The Got, Got, Need, Need Project

Packs 47 - 52

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 15:21:00 +0000

A bumper six pack selection

Pack Fourty Seven

Ledley King – Most Wanted: When he's not injured anyhoo

Leon Osman – Everton: Wow! An Everton sticker!

Bolton Wanderers Badge: Ribbony

Sylvain Distin – Man City: Now buggered of to Pompey

Sergio Peter – Blackburn Rovers: Strange name

Craig Moore – Newcastle Utd: GOT! Another Antipodean swap

Lego Thing – The Ray: GOT! But I don't care.

Pack Fourty Eight

Everton Kits: Bad in every way.

Tim Cahill – Everton: Is that the complete Timmy set now?

Johnathon Fortune – Charlton Ath: No great fortune

Kevin Lisbie – Charlton Ath: Scored 3 goals in one match against Liverpool several years

Moritz Volz – Fulham: Volz, the only cool German ever.

Man City Badge: Ranieri's new team

Lego Thing – The Eel: My third one of these stoopid things

Pack Fourty Nine

Spurs Kits: Understated calssyness

Richard Dunne – Man City: Citeh capitano

Philippe Christanval - Fulham: One of the few Fulham players to not look like a paedo in their kit.

Pepe Reina – Liverpool: SUUUUUPER PEPEEEEEE!

Leighton Baines – Wigan Ath: Supposed to be very good

Chris Powell – Watford: I never know what to say about Watford players

Pack Fifty

Phil Jagielka – Most Wanted: He actually is quite wanted at the moment

Anton Ferdinand – West Ham Utd: Associated to the scum by birth

Niclas Jensen – Fulham: Not the kid.

Malky Mackay – Watford: Most. Scottish. Name. Ever

Quinton Fortune – Bolton Wanderers: Ex Scum...

Ji-Sung Park – Man Utd. - Would be extremely likable if it wasn't for the Scum thing.

Pack Fifty One

Wayne Rooney – Most Wanted: Not by the police, alas

Thomas Myhre – Charlton Ath: A glittering career of reserve goalkeeping.

Omar Poulso – Charlton Ath: Bald

Claude Makelele – Chelsea: Even at 137 the guy oozes class

Damien Francis – Watford: His name is Damien

Mikael Silvestre – Man Utd: A united defender - i am not allowed to comment

Pack Fifty Two

Spurs Squad: GOT! Squaddy swap

Abdoulaye Meite – Bolton Wanderers: Got! Not a Meite sticker.

Andrew Webster – Wigan Ath: Looks like a goon

Scott Parker – Newcastle Utd: Not any more he ain't. A good buy for the Hammer methinks.

Fulham Badge: Shiny Badge of Under-achievement.

Nicky Shorey - Reading: I've been impresses every time I've seen him. It'll be interesting to see how he copes with the Brazillians tonight.

Packs 44-46

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Thu, 24 May 2007 08:33:00 +0000

After a Big Weekend and Big (very disappointing) Match we get back into the sticker swing...

Pack 44

Star Player - Andy Johnson - Everton: See they are shiny

Niko Kranjcar - Portsmouth: Also makes Radio Controlled cars...

Arjan De Zeewu - Wigan Ath.: Club Captain... oh no he's been released.

Lee Cattermole - Middlesborough: Northerm

Tugay Kerimoglu - Blackburn Rover: Hehehehe Too Gay Hehehehe

Pascal Chimbonda - Spurs: Decent French full back with a moaning pedigree as proof

Pack 45

Portsmouth Squad: GOT! Squaddy swap

Paul Gallagher - Blackburn Rovers: Young scot... that's it.

Tomas Rosicky - Arsenal: Only scores Cup screamers against Liverpool

Jordan Stewart - Watford: An example of why the were so easily relegated

Franck Queudrue - Fulham: Odd name

Nolberto Solano - Newcastle Utd: Little Nobby, great player

Pack 46

Stuart Downing - Most Wanted: You knoe the world is wrong when Stuart Downing is both a Star Player and Most Wanted - who the $*!@ by!

Heidar Helguson - Fulham: GOT! Useless swap

Stephane Henchoz - Blackburn Rovers: GOT! Still a great keeper

Kevin Davies - Bolton Wanderers: All together now... Who Ate All the Pies...

David Thompson - Portsmouth: Used to like this cheeky scouse scamp... now I think he's just a unprofessional, snidey, cheating scall.

Salomon Kalou - Chelsea: A good player in FM, not transferred it to the real Prem yet.

Stats

So 46 packs ripped open and 236 sticker lovingly eased into place. That gives me a completion percentage of 45.21%! So close to the halfway point now!

The NPP is till hovering just above 5 per pack at 5.13, so we still haven't reached the one Got Per Pack mark yet, with the GPP at 0.87.

The projected finish is now for pack 101.75.

Reading have really gotten static again, which has given Boro a sneaky chance to join them at the front of the race for team completion on 15 stickers. Arsenal and Blackburn are sticking close too on 14.

Bumper Six Pack: 38 to 43

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Wed, 16 May 2007 19:13:00 +0000

Pack 38

Arsenal Kits: Not won nutthin...

Marlon Harewood – West Ham United: Seems to have been around for years... but has never really arrived.

Nicky Butt – Newcastle United: Doesn't look so good at the Toon does the England International

Eric Djemba-Djemba – Aston Villa: So bad the named him twice

Robert Green – West Ham United: Decent young keeper...

Scott Carson – Charlton Ath: Decent young keeper who really belongs to Liverpool - for now.

Pack 39

Fulham Squad: Or the scary squad as they are becoming known.

Francis Jeffers – Blackburn Rovers: Speaking of scary, annoying, unspeakably horrid things...

Jlloyd Samuel – Aston Villa: Jlloyd is such a made up name...

Aaron Lennon – Spurs: Nippy ickle winger

West Ham United Badge: Quality old skool badge

Kieran Richardson – Man Utd: Who says playing for a big club gets you into the England squad... well apart from Nicky Butt.

Pack 40

Luis Boamorte – Most Wanted: It mus be the kit...

Gary Neville – Man Utd: My eyyeeeeeeeeeeees. Irksome littl... sorry.

Robert Huth – Middlesbrough: Doesn't sound very German

Fabio Aurelio – Liverpool: Did look Fabio until his achilles went TWANG!

Rob Hulse – Sheffield United: Relegated journeman.

Ugo Ehiogu – Middlesbrough: Ugo has been around for ever. I remeber him playing for Villa against Tranmere in the league cup semi final... Bosnich so should have gone.

Pack 41

Liverpool Squad: GOT! It's a nice swap though.

Kevin Kilbane – Wigan Ath: Even even the Blue Noses thought he was crap.

Carlton Cole – West Ham: GOT! Still not as good as he thought.

Richard Wright – Everton: Ha haha hah ha hah ha. If he wasn't at Everton it would be tragic. He's been released now...

Brian McBride – Fulham: It must be the shirts, Brian isn't that creepy normally - surely?

Luis Garcia – Liverpool: The last time I heard about Luis he was at the Champion League semi final... watching Take That Live from Manchester on DVD. It's not been that long Luis...

Pack 42

Star Player – Stuart Downing – Middlesbrough: Star, yeah.

David Unsworth – Sheffield United: A sprightly young rookie.

Ishmael Miller – Man City: A haggard old veteran of some 53 years. Hang on...

Andreas Johansson – Wigan Ath: Nothing to say here... move along.

Ben Thatcher – Man City: Lucky not to be in prison, they're a bunch of softies at City.

Richard Lee – Watford: Understudy to the 14 year old Ben Foster.

Pack 16... sorry 43 - Yep, it's happened again!

Wigan Ath. Squad: That's fine...

Strange Lego thing – The Mantis: My second one of these stupid things...

Then we have the familiar grouping of:

George Boateng – Middlesbrough
Phillipe Senderos – Arsenal
Charlton Athletic Badge
Osmane Dabo – Man City
Julio Arca – Middlesbrough

All of who appeared together in pack 16. That to me is a bit fishy. OK my experiment doesn't replicate normal consumer behaviour - due to me taking packs from the same bulk retail box - but still it'll be interesting to see how this trend goes.

Stats

So 222 stickers are now well and truly stuck. If it was a cricket match I would be hopping along on one leg. That gives a completion of 42.53%!

The six packs were going pretty well until Doppleganger II: The Revenge. So we've 36 swaps. That means the GPP is still over 5 at 5.16 - with GPP obviously rising to 0.84.

The projected finish is still in triple figures at 101.11.

In the teams race Reading have stopped moving again allowing Boro to sneak to just one behind them on 13.

Packs 35-37: The Doppleganger

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Tue, 15 May 2007 08:30:00 +0000

Pack 35

Star Player – Wayne Rooney – Man Utd: Shiny Shrek

Edwin Van Der Sar – Man Utd: A great keeper.

Marcus Hahnemann - Reading: A not so great keeper.

Theo Walcott – Arsenal: Baby Theo...

Man Utd Badge: A great pack for United.

Khalid Boulahrouz – Chelsea: GOT! Rubbish in every way.

Pack 36

Star Player – Joey Barton – Man City: See the way he's punched Fabregas in the face...

Cesc Fabregas – Arsenal: although Cesc did fall to the ground like a wounded ballerina.

Xabi Alonso – Liverpool: Half way line goal scoring machine.

Andre Ooijer – Blackburn Rovers: Sounds like a phrase from Carry On.

Stuart Parnaby – Middlesbrough: One of those solid players you know play football, but you never really see.

Kevin Doyle - Reading: Another Reading sticker! I'm only one sticker from completing a whole page!

Pack 14... I mean 37

Most Wanted – Kevin Nolan: I always confuse him with Tranmere Legend Ian Nolan...

Joey O'Brien – Bolton Wanderers: GOT! Goofy swap...

Frank Lampard – Chelsea: GOT! Fat swap...

Petr Cech – Chelsea: GOT! Fractured swap...

Ricardo Carvalho - Chelsea: GOT!... Hold on...

Sun Ji Hai – Man City: GOT!... Deja Vu!

Hmmm this is the sort of thing I was hoping to see.

Here we have two packs pulled from the same box with 5 identical stickers. If it was two, three, or even four I could maybe pass it off as coincidence... five is really pushing it.

Especially with such distinctive stickers.

Stats
Six packs worth of stats to update. We are now standing at 192 stickers stuck - we'll be over the 200 next time. Even with the disastorous pack 37 the NPP has stayed above 5 at 5.19, with GPP at 0.81.

The projected completion date has risen to just over 100 again at 100.59.

Reading have had a storming few packs and are now storming ahead in the race to completion with 15 stickers stuck. That's a full 4 stickers ahead Arsenal, Blackburn, Chelsea and Boro who are all on 11.

Packs 32-34

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Tue, 15 May 2007 08:00:00 +0000

Pack 32

Man Utd Kits: Leage winning (boooo) kits!

Shane Long - Reading: There's a gag in there somewhere...

James McFadden – Everton: GOT! Everton really are struggling.

Robbie Keane – Spurs: Great little player, but has never really been as great as he promised early on.

Bobby Zamora – West Ham: A great Championship striker.

Nuno Valente – Everton: What is it with the Portuguese and naff slick hair?

Pack 33

Man City Kits: The Manchester derby is consecutive packs.

Antoine Sibierski - Newcastle United: Slap head cult hero. I said cult.

Andranik Teymourian – Bolton Wanderers: Where does Sam find them?

Sammi Hyypia – Liverpool: The best thing Houllier ever did for Liverpool

Claude Davis – Sheff Utd: You would not want to meet this bloke in a dark alley... or a brightly lit one... or a football pitch for that matter.

Graeme Murty – Reading: Reading keep storming on.

Pack 34

Tim Cahill – Most Wanted: GOT! A copy of the first sticker I picked out.

Paulo Bouazza – Watford: Another one for the cool names list.

Fabio Rochemback – Middlesbrough: Brazillian midfielder, I've resisted using the word cultured.

Radostin Kishishev – Charlton Ath: Relegated Bulgar

Keiron Dyer – Newcastle Utd: Fancy Dan moan merchant

Claus Jensen – Fulham: Fulham are probably thr=e oddest looking squad in the division.

Packs 29 - 31

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Wed, 09 May 2007 20:03:00 +0000

Pack Twenty Nine

Aston Villa Squad: Although Villa have had a so-so season I reckon we'll start to see them as more of threat next season.

Javier Mascherano – West Ham: The Monster Masch. World beating international to West End Donkey and back to Super Smooth Euro Superstar.

Idan Tal – Bolton Wanderers: A name that looks like an anagram.

Didier Drogba – Chelsea: Dogbreath himself, I'm surprised he's only got 4 stars...

Leroy Lita – Reading: He's a good solid forward with a bit of spark.

Claudio Reyna – Man City: Looks like Andre's love child in his photo...

Pack Thirty

Blackburn Rovers Kits: Horrible betting sponsors...

Brad Friedel – Blackburn Rovers: Brad was frankly crap at Liverpool, he's now the most dependable keeper in the country.

Liam Ridgewell – Aston Villa: Looks a bit like my mate Rich... interesting that eh?

Christian Nade – Sheffield United: I've got Nade to say... ... ... sorry.

Stephen Hunt – Reading: A valid Reading sticker - blimey!

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink – Charlton Ath: JFH was such a disappointment. Usually guarantees a bag full of goals wherever he laces his mercenary boots.

Pack Thirty One

The Premiership Trophy: Sticker number 2! I think this another one that should be shiny shiny foil though.

Michael Dawson – Spurs: A good solid centre back, will probably get better and better with age.

William Gallas – Arsenal: A good solid centre back spolied by his Chelsea days and can't be arsed at Arsenal.

Matt Jackson – Wigan Ath: Is he the one that's been playing for 1500 years?

Nicky Weaver – Man City: Plucky nicky peaked when he was 19 in those play off final heroics... shame.

Tal Ben Haim – Bolton Wanderers: One of Big Sam's many exotic stars.

Stats
Wow, three packs with not a single swap! Very nice!

So another 18 stickers are added, making a total of 164 stuck. That's now a completion of 31.42%.

The NPP rises for the first time in ages to 5.29 with the GPP falling to 0.71.

With all that the completion target dips back under 100 to pack 98.67.

Reading are finally up and moving again, and Chelsea march on - both teams lead the way 11 stickers, but as you can see the spread behind is still plentiful and fairly even.

Only Everton and Watford are holding back, mustering less between them than most of the other teams in the league.

Villa Badge

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Wed, 09 May 2007 19:40:00 +0000

Just as a quick break, you may remember me mentioning a while back that I quite liked the design of the Villa badge...

Well they must have been listening, because they've just announced a new version...

It's also quite nice actually, at least now I've got a bit more used to it.

As I've said, I like the old one, but it is a bit busy. The stripes on the background were maybe a little bit too much.

The new lion is a bit gayer looking, but overall the I like the retro look. The addition of their 1982 European Cup star is also quite a nice touch.

Overall I like it, but I still have a soft spot for the outgoing one.

After the long weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Tue, 08 May 2007 13:50:00 +0000

So after a nice relaxing weekend full of hands down toiles and other suc cleaning delights it's time to crack on...

Pack Twenty Six

Man United Squad: The newly crowned champions. At least it wasn't Chelsea...

Paul Scharner – Wigan: Doesn't he present high-brow history programmes?

Ricardo Gardner – Bolton Wanderers: Got!

Gary Speed – Bolton Wanderers: Got! Double Bolton swap catastrophe!

Paulo Ferreira – Chelsea: He's got odd hair has this Champions League failure

Matthew Spring – Watford: Not good enough for the worst team in the Premiership, Matt is now playing for the second worst team in the Championship...

Pack Twenty Seven

Chelsea Kits: Champions League Semi Final failing kits!

David Sommeil – Sheffield Utd: Part time Blades defender.

Thierry Henry – Arsenal: GOT! High quality swappage!

Reading Badge: GOT! My first badge swap!

Mathieu Flamini – Arsenal: VERY French

Steven Davis – Aston Villa: Very Ginger

Pack Twenty Eight

Wigan Athletic Kits: Wigan are going along quite nicely at the moment.

Pedro Mendes – Portsmouth: Got! Bit of a pants trio of packs really.

Dave Kitson – Reading: Only 2 goals this term for Reading's ginge.

Antonio Valencia – Wigan Ath: Ecuadorian, sounds Spanish....

Michael Brown – Fulham: Head butting cheating bastard.

Gareth Barry – Aston Villa: The normal Gareth Barry sticker - 1 of a set of 3.

Stats
So 28 packets down, 146 stickers stuck in - giving a completion percentage of 27.97.

The NPP has slipped to 5.21 thanks to the five Gots (22 in total) in this trio of packs. GPP rises to .79

With all that taken into account the projected finish for the project is now 100.11 - three figures for the first time!

There hasn't been a valid Pompey sticker for a while so League Cup Winners Chelsea have moved into joint top spot in the completion race... insert jibe about the only decent thing they will this sesaon here...

Packs 23 to 25

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Thu, 03 May 2007 20:24:00 +0000

Straight on into...

Pack Twenty Three

Star Player – Phil Jagielka – Sheff Utd: This is a strange one, Star Players should be foil and shiny... this Phil isn't! So I haven't stuck him in yet just in case...

Seol Ki-Hyeon – Reading: Played 25 games, weighed in with 3 goals, not a bad season really.

Linvoy Primus – Portsmouth: I rate Linvoy quite highly, he's always played well against us... probably could have been a huge star but he bloomed a bit late.

Shaun Wright-Phillips – Chelsea: Ess dubba dubba dubba you you pee - still seems happy at CSKA London, but you have to hope he moves out this summer.

Morten Gamst Pedersen – Blackburn: Another player I rate very highly, I don't think Gmast and his traction engine left foot will be at Ewood next season.

David Weir – Everton: The run of good players comes to an ugly finish...

Pack Twenty Four

Sheffield United Squad: Very stripy...

Anthony Gardner – Spurs: There's a green fingered joke in there somewhere...

Emmerson Boyce – Wigan Ath: Another one for the cool names list.

Edgar Davids – Spurs: A bit of a disappointment was old Edgar, it a shame he didn't grace the Premiership in his prime.

Mark Delaney – Aston Villa: If he was Scottish-Italian he may have been named Solido McAverage.

Chris Morgan: Sheff Utd: GOT! And I still don't know who he is!

Pack Twenty Five

Most Wanted – Sylvain Distin – Man City: GOT. One of the few City players not yet to have been chinned by Joey Barton. Give it time.

Antti Niemi – Fulham: A great keeper who seems to have the excrement touch on the teams he plays for. Or he has bad taste in clubs...

Gaizka Mendieta – Middlesbrough: Seriously I thought he was a cripple with steel fused knees, surely they can't be still paying him a wage?!

Cheslea Badge: The 10th shiny shiny badge!

Johnathon Spector – West Ham: Another yank, looks like he should skulling for Cambridge

Ashley Young - Watford: GOT! Mr Bargain of the Century.

Stats
So pack 25 also brings the completion up to 25% - so 1% per pack... that's with 133 sticker stuck in and 17 Gots. That a NPP of 5.32 (down a measly .04) and GPP up slightly to 0.68.

The projected completion pack is now up to 98.12.

With Linvoy Primus, Porstmouth move into double figures in the race for first complete team, but Boro are really keeping close by moving on to 9. Chelsea, Blacburn and Reading are all keeping them close too.

Packs 20 to 22

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Wed, 02 May 2007 15:28:00 +0000

If you are clever, you may have noticed that I didn't post any stats for the last packs... that's because by the time I'd got around to posting I'd already opened the next three packs and entered the data into my all seeing spreadsheet. I didn't have the time to do it manually...

There are double stats this time to make up for it!

Pack Twenty

Charlton Athletic Squad: When you have a squad that boasts Matt Holland as yo rstar you know you're goin g to be struggling. At least they can point at an injured Darren Bent...

Jens Lehman – Arsenal: The Mad Jerman himself

Paul Scholes - Man Utd: Do you think anyone ever tells United players they're having their pictures - they never seem to be shaved.

Ross Turnbull – Middlesbrough: Two keeprs in one pack, blimey!

Benjani Mwaruwari – Portsmouth: GOT! I had to copy and paste his name from the bbc website - again!

Joe Cole – Chelsea: Tricky midfielder and part-time actor/deep sea diver, and still not in the Champions League final - he he!

Pack Twenty One

Star Player – Gareth Barry – Aston Villa: Can't argue with that choice, what the poor lad has to do to get in the England squad I don't know. Maybe sleeping with McLaren might help - Downing must have done something...

Benni McCarthy – Blackburn Rovers: One of the bargains of the season,wouldn't have been to disapointed if Rafa had brought him to Liverpool.

Chris Riggot – Middlesbrough: Quite a solid run of Boro players of late...

Shay Given – Newcastle Utd: Another keeper! Shay's been one of my favourite keepers for a while - Newcstle might have been relegated a few times were it not for him.

Gilberto Silver – Arsenal: A good quality pack this, a fairly decent 5-a-side team...

Liverpool Badge!!!! GET IN! I know it's sad, but it made me very happy to get this - I have never, ever got one before... (sob...)

Pack Twenty Two

Charlton Kits: GOT! My first kits swap...

Darren Ambrose – Charlton Ath: You'll start to see what I mean about the Chralton squad in a minute...

Joseph Yobo – Everton: Blimey, they do put Everton stickers in after all!

Cory Gibbs – Charlton Ath: See.. (couldn't be anything outher than American with a name likr that.)

Bryan Hughes – Charlton Ath: The fourth Charlton sticker in the pack finalises the mediocrity of the team...

Jerzy Dudek - Liverpool: Another keeper... although Jerzy will always be a legend for his exploits in Istanbul, he'll always be remembered for having one awesome season - the turning absolute turd after drooping the ball through his legs against United... poor Jerzy.

Stats
So with six packets added there are now 118 stuck proudly in place, which is a 22.61% complete.

In 22 packs there have been 14 Gots which works out to NPP ratio of 5.36 and GPP of .64. After this many packs I'm still finding myself pleasantly surprised.

The projected completion pack is till hovering in the 90s at 97.32.

Portsmouth managed to add another couple of stickers to their total - taking them to 9. They are still leading, but there are a load of teams on their heals now, with Boro steadily easing from the pack like the bunch of also-rans they are...

Packs 17 to 19

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Tue, 01 May 2007 11:36:00 +0000

Pack Seventeen

Shiny Fulham Kits: The long sleeve version wih the 'innovative' GloveSleeve is far more interesting

Gary Teal – Wigan: I remeber Sean Teale...

Stuart Downing – Middlesbrough: GOT! Rubbish winger, rubbish swap.

Nicky Hunt – Bolton Wanderers: Almost comedy gold. Mick Hunt would be better...

Lee Bowyer – West Ham: ...speaking of total Hunts.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – Man Utd: GOT! AGAIN! Look at him mocking me with his munchkin face...

Pack Eighteen

Porstsmouth Kits: Pompey keep on marchig on in the completion race...

Shola Ameobi - Newcastle: He's never really going to make it, let's face it.

Danny Shittu – Watford: GOT, it would be too obvious to use another Shittu pun.

Papa Bouba Diop – Fulham: The first character from the Star Wars Galaxy to play in the Premiership.

Andy Cole – Portsmouth: Made such a huge impact they let him go to Birmingham

Aaron Mokoena – Blackburn Rovers: GOT! Another double swap.

Pack Nineteen

Star Player – Scott Parker – Newcastle Utd: Star player? He's pretty good, but star?

Henri Camara – Wigan Athletic: Potentially useful, probably crap.

Tomasz Radzinski – Fulham: A classic one good game in twenty man - if you're lucky.

Lee McCulloch – Wigan Athletic: Sounds like a boxer...

Steve Kabba – Sheff Utd: GOT! Stupid jouneyman...

Brynjar Gunnarson – Reading: Icelandic, I'd like to go to Iceland one day. Also the first Reading sticker in yonks - they're now trailing way behind Pompey.

Packs 14-16

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 11:38:00 +0000

These were actually opened on Friday night, but you know alcohol and TV etc etc...

Pack Fourteen

A very blue pack...

Tottenham Hotspur Squad: Maybe next year eh lads? Again.

Joey O'Brien – Bolton Wanderers: He looks like someone... I can't put my finger on it. Looks all of his 21 years... minus 6 or 7.
Sun Jihai – Man City: GOT. Damn your hippy necklace.

Ricardo Carvalho – Chelsea: The start of a monster pack for CSKA London...

Frank Lampard – Chelsea: Fat Frank - not the best midfielder at Chelsea, never mind the World...

Petr Cech – Chelsea: Then you have to say Cech probably is the best keeper...

Pack Fifteen

John Terry – Chelsea: JT rounds off a huge boost to the Chelsea effort. Four sticker, and 3 5 star players!
Michael Tonge – Sheffield Utd: One of the few Sheff United players I've actually heard of!

Ledley King – Tottenham Hotspur: If he gets over his injury prone phase he could be quite euseful

Middlesbrough Badge: Ahhh shiny badge!

MOST WANTED – Thierry Henry: Nice! Apparently 10% of stickers requested last year where Terry Henry's. I've already got two separate ones... and there's still one more to go!

Adrian Mariappa – Watford: He probably got his one star ratig on the basis of his cool name. I like his straight forward signature.

Pack Sixteen

George Boateng – Middlesbrough: Always seems to be really highly rated... I've never quite worked out why.

Phillipe Senderos – Arsenal: GOT! You very French person you.

Charlton Athletic Badge: Another nice shiny badge! That's eight now with no swaps!

Osmane Dabo – Man City: Have a Dabo that!

Julio Arca – Middlesbrough: Julio Georgio himself?

Liverpool Squad: I loved seeing this come out of the wrapper - man I'm sad. Wait 'til the badge comes along!

Stats
Only a very healthy two swaps in 3 packs. I must admit that I've always been quite cynical of stickers, thinking that there were pretty much fixed - but the spread seems very even and fairly random so far.

The NPP slips again slightly to 5.56 with the GPP upping slightly to .44. The projected completion pack is now 93.84.

The first time in a while therw were no Pompey stickers, but they keep their one sticker lead. Chelsea were obviously the biggest movers this time with 4 stickers in three packs.

The teams graph quite nicely shows the even spread of stickers throughout the album. There's on Wigan and Everton who are struggling on 1 and 2 stickers respectively.

Reading have really dropped off the pace - I haven't seen one now since Pack Eight!

I promise that I'll work on some new graphs soon!

Ooops Forgot Pack Thirteen

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 19:54:00 +0000

Unlucky for some...

Shiny Newcastle kits: Have I mentioned how much I like these kits yet?

Wayne Routledge – Fulham: Another one of those players who might be good when he grows up... but people have been saying that for six years...

Robin Van Persie – Arsenal: He's alright I suppose

John O'Shea – Man Utd: So ordinary he could play for Everton

Blackburn Rovers Badge: Mmmmmm shiny

Yossi Benayoun – West Ham: One of the first signatures I can actually read. Go Beno! Another one who probably won't be linked withe Liverpool anymore...

At Last!

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 17:53:00 +0000

My first bulk box of 100 packs has finally arrived!

Things can really start to get underway now.

I'm not exactly sure what the best way of tackling things is. At the moment I'm planning on opening three packs when I can.

It's taking all my will power not to rip into to all 100 packs!

I'm not sure how long the full documentation can last - all the photos etc are taking me a bit too long - but for now I can cope.

Let's crack on.

Pack Eleven

Richard Hughes – Portsmouth: It really is surprising how many Premier League players I've never really heard of... Ricky here is a Scottish midfielder who has made 16 league appearances this season. Fancy that.

(Portsmouth mirror their real life season and take an early lead!)

Aston Villa Badge: It's quite a nice badge too. Traditional yet contemporary.

Steve Finnan – Liverpool: One of the most underrated players in the league. Certainly the best right back around at the moment.

STAR PLAYER – Carlos Tevez – West Ham: I've been impressed by Carlos' attitude this season. Many stars would have thrown their platinum plated dummies out months ago. I wouldn't complain if Rafa put in a cheeky bid to reunite him with Mascherano... and it's shiny shiny.

Henrik Pedersen – Bolton Wanderers: 18 appearances, 1 goal. Striker?

Emanuel Pogatetz - Middlesbrough: Pogatetz is quite a cool name, even if it does sound a bit like an ailment. Played in nearly every game for Boro this season.

Pack Twelve

Stuart Taylor – Aston Villa: Bah! I've only got one 'keeper - and now he's a Got!

Freddie Ljungberg – Arsenal: It's nice to see Freddie with his top on. You get the feeling he's not used to having his photo taken with one on.

Gabriel Heinze – Man Utd: One injury and he went from essential to subs bench faster than boot from Fergie's foot.

MOST WANTED – Olof Mellberg: GOT, dammit!

Simon Elliot – Fulham: I half expected to hear "And remember, please don't have nightmares" after seeing that very strange head.

DeMarcus Beasley – Man City: Surely that's a totally made up name?

Stats
Two Gots, which is not too bad because I expected more by this time to be honest.

Completion moves up to a healthy 13.98%, NPP dips slightly from 5.7 to 5.62 - with GPP obviously rising to 0.38.

On the current pace I will complete the album by packet 92.96 - but obviously that ain't going to happen. There's probably a graph in that there stat somewhere, it's certainly something I'll be keeping an eye on.

Still No Box!

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:47:00 +0000

By now I thought I would have received the second box of 100 stickers that I won last week, but I've not heard anything.

Maybe I'm jinxed, and this project is doomed to fail?

Nah.

Anyway I've bought two more packs to round up my collection to 10 for easy stats sake...

Pack Nine

Sun Jihai – Man City: Aww ickle Sun and his funky hippy necklace... how much do you reckon he gets paid compared to the others... and what does Big Mouth Barton think of him... it's amazing what a head and shoulders pic can make you think.

Ryan Giggs – Man Utd: The man with the perma stubble... I wonder why Beckham got the Gilette contract?

Gary Speed – Bolton Wanderers: What do you say about Gary? Has he got atomic legs? Always seems to be on the brink of retirement... and has been since 1943.

Porstmouth Badge: Yeah shiny shiny! Pompey are really making a break for it in the last few packs.

MOST WANTED – Olof Mellberg: A man that matches his Viking name, good player deserved of his Most Wanted status.

Ashley Young – Watford: Well worth the 74 qudrillion pounds Villa paid for him...

Pack Ten

Sean Davis – Portsmouth: Solid Sean. I'm sure that's his nickname.

Bolo Zenden – Liverpool: Yeah not exactly the biggest hit at Anfield... he'll be back at PSV soon. Isn't he blonde normally?

Abdoulaye Meite – Bolton: The Ivorian Coast defender has been pretty much ever present in the tough Bolton back line

Cartlon Cole – West Ham: Wasn't this lad supposed to be good?

Stuart Taylor – Aston Villa: Has made 7 appearances! Woo

Charlton Kits: I do like these shiny kits, it would be nice if the league clubs were in the album too...

Stats

Ahhh two Got free packs. That's better.

The NPP ratio is upped slightly to 5.7 - with GPP down to .3

Completion has already popped it's head above 10% at 10.92% - not bad in 10 packs.

Now for the first graph!

This clearly shows how Portsmouth have come from nowhere to join Reading at the top for the race for completion. Blackburn remain in touch, but the rest of the pack a spread well behind.

It's still early days for graphs, but if anyone has any statistical requests feel free to drop me a line.

I promise to make the graphs look nicer in the near future too!

More Delays

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 17:04:00 +0000

I've had a spot of bother with my first delivery of 65 packs... but I've already managed to win another box of 100 packs for cheaper than the first lot! Bonus!

Obviously this has forced me into buying three more packs from the shops...

Pack Six

Craig Short – Sheff Utd: Surely he's at least 55 by now?

Craig Moore – Newcastle: There's quite a few Aussies about these days isn't there?

Anthony Gardner – Bolton: Pushing hard for the Most Jamaican Player in the Premiership title.

Josip Skoko – Wigan: Another Aussie, a bit of diversification into midfield though.

James McFadden – Everton: Is he? Isn't he? Crap I mean...

Man City Squad: These are OK, but I prefer shinys...

Pack Seven

Portsmouth Squad: Still not shiny...

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – Manchester United: DAMN YOU, you munchkin faced Got!

Perdro Mendes – Portsmouth: Scores a belter then turns invisible for months - he goy skilllllz

Benjani Mwaruwari – Portsmouth: I wonder why Mwaururiiiaauww isn't on the sticker? Three Pompey sticker in one pack!

Stefan Henchoz - Blackburn Rovers: Liverpool's legendary ex goalkeeper.

John Halls – Reading: Noooo two Gots in 1 pack!

Two swaps in a pack... bah. I suppose it had to happen sooner or later...

Pack Eight

Gavin McCann – Aston Villa: Gav means I've now got at least one sticker in every section - woo hoo etc

Thierry Henry – Arsenal: Oooh Terry. Pants season, but still oozes class. A surprisingly cheesy grin for Mssr. Cool

Aaron Mokoena – Blackburn: Another damn Got... 3 now...

John Oster – Reading: Desperate to play for Wales... hmmmm

Brett Emerton – Blackburn: Hey look, another bleedin Aussie!

STAR PLAYER – Andy Johnson - Everton: At least it's a shiny...

Stats
So swaps come into play - boooooooo.

My Needs Per Pack (NPP) ratio dips to 5.63... unsurprisingly the Gots Per Pack (GPP) ratio gets off the mark to 0.38. It's not too bad really.

Reading (6) are still the most complete club, but Pompey (4) put in a strong performance today so they've come from nowhere to get close. Steady Blackburn (5) are now only one behind.

Sod it! It begins!

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 21:00:00 +0000

I'm still waiting for my stickers to arrive from my ebay dealer. If they're not here tomorrow I'll be sending an inquisitive email!

Well the pressure of the empty album was getting to me so I went to Smiths and bought five packs at lunch time. yeah i felt a bit sad in doing it, but wifey was with me so it at least took some of the stigma away.

Unless they thought she was my carer...

Anyway here we go with the first pack:

Pack One

Tim Cahill - Most Wanted: Hmm little Timmy is the first sticker I see. At least it wasn't a United player. And at least he isn't doing that bloody shadow boxing crap.

Jermaine Jenas - Spurs: The midfielder who will always be the next big thing...

Harry Kewell - Liverpool: Yay! My first Liverpool player in my first pack! Well I use the term player in the loosest possible sense...

Chris Morgan - Sheff Utd: You may be club captain, but sorry old bean, never heard of you! I'm sure he's gutted.

James Morrison - Boro: So long as it's not the smug singing one I'm OK...

Shiny Arsenal Badge! - Excellent, these shiny badges are still as cool to get as ever!

I also got a strange Lego sticker for the middle advert. You wouldn't have got that sort of thing back in the day...

Pack Two

John Halls - Reading: A player with his own ass groove in the Madejski Stadium dug out. A defender apparently.

Danny Shittu - Watford: A quality name for a player built like a brick shittu house.

Ryan Nelsen - Blackburn Rovers: A good solid centre back with a bit of loyalty - I'm looking at you Neill... (and no I haven't stuck him in the wrong place. Note to self, don't look at national flags, when numbers are unique...)

Shiny Spurs Badge! - Oooh the London derby in two packs!

Khalid Boulahrouz - Chelsea: Does anyone know how this guy is playing in the Premier League... never mind Chelski?

Kevin Doyle (Star Player) - Reading: The boys done alright too in his Premier League debut season.

Pack Three

Blackburn Squad: The big fat cup semi final faliures are my first squad - rejoice!

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - Man Utd: Far to cheeky and likable to be a United player. It's almost a shame I must hate him and his stupid baby face.

Jermaine Pennant - Liverpool: You sir, are no way near good enough to be looking that smug. Unless you repeat your stunning goal against Chelsea in a few weeks. Then you may stay like that forever.

Dejan Stefanovic - Portsmouth: Not much to say really, he has slightly odd hair...

Phillipe Senderos - Arsenal: Once his career inevitably fades towards foreign obscurity at least Phillipe will always be able to get work as an extra fro the film La Heine...

Dean Ashton - West Ham: OUCHY!

Pack Four

Shiny Reading Kits - Oooooh I like these! Reading are doing well here...

Aaron Mokoena - Blackburn Rovers: Solid enough South African defender

Steve Kabba - Sheff United: See footballing dictionary definition of jounreyman... now at Watford.

Bobby Convey - Reading: Really sounds like he should be appearing live on stage in Vegas... or Blackpool... well give it a couple of seasons eh?

Stuart Downing - Middlesbrough: Boro - according to the album - had one of the worst crossing records in the league... and Stu weighed in with 1 whole goal last term. Men of Britain get those toddlers right feet tied down, there's gold in them thar South Paws!

Charle N'Zogbia - Newcastle: I really wasn't expecting Charles to be his first name...

Pack Five

Shiny Reading Badge! - Wow Reading are storming away, shiny badge, shiny kits, star player and two normals in five packs!

Stelios Gianikopopopopolis - Bolton: Good ol' Stelios. I think now we've got a bit of Yankee cash that the annual Stelios rumours will finally be over! Shame, I kinda like him.

Paul Dickov - Man City: I really wouldn't like to play against him, all sharp pointy elbows. It'd be like playing against walking tool box.

Sylvain Distin - Most Wanted: One of city's better players, who'll probably be off in the summer. Sums it up quite nicely I think.

Herman Hreidarsson - Charlton Athletic: The Hermanaitor, I like him, a good pro with the perfect, lovely no nonsense attitude.

Heidar Helguson - Fulham: 31 appearances, 4 goals... I'm assuming Coleman ket picking him because he like saying his rhythmical name. No wonder he was sacked.

Stats

Five packs - no swaps! Brilliant start.

With 30 stickers the album is 5.75% complete.

Reading lead the way with 5 stickers (20% already!), Blackburn are second with 3 (12%)

I would post some graphs, but at the moment that's a bit pointless! Don't worry I will make up for it when my 65 packs arrive!

The Project Roots

noreply@blogger.com (Anthony) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 20:07:00 +0000

Hmmm this could well be the saddest thing I've done in a long time.

And that's coming from a person who spends a lot of time doing things that a lot of people would call sad.

I'm a web designer for a start. I know what the difference between HTML and XHTML is - not only that, but I also care about how it should be structured. Don't get me started on CSS.

I've got my blog at www.escapecrate.co.uk... but my day job is in local government.

Did I mention the Xbox 360 yet?

You get the picture.

The Idea

I'm sure you'll remember football stickers?Back in the day it was all about Panini and their "Football 8x" albums. They were awesome, you had one, all your friends had one, and you all collected the stickers like fevered worker bees.

Then you'd meet up at lunch time in the yard to purvey each others swaps piles.

"Got, Got, Got, Got, Need, Need, errrrr Need, Neeeeeeeeeeeeeed! Ohhh I'll give you these three Peter Reids for your Liverpool Badge... Guuuoooooooooon, pleeeassssse... get lost then you tight git..."

Ah the memories.

There was always one kid who was obviously a bit spoiled. He'd always have a pile of swaps as thick as his head. Of course he wouldn't actually swap anything, he just liked to Billy Big Balls it around school.

Cock.

A Very Mature Project

Well I'm 27 now, I earn more than 50p a week, and we've established that I am more than a little sad...

I can be that little bastard!

The idea came to me during the World Cup when the great footballing blog Who Ate All the Bratwurst started their Panini Mondays. Every Monday they would open 3 packets of the Panini's World Cup stickers and relay their wondrous contents for our pleasure.

It brought back loads of memories... then I completely forgot about it.

Then Bratwurst became Pies and earlier this year they brought us Sticker Sundays! The same thing but with Merlin's Premier League stickers. Great stuff.

So I put the idea at the back of my mind, where it promptly took root.

"Wouldn't it make an interesting blog project?" I thought.

"I always wanted to walk into a shop and buy a whole box of stickers..." I reminisced.

"Hmmm I must look on Ebay some time to see if you can buy stickers..." I mused.

"Oh look, whole boxes of the buggers going for like £13..." I muttered to myself...

"Oooops I seem to have just won 65 packs..." I hysterically laughed... in my head...

Anyway...

Yeah, so I've got 65 packs of the Merlin Premier League 07 collection winging their way to me.

That's a potential 390 stickers.

There are 522 spaces in the album.

There will be more sticker buying, this is where you will be able to follow my progress.

I am aiming to do it Dave Gorman style. There will be stats. There will be graphs.

Hopefully by the end of the project I will have my first ever complete album, and a stack of swaps thick enough to make even the most annoying and spoilt kid weep.

Mwuhahahahahahahaha.

Etc!