"Looking back through the football autographs I collected as a teenager in the early 1990s feels delightful and discomfiting. The Merlin sticker albums, Pro Set cards and Shoot annuals chronicle a youth spent travelling the country with my dad, watching Coventry City take on the great and the good of the top flight at the dawn of the Premier League."
"It's 25 years since Coventry were a Premier League team. That's more than half my life. No other team has returned after such a gap. The Sky Blues fell three divisions in the first 16 years and played home games at Birmingham, Northampton and briefly Burton as a protracted stadium ownership saga almost killed the club."
"We, the fans, desperately held on but nearly gave up. And all the while, life rolled onwards relentlessly. I went to university and then moved to New Zealand, London, Australia and Cornwall; my dad became a pensioner; I had a child of my own; my autographs started to go mouldy in the loft."
Collecting football autographs in the early 1990s brought joy and nostalgia, marking a youth spent with family and the excitement of the Premier League. The author recalls hunting for signatures of famous players while attending Coventry City matches. Over the years, the club faced significant challenges, including relegation and stadium issues, leading to a long absence from the Premier League. Despite personal life changes, the memories of collecting autographs remain cherished, symbolizing a connection to the club's history and the passage of time.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]