When somebody came up with the idea of a sticky back, then all hell let loose and as the documentary tells, youngsters were full of "Got, got, need" in school playgrounds and sometimes in class under desks, neatly keeping the pictures tidy in their albums!
In 1970 the World Cup album hit the trade and then followed European Leagues and in 1978, in association with "Shoot" magazine, Panini began its action in the UK and sold millions.
Famous footballers such as Ryan Giggs have admitted their obsession to the collection and then "Smash Hits" and a "Royal Family" album became on offer so that even the Queen noted an error in one of the royal collectables.
By the 1980s, the Sun and the Mirror had engulfed this obsession and Panini was taken up by Murdoch upsetting his neighbour Maxwell. Inevitably Maxwell bought out Murdoch. The UK arm of the industry tried to go it alone with "Merlin Stickers" which irritated Maxwell so much that he bullied suppliers and wholesalers to ditch this rival. Stickers were dirty business.
Merlin survived somehow mainly thanks to the introduction of a new line of stickers in WWF-wrestling, quite apt considering this coming together.
The company managed to keep going to include curious subject matter such as the Desert Storm Invasion of Kuwait and other unusual collection subjects ideal for those chaps who were not into football.
A small UK company survived the clutches of a larger European parent and made the best of a hostile environment. Sound familiar?
I was too old for stickers but I still have a very worthwhile collection of "cigarette cards" and those larger ones found in bubble gum packs!
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