At last - we're on Facebook!

Yes, it's true. The Football Attic finally has a page on Facebook and you're all invited to 'Like' it! When we started out back in November 2011, we decided to ease ourselves gently into the murky world of social media. We didn't want to rush into anything, so we created our Twitter account first of all and waited to see if there was any negative fallout. With news reaching us that nearly 600 of you have since followed @FootballAttic,...

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Steven Gabb's Top 5... World Cup Shirts

Yet more suggestions for the best World Cup Shirts now from Steven Gabb from the excellent blogsite Spirit of Mirko who has come up with his own mixed bag in more ways than one... United States (1950, home) Some kits are classics because they are stylish, others because they were used during a particularly successful era for a team. But to be a true classic I think the perfect storm of a wonderful performance and a great design are required....

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I've Got Stripes: The five most wretched striped football shirts of all time

Ed Carter returns with a fabulous guest post all about the place of the striped shirt in football history... Listeners to the latest Football Attic podcast will now be fully aware that I have become part of the problem. The problem, specifically, is the way the world of football fans dotes on the Peru international kit. But we love sashes. Sashes on kits are brilliant things and, moreover very difficult to mess up. Stripes, on the other...

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Arsenal - Barclays League Division One review (VHS), 1989

A warm welcome to Rich Nelson, the man behind the wonderful Nelson's Column and designer of Kits 5 and 6 on our League of Blogs 2012 wallchart. He's discovered a VHS tape that covers one of the major high points in Arsenal's history... Not quite from the Football Attic, this is a treasure from the Football Garage (aka Nelson’s Column). The video was a present for being so brave… My first experience of travel sickness on the way to a school...

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League of Blogs Wallcharts - NOW AVAILABLE

Remember the League of Blogs? Remember when we all had fun together? You do? Well, that's marvellous, for I have have good news fellow League of Bloggers as the actual, physical wallchart posters are now available! Took a while to find somewhere I could get them for a decent price for a decent size as I wanted them to look good and you know what..they do! They are 20" x 30", printed on glossy photo paper, shown below...DVD of the awesome Sledge...

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Attic Kits Feature in Coventry City Matchday Programme

Today is a very proud day for The Football Attic and in particular, the Rich (@sofa_soccer) shaped half. In today's Coventry City Matchday Programme for the game against Bury, 3 of my fantasy kit designs are showcased to all who buy a copy. As someone who, like Chris, spent hours of his teenage years designing kits, to have them in your home team's programme is just fantastic! Before I go into how this came about, I want to say a big thank you...

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Arctic Software's World Cup (C16 & Plus/4)

THIS is the game I talked about in the podcast! Turns out it was the game that US Gold utilised for World Cup Carnival, which Chris mentioned (and the fantastic 200% article he mentioned is here). The C64 version doesn't seem to be too bad, but this is what I had to put up with... Football computer games...screw y...

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The Football Attic Podcast Episode 2: Computer Games

Welcome back for Episode 2 of the Football Attic Podcast! This week we delve into the uber-nerdy world of football computer games and discover that Rich seems to be bitter about almost any game he's ever played, except for Sensible Soccer So...prepare for reminiscence and rants as Chris and Rich relive their geeky pasts ;-) Download it here - (or right-click and 'Save as' to save your own copy)...

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Ed Carter's Top 5... World Cup Shirts

The kits keep on coming as today we welcome Ed Carter's choice of his favourite five World Cup shirts... 1. West Germany (1970, home) (West) Germany have a virtually unblemished record of brilliant, tasteful football kits. Even when they went completely insane (1990 and 1994) they did so with such panache and style that it was brilliant and the world and Jeff Banks rejoiced. However, for me it's always the plainer the better and the 1970 West...

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Al Gordon's Top 5... World Cup Shirts

Al Gordon from God, Charlton & Punk Rock is the latest fellow blogger to give us his Top 5 World Cup Kits: 1. England (1982 Away) Once upon a time Admiral set the standard in kit design.  This Leicester based firm had the best logo, the best templates and the best of the clients, England. Many think the home kit of this era to be the greatest England shirt of all time, yet it is the red away version that I always fondly remember....

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Commercial break

Five TV commercials from yesteryear with a football theme. Click the titles to view the ads... Penguin (1977) The unlikely tale of a kids football team playing a Flightless Bird XI from the Antarctic and losing – in humiliating fashion. Having presumably exhausted all other options where local teams were concerned, the children in red-and-white stripes played off on a never-more-Seventies muddy pitch in front of a baying crowd that strongly support...

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Rich Nelson's Top 5... World Cup Shirts

Rich Nelson from Nelson's Column and Escape To Suomi has kindly sent us his Top 5 World Cup shirts... France (1986, Home) A more refined version of the Euro 84 effort, yet to be replicated (unlike 1998’s copy of '84). The perfect shade of blue, matching with the shorts and socks to complete the Tricolore. Unfortunately this was the beginning of the end of the great French team, along with some really dreadful threads. ...

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Rich J's Favourite 5... World Cup Shirts

Following on from Chris' Top 5 World Cup Shirts, I present my choices. Just missing out were Denmark '86 (Home) as Chris had chosen the away so I thought I'd find an alternative and West Germany 1990 (Away). A great shirt from a classic design, but just didn't quite make the cut... so, here they are: 1. Argentina (1986, Home) It’s obvious Mexico 86 would rear its (none too) ugly head with anything I do, but this kit has been more than just a shirt...

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Chris O's Favourite 5... World Cup Shirts

1. South Africa (1998, home) I know my taste in virtually everything represents the minority view, but I absolutely loved this kit when it appeared in the 1998 World Cup. Kappa, the manufacturers, showed brilliant originality in weaving together four colours into a mad tapestry the like of which has rarely ever been seen. ...

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The Football Grounds of Europe

Most people have a list of things they'd save in the event of a fire. I have three books on my list (which kind of suggests it's a long list...I mean, I have a cat and three kids, but then again, the kids aren't on the list, they're old enough to save themselves... and doing the maths, that means each child can carry one of the books! Result!). Anyway, the books...the first of these is 'Mexico 86 - A Pictorial Review' by Phil Soar and John Bone,...

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Football Parade (1950)

Rob Langham from The Two Unfortunates has given us yet another fantastic article for the site: One aspect of a football obsession that is perhaps under recognised is the impact of heirlooms. Sure, my formative years were stock full of Panini, Subbuteo and The Big Match, but it was items bequeathed to me by my father that played just as important a role – especially in forging a keen sense of the game’s history. Among an assortment of annuals...

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The Football Attic Podcast - Episode 1

There's a well known philosophical debate that asks "If a tree falls down in a forest and there's no-one around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Well, we can't answer that, but we can pose the question "If 2 blokes spend 40 minutes talking about Panini and stuff, will anyone listen?" Thinking about it, it's more you who can answer that question... so... you know... download it... now! Right-click and 'Save As' from the link below: Football...

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Panini: Football 79

Having cracked the UK market the previous year, Figurine Panini returned with a new sticker collection – Football 79 – to further establish itself as the leader in its field. The album's royal blue cover featured an action shot of Liverpool playing Club Brugge in the 1978 European Cup Final, but rather cleverly the designers also added a few well chosen stickers to make the collection even more appealing to young kids. Inside once again was...

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Football Manager (1982)

I was a Spectrum kid. Aged only eleven, I became the proud and grateful owner of one of Clive Sinclair’s first colour computers. My parents didn’t earn much money, but they put some aside whenever they had it and when Christmas came around, they usually treated me to a special present or two. In 1982, they surpassed themselves by handing me my first ever home computer. I’d like to think I repaid their huge expense by using my ZX Spectrum regularly,...

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