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WOLVES IN DETAIL
Panini are probably the most famous name in sticker books and dominiated the market in the 1980's and 1990's. Founded in the early 1960's in Italy they eventually arrived in Britain in 1970 with a book for the Mexico World Cup in 1970, They produced further books for World and European Cups during the remainder of the 70's which were available throughout Europe.
They arrived in Britain in 1972, however, the produced was known as Top Sellers, however, Panini were the printer of these cards. The first Panini cards were issued in 1977 and from then on they produced on a yearly basis and are still producing today.
Top Sellers - Football 72
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The first series consisted of 420 cards and featured between 13 and 15 cards for all 22 teams in the First Division alongside a couple of clubs from the Second Division. Additionally in the album were 4 puzzle cards which each featured 16 stickers which made up one larger picture. The backs of the cards contained a small pen-pic of the player.
The 15 players representing Wolves apart from the five below were; 342 - Phil Parkes, 343 - John Oldfield, 346 - Francis Munro, 347 - John McAlle, 348 - John Holsgrove, 349 - Mike Bailey, 351 - Danny Hegan, 352 - Mike O'Grady, 353 - Derek Dougan & 356 - John Richards.
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Top Sellers - Football 73
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The second series again contained 420 stickers and featured 15 cards for each of the 22 teams in the First Division. Again there were puzzle cards and this time club badges and an all-star World XI . The backs of the stickers again contained a small pen-pic of the player.
6 of the players representing Wolves are represented below, the others were; 358 - John McAlle, 359 - Danny Hegan, 360 - Mike Bailey, 362 - Derek Parkin, 364 - Frank Munro, 366 - John Richards, 370 - Hugh Curran & 371 - Les Wilson
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Top Sellers - Football 74
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The next series match the previous season consisting of 420 cards with 15 for each of the 22 teams in the top flight. This time there were 6 puzzle cards alongside the club badge with small pen-pics of the player on the rear.
The 15 players representing Wolves were; 346 - Phil Parkes, 347 - John McAlle, 348 - Danny Hegan, 349 - Mike Bailey, 350 - Bernard Shaw, 351 - Derek Parkin, 352 - Ken Hibbitt, 353 - Frank Munro, 354 - Derek Dougan, 355 - John Richards, 356 - Gerry Taylor, 357 - Jim McCalliog, 358 - David Wagstaffe, 359 - Steve Daley & 360 - Steve Kindon.
Top Sellers - Football 75
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The fourth series again contained 420 cards this time with 14 for each of the First Division teams as well as 3 from the Second Division. Club badges and puzzle cards made up the rest of the collection, Wolves for the first time featuring in the puzzle collection with a photograph of the League Cup winning team of the previous season.
The Wolves cards were; 337 - Gary Pierce, 338 - Geoff Palmer, 339 - Derek Parkin, 340 - Mike Bailey, 341 - Frank Munro, 342 - John McAlle, 343 - Ken Hibbitt, 344 - Barry Powell, 345 - Alan Sunderland, 346 - Steve Kindon, 347 - Steve Daley, 348 - Derek Dougan, 349 - John Richards, 350 - Dave Wagstaffe and 7A Wolves - League Cup Winners.
Top Sellers - Football 76
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The next set was identical to the previous set with 25 teams represented by 14 players each. Club badges and Puzzle Cards completed the set. The big difference this season was the omission of the player pen-pics on the back being replaced with simply the card number.
The Wolves cards were; 337 - Gary Pierce, 338 - John Richards, 339 - Willie Carr, 340 - Steve Kindon, 341 - Frank Munro, 342 - Ken Hibbitt, 343 - Dave Wagstaffe, 344 - Steve Daley, 345 - Derek Parkin, 346 - John McAlle, 347 - Mike Bailey, 348 - Geoff Palmer, 349 - Alan Sunderland & 350 - Barry Powell.
Top Sellers - Football 77
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This series was the last featuring the name Top Sellers. Again it matched the previous term with 25 teams represented by 14 players each. Club badges and Puzzle Cards completed the set which again totalled 240.
The Wolves cards were; 295 - Phil Parkes, 296 - Alan Sunderland, 297 - Geoff Palmer, 298 - Derek Parkin, 299 - Mike Bailey, 300 - John McAlle, 301 - Steve Daley, 302 - Wille Carr, 303 - Steve Kindon, 304 - Norman Bell, 305 - Bobby Gould, 306 - Ken Hibbitt, 307 - Frank Munro & 308 - John Richards
Typical back
296- Alan Sunderland
297 - Geoff Palmer
298 - Derek Parkin
299 - Mike Bailey
Football 78
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The first Panini series was a mammoth one amounting to 525 stickers covering much more then the First Division. Each team consisted of 17 stickers, 14 players, manager, team group photo and club badge. Each Second Division team was represented by a club badge and team group whilst for the first time the Scottish Premier League was included.
15 of the Wolves cards are displayed below with the missing one's being; 364 - Sammy Chung & 367 - Derek Parkin
Typical back
362 - Club Badge
363 - Team Group
365 - Gary Pierce
366- Geoff Palmer
368 - Frank Munro
369 - John McAlle
370 - Steve Daley
371- Kenny Hibbitt
375- Steve Kindon
372 - Martin Patching
376 - John Richards
373 - Willie Carr
377 - Bobby Gould
374 - Alan Sunderland
378 - Norman Bell
Football 79
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The second series featured even more than the previous, 594 in total, each being 65mm x 43mm in size. Matching the previous season there were 17 stickers for every First Division team, 14 players, manager, team group photo and club badge. Each Second Division team was represented by a club badge and team group whilst this time around the Scottish Premier League matched the English First Division.
The club badges were produced in a cloth type fabric rather than paper/card. All Wolves cards are represented below with the exception of No 379 - Wayne Clarke.
Typical back
364 - Club Badge
365 - Team Group
366 - Sammy Chung
367 - Paul Bradshaw
368 - Peter Daniel
369 - Bob Hazell
370 - John McAlle
371 - Geoff Palmer
372 - Derek Parkin
373 - Willie Carr
374 - Steve Daley
375 - Kenny Hibbitt
376 - Billy Rafferty
377 - Norman Bell
378 - Mel Eves
380 - John Richards
Football 80
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Another increase in the number of cards issued as this series featured a number of players from the Second Division teams with two players to each sticker. 17 stickers for each First Division team again with the Scottish Premier teams dropping to 12 players in the same format as the Second Division whilst this time the back of the stickers had profiles. The stickers changed in size to 65mm x 52mm with the club badge reverting to gloss paper.
Of the 17 Wolves stickers, 13 are featured below, the missing four being 359 - Team Group, 366 - Peter Daniel, 370 - John Richards & 371 - Andy Gray
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Football 81
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A similar format again with a drop to 558 stickers in the set, each sticker 65mm x 50mm. 16 stickers for each First Division team, 12 player, club badge, manager and a twin stickers team group. The Second Division teams each had a club badge and team photo and for the first time the Third Division was represented by a team group for each club. The Scottish Premier League was represented by a club badge, twin stickers for the team group and 6 stickers with a couple of players each. Team groups for the Scottish First Division were also included.
The 16 stickers representing Wolves were 339 - Team Badge, 341 - Team Group part 2, 343 - Paul Bradshaw, 344 - Geoff Palmer, 345 - George Berry, 347 - Derek Parkin, 348 - Rafael Villazen, 349 - Willie Carr, 351 - Kenny Hibbitt, 352 - Mel Eves, & 353 - Andy Gray
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Football 82
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Panini's fifth edition matched the previous season in format and style, this time with 512 stickers in total. Each First Division team dropped to 15 stickers, 12 players, manager, club badge and team group, this time reverting back to a single sticker.
Of the Wolves stickers all but three are shown below. Those missing are 318 - Club Badge, 328 - Wayne Clarke and 331 Andy Gray.
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Football 83
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A repeat of the previous season this time amounting to 527 stickers. New for this series was a number of cards on the laws of the game.
With Wolves having been relegated the previous season they now featured in the Second Division section and were represented by two cards only, those being 387 - Club Badge (a double sticker with Shrewsbury Town) and 389 - Team Photo.
Football 84
If it ain't broken, don't change it as the saying goes, so Panini didn't. Same as the previous season with 16 teams for each First Division team.
As Wolves returned to the top flite they had a full representation of stickers, those being 360 - Club Badge, 361 - Team Group, 362 - John Burridge, 363 - Alan Dodd, 364 - John Humphrey, 365 - Michael Bennett, 366 - Geoff Palmer, 367 - John Pender, 368 - Graham Hawkins (Manager), 369 - Gordon Smith, 370 - Kenny Hibbitt, 371 - Tony Towner, 372 - Mick Matthews, 373 - Wayne Clarke, 374 - Mel Eves and 375 - Andy Gray
Football 85
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No change again for the fourth straight season. With Wolves making a swift return to the Second Division they were again only represented by the club badge and a team photograph. Those stickers were 425 - Club Badge (double sticker with Wimbledon) and 426 Team Group.
Football 86
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Same again in general with a total of 574 stickers for this series. Additions this time around were club nickname cartoons and programme covers. With Wolves on the slippery slope to the bottom tier they were not represented.
Football 87
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Basically the same for the seventh series the nicknames and programme covers disappeared to be replaced by 'Team Strips' and a small section of British Stars playing in Europe. Wolves were now in the Fourth Division and had no representation.
Football 88
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Just minor tweaks again this time with 'Supermen Caricatures', a Guess Who section, Top of the World stars and 2nd Division Heroes. Wolves had no stickers.
Football 89
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A drop in stickers down to 480 saw sections removed. 15 stickers for each team in the First Division and Scottish Premier League with no other divisions included. Additionally there were World Cup Posters from each tournament to date and a section for 'Action Art'.
Football 90
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Back up over the 500 mark again it was again 15 stickers per team with this time a number of World Cup Stars, TV Commentators and badges of Europe's Finest.
Football 1991
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A total of 553 stickers with 17 for each team, First Division and Scottish Premier. The collection was completed with various stickers from the previous summers World Cup Finals in Italy. Wolves were represented by a single sticker, No 520 Steve Bull, which appeared in the 'Caption Competition' section.
Football 1992
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A massive change this term as the total stickers dropped to 276. Now concentrating solely on the English game (the Scots had there own version), it was simply 12 player stickers for each team. There were an additional 12 stickers for Second Division players, 2 of which were Wolves players.
No prizes of guessing who those representing Wolves were. 271 - Andy Mutch & 276 - Steve Bull.
Football 93
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A repeat of the previous season with 12 players per team giving a total of 274. No additional stickers to the collection. It would appear (and I am guessing here), that the Panini licence for issuing stickers in England ran out at the end of the season as there was no album the following year.
Football League 95
After a years absence the Panini album returned, however the top flite was not covered and this series covered the 72 teams in the Football League. Each of the First Division teams were represented by 15 stickers consisting of 12 players the team badge, team group and a kits sticker. Each Second Division team had 14 stickers with Third Division teams each having 2 or 3 stickers each, team photo, club badge and for some a player.
13 of the stickers representing Wolves are shown below, the missing 2 were 361 - Steve Bull & 362 - Tony Daley
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Football League 96
Similar to the previous season this collection contained a total of 468 stickers. 14 stickers per First Division team, 12 players, team group and club badge with 13 stickers for Second Divisions teams (3 players to each sticker and a club badge) and a single team group for those in the Third Division. This was the last Panini issued sticker book for a few years.
Typical back
Football 2003
After an eight year absence the Panini album made a return, although only for a single year. This time covering the Premier League along side world stars the series contained 384 stickers. Each top flight team was represented by 12 players. It was a further four years before another Panini album appeared.
This album, however, only sat on the shelves for some 4 or 5 days as Panini held no permissions/licence to produce the album. An injunction was issued by a court and a judge ruled that copyright had been infringed, the album and all the stickers being immediately withdrawn from shops.
Coca-Cola Championship 2006-2007
A return to regular production saw this collection for the Championship. 292 cards (not stickers), this was a trading card game for the championship. Each of the 24 teams were represented by 12 player cards with the other 4 being checklists. Each card was printed on glossy card and measured 88mm x 64mm in size. The dozen cards representing Wolves are shown below.
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The second season was a repeat of the previous one. The set increased by a single card, that giving the instructions of play. Again there were 12 for each of the twenty-four teams and mirrored the previous term being printed on glossy card and measured 88mm x 64mm in size.
The cards representing Wolves are shown below.
The following season the trading card game was substituted by a sticker collection. 540 cards in total there were 22 stickers for each club plus additional cards for the Championship logo and the trophy. The stickers themselves were in two formats, one a single sticker for club badge, ground picture and star players whilst the player stickers were two players per sticker.
The following cards represented Wolves: 274 - Chris Iwelumo, 519 - Club Badge, 520 - Stadium, 521, Wayne Hennessey, 522 - Kits, 523 - Michael Kightly, 524 - Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, 525 - Chris Iwelumo, 526 - Karl Henry, 527 - Karl Henry, 528 - Wayne Hennessey, 529 - Neill Collins, 530 - Richard Stearman, 531 - Michel Kightly, 532 - Karl Henry, 533 - Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, 534 - Andy Keogh, 535 - Stephen Ward, 536 - David Jones, 537 - Matt Jarvis, 538 - Sam Vokes, 539 - Chris Iwelumo & 540 - Kevin Foley.
The fourth series matched the sticker collection from the previous year. This time a total of 386 cards it was virtually the same as before with the individual double player cards this time numbered a & b on each sticker. Again the set included the club badge home and away kit as well as a series of internationals performing in the Championship.
Wolves were now playing in the Premier League and as such were not part of the set.
Sat 5th April 1947
Wolves Res. v Preston North End Res.
details unknown
Mon 7th April 1947
Wolves Res. v Derby County Res.
details unknown
Sat 19th April 1947
Wolves Res. v Liverpool Res.
details unknown
Fri 26th March 1948
Wolves Res. v Barnsley Res.
details unknown
Sat 3rd April 1948
Wolves Res. v Preston North End Res.
details unknown
Sat 17th April 1948
Wolves Res. v Manchester United Res.
details unknown
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