Show me it. OK, sorry I've got.
We'll share this one on Instagram.
Yes, he does looks a bit sinister.

(38:51):
It's a lot different from the the other two, you reckon?
Yeah, I mean there seems to be how many players are there?
So you've got 2468, so you've got 18 players now and you've
got as opposed to the 15 side. As well have you ones that have
you seen a? Little mug shot the extras.
Yeah. So you've got a lot more
players. Oh, but look though, Jones, if

(39:14):
you look at the pictures of the actual ground, they've actually
got the blocks of seats as well.That So not only have you got
all of the there that you've gotall of the numbers for the club
shop, credit cards, bookings. Yeah, you've got picture of the
ticket. You've got like the souvenir
shop, the travel club if you then want to go to away games

(39:37):
with Blackburn. But you've also got the actual
layout of the stadium and the seating tiers as well.
So you just need this to ring upand go.
Yeah, I would like to sit in Block W 05 of the Jack Walker
stand and then call Blackburn for a ticket.
How old does Alvin and Alvin Martin look?
Yeah. How old is he there?

(40:00):
What's his, what's his profile? How old would he have been?
1958. Crikey, that's an old pro for
Premier League in there. Always used to admire Gary
Penrice's moustache on them on the yeah.

(40:22):
Yeah, that's a real Axel Foley, isn't it?
Like, whoa, look at this then. So I found this guy Gary.
I say this guy sorry like Gary Blissett, he has gone absolute
turd for a haircut. I always thought someone put
that one. I always put some sort of
feather on his head. Or something.
It's a Mohawk. So he was like the 90s version

(40:44):
of like Marek Hamsich for Napoli, wouldn't they?
They looked like some hard players for Wimbledon though,
didn't they? And then you've got your swap
shop as well. Yeah, 96 me.
What about Steve Morrow then, looking like Megamind?
Look at these. I literally feel like we're in

(41:08):
like a shop at the moment mate. Just flicking through the book
going Jonesy look at this Jonesylook at this.
It's a. Cracking little album tell you.
It's a good album. I know.
I know what you mean though, about the league position.
But it's a bit weird, isn't it? I don't know what made them
suddenly just kind of change their mind and go.
I'll tell you what, let's do it from league positions.

(41:29):
Yeah, but you said the 96 album then cost 1 LB. £51.50 that one.
Oh, so we've gone from what was the 1st 150P50P yeah. 90 P Yeah.
You join us back live with Jonesand Woody as we talk about
Premier League inflation. A pound do you?

(41:50):
Remember the Rising Stars section though of the Premier
League albums as well, because they had a rising star bit,
didn't they? And none of the players were
like the ones that we we'd expected.
I mean, Neil Shipley did have a a good career and he was a very
good striker, but I don't think did he ever play for England or

(42:11):
it might have done. No, under 20 ones I think, but
yeah, even that. Like did you ever get the do you
know the ones where you would get the stickers and it be like
free, free chips from McDonald's?
Did you ever actually go? There.
No, no, no. That's pretty awesome though,
right? Because McDonald's featured
quite heavily as it went on, didn't it?

(42:34):
Yeah, yeah, they've got a lot ofadverts in here, like you've got
that one on there. Let's see, what a great advert.
Yeah, a Big Mac between two boots.
Yes, unlike going through like we talked before about breakfast
cereals, like remember head of strike?
Yeah, yeah, Box brilliant in there.

(42:56):
What's the stuff on the back, mate?
What are they advertising there?Is that pogs again?
It's no, it's just a quiz. So you've got the free stickers
inside and then you just kind ofgot like, you know, competitions
and things like that just be a fight to get to.
You can get the stickers out andthen you've got like the
Streddies as well. Stredies, the 96.1.

(43:17):
They actually give you a dream team wheelchair.
Well see so that's right. So on the back of the 95 album I
wanted to touch on this because see where it says the you would
select your very own personalised dream team so you
could create for £24.99 plus postage and packaging.

(43:39):
There I add your own dream team so you could pick your starting
11 but in stickers and they would frame it for you and send
it back. I mean how awesome is that?
If anybody has got that, please send us a picture to our part
because you love to. Stay, I thought you said send it

(43:59):
to me. Yeah, just send it to me.
But it's literally personalised as well.
It's it's got the person's name and then the Dream team and then
called the Merlin Wizards. You also just meet on Wednesday,
wouldn't it? Oh wow.
Who's on there, Chris? What?
You know waddle's on there. Look.
Oh, cricket team, right Course. Calm.
Palmer, Rob. Jones, Leticia.

(44:20):
Share. That's a cracking.
Yeah, I would. Yeah.
That is a good Andy Cole and sharer upfront.
Mark Ilya's dream team. I'll just cross the name out and
yeah, yeah, Jonesy's dream team,yeah.
Cool, but Merlin. Yeah, but then they started to
do the Merlin Collectors Club. So this is a 97 album.

(44:43):
I've got in the binder. Oh, show me the binder.
Is that like the is that? That's not like my binder
though. Mine's like a school binder.
No. Yours is a bit more streamline,
yeah. It's just the kind of.
How does it hold in? Oh, yeah.
You just kind of, there's just like a little kind of thing you

(45:04):
slot it into. Yeah, that's a cracking.
That's a cracking cover. That one isn't 90.
Yeah, there's good cover in it, Canon R and Shearer, but again
though, that was when So what 9596 was the kind of I would
love it if we beat them era. So everyone then assumed that it
would be United and Newcastle head to head.

(45:25):
But who they seemed to forget was the the little introduction
of Arsene Wenger, because this was the season that Arsenal won
the league 9798. Tell you what I loved about this
one, right? Is that they used to do.
You've got your programme, your magazine and your merch
catalogue. Have you seen that one?
Yeah, yeah. Magazine geek like me.

(45:48):
I'm also starting to notice Stuart Ripley's hair now is
signed to decline. It's quite sad, I.
Just thought it's true, Ripley. Yeah, his neck's a bit of a,
it's just like a bit of ankle. Yeah, he's not interested.
They've obviously told him Merlin's coming in for a few
stickers and as I am not interested but they're doing the
keeper kits with the kits now inthese ones that looks good and

(46:13):
squad numbers. Yeah, yeah.
Tell you a lot of detail on thisone as well.
Josie, did you know Shay Given was at Blackburn in 97?
Yeah, yeah, I remember him. I remember him.
I. Did not know that he was #2 to
Tim Flowers. Yeah.
See again, stickers, guys, they're not only fun, they're

(46:35):
educational. You wouldn't know that.
That's incredible. Yeah, I like the detail and I do
like the 97 one, as I said, the the detail I've gone into.
Yeah. I mean this was it seems a
thicker album as well, doesn't it?
Yeah, it's not the all time records.
It tells you like the win loss record against the clubs as

(46:56):
well. So if you signed to the Merlin
Premier League Collectors Club. For a whole year's membership
for just £7.50 plus £2.50 postage and packaging.
What you would get within that collab would be the Sky Sports
Ballistic 96 video Oh I. Never had that video.

(47:19):
So it's that one there. Do you remember it there?
Yeah, I want. That video you'd have the club
autograph book and pen. So obviously you could take down
your travels guys when you go toyour home and away games, your
sticker swap tip. Oh, sticker swap tin.
Why didn't I ever have a stickerswap tin?
We'd have to. Bend them in like elastic bands.

(47:43):
Collect Collectors club 30 centimetre ruler and eraser.
Why? Don't know.
Personalised gold stamp, membership certificate and
credit card membership card. Come on, Can you imagine
flashing that in the playground?Yeah, I'm part of the Premier
League, Merlin's collectors club.
You would also get a sheet of stickers, a checklist and much

(48:07):
more. But you also as part of this
membership exclusive benefit Jonesy, you get 10% discount off
purchases from Lifestyle Sports and great offers from JJB.
Who are lifestyle sports? I don't remember.
That don't have a clue? That's their logo there on the
bottom left. Oh yeah, I've got a beer now.
You remember that now? 10% off JJB Sports would be all

(48:28):
right. Yeah, but.
Stuff your lifestyle. Why was this?
I mean, but this was when we were kids and it was all really
hard to like, save up and get all this stuff.
But like, this all just seems soawesome now.
I mean, look at that McDonald's shiny.
Oh, it's just, I think the inconvenience about this was

(48:51):
like obviously ordering by phone.
You had to get your parents or guardian to make the payment
over phone. Yeah, you couldn't just act like
an adult Jonesy and buy your ownstickers, could you?
Do. You know I used to hate it as
well. Do you know you used to get to
do stuff by postal order? Yeah, as well.
Yeah, that was so that is how so, you know, I mentioned to you
if you ever completed an album. So I remember when I was a

(49:15):
little bit older, obviously thiswas EUR 2000, I completed that
album. Yeah.
Because all I ever asked for wasstickers at that point, and I
actually sent off for the missing stickers for those.
Yeah. So I actually got them and I did
the little tick thing on the little like multiple choice exam

(49:36):
sheet kind of thing. Yeah.
But yeah, that was good. Great album though.
Yeah, have you got the 98.1? Yeah, in the binder as well.
They're the binders look good, don't they?
So I just noticed the binders are so with a binder it's £2.50

(49:57):
without yeah is I don't know what is it. 199. 199 Oh so for
that extra you could get it likein a binder?
See, they also did now look right.
So I've got in this, I've just opened this up.
So use this form to vote for your Merlin Collectors award.
It is a little tear off sheet, right?
And they've got swap shop details.

(50:19):
Yeah, so they used to do swap shops at Legoland Windsor
because Merlin were obviously part of the Legoland Windsor
group in 98. Yeah.
So you could go there and do sticker swaps, go down a few log
flumes and buy some Lego. What a child's dream is.
Yeah, because you've got Lego sort of like adverts and stuff

(50:40):
here. Now that of all of the actual.
Someone's ruined it and put stickers on their look.
Oh, Jones, I'm sorry. Sounds.
Rude. You've been duped.
Wow, there's, I mean, there's a lot here.
But you know what I was going tosay, there's so much like, whoa,
I just turned to Crystal Palace,who's millions guy to shell

(51:00):
house but sell his park. I'm like, whoa, there's too much
colour. There's too.
Much. Yeah.
Too much information. Look at the graphs and stuff
your your stat percentage of your team goals.
I mean, it's got like nearest train station, all that sort of
stuff in it. But would you say as a kid,
Jonesy for this one, for 98, do you think that's too much, too
busy? Yeah, are.

(51:20):
They cramming in too much stuff.I think so.
Like formations and all sorts onthe pages like.
See Steve Couples in the away shirt there.
Yes, he seems to be a manager that can't let go from his
playing career though. Yeah, pretty much going on in
this one, I think. Yeah, I think it's this is where

(51:42):
it started to become a little bit heavy with info.
Yeah. Which was a bit of a shame.
Too much for young Jonesy here. Did you ever get what's that
one? Did you ever get like the
England and all the other? Remember the unofficial ones

(52:02):
around that time? Yeah, remember the PFA one?
Where the where the stupid jacket or like coat or
something? No.
What's that? Was it a?
PFI one or did they wear like the the jacket or something or
like the I'll have to share it. Oh yeah, you don't have to.
It's an unofficial 1. No, I didn't remember that.

(52:24):
Oh. Must be Panini and then we've
got you got the 99. Got the 99.
So obviously this is the end of our sort of tenure, but I mean,
look at that Premier League club.
I don't even think I have to. I don't need to sort of pages
are stuck together. That's not a good.
So this has got like the rucksack, the the bobble hat,

(52:46):
the boot bag, the shin, shin pads, Premier League alarm
clock. Like that cap is incredible as
well. I've seen that a few times that
cap. I've seen that on yeah, on eBay.
You probably get that on. Vintage.
Yeah. But again, oh see, this is just
when the PlayStation one just came out.

(53:06):
Jones EI Don't. Think I got this album.
Hey this is completed this one. But there's so much in it now.
They're like, if you see how thick it is, they're like mini
books. It's.
Just one £1.99. £1.99 yeah. And then look, this is case in

(53:27):
point. Tops, tops, Tops.
Yeah. So this is where Merlin clearly
started to kind of phase out. Did you get this one as well
though? Have you got the?
Yeah, the transfer edition, yeah.
Not for a resale return. How much was that was this?

(53:48):
I can't remember how remember seeing this.
I don't think I got this one. Maybe there's a price on it.
No, it doesn't say a price on there.
So how did? This have been they would have
been select like special stickers.
Maybe. Or maybe part of the Collector's
club perhaps? I remember.
Would they? Yeah, maybe they'll just kind of

(54:10):
had a box of the 99 and then they'll have a box of the
transfer update edition. I don't know.
Yeah, possibly. But I mean, if you look at the
because I look at the actual font and everything now say not
only were the kind of this is a 99 cover, it's got the emblem of
the actual trophy behind it. The players, the font, it starts

(54:31):
to go a little bit different. This is the 2000.
Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I didn't get that one.
I gave. But it just again, it just looks
too heavy and too much stuff I've.
Never looked into 2001. Yeah, I think I gave.
Well, that's cool though. The kits are nice, yeah.

(54:52):
They've always done a good little young kits.
Yeah, don't be handy when we touch on the on the 2000 kits,
would you? Yeah, we do our do our review.
Yeah, I do find that like, because you've got a lot of look
at that, all of this is just advertisement and merchandise

(55:16):
now, like the first rule of football, get into the box, the
Big Mac box. Goodness.
They're great times though mate,weren't they?
Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't change it.
No, no. But yeah, I think, I mean, I've
got 1 here and obviously I thinkMaryland I think just had all

(55:39):
the rights to everything becauseI've got a Panini, a serial one
for 9697, but it's Panini. Yeah, but it's got, it's like it
for each team. It's like 4 players even there.
Is that it? I don't have all the teams as
well. Yeah, they don't have the rights
they have. It's 123457 teams in it.

(56:02):
Wow, I didn't know that. Cracking cover though, Look.
At that pull in. Yeah.
Well, smart. Is that quite a thin album as
well? Yeah, 32 pages.
Yeah, I just, I think that the summer was, that's what kind of
passed the time, wasn't it? It was shoot magazines, match
magazines, sticker albums. It was those collectibles that

(56:24):
gave you a little bit of a focusto then kind of think if there
wasn't a summer tournament, yoursummer wouldn't be boring.
You wouldn't be watching Wimbledon or a Formula One race.
I mean, do you remember flicker ball?
Flicker ball? Yeah, the marbles.
Oh my God, I do. Yeah, so they had like the

(56:48):
pictures of the stickers of the in little marbles.
Yeah, I think that was 96 and 97flicker ball game, yeah.
Did that come in like a sweet packet there?
What it looks like, Yeah, it does, isn't it?
It. Does.
I don't. I can't remember how many you
got in there. You could only probably.
Is it one or two? I can't remember.
I don't know, but again, the detail of it though, you've got

(57:10):
the player profile within the marble.
Yeah, and like we touched on it before a bit, the Premier,
Premier Gold as well, didn't we?Yeah.
The millions premier gold. So they were literally
everything. Show trading cards like
everything. You've you've got a little
surprise though, haven't you, for this episode today.

(57:30):
A great. Go groan.
Come on, show, show us what you've got.
You don't have to do anything, but, you know, tell us an.
Official millions Premier Leaguecollector cards, 50 packets per
card. Yeah.
So this is like when we go into your newsagents to be there.
Yeah, well, I've got the four cards look unopened.
That's incredible, isn't it? I'm.

(57:51):
Going to open one aren't? I Are you sure?
Because I told you you didn't have to.
There's only. Three cards in the pack?
That's fine. There's.
Only three cards in the pack, OKright, right.
Just before you open them, predict what teams are you going
to get Sheffield Wednesday? Yeah, I.
Don't know which player. What season did you say it was?

(58:12):
I. Think it's at 9697 I think,
isn't it? OK.
So I'm going to stay, yeah. 9697Who's your seconds in the
packet? I'm going to do Coventry, Aston
Villa and. Liverpool All right, let's open
it up. Drum roll, cheese.
How to open? Oh, this is tense.
You're opening a pack live on the pod.

(58:37):
Oh, all right. Cool.
Oh, these are cool. Are they Chelsea?
Oh, wicked. Yeah, look, look at that.
These are like. For their ones.
Do they stand up then? Yeah.

(58:59):
Oh, I forget. I don't know me.
I'll RIP it, RIP his head off. Careful.
Yeah. Remember like, oh wow, right
you're. Going to get some of these.
Yes, look at that. All right, so this one is just
an offer for a starter pack for Premier League, IDC.
Yeah. All right, next one is Nikki
Bombi. Is he a stand up one as well?

(59:24):
No. So they only had one stand up
and then two cards. Yeah, John Monker.
John Monker or that West Ham. Yeah, yeah.
Thought you said you get through.
And Alex Ferguson. The caricature, they're
brilliant. Oh, that's so good, mate.
Thank you for opening one. I know it's you're.

(59:46):
Going to get Oh that's alright, I've been sitting there for
years. But next time though, I'll be
like next pod episode we do and you'll be like May.
I opened all of them straight after I have none left.
Yeah, no, that's good. Yeah.
I used to love cards like that. Good memories.
I know, Heartwarming, right? I might just, I might just put

(01:00:08):
them back in and get an iron or sort of press.
Yeah, reseal it. It looks like this Kanchelskis
has already been folded though. Yeah.
Oh, now the classic. Yeah, great.
It's like we we, we end the episode there with that kind of
lovely. It just touched on adverts.

(01:00:29):
I've got an advert here. Do you remember the?
I shared it on my Instagram, butKenny, Kenny Dudley's Ray
Wilkins, remember that one? I'll share it now.
Let me put it on. I was hopefully Les Ferdinand
for Alan Sheer. No, I don't think so.
Well. I'll tell you what, I've come in
Dave Bartley as well. Yeah, go on there.
There are 6 new Merlin Premier League 95 stickers, 3 in every

(01:00:51):
special pack of Kellogg's Cornflakes.
Swapping Alan Shearer for Lesford and Dave Bartley.
Just I want to Pat, I want to give him a big hug, Pat him on
the back. Whoever did those adverts, I
just want to thank him because that is just, that's my
childhood there. Yeah.

(01:01:13):
Do you know what I mean, mate? Like, seeing stuff like that and
bless Ray Wilkins, like one lovely guy.
And the fact that those sort of adverts were like promoting
stickers. You just don't see it now, dear.
You don't get those serial adverts and stuff for sticker
albums. It just made football even more
majestic for the 90s, I think. Giving up their time for an

(01:01:35):
advert which lasted 19 seconds. Yeah, yeah.
What's this about? It's about stickers in a serial.
Oh well, OK, that manager trade off like unbelievable.
I don't know if any any press orsomeone just seen Ray Wilkins
and Kenny Dudley sit in a cafe. Yeah, they're talking about
swapping Les Ferdinand for Alan Shearer.

(01:01:57):
Les the Blackburn. It's for stickers.
Yeah, that's a cracking one there.
Yeah, excellent. All right, fancy to do a little
quiz? I've always got time for a quiz,
Jamesy. All right.

(01:02:20):
Welcome. Thank you.
Is this like Bruce's Price is Right or the old?
It's just a true, it's just a quick trivia, all right?
I don't believe they're taking these 14 episodes when we do a
quiz, all right. I know.
Yeah. Sorry.
OK. Sorry, I've taken these off.

(01:02:42):
Like I'm saying before, you all remember on the back of back of
the stickers there'd be a triviaquiz.
Yeah, terrible. Some of them are terrible,
right? So I created the premier podcast
sticker book. So we're in the sticker book,
right? Have you ever want to be in the
sticker? Book Yes, I.
Have look at that packet I've made as well.
Yeah, look at that. Cool.
All right, so I've got 5 questions.

(01:03:02):
Let's. Go Oh good, this is.
So stupid. All right, all right.
Question 1. Yes, question one true or false
Jamie. Jamie Redknapp, Phil Bappp and
Robbie Fowler are huge take out.Take that, fans.
Jamie Redknapp, Phil Babb, and. Robbie Fowler are huge.
Take that, fans. True.

(01:03:25):
That is true. Look, I sat there with Robbie
Williams around the table. Yeah, I, I sticker.
Yeah, because I remember Robbie Fowler and Robbie Williams being
friends. Actually I remember seeing them
as pictures. Yeah, Ray's Roddicks there as
well. What a picture, what a tribute.

(01:03:45):
All right, let's go into the next one.
OK, in which team in the 199394 season was sponsored by Burma?
Oh, Burma, I can see that. That's Swindon Town, Burma.
Hey, Oh my God. Shiny as well.
That's easy. Yeah.

(01:04:06):
The music as well. I've gone for.
I've gone for. Just this is incredible, I
thought. Well done mate.
Yeah, well, I had time with no Backpage.
I thought, I guess I'll knock upa quiz.
Knock up a quiz. All right, let's go to question
3. This is a stupid one, right?

(01:04:26):
And I have to think this right back.
Can I just say before you do this next one, that is the back
of a sticker isn't it with the number in the top?
Yeah, I made this one, Yeah. That's incredible guys.
If you're not watching this on YouTube, like please go and
watch this. It's the premier podcast tribute
quiz you see. This is incredible, I got.

(01:04:48):
Some I got some of the questionsactually off stickers right.
This is a stupid, but this is which Blackburn Rover striker
drove a Rover in 1995? What?
Black Blackburn Rovers striker drove a Rover in 1995 Sir Chris
Sutton Oh, it's got to be a big owl.

(01:05:10):
Oh, you've got the the Hoover aswell.
Yeah, Alan Shearer drove a Rover.
How would they know? I reckon they were making some
of these up all right, but thereyou go.
All right, question #4 on March 14th 1995, which Coventry CD
player scored a hat trick in a 32V over Liverpool?
9095 he goes. To Anfield as well. 95.

(01:05:36):
Yeah, which Coventry City playerscored a hat trick?
AM. I no Wheeler, my boy.
Peter on love. I share a birthday with old
Pete. Thanks for that sticker.
All right, question #5 you'll get this one.
Joanne Kroy liken which Sheffield Wednesday player to

(01:05:58):
Marco van Basten. It's got to be Chris Wardo,
isn't it? No.
Richie Humphries, are you? I might.
Did you write that is a fix? There's no way.
Richie Humphries is close to Marco van Basten.
Type into Google after the pod. Richie, I'm sorry, I mean,
you've scored beautiful goals. That chip against Leicester was

(01:06:20):
incredible, but nowhere near VanBasten.
There we go. That's brilliant mate.
All right, let's get out of the book.
Love that we are official stickers for the day.
You know, I've, I've got that same feeling of after we had the
Cebu yeah episode again of just going through my mind as
stickers. You know, you forget all your

(01:06:42):
troubles and your stripes and you just buy stickers like read
the books, guys. If you haven't got sticker
albums or if you want to go up in your parents loft or
whatever, go to a boot sale, go on vintage, go on eBay.
I urge you to start looking and make this a resurgence of 90
sticker albums because you don'thave to get the completed album.

(01:07:04):
You don't have to spend loads ofmoney.
They're still there and you can even collect the packs, right
Jonesy? They're still there somewhere.
I picked most of these up off marketplace.
Yeah, someone 5 minutes to stay on the road had it and obviously
sites. I need this and it's taking me
back like the flick and through these.
It's taking me back so much. Yeah.
And yeah, I have seen because people do sell the single

(01:07:28):
stickers on it probably cost youa fortune like we said now.
Collect yeah, expensive, yeah, be be careful, be wary about
spending your money guys. But the collectors items are
still out there and it's it's phenomenal to look back and
appreciate how glorious Merlin were for our childhood, to be
honest. Absolutely, I'm going on eBay
after here and getting a gladiators sticker book.

(01:07:50):
Yeah, right. So guys, if you've got any
pictures of sticker albums, any fond memories from Sticker
albums, any photos of players you find hilarious, or if there
is the odd Ray Finkel in amongstthose theme photos of who the
hell is that, that you want to send us?
Let us know because we want to share that on our pod and we

(01:08:11):
want to have a giggle at what player you didn't recognise or
you didn't know played for that club or anything memory wise.
Did you go to a swap shop? Like, yeah.
The atmosphere was like, yeah. Did you go, did you sign up to
the Merlin Premier League Fan Collectors Club?

(01:08:32):
Like anything you've got based on stickers we want to know
about guys. Because as you can see, Jonesy
has created some unbelievable edits today for the video and
we've gone through a very quick whistle stop tour of the
beautiful World of Merlin stickers.
Is that right mate? Oh, absolutely.
Yeah, I mean, we could go through all day, rain, people's
hairstyles and things like that,couldn't we?

(01:08:53):
Yeah. But we're going to do a
collector's episode, which is going to kind of involve a
little bit more of, because I know we've done Cebu, yeah,
we've done sticker albums now. But obviously we want to kind of
fuse it all together in terms ofthe extra items, don't we?
Absolutely. We've got we've got lots to go
through. So if there's anything you think
we need weird things, we've got yeah, got a few strange items

(01:09:16):
here. I could show the collectors, but
I'm going to wait till the collectors.
Yeah, episode 2 exactly. But yeah, now it's, it's, it's
been fun going through, hasn't it?
Yeah, every week. Yeah.
This is why we did the part, isn't it?
Yeah, exactly, mate. And we, we thoroughly enjoy it.
So thank you again for for thoseof you that have watched today
or listened and thank you for the incredible feedback.

(01:09:38):
We've received over the last couple of weeks.
We've been very lucky mate, haven't we?
Last week's episode, I'll tell you what I think it's yeah, as I
said, it's I think it's going tobe one of our highest rated
episodes. And yeah, some of the messages I
got as well for some of the my thumbs up, thumbs down have been
interesting as well. I've seemed to upset, upset a

(01:09:59):
lot of Villa fans. Yeah, I think Jones is in
witness protection this week just purely based on the Aston
Villa votes and obviously DPFC shirts mentioned in the about
the Crystal Palace shirt, about the Brazil looking away shirt is
one of the greatest selling shirts of all time.
Yeah, which I think of a Middlesbrough fan asking why

(01:10:20):
I've graded their home shirt trash.
We've ruffled a few feathers. We're going to do all of those
episodes. Exactly.
Yeah, there's more to come, so we're going to enjoy doing that.
Jonesy my friend, where can people find you and the podcast?
Yeah, so I'm at Football Dot Jonesy and the podcast is that

(01:10:41):
90s Premier League podcast on the Instagram.
So we've also just recently released our podcast discount
offer as part of Classic Football Shirts Mate, haven't
we? Yes, we have.
We did a little few videos and afew plugs on that.
What? What can the the listeners or
the viewers do if they want to earn themselves a 10% cheeky

(01:11:02):
discount through Classic Football Shirts, Mate?
Yeah, just follow on my Instagram account, just go into
links. Yeah, click on the classic
football shirt link and it'll take you to the page on your
cart or your checkout. Just enter the code PL POD 10 PL
yeah, 10% off some shirts on that.

(01:11:22):
Yeah, I was going to say there'ssome brilliant shirts on there.
There's also some from this season's or obviously for the
international teams and stuff for the summer.
If you're going on holiday and you want a shirt to wear abroad,
use the 10% on US PL Pod 10. Ideal.
Absolutely. Where can I find you as well?

(01:11:43):
Oh my Instagram is Woody W 1980.8 Can't forget, can't forget you
mate. Sorry mate, but yeah, massive
thank you Jonesy for this episode mate.
Pleasure. Mate, no worries at all.
It's been a fun. It's been a fun one, isn't it?
So on to episode 15. Oh, the mystery.
What's it the mystery? What's it going to be?

(01:12:04):
Thanks for listening, guys, and we'll speak to you all next
week. Bye bye.

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The Magic of Merlin Premier League Stickers - 90s football memories

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Magic of Merlin Premier League Stickers - 90s football memories