The Panini sticker album that took 34 years to complete: Welcome to 1984
Even in the modern world with technology providing distractions galore and plenty to keep you occupied, sticker albums remain alive and kicking.
The 2018 World Cup saw football fans of all ages purchase their Panini sticker album and set about completing the book as quickly as possible.
Social media has proven a new outlet for swapping stickers for adults, but for kids it is still a case of taking to the school playground and trying to find that elusive player who is stopping you from finishing off a page.
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And when Benedict Bermange’s young children came home from school and began talking about the albums, he was transported back to the 1983/1984 season and his one and only football sticker book.
Known to cricket fans for his work at Sky Sports as their resident statistician, Bermange was captivated by the West Indies 5-0 victory over England in the Test series that summer, forgetting his ‘Football 84′ sticker album.
But his interest was piqued by his childrens’ comments and Bermange got his parents to dig out the album so he could see if how many he had left to go.
Only six stickers were needed to complete it and Bermange quickly decided that, 34 years later, he was going to complete the album. So that’s just what he did.
“I wish it was more interesting,” he explains when asked how it came about.
“My parents brought the album down and I saw there were six stickers missing, so, to my shame, decided to head onto Ebay.
“There were loads of people on there buying and selling these stickers, many of them in pristine condition.
“So I got in touch with some of them and not long after six stickers had dropped through my letterbox, for the sum of about £3.00!”
He added: “What’s funny, is if I tried to this maybe ten or 20 years ago, I probably wouldn’t have been able to.
“Finding the stickers would have been a lot harder, rather than just a quick search online.”
Whilst all the players from Division One sides were included, just the team crest and team photo were in the book for Division Two sides. For Scottish Division One sides, two players were included on each sticker
Bermange brought the Shrewsbury Town and Crystal Palace team photos to complete those sections, as well as four others.
West Brom midfielder Martin Jol, late West Ham manager John Lyall, St Mirren players Peter Mackie and Eric Sinclair were also needed and the final sticker, to complete the book all these years later, was Wolves keeper John Burridge.
Now, Bermange admits he is ‘tempted’ to have a go at completing his Cricket 83 album, although it has a lot more work to do for that!