Football collection set to score
An auction of a huge football collection including tens of thousands of programmes spanning half a century kicks off online on July 4.
Dating back to the 1950s and 1960s to the early 2000s, the archive features dozens of teams from the English football leagues and lower divisions, international teams in European competitions and testimonials and World Cup-related items.
Also going under the hammer are collectable sticker albums, cards, souvenirs, scarves, football annuals, autobiographies and related books.
The timed online auction run by Richard Winterton Auctioneers in Staffordshire starts on July 4, ending on July 14, and also includes stamps and postal history.
The huge soccer collection was accumulated by a late football fan from Dordon, North Warwickshire, who also supported Tamworth FC.
His local football club is represented by an extensive archive of Tamworth FC programmes as the team played in the lower leagues, catalogued across seven lots, with each lot spanning four years from the late 1980s to the 2010s.
The collection also includes a largely complete run of Swansea FC programmes from the 1950s and 1960s through to the early 2000s plus England, Scotland and Wales international programmes and souvenirs.
Auctioneer Ben Winterton said: “There is a mass of different teams spanning multiple generations – there’s a programme for every generation of football fan. Every now and then you see collections of true enthusiasts and this most certainly fits into that category.
“It was especially fascinating to look through earlier programmes and see players who would become familiar household names later in their careers. We were all so impressed by the dedication it has taken to amass this collection and it will doubtless go on to be treasured by other members of the footballing community.
“It would be lovely to achieve the higher end of four figures at auction but more important is recognising the time, knowledge and enthusiasm of a lifelong football fanatic.”
The football programmes are catalogued across more than 90 lots and teams include Aldershot, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bristol Rovers, Bristol City, Blackpool, Birmingham City, Bradford City, Brighton & Hove Albion, Bury, Burnley, Cambridge, Cardiff City, Crewe Alexandra, Crystal Palace, Derby, Everton, Exeter, Fulham, Huddersfield, Ipswich, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesborough, Millwall, Nottingham Forest, Port Vale, Preston, Sheffield United, Swansea, Tottenham Hotspur, Walsall, West Bromwich Albion, West Ham and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Also included in the same auction is a collection of rare Commonwealth stamps dating back to the 1920s