- Feb 13, 2012
- 4,487
- 14,648
1989:
Viv Anderson is the hardest sticker to get in that year's Panini sticker book.
Nobody has him. Weeks go by, my collection falters.
One day: like Charlie & the Chocolate Factory I buy one pack & get my golden ticket, except my ticket wasn't golden; his name was Viv, he played for Man Utd and he was a sticker.
Next day at school like a proto-Levy I am ambitious that I will get the best deal for my prime asset.
The playground is a-buzz, i'm the centre of the action. The auction starts. Bids are made. No deal.
First break comes and goes. Cash offers, multiple shinies. Still no deal.
Finally, at the back end of lunch hour a deal is struck with a tubby lad called Dave.
A Mars bar and all his swaps. Done deal.
He had a lot of swaps, for the sake of this story he may even have had 90 million swaps.
Bags of them.
I thought i'd won.
The cold light of reflection after school revealed the truth. I was no longer flavour of the day, I had bags of Everton badge shinies, Paul Rideouts and Mark Wrights. They were worth nothing.
My star had gone out. My Bale had been sold.
The truth was he was priceless.
Viv Anderson is the hardest sticker to get in that year's Panini sticker book.
Nobody has him. Weeks go by, my collection falters.
One day: like Charlie & the Chocolate Factory I buy one pack & get my golden ticket, except my ticket wasn't golden; his name was Viv, he played for Man Utd and he was a sticker.
Next day at school like a proto-Levy I am ambitious that I will get the best deal for my prime asset.
The playground is a-buzz, i'm the centre of the action. The auction starts. Bids are made. No deal.
First break comes and goes. Cash offers, multiple shinies. Still no deal.
Finally, at the back end of lunch hour a deal is struck with a tubby lad called Dave.
A Mars bar and all his swaps. Done deal.
He had a lot of swaps, for the sake of this story he may even have had 90 million swaps.
Bags of them.
I thought i'd won.
The cold light of reflection after school revealed the truth. I was no longer flavour of the day, I had bags of Everton badge shinies, Paul Rideouts and Mark Wrights. They were worth nothing.
My star had gone out. My Bale had been sold.
The truth was he was priceless.