As you probably know, I have a separate career going as a football writer and have done for 25 years with two books shortlisted for the William Hill and Times sports book of the year.
Hand-in-hand with my rock music passion has always been football. Although I support Middlesbrough, I don’t do so in a tribal way. In fact I was probably more tribal at school aged 16 as one of ‘the rock lads’. I was the sort of kid
But both passions share similarities. I collect football trivia just like I do with music and know about players in the past just as I know musicians in bands. It’s just the way my brain works. I enjoy knowing about the surrounding culture and history of both. It expands the enjoyment for me.
When I was about 9 to 14, I collected Panini stickers of footballers, just as I did records actually. And as you might imagine, I did so with gusto. I was obsessed with them, as indeed I was about collecting bubblegum cards of Batman, the Monkees, the Beatles, Land of the Giants and those cards you got with packets of PG Tips every year. I always loved collecting, in fact I’m tempted to get the latest versions but fear once I get going, I’ll spend a small fortune on it.
I once, about 10 years ago, made the mistake of starting collecting stamps, largely because someone was selling them at a local car boot. I was obsessed for about 6 months. It was taking over my life, so I rather bravely stopped and gave them all away. It was so compulsive though, it was so pleasurable to tick stamps off in the catalogue and sometimes you unearth a rare one. Sounds just like records doesn’t it?
Because when we move, we’ll be going to a new area, that means a new circuit of junk stores and charity shops to get records from. The thrill of collecting them and the anticipation of doing so remains and I’m already looking forward to it. Collecting will always drive my behaviour I think. I derive so much pleasure from it but I know to some people it’s all pointless acquisition. I’ve gone through periods of abstinence but it never lasts.And it does get out of control sometimes (like when I bought 78 records at a record fair!)
So that’s why when I saw an advert for the latest Panini collection I was sorely tempted to start collecting them again. I think a large section of my teens was spent looking through great wedges of “swaps” and carrying my own around with me wherever I went. Can’t really do that in my 60s, can I? And that was all part of the fun of it.
I know, if you don’t collect anything, this must all seem like very odd behaviour and I daresay the medical profession has a diagnosis for it but it all seems perfectly normal to me.
