‘Collectable in the ’80s’

“All that I know most surely about morality and obligations, I owe to football.” So said French philosopher and sometime goalkeeper, Albert Camus.

I understand where he is coming from but I would add on the word “stickers” to the end.

It has been my long-held belief that the way you collect football stickers as a child goes a long way to defining your adulthood.

Me? I collected every football sticker album going throughout the ’80s (and a fair few that weren’t about football).

Never completed an album. Rarely even got close.

And so it transpired that my later life has seen me flit from project to project without ever quite managing to perfect the art of focusing on one task at a time.

There are many other ‘types’ of football sticker collectors, among them the ‘High Achievers’ who are determined to finish their album before anyone else has even had a chance to peel off their first backing.

Then there are others who can’t resist ‘Doing a deal’, such as BBC TV’s Appre...