Wolves were in Championship purgatory for the duration of my childhood, so the sticker album I cherished most was the 1995 Endsleigh League collection by Panini.
Some handsome faces on those old gold pages I’m sure you’ll agree.
9-year-old me would be dining out right now with Wolves back in the Premier League and present amongst the elite in the 2023 Premier League album. Panini were kind enough to send me a starter kit with some free stickers so I thought I’d revisit my youth and celebrate Wolves’ inclusion.
The book itself has developed nicely in the 28 years since I last leafed through those familiar pages, with plenty of features supplementing the usual lineups.
Sadly, there are no Wolves players on the front cover but Nathan Collins is on the inside.
And Ruben’s shiny new gnashers feature on one of the sticker pack variations as well as inside the back cover. Lovely stuff.
I’m saddened to report that our team page is in a bit of a state with Steve Davis down as manager and of course none of the January signings.
However, Panini have included several ‘Transfer Update’ pages and new stickers will be released in March to update the album and better reflect the season. That’s a nice touch and a way to make the collection feel more relevant in future.
Another modern twist is that you can also find QR codes inside packs, allowing you to access digital stickers and collect them in a virtual album. Fancy.
I was sent a wedge of packs to open and unbelievably I collected players from every single club apart from Wolves. But the day was saved right at the death by pocketing the all-important shiny.
It was tremendously relaxing to sit and put all the stickers in the album, despite the fact that age hasn’t enhanced my dexterity and several ended up not quite central to the frame. No dreaded bubbles though.
As the season has been largely trash, I’m undecided if I’ll continue collecting but if I do, I’ll certainly be looking out for those March update packs.
Either way, thanks to Panini for a trip down memory lane.
You can get more information about the Official 2023 Premier League collection by Panini on their website here.
Lovely memories Thomas.
My only brush with Panini was when I was commissioned in 1990 to design and print the Official Kylie and Jason sticker collection.
And I’ve never looked back since.
A load of old tat.
But it did pay very well.
I’m loving that Doog. I bet you were doing the Loco-Motion all the way to the bank.
Hah!
It was easier than learning my ABC.
I can’t really comment on Panini but I do remember the Wolves in those days. Always the bridesmaids never the bride. This is why I will always go on and on about Fosun who in my opinion brought us brilliant times unknown in the 40 years before. And since May have once again shelled out massive amounts of dosh on players/new manager. You may have opinions on if the personnel is the right thing for us but you can’t complain their hearts are in the right place. Can you ????
I may not have had a Panini collection, but from the time I turned eight years old, I received “Shoot” and ” Goal” magazines (and Tiger, and Jag), and it was not long before I had wall to wall football pictures! And the collection of Wolves players was slow but steady, and I soon had a Golden Palace for a bedroom! And proper color gold to boot, none of this yellowish rubbish color for jerseys they now use !! Good memories!
Unfortunately Panini stickers weren’t around during my misspent juvenile years… the designers and developers were still inventing the printing press… lol
However … Roy of the Rovers was high up on the read list ..
Interesting read by the Doog .. he’s always telling me he’s hard up … sounds like an ‘A’ lister to me …
Yes, Roy of the Rovers!
I don’t think the Rovers ever lost a game, and Roy always got the winner!
He was from Wolves’ academy …
and dreaming is for free…
Keeping well I hope …
Thanks Thomas – you’ve really made me feel my age!!! 🙂
My early days pre-dated, by some amount, not only Panini stickers but also “Shoot” and “Goal”. Someone who worked with my Dad used to take “Charlie Buchan’s Football Monthly” and passed them on for me. I still have the first edition – or at least most of it – and it was a bit of a mixture to say the least, although it settled down to be quite a good magazine once it had decided what it wanted to be.
The first edition – see jpeg attached – included, along with the football, a comic page “for boys only”, a short story by J.B.Priestly and another by Ray Sonin, a page on the pools and a double page article about boxing. As you can see, Stanley Matthews was on the first cover, Billy Wright was on the second edition. One of the early copies had on the back cover what I always thought was a brilliant colour photo of Bert Williams in an international match, so we had our fair share.
The other part of my introduction was playing Subbuteo. We had a very early set where the figures were printed on a sheet of cardboard – not even plastic!! – and the goal nets were paper pictures which had to be cut out and stuck onto the wire goal frames. I did later get a baize pitch, but initially Dad and I played on a pitch chalked out on the back of the heatproof cloth on the dining table.
Those were days – or were they?? – No TV either – we watched the coronation on next door’s set.
For the benefit of younger members, I should perhaps add that 1/6 was 7.5p. 🙂
And for older members, 4 groats.
To the amusement of the newsagent, I used to have Judy ?) Bunty and Shoot. Then later Jackie and Shoot. Always read shoot first.