Farewell from The Football Attic

To those of you that have supported The Football Attic over the last four years… We are very sorry to inform you that today marks the end of our journey into the world of football nostalgia. Our intention was to bring you articles and features that brought to mind happy memories of bygone football. That we did so to an appreciative audience throughout is something we are both very proud of indeed. Today is the fourth anniversary of The Football...

Read More

The Age of Management

Not so long ago, I found myself wondering whether football managers and coaches were getting younger, particularly those in the Premier League. Where once the First Division was dominated by bosses that were old enough to be your dad (or even granddad), now they’re usually younger than me. How the hell did that happen? Maybe I was seeing a skewed version of reality. True enough, I'm in my mid-forties now, but that shouldn't mean all top-flight...

Read More

The Football Attic Podcast 30 - Future Nostalgia

It's all very well us old men banging on about what we remember from our childhood like a malfunctioning PeterKayBot, but what will future generations look back on with fondness? Salted? Caramel? So listen in as Rich and FSF Blogger of the Year Nominated Chris discuss what they think will stand the test of time and whether things we remember will still be around and in what form. Subscribe to The Football Attic Podcast on iTunes or download our...

Read More

Book Review - Sky Blue Heroes by Steve Phelps

We get sent a few books to review here in the Attic and it's always a delight, even if we don't always find the time to review them all. One book in particular I was looking forward to getting my hands on was this - Sky Blue Heroes by Steve Phelps, author of many a quality book about my beloved Coventry City. Naturally there's been lots written about our 87 FA Cup win, but what makes this different is it's not a story of that journey told as a...

Read More

Ultimate BBC Goal of the Season - And the winner is...

...the first ever winner of the BBC's Goal of the Season competition - Ernie Hunt of Coventry City.   Image: BBC That iconic donkey kick by Willie Carr, followed by Hunt's perfectly executed volley secured 37.6% of our votes, with another Coventry favourite, Keith Houchen, placing second with 33% of the vote. Third place went to Justin Fashanu's beautiful looping volley for Norwich against Liverpool in 1980 with 4.6% of the vote. All...

Read More

Kit Collection Book Volume 2 Now Available!

Following the rather unexpected "success" of the critically acclaimed Football Attic Kit Collection book, it was only logical that a follow up would happen. Given Volume 1 covered all the shirts I'd collected over the previous 27 YEARS, and Volume 2 would only be covering the subsequent 18 months, would there be enough kits to actually fill a second book?  Turns out that in that period, I somehow acquired approximately 100 new shirts. And...

Read More

The Football Attic's Hit Parade: We Can Do It

The more you delve deeply into the history of football teams and their commercially released music, the more you realise that few clubs have ever created an original song from scratch. Even Jimmy Hill's 'Sky Blue Song' was a rewritten version of The Eton Boating Song, and that from a man regarded by many as a pioneer of football. Is there nothing new under the sun? Liverpool Football Club were only following a precedent when they released 'We...

Read More

Videoblog 8: Chris O's Football Shirts

Here at The Football Attic, it's not just Rich J who's owned a considerable number of footy shirts in his time. Chris O's bought a few down the years as well, and to prove the point, here he is to tell you all about the shirts he's owned in our eighth (and last) Videoblog. An avid West Ham supporter, many of Chris' shirts are naturally of the claret-and-blue variety, but you'll be mistaken for thinking that he's confined his choices to the Upton...

Read More

Moving the goal posts

It's a great pleasure to welcome into the Attic our old friend Jay from DesignFootball.com who today gives us his take on goal frames, Italian style and Subbuteo (among other things)... Like most things in my life, I look at goal frames in terms of pre- or post-Italia '90. As much as we can talk about BSB, BSkyB, Murdoch and "the inception of the Premier League" (the second best "inception" of all time... after "Inception") it was the 1990 World...

Read More

Ultimate BBC Goal of the Season

Image: BBC For years it was the gold standard of football quality. Twenty-five yard screamers, fabulous team efforts, flying headers... they've all featured in the BBC's Goal of the Season competition over the last 45 years, and for a lucky few, the ultimate accolade has been theirs. Thanks to the votes sent in on the back of a postcard or sealed down envelope (latterly championed by a self-imposed panel of 'experts'), a succession of goals have...

Read More

Jonathan Roberts' 5 Best Players That Never Played At International Finals

We welcome another guest writer to The Football Attic as Jonathan Roberts reminds us of some of the great players that never qualified for a major competition... "A World Cup without me is nothing to watch so it is not worthwhile to wait for the World Cup." Those were the words of the one and only Zlatan Ibrahimovic, following Sweden’s failure to qualify for the 2014 World Cup. Rather arrogant, yes, and although one of football’s most charismatic and admired stars was denied a place at the tournament in Brazil, it isn’t inconceivable to think...

Read More

Panini: Football Superstars (1984)

Back in February 2014, we reviewed Panini’s ‘Soccer Superstars’ collection from 1988. Consisting of an album into which picture cards (not stickers) could be inserted, this was a rare chance to see Panini veer away from the tried and tested sticky-backed formula of yore. It was not, however, the first time they’d attempted something so radical. Four years earlier, the similarly-named ‘Football Superstars’ made an appearance and on this occasion,...

Read More

Subbuteo: My who/what/where/when/why

I was very lucky to have enjoyed Subbuteo when it was surely at its peak. Over a period of five or six years, I built up a small collection of items and played dozens of games, and not once did I fail to be charmed by it. Subbuteo is responsible for some of the happiest times of my childhood. This is what I remember. Who It must have been my parents that bought me my first Subbuteo set, not to mention most of the items that made up my eventual...

Read More

The Greatest Germany Home Kit 1965-2015: The Result

Over the last half a century, the national football team of West Germany, latterly just Germany, have worn 22 different home kits. Some have been simple in their design while others have been colourful and complicated. Back at the start of September 2015, we presented all 22 kits of them in graphical form and invited you to vote for your favourite. With the voting period now over, we can now proudly announce the winner... and it was this: It...

Read More