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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67028000102730761392014-11-27T18:52:12.712ZThe Football AtticChris Ohttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-88160303582169170212014-11-21T19:46:00.001Z2014-11-22T07:16:08.998ZWhatever Happened To... Nasal Strips?

Tunes, it seems, are not the only things that help you breathe more easily. For a short spell in the mid- to late-1990's, another ingenious device - some say a fad - proved just as adept at opening your nasal passages as the sweet lozenge of yore. Or was it?

Robbie Fowler was a Liverpool striker with an incredible talent for scoring goals, but one thing was letting him down - his ability to breathe in more air through his nose than he'd have liked. Despite the fact that his nostrils seemed perfectly capable of doing their job properly, he searched for a way to increase his 'intake yield.' *

What he found was the Breathe Right nasal strip, a "spring-like band" that sticks to the top of your nose and gently opens the nasal passages. For an all-too-brief spell back in the mid-90's, every athlete on earth seemed to be wearing one, all seemingly encouraged by their ability to take in more air during physical activity.

And so it was that Brer Fowler felt obliged to join the ranks of the world sporting elite who were decorating their noses with these funny-looking plasters. It was said that these nasal accoutrements improved air flow by 31% and even helped reduce snoring for those that were so afflicted. Sadly their introduction came too late to be tested on fans of Graham Taylor's England team, but their popularity was beyond question only a few years later and for many years hence.

As it is, there was much doubt poured on this revolution in assisted breathing, some claiming the whole thing to be complete hooey. Dr. Beat Villiger, a Swiss sports specialist invited by FIFA to test the viability of nasal strips, claimed that when the human body was really exerting itself, breathing usually switched from the nose to the mouth anyway, in order to pull in more air.

So in other words, the benefit of wearing one only became apparent if you were doing anything less than a full sprint. Or to put it another way, wearing a nasal strip was a way of telling people that you were so unfit, you needed a bit of help from a plaster to get you through 90 minutes of occasional exercise. Hardly surprising, then, that we don't see them worn much today.

That said, perhaps they just haven't been marketed right, or indeed aimed at the right people? For a device that gently opens up small apertures to improve performance, surely they could be worn on the anus to help TV commentators get more of their words out, or across the eye sockets to give World Cup hosting administrators a wider view of what's going on. Just a thought...

* Made up terminology.

-- Chris OakleyChris Ohttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-87441067039749332522014-11-20T22:44:00.001Z2014-11-20T22:44:54.514ZVideoblog 6: The Encyclopedia of World Football (Marshall Cavendish, 1980)

Way back in July 2013 when we recorded our podcast on Football Books, Rich asked Chris whether there were any books he loved enough to warrant him running back into a burning house to rescue from its raging inferno. Chris answered that one particular title would be worthy of that life-threatening course of action, namely the Encyclopedia of World Football.

Sixteen months on, Chris finally tells you all why he loved the book so much in Videoblog 6 (see below). For fans of football kits, badges and general miscellanea, this is a great old book that's well worth hunting down on eBay and other online auction sites.

Chris Ohttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-16980966662262365752014-11-16T17:01:00.004Z2014-11-16T17:01:55.478ZGot Not Got CCFC & Kit Book Review

Last year we reviewed the 2nd incarnation of the retro football bible, Got, Not Got and a few of the spin off titles that were starting to appear alongside it. There's no new version this year as instead, Derek & Gary have been busying themselves creating a wealth of club specific volumes, ranging from the giants of Man U and Liverpool, to the smaller, but no less loved clubs such as Norwich.

Falling neatly into that last category is The Lost World Of Coventry City.

This book holds a very special place in my heart, not only because of the team in question, but also because I was able to contribute lots of my own memorabilia collection to its hallowed pages. NB...most of the pics in this review might just well be of pages with my stuff on, cos...hey, it's my review ;-)

On top of that, anyone who's listened to our podcasts will know how often I've bemoaned the sheer lack of attention Coventry has had down the years, so to have an entire book all to ourselves is bliss!

Following the usual GNGLWoF format, this is just chock full of pretty much everything you could imagine that's ever been produced with the CCFC name on it, from the standard club programmes, Subbuteo & Panini, through the more obscure stuff like myriad pin badges and CCFC gnomes, culminating in what must be the nadir of Coventry City memorabilia, the Cup Final 7", "Go for it City".

OK, so the single itself may not be all that bad and of course, anything to do with that Cup Final will always be endearing to any CCFC fan, but the B side, "Go for it Cupid" (my heart, shooting to win) is possibly one of the worst pieces of music ever set down on vinyl!

There are pages dedicated to Coventry's kit manufacturers down the years including the iconic Admiral & Hummel and the possibly less remembered Ribero, covering the infamous chocolate brown kit and of course, the test card shirt from the late 80s.

As with every other Got Not Got book, the joy is not only in the sheer wealth of material covered, but also the depth of knowledge shown in the writing. If you are a Coventry City fan, you simply have to own this book and the same goes for fans of the other clubs who have also had the "Lost World Of..." treatment thus far,

The second book on review here is another that has me firmly within its target demographic. If I wasn't spoilt enough by a book all about Coventry, "Shirt Tales & Short Stories - The Lost World of Football Kits" is surely the icing on a book shaped cake.

Covering English clubs from Arsenal to Wolves, it also features a selection of Scottish teams and a page for each of the home nations.

Each team is given a double spread featuring several kits from their history, covering both much loved classics and also the ones some would rather forget along with text detailing the selections and a brief history of the clubs' shirts.

A large amount of the photos are from the vast collection of Neville Evans who runs the National Football Shirt Collection, and these lend a real air of quality to the book, with each of his shirts lovingly and professionally photographed.

As well as the shirts themselves, scattered throughout the book are kit adverts from the 70s, 80s and 90s as well as shots of the kits in use from the time.

As with the CCFC book, if you have any interest in football kits whatsoever, this is an absolute must! It may not cover every club going, but those that it does are given the VIP treatment...and of course, that means there's room for a Volume 2!

- Rich Johnson

Rich J (Sofa Soccer)http://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-70357528633653609932014-11-15T02:04:00.001Z2014-11-15T02:04:42.266ZPanini: Football 82

Let's see who's looking through the... ROUND window...

Yes, Panini's 1982 collection featured players gurning, grimacing and squinting through a circular frame on many of its 516 stickers. It was the fresher look that the Football 82 album was based upon, although many familiar features remained throughout.

Once again, the front cover changed colour, this time using pale blue to top and tail a great action photo from a match between Tottenham and Manchester United. Though the picture was nicely composed, however, one has to wonder how many kids had sleepless nights over the thought of Sammy McIllroy's gruesome missing right hand.

Inside, the old double-page spread was employed for each of the English First Division teams, the major change this time being that the player biographies were now enclosed in two columns either side of the fold, rather than underneath each sticker. And then there were the new stickers themselves which now featured the name of the league and division in the top corners and a slightly restyled bottom section to show off the name of the player.

From Arsenal to Wolverhampton Wanderers, the bright new face of English football came shining out. Silky shirts with pinstripes, smart haircuts and smiles were all in plentiful supply as players old and new adorned Panini's pages. Check out Southampton's army of ageing greats such as Alan Ball, Chris Nicholl and Mick Channon - all comfortably in their thirties - situated a turn of a page away from Stoke's youngsters including Lee Chapman (20), Adrian Heath (20) and Paul Bracewell (19).

Elsewhere, we had our first ever sight of Swansea City in the First Division, along with Notts County who were back in the top flight for the first time since 1926. For Leeds United, however, this would be their last season at the highest level of English football until their next tilt at the League Championship came along in 1990.

The foil badges in Football 82 were spruced up in all their gold finery with clearer lettering and a pleasantly contrasting silver border providing an improvement on the previous year's efforts. They added a decent splash of glitz not only to the First Division and Second Division pages, but also now the Third Division pages too, albeit in a half-size format. This meant your average junior collector was likely to get a rare glimpse of the impish Lincoln City badge or Reading's building society-esque depiction of some trees and a river.

For the Scottish Premier teams, two players yet again had to share a single sticker, although the manager of each team was now given one of his own in full size format, and again the Scottish First Division teams were each given their own team picture.

Yet apart from the opening 'Players of the Year' section that mirrored Football 81, there was no main feature showcased in the middle of the album. Granted, the 1980 FA Cup Final section in the previous year's collection wasn't the most exciting thing ever, but at least it provided a contrast to the usual 'badge-team-player' routine found on all the other pages.

Instead, the album closed with a tantalising message telling us to "Look out for Espana 82 - Panini's great World Cup collection" due to appear in shops in April 1982, and a back cover promotion for Subbuteo's six-a-side game, Top Scorer.

Despite continuing the high standards of previous efforts, it could be argued that with Football 82 Panini used the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' approach by barely straying from its tried and tested format.

But that, however, was about to change. For Football 83, some new ideas were set to bring a breath of fresh air to Panini's annual stickerfest, and for the more traditional fans, they may not necessarily have been for the better...

-- Chris Oakley

See also:

Football 81

Football 80

Football 79

Football 78

Chris Ohttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-44359143296281955912014-11-10T13:09:00.000Z2014-11-10T13:09:32.199ZHelp Fight Cancer & Win a Kit Collection Book!

Earlier this year, Rich finally got round to photographing his ridiculously large kit collection. He then spent far too much time creating a photobook of them all (reviewed here by kit book legend John Devlin).
It was limited to a run of about 20 books and they sold pretty quickly so if you wanted one, alas it's no longer available...however...

We have a special copy to give away...sort of...

Rather than just make this a competition, we thought we'd do something good and raise some money for charity and sticking to the football theme, we've chosen the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK.

To this end, we've set up a Just Giving page to make the process nice and easy.

All we ask is you make a £2 minimum donation. You can donate more if you wish - for each multiple of £2 you donate, you get an entry into the draw to win the kit book. So if you donate £6, you'll get 3 entries, trebling your chance to win...

The event closes on Sunday 14th December, after which we'll draw the winner and try and get it to you by Christmas!

Please leave some form of contact details when you donate so we can contact you if you win.

So...what are you waiting for? Get donating!

www.justgiving.com/FootballAtticKitBook

Rich J (Sofa Soccer)http://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-59601518300572380452014-11-03T22:13:00.002Z2014-11-03T22:13:45.659ZThe Greatest Retro Football Video Game Ever - Final resultAfter nearly a month of voting, we can now finally announce the winner of our contest to decide The Football Attic's Greatest Retro Football Video Game Ever... and here's how you voted!

Yes, friends, you've voted Sensible Soccer to be the top retro football computer game of all time, comprehensively beating Football Manager with almost three quarters of all the votes cast in the Final.

Over the last week, only one winner ever seemed likely, although Kevin Toms' management sim had Sensible Soccer on the rack for the first couple of days. In the end, however, it was the playing sim that stormed through to claim its place in the Football Attic Hall of Fame as your favourite football video game title.

Our huge and sincere thanks to all of you that took part in our vote-off from start to finish. It's been great fun seeing who you've been supporting during each round!

And now, let's remind ourselves of why Sensible Soccer is such a worthy champion... Once again, many thanks to you all!

Chris Ohttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-60343023582817537182014-11-01T19:15:00.000Z2014-11-01T19:15:32.325ZThe Game (ITV, 1991)

I have no experience of playing non-league football myself. I was always let down by a less than sylph-like physique and was perpetually, to use the common parlance, 'carrying too much timber' in my younger days to be of any use. Little did I know it mattered not a jot.

Having watched The Game, I realise I had nothing to worry about. Danny Baker's six-part series for LWT proved the point more than satisfactorily as the spotlight was turned on men young and not so young who didn't allow their physical shortcomings stop them from enjoying a game of amateur football.

Shown late on Friday nights in London and the South East back in 1991, The Game portrayed life in Division Four of the East London Sunday League as if it were Division One of the Football League. Every week, ITV's cameras would focus on one match at Hackney Marshes or a nearby venue while Baker provided the commentary and interviews with players and managers alike.

Given Baker's comedic reputation, it's easy to think that this was his attempt to embarrass and humiliate a bunch of pot-bellied men possessing only the merest hint of footballing ability, but this simply wasn't the case. Every aspect of the programme was played straight down the line without a trace of demeaning condescension. If there was any humour to be gleaned from what was put before us (and there was plenty), it was earned simply by holding a mirror up to Sunday League football itself.

The first episode of the series featured a match between two pub teams, Coborn from Bow, and The Cock Hotel from East Ham. Rooted to the bottom of the entire East London Sunday League, Cock Hotel hadn't won a single game during their two-year existence and had recently appointed a new manager when the programme was made. They chose John Smythe, apparently, because he just happened to be in the pub on the night when the issue was raised.

As for Coborn, third in Division Four, they relied heavily on John Priestaff (right), already the scorer of 25 goals that season. Priestaff, hair slicked back, two rings in his left ear and a gold chain around his neck, told Baker about his proven pre-match preparations:

"Last time I went out and got drunk on a Saturday night, we had a game against Tesco's and I scored six against them and I had a terrible hangover. So every time I have an important game, I go out on a Saturday night and get well slaughtered, and I'm alright in the morning!"

Talk soon gave way to action, and for that Danny Baker was joined on commentary duties by Terry Franklin, an experienced Sunday League player in his own right. Between them, they described the play on Pitch 88 where 22 players, many with stomachs escaping the paltry confines of their team shirts, were doing battle in very windy conditions.

The difference in quality between the two teams was soon apparent, and after a flurry of goals, the final score of Cock Hotel 1 Coborn 8 confirmed the gloomy prospects for the team from East Ham.

Episode 2 of The Game once again provided the stories that added depth and interest to a fairly ordinary football match played by ordinary people. Chris Mostyn of the Young Prince 'B' team was supposedly getting married a day ahead of their match against Thomas Neale. Would the inevitable party the night before detract from Young Prince 'B's performance on the Sunday? Not necessarily, as it turned out. "The more drunk we get, the better we play" said one of their players.

And so it proved to be. Jamie Sykes, their centre forward (see below), claimed two goals in a 3-1 victory the next day. Interviewed ahead of the game, Sykes told Danny Baker: "I got sent off in a game about eight weeks ago... Their left back came across and gave me the old elbow in the mouth and cut me lip, so I reacted quite violently." When asked what he'd done, Sykes replied: "I chased him around the pitch. He was running backwards and I was running forwards and I still couldn't catch him. I got a 6-match ban."

In the following episode, Sykes found himself 'sans boots' just before an important match against Gascoyne O's. "I cleaned 'em up for TV and left 'em on the balcony" he confided, before being told to find some spare ones elsewhere in the dressing room. Such tales were rife in The Game, and it was these and many other vignettes that brought home the simple charms of football at this level, a world away from the big-name superstars, the sponsorship deals and the glamour.

Every game seemed to have something that brought a smile, if not a laugh, to your face. Whether it was the bulldog that got angry with any player taking a throw on in its close proximity, or the ball being kicked right off the field and under the axle of an oncoming P3 bus, the real-world brilliance of non-league football just kept on giving.

Without Danny Baker, the series wouldn't have been kept on such a rolling boil as it was, and his observations while commentating only left you wishing the likes of Clive Tyldesley or Peter Drury could be every bit as amusing.

At one point during a break in play, the cameras aimed their gaze at a woman sitting out on the balcony of her council flat overlooking the pitch. "This was one of the executive boxes they've recently built here at Mabley Green" said Baker. "It is for one and you get your own front room and Council flat with it" he brilliantly suggested. When the camera glanced across at a nearby match, he proffered: "Yes, as ever, ITV have gone and chosen the right game to cover..."

The series ultimately ended with the championship being sown up by Gascoyne O's and the Dick Coppock Cup (strictly for Sunday League Division Four teams only) being won by Young Prince 'B', but in many ways, it wasn't the winning that was important. What really worked about The Game was its focus on the people that played and their love for playing. Even now, some 23 years on, you can't fail to enjoy this series, and it's every bit as relevant today as any game involving Ronaldo or Messi - take my word for it.

-- Chris Oakley

Our sincere thanks to Revelation Films Ltd for permission to reproduce the above images.

Danny Baker's 'The Game' is available to buy from Amazon.co.uk for £3.99.

Chris Ohttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-17901915406931994242014-10-31T14:55:00.000Z2014-10-31T14:55:48.917ZMatch Facts Football Yearbook 87/88

It's oft claimed that kids of today spend all their time in their rooms on their computers or consoles, while the youth of our day did nothing but play out from morn til night. I have a teenage stepson and while he does indeed spend a looooot of time glued to his computer (phrasing!), he also spends a good deal of time outdoors in that good old fashioned fresh air, playing good old fashioned football.

When I think back to my Saturday afternoons at his age, I recall with fondness that same fresh air...wafting in through the window of my tiny bedroom, where I sat listening intently to Mercia FM, following the fortunes of my beloved Coventry City. Now if the image of a teenage lad sitting alone in his bedroom listening to his team play out another goalless draw isn't depressing enough, imagine then that as well as listening, he's also making careful notes about the match...actually let me back up slightly there...it's not like I was just making notes for my own amusement like a nerd or something! I had an actual reason to be noting down the team that day, subs, goal times etc...My life had some purpose!

So why was I painstakingly recording match details? Was it because, in pre-internet days, access to such info was regarded as a precious commodity? Was living in some eastern bloc with tightly controlled media access? Or was I just a nerd? Obviously not the last one...

The real reason was because I was truly obsessed with football and Match magazine had provided me with an official (it was given away with a magazine, so it had to be completed!) means to record such info.

The Match Facts Football Yearbook 87/88, to give its full, rather grandiose, title, was an A5 sized booklet, which allowed, nay encouraged, you to fill out your team's match details for the entire season. Being 12 and with nothing better to do, I took to this task with an intense amount of gusto.

On opening the booklet, you were presented with a space to fill in details of your team, their nickname, ground, manager etc, beneath which was an example of how to fill in the match facts. This was split into two parts, the top dealing with the basics - Opponents, Date, Score, Attendance etc and the bottom part reserved for the team list. This was before squad numbers of course, so it was easy to fill in positions 1-11. You were encouraged to write the player names diagonally, not only because the spaces were quite small (note the names in the example are all pretty short...no Pickering or Ogrizovic for them to contend with!), but also to allow room for the Match Facts rating (the score given to each player in the following week's copy of Match). As you can see, that was something I never bothered with...mine was a more 'of the moment' sort of nerdiness...

The Yearbook had enough spaces for a full season (even accounting for the higher number of games in a lower league club's season), as well as special pages for the FA / Scottish Cup and the League (Littlewoods Challenge or Skol) cup.

What they didn't provide, however was space for any European competitions...but this was of course 1987, so no English clubs were playing in Europe. If you were a fan from North of the border (maybe, Dundee Utd) then that was just tough...this was dealing with domestic matters only! Even then, something was missing...with English clubs banned from European competitions, the Full Members Cup had been created, meaning teams in the top 2 divisions were now playing 3 domestic cup competitions in one season!

As it turns out, Coventry did very well in the FMC (sponsored that year by Simod, an Italian sportswear manufacturer) and nearly reached the final, only losing to eventual winners Reading on penalties...which you can see was lovingly recorded by myself in the space left by getting knocked out of the Littlewoods Cup early.

The empty match slots at the end of the season also come in handy as Coventry had one final cup competition to play that year. The mostly forgotten Anglo-Scottish Cup pitched the winners of the FA and Scottish Cups against each other in a 2 legged final. The first leg took place on 22nd December 1987 on a chilly night at Highfield Road. A 1-1 draw played out in front of a paltry attendance of just 5331. The return leg at Love Street was set to be played on 23rd March 1988...but it never happened. After the tiny crowd at the first leg, the whole thing was ditched, which must surely make this the longest ever 2 legged final in the history of the game?

As if filling in stats wasn't exciting enough on its own, to prolong your interest (and keep you buying the mag no doubt), the Yearbook also had spaces for stickers. Similar in size to the Daily Mirror ones, these brightened up what else would have been rather dull pages, rendered as they were in a pale green with darker green lines. Bizarrely, it would appear I grew tired of putting in the stickers much quicker than I did filling out details of 42 matches (plus those 3 cup comps!), perhaps lending the nerd theory extra weight.

Match produced another Yearbook for the 88-89 season, following exactly the same layout, but in shades of red. I clearly had outgrown my nerd status (I so hadn't!) by then as I seem to have given up halfway through the season...I think what finally killed it was having to write the following in the one and only entry for that year's FA Cup...

"Sutton Utd 2 - 1 Coventry City"

25 years on and the pain is still fresh...

-- Rich JohnsonRich J (Sofa Soccer)http://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-72488498578221472702014-10-27T21:24:00.001Z2014-11-04T00:58:47.495ZThe Greatest Retro Football Video Game Ever: The Final

And so it's come to this... Fifty of the greatest retro football video game titles have been whittled down to just two. Falling by the wayside have been the classic and the clumsy, the majestic and the 'meh', but now we arrive at the Final to find a monumental showdown between two giants of the home computer age.

On the one hand, we have Sensible Soccer, a playing simulation par excellence. 'Sensi' provided everything the football fan could ever want. After-touch control, editable squad lists and team kits, plus different pitch styles and goal replays were just the icing on the cake. What really made it a great game, however, was its sheer simplicity. There were no 3D graphics to render, no sluggish sprites to animate - just a brevity of detail that gave the game its slickness and playability. A masterpiece of arcade football brilliance.

And then we have Football Manager, the grand-daddy of all management simulation games. Originally made for the ZX81 and ZX Spectrum, your job was to manage a squad of players with enough élan to help them rise from Division Four to Division One over successive seasons. By selecting your best individuals and buying better ones where necessary. it was possible to enjoy each match (shown in isometric 3D) and steer your team to ultimate glory. Detailed without being confusing, this was another triumph for the 'less is more' school of video game programming.

But which one gets your vote? Which game had you gripped with addiction every time you played it, and which one is deserving of the title 'Greatest Retro Football Video Game Ever'?

Simply select one of the two titles below, register your selection and in seven days' time, we'll announce the winner as chosen by you, our beloved football nostalgia lovers.

Make your decision, be brave, and may the best retro football video game win...

POLL NOW CLOSED
Thanks for taking part in our vote-off. You can see the result of the Final here!Chris Ohttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-89429611310574644892014-10-27T08:13:00.000Z2014-10-27T08:13:21.749ZFantasy Nostalgia: Liverpool wear AdmiralWhen I recently read Bert Patrick's book all about the history of Admiral, legendary kit makers to the great and good of British football, one episode sent my mind into a tailspin. It was the section where Patrick, looking to grab the kit contracts for as many top clubs as possible, approached Bill Shankly at Liverpool and gained his agreement to provide them Admiral outfits.

Sadly for Bert Patrick, what would have been a huge name to add to his company's portfolio turned out to be a false dawn as Liverpool's board of directors overruled Shankly to prevent the deal from going through.

Yet it got my mind thinking: what would Liverpool have looked like in an Admiral kit back then, and thereafter?

Time to get doodling, I thought...

Kit 1: Circa 1973

If Bill Shankly had been backed by his board, this might have been the first pair of Admiral kits worn by his team. (Click on images for a larger version.)

Applying Liverpool's colours to the Admiral kit for Leeds United at the time, you get an all-red outfit with a flappy collar, oval badge and those famous Leeds number ribbons stitched into the socks. Well we can all dream, I suppose...

For the away kit, I've gone for the white and black that was preferred by the Anfield club at the time.

Not bad, but quite plain and basic as were many of the kits at the time.

Kit 2: Circa 1974

Admittedly this is the most 'out there' design of the lot, but this is Fantasy Nostalgia after all...

Here I've used Admiral's Luton Town kit template which would have originally used orange, navy blue and white. Given that Liverpool only wore two colours at home in the early 70's (red and white), I've had to use a bit of artistic licence by adding a darker shade of red on the first kit. As for the vertical band, I hardly think it would have been accepted by the Anfield faithful, but it was somewhat in vogue at the time!

Once again for the away kit, I've chosen a predominantly white and black colour scheme, but this time there's more red thanks to that red band flanked with black.

A more interesting pair of kits than the last ones, but perhaps better suited to, say, a Swindon or a Middlesbrough...

Kit 3: Circa 1975

By 1975, the England national team had an Admiral kit of their own, and that's the design I've used for this third version of what Liverpool might have been wearing around the same time.

Again I've employed a shade of dark red on the shoulders and shorts as an accent colour, but this time it's predominantly red with white trim for the home kit, and quite smart I think it looks too.

For a bit of variety in the away kits, I've provided two options - white/black again, but also an all-yellow version, even though Liverpool rarely wore that colour until 1979.

Personally I think these kits are the most believable of all those shown here and I think Bob Paisley's team would have looked quite fetching in them.

Kit 4: Circa 1976

Yet more flights of fancy now as we enter the era of the glorious Admiral tramlines. For Liverpool to have embraced this design would have meant a leap of faith of gargantuan proportions for club officials and fans alike, and yet it's not completely beyond the realms of fantasy to think of Liverpool in such a series of kits.

One shortcoming of the design, however, would have been exposed when Liverpool became the first top flight team to have an official shirt sponsor around 1978/1979. Having to fit 'Hitachi' onto the front of their kits would've broken up the tramlines motif somewhat, and yet according to my home kit design shown here, it doesn't destroy the whole look, in my view.

Could you imagine Graeme Souness or Ray Kennedy wearing any of these? Probably not, but it's worth remembering that if Shanks had got his way, that Admiral logo really would've been worn by the English champions rather than the Umbro diamonds...

-- Chris OakleyChris Ohttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-58364578978023759812014-10-26T02:01:00.002Z2014-10-26T02:01:32.090ZThe Greatest Retro Football Video Game: Semi Final result

The last five days of voting are finally over and now we can announce who has reached our Greatest Retro Football Video Game Final!

Thanks to all the votes you registered, we ended up with a clear winner in Group A and a tie for first place in Group B!

Despite a neck-and-neck battle with Sensible World of Soccer over the first four days, it was Sensible Soccer that eventually stretched its lead towards the end of the Group A campaign to come out top, In Group B, however, there was a three-horse race that proved exciting right to the bitter end!

From the word 'go', Football Manager led from the front, picking up many of your votes, with Championship Manager very close behind. Then in the second half of the voting period, FIFA: Road to World Cup 98 rapidly gained in popularity, and in the final hours before the deadline picked up enough crucial votes to tie for first place with Football Manager. Championship Manager missed out on a three-way tie by just one vote.

Here are the total number of votes cast:

Group A

Sensible Soccer (1992, CA/AST) - 21 votes

Sensible World of Soccer (1994, CA/PC) - 13 votes

FIFA Soccer 95 / FIFA 95 (1995, SMD) - 10 votes

Emlyn Hughes International Soccer (1988, C64/ZXS/AST/CA/AMS) - 4 votes

Match Day (1984, ZXS/C64/AMS/BBCM) - 4 votes

Tracksuit Manager (1988, ZXS/C64/CA/AST) - 1 vote

Group B

FIFA: Road to World Cup 98 (PC/NGB/SMD/SNES/PS1/N64) - 15 votes

Football Manager (1981, ZXS/ZX81/BBCM) - 15 votes

Championship Manager (CA/AST) - 14 votes

Kick Off 2 (1990, CA/AST/AMS) - 6 votes

Kick Off (1989, CA/AST) - 2 votes

Actua Soccer (1995, PC/PS1) - 1 vote

(Total responses: 54)

With 'FIFA 98' and Football Manager sharing top spot in Group B, we decided to go completely retro by tossing a coin to decide who should reach the Final. Then we realised that this was an outdated and highly unsatisfactory method and opted instead to count the votes gained by both titles in the previous round. It's not just UEFA that can lean heavily on a co-efficient system, you know... ;-)

Having totalled up all the previous votes, we found that FIFA: Road to World Cup 98 picked up 10 while Football Manager scored 26, so it's Kevin Toms legendary management simulation that goes through to meet Sensible Soccer from Group A in the Final.

And that's what's coming next on The Football Attic - the grand finale that will decide the Greatest Retro Football Video Game Ever! Watch this space for details of how to vote soon!
Chris Ohttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-62780700169562265452014-10-21T10:19:00.001+01:002014-10-21T10:21:22.592+01:00Subbuteo: Short-Sided VariationsThink of Subbuteo and you think of eleven plastic men pitted against eleven on a big green cloth pitch. It was ever thus; in its simplistic form, Subbuteo was nothing if not a beguiling interpretation of football on a miniature scale.

What's not so well known is that the makers of this classic football game also made several other variations, each with their own quirks and foibles...

1. Fivesides

"The Replica of Indoor Soccer" as it proudly called itself, this game was launched in the 1950's as a complimentary edition to the regular Subbuteo 11-a-side format. Aimed at improving your playing techniques, Fivesides consisted of a half-size pitch with minimal markings, some tape to act as a low wall around the perimeter of the playing surface, two modified goals and a pea-sized football.

There were three different sets to buy, ascending in price - Introductory, Standard and Deluxe - and the first two of those didn't even come with any players. By using the players from your original Subbuteo set, you could save some money and still enjoy the essence of the game.

With no goalkeepers involved, the aim was to get one of your five outfield players to put the ball into your opponent's goal, but therein lies the twist. Both of the shortened goal mouths were divided into three vertical sections, and if the ball went into the corners rather than down the middle, you scored extra points.

Another eye-catching feature of the game focused on the lack of corners or throw-ins involved. The roll of tape included in your boxed set could be curved around the corners of the pitch using metal clips, so the action was constant and engaging.

This set was available for well over a decade, but it was finally replaced in 1971 by...

2. Football Express

It was time for a radical overhaul of Fivesides, and this one put higher production values at the top of its list of priorities.

Football Express did away with the need to put together your own pitch and fence surround by incorporating the two into the bottom of the game's box. This meant a solid one-piece pitch in later versions of Football Express, but earlier versions had a folding pitch; no doubt easier to store away, but less practical when that centre join started to wear through extensive usage.

To ensure the ball remained accessible throughout, curved plastic inserts were provided for the corners of the pitch, while the goals - located inside the playing area - also had curves fitted to them for the same reason.

In this second version of Subbuteo five-a-side football, goalkeepers were reinstated to the teams, but these were free-standing 'rush' goalies that could be flicked outside their area if required. As anyone conversant with the rush goalie system will know, abandoned goal mouths are often particularly vulnerable and the rules of Football Express insisted goals could only be scored by players outside the goal area. With that in mind, goalkeepers could only block shots if they were back inside their goal area, and even then it required a perfectly timed and accurate flick in order to do so.

That said, free-standing goalies could be replaced by a traditional Subbuteo 'goalie on a stick' when penalties or free kicks ensued. This could be perceived as being more practical or less fun, depending on your appetite for desperate Keystone Cops-style defending.

To maximise interest in the game, a small selection of special five-man Football Express teams were available to buy, and if you supported one of the bigger British clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea or Celtic, you were in luck. If you didn't, there were a few generic kits to choose from too.

3. Targetman

Here was a five-a-side game that aimed to muscle in on the popularity of Palitoy's 'Striker'. Instead of the usual players on semi-circular bases, Subbuteo made players for Targetman that could actually kick the ball. This was in response to Striker where the same was also evident, but instead of pushing down on the player's head to make the foot move, Targetman required you to pull back the player's spring-loaded leg to kick the ball.

Inside the massive box which doubled up as the indoor-style pitch, there were two goals (which were fixed so as to be outside the playing area), two teams, two footballs, some instructions and some curved plastic pieces that fitted into the corners of the playing area. As for gameplay, your job was to merely ensure that when you kicked the ball, it ended up nearer to one of your own players than someone on the opposing team. It was this method that decided who got to pass the ball each time, so a delicate touch was vital to ensure possession was retained throughout.

If there was any drawback to this game, it was perhaps the look and feel of the players provided. Whereas Striker had quite charming players with a cartoon-like appeal to kids, Targetman's teams of blue or stripe-shirted players were bigger, more realistic but somehow less enchanting. And there were just those two kits available, whereas Striker (or Super Striker, as it would become better known) ended up with a range of official teams to buy based on the likes of Aston Villa, Leeds and Manchester City.

Though the intention to provide something a little bit different was noble enough on the part of Subbuteo, ultimately Targetman didn't capture the imagination as planned and just two years after its 1974 launch, it ceased to be made. It was time to return to the trusty men-on-hemispherical-bases approach for their next project, which was...

4. Top Scorer

Like Fivesides before it, Top Scorer was a short-sided version of Subbuteo, aimed at improving your finger-flicking skills. This version, however, increased the playing sides to six and did away with the 'indoor' element, opting instead for a half-size cloth pitch and some handy exercises to help you play better.

On the one hand, this was Subbuteo but on a smaller scale. The players were the same, the goalies remained in their goals as normal, but apart form the absence of a perimeter wall, you were left to play ordinary matches with smaller teams on a smaller pitch.

But that was only half the attraction with Top Scorer. Other than six-a-side games, a pamphlet inside the box invited you and a friend to try out some technical challenges. Based on the disciplines of passing, shooting, goalkeeping, corner kicks, direct free kicks and swerving, your competency in each was awarded points based on how well you could perform specific tasks. To that end, the pamphlet featured a section where you could jot your score down and chart your progress.

Despite this focus on training as well as playing, Top Scorer only lasted from 1978 to 1981, but Subbuteo weren't yet done with their search for a popular variation on the original.

5. Sport Billy

A cartoon character that advocated teamwork and fairness for all perhaps wasn't the ideal basis for a Subbuteo game where the players were too big to control, but there it is.

Sport Billy was an animated American TV series of 26 episodes in which the eponymous hero crossed the globe spreading a positive message of sport as a medium for good health and happiness.

Bleuuuggghhh.

No wonder, then, that FIFA should adopt this nausea-provoking symbol of unattainable niceness and plaster its name all over the 1982 World Cup. Subbuteo, meanwhile, saw fit to create a five-a-side version of its regular game based on the chubby little blighter, complete with oversized, chunky-looking players.

Joking aside, this was a neat way to try and lure the younger brothers and sisters of most Subbuteo kids to tag along for the Subbuteo ride, and thanks to the half-size pitch used in Top Scorer, it seemed proportionally fit for purpose. The only trouble was that the larger-than-usual players were less able to swerve compared to ordinary Subbuteo players, thereby making one aspect of the game largely unattainable.

And if this was a game marketed at children of anearly school age, it would also have been nice to include a perimeter wall around the pitch as in Football Express or Targetman, but Subbuteo obviously felt that if six-year-old Johnny flicked the ball far enough as to reach the gap behind the sofa, then he'd jolly well have to go and fetch it himself.

Using fairly standard Subbuteo equipment, Sport Billy was nonetheless a novelty item of sorts and its shelf life reflected this as per its short run of production between 1981 and 1982. Luckily, this was not to be the last variation of Subbuteo football and the chance to go out on a high note had not been passed up.

6. Subbuteo Indoor Edition

When I was in my early teens, there was always one item on a Subbuteo poster that caught my eye, filling me with wonder and awe - and this was it.

Subbuteo's Indoor Edition belatedly rode the crest of the NASL wave with a Football Express-style walled pitch - bright blue in colour - with corner curves, clip-on goal nets and two six-a-side teams from the American league.

As in Fivesides and Football Express, the rebound wall surrounding the pitch was a useful aid for getting the ball to one of your team members (and keeping the ball in play). Shooting was only allowed in the third of the pitch in front of your opponent's goal, and the goalkeeper was confined to his own small Goalkeepers Box.

Among the instructions that came with the game, you'd have received the advice that "if you have the space, the game is best left permanently erected to save wear and tear." This was largely a reference to the card-mounted pitch which could be folded in half, along with those perimeter walls that could be folded up and clipped in place when a match was in progress.

Asking a child to keep the whole thing fixed up was perhaps asking a lot if space was at a premium, but it goes without saying that the card-mounted pitch could suffer from ridges and creases if overused so that dining room table would just have to remain a dedicated venue for Subbuteo indoor football. Sorry, Mum and Dad.

But who can blame any kid for being besotted with Subbuteo's many and varied short-sided variations? For some, football glory was distinctly unattainable with eleven plastic men and a full-size pitch, but scale things down a little and pretty much anything was possible thanks to the 'flick-to-kick' experts.

-- Chris OakleyChris Ohttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-72107283635633410402014-10-20T22:54:00.000+01:002014-10-20T23:11:30.701+01:00The Greatest Retro Football Video Game Ever: Semi Finals

Welcome back to the Greatest Retro Football Video Game vote-off where we find ourselves at the semi-final stage!

We had a great response to the First Round of our competition, so thank you to everyone that took part. The results were as follows:

Simulation: 1970's/1980's

Kick Off (1989, CA/AST) - 16 votes
Emlyn Hughes International Soccer (1988, C64/ZXS/AST/CA/AMS) - 14 votes
Match Day (1984, ZXS/C64/AMS/BBCM) - 10 votes
Microprose Soccer (1988, PC/CA/AMS/AST/C64/ZXS) - 9 votes
Match Day II (1987, AMS/C64/ZXS) - 8 votes
International Soccer (1983, C64) - 6 votes
Peter Shilton's Handball Maradona (1986, ZXS/C64/AMS) - 4 votes
World Cup / World Cup Carnival (1986, C64/ZXS/CPC) - 4 votes
Gary Lineker's Superstar Soccer (1987, C64/ZXS/AMS) - 3 votes
Peter Beardsley's International Football (ZXS/C64/CA/AST) - 2 votes
Pele's Soccer (1980, ATA) - 2 votes
'Football' (1975, BIN) - 2 votes
NASL Soccer (1979, INT) - 0 votes
World Soccer (1987, SMS) - 0 votes

Simulation: 1990's Group A

Kick Off 2 (1990, CA/AST/AMS) - 16 votes
FIFA Soccer 95 / FIFA 95 (1995, SMD) - 13 votes
Actua Soccer (1995, PC/PS1) - 9 votes
International Superstar Soccer (1995, SNES) - 7 votes
Italy 1990 (1990, ZXS/C64/CA/AMS/AST) - 7 votes
Manchester United Europe (1991, ZXS/AST/CA/AMS/C64/ARC) - 4 votes
Super Kick Off (1991, SMD/NGB/SNES) - 2 votes
World League Soccer '98 (1998, PS1) - 2 votes
Gazza's Super Soccer (1990, C64/ZXS/AMS/CA/AST) - 2 votes
Dino Dini's Soccer (1994, SMD/SNES) - 1 vote
Super Soccer (1992, SNES) - 1 vote
European Championship (1992, PC/AST/CA) - 0 votes
Olympic Soccer (1996, PS1) - 0 votes

Simulation: 1990's Group B

Sensible Soccer (1992, CA/AST) - 27 votes
Sensible World of Soccer (CA/PC) - 25 votes
FIFA: Road to World Cup 98 (PC/NGB/SMD/SNES/PS1/N64) - 10 votes
FIFA 99 (WIN/PS1/N64) - 6 votes
Multi-Player Soccer Manager (1991, ZXS/C64/AMS) - 4 votes
FIFA International Soccer / FIFA 94 (PC/CA/SNES/SMD/SMS/SGG/NGB) - 4 votes
Actua Soccer 3 (PC/PS1) - 3 votes
World Cup Soccer - Italia 90 (1990, ZXS/C64/AMS) - 2 votes
Michael Owen's World League Soccer '99 (PS1) - 2 votes
Striker (1992, CA/AST/SMD/SNES) - 1 vote
Champions of Europe (1992, SMS) - 1 vote
John Barnes European Football (1992, CA/AST) - 0 votes

Management / Hybrid

Football Manager (1981, ZXS/ZX81/BBCM) - 26 votes
Championship Manager (CA/AST) - 19 votes
Tracksuit Manager (1988, ZXS/C64/CA/AST) - 9 votes
Footballer of the Year (1986, ZXS/C64/AMS) - 7 votes
Premier Manager 2 (1993, PC/CA/AST) - 7 votes
Player Manager (1990, CA/AST/PS1) - 5 votes
Footballer of the Year 2 (1989, ZXS/C64/AMS) - 4 votes
The Boss (1984, C64) - 3 votes
Brian Clough's Football Fortunes (1987, ZXS) - 2 votes
Kenny Dalglish Soccer Manager (1989, ZXS/C64/AMS/CA/AST) - 2 votes
The Double (1987, ZXS/C64) - 1 vote

(Total responses: 45)

And so to the Semi Finals where the top three from all of the above sections have now been drawn into two new groups - A and B. Your task, should you choose to accept it, is simply to pick your favourite video game from both groups. Once again, you have five days to cast your votes, after which the most popular video game from Group A and Group B goes through to our Grand Final.

Here's the voting form - now it's over to you... Good luck! :)

View Survey

Key:
AMS - Amstrad CPC; AST - Amiga ST; BBCM - BBC Micro; C64 - Commodore 64; CA - Commodore Amiga; N64 - Nintendo 64; NGB - Nintendo GameBoy; PC - Personal Computer; PS1 - PlayStation 1; SMD - Sega Mega Drive; SNES - Super Nintendo; ZX81 - Sinclair ZX81; ZXS - Sinclair ZX Spectrum.Chris Ohttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-38327465479114818862014-10-12T08:15:00.000+01:002014-10-14T21:20:08.362+01:00World Soccer: August 1981

With less than a year to go until the 1982 World Cup, there was much concern among the writers of World Soccer. Concern over Spain's readiness to host the tournament, concern over England's ability to qualify, and concern over the standard of football being played by Europe's top clubs.

A survey of officials and observers in Spain suggested the twelfth World Cup hosts would indeed be ready when the tournament started in June 1982, however while the areas of transport and accommodation appeared to be in good shape, the upgrading of certain stadia appeared a little sluggish.

Despite having been appointed as hosts in 1964, work on improving the Balaídos Municpal Stadium in Vigo and the San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao was only just beginning, and a similar tale could be told for many of the other 15 venues too. Barcelona's Nou Camp was due to increase in capacity and have a new roof fitted, while elsewhere media facilities were being beefed up too.

On this latter point, some foreign executives were wondering about the quality of the facilities they'd find around Spain when the competition was due to start. A full-time colour service had only been introduced in 1977, and it was feared that broadcasters from around the world might find things a little primitive when they arrived.

Still for all that, the tournament was almost certain to generate a profit for its organisers. "You can expect to be inundated with World Cup promotions material from the eight multi-nationals who have bought the commercial rights" explained the article.

As far as England's place in the Finals was concerned, Brian Glanville was cautiously optimistic as Ron Greenwood's team went into their final pair of qualifying matches. England's form was all over the place; an opening 4-0 win over Norway and an impressive 3-1 victory against Hungary was outbalanced by a first defeat to Switzerland since 1947 and an inability to beat Romania home or away.

Glanville's view was that England should be 'notionally capable' of winning both of their remaining games, but "notionally they should have got the better of Romania and Switzerland. The fact is, despite their fine victory in Budapest, you cannot rely on them to do anything; any more that you can be sure that their manager, Ron Greenwood, truly knows what he is doing, has any kind of consistent policy."

Harsh words, but in essence fair. With Hungary setting the pace in Group 4, England's results were inconsistent and this, as Glanville noted, was largely down to Greenwood's team selection. An early intent on using a core of players from Liverpool was soon changed, with various members of personnel coming, going or switching positions at regular intervals.

"Now England had wingers; now they didn't" explained Glanville. "Now Bryan Robson played in the back four, now in midfield. Now Peter Withe stood marooned in the middle, without the assistance of a Gary Shaw figure... Now he had a Woodcock with him. But come the game in Basel, and Withe wasn't there at all..."

In their two remaining games, England, needing only to finish second in the group, made heavy weather of things and were assisted greatly by Switzerland nullifying the threat of Romania. When Greenwood's squad travelled to Oslo for their penultimate match, they took a hell of a beating by two goals to one before finally and desperately crossing the line with a 1-0 Wembley win over Hungary in November 1981. They had qualified, but quite how still remains a mystery to some.

Leslie Vernon was in distinctly pessimistic mood as he reviewed the main happenings of the previous season. Despite Liverpool notching up yet another English victory in the 1980-81 European Cup Final over Real Madrid, Vernon felt the fans had little to get excited about.

"It has been a deeply disappointing competition, and yet another undistinguished Final, which has aptly demonstrated the poverty of real talent amongst the Continent's top clubs" he said. Going on, he explained: "The sad truth is that teams are so afraid to lose these days that they are not willing to risk anything, and simply refuse to play attacking football - even at home! Goals are at a premium, and it is no accident that the last four European Cup Finals ended in 1-0 victories."

If Leslie Vernon was hoping for better just around the corner, he'd be disappointed. The following Final gave Aston Villa a 1-0 win over Bayern Munich, and the season after that, Hamburg won 1-0 over Juventus. There was even a 1-0 win in the 1984-85 Final as Juventus triumphed over Liverpool. So much for 'goals galore'...

Among the other stories featured in this issue of World Soccer were Eric Batty's assessment that 'Brazil still play good football' (based on a successful Brazilian tour of Europe), Joe Jordan's £250,000 transfer from Manchester United to Milan, and a chance for the dwindling NASL to recapture some of the public's interest in the wake of a baseball strike in the United States.

The NASL was, by August 1981, falling into decline but one recent development, NASL Indoor, attempted to keep fans engaged even when the main outdoor league wasn't playing. For several years, a number of teams had opted to play indoor friendlies or informal tournaments during the winter months. This led to a formal indoor league being introduced for the 1979-80 season, and such was its popularity that it expanded from 12 to 19 teams in 1980-81. This while a separate indoor-only competition, the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), had also been gaining more of a following since its inception in 1978.

There was, however, a problem. Some teams in the NASL were considering their futures amid falling attendances, and for one, the indoor game was proving a tempting option, as reported by Paul Gardner:

"The [Atlanta] Chiefs have always been also-rans, and have never been able to muster much in the way of fan support. Alas, that is still true: the soccer is good, the crowds are lousy... This has led to rumours that Atlanta would like to play only indoor soccer. Well they can't do that in the NASL... but they could if they were to drop out of the NASL and join the Major Indoor Soccer League."

Ultimately the rumours never materialised, but the 1981 NASL season was to be the last for the Atlanta Chiefs. Disbanded shortly after, the NASL itself only had three more years to run before it, too, came to an end. As Paul Gardner commented: "The season never stops - outdoor pro in the summer, high school and college in the Autumn, indoor in the winter, back to the summer pros. It is altogether too much. There has to be a break there somewhere, for the fans as much as the players."

Food for thought where the American game was concerned, and indeed for football around the globe back in August 1981.

-- Chris Oakley
Chris Ohttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-78167883442185794942014-10-10T23:44:00.000+01:002014-11-04T01:00:18.696ZThe Greatest Retro Football Video Game Ever: First Round

How do you like your video game football? Do you like the excitement of scoring goals out on the pitch, or do you prefer the cerebral challenge of managing your team to glory?

Either way, the world of computer soccer has offered much in the way of fun, thrills and spills down the years, from the basic battyness of Binatone's 'Football' to the ultra-realistic games we know today. But what's so fun about manipulating a not-quite-right version of Robin Van Persie when you can immerse yourself in the retro world of blocky pixels and badly synthesised music?!

Yes, where The Football Attic's concerned, the less realistic it is, the better we like it - a sentiment we're sure you'll agree with... And that's why we've decided to find out which retro football video game is the best with the launch of our cunningly-titled 'Greatest Retro Football Video Game Ever' vote-off!

Over the last two weeks, you've been telling us which retro football games you think should make our starting list, and with thanks to all of you that did so, we can now begin Round 1.

We've arranged 50 titles into four groups: One for playing simulations of the 70's and 80's, two for playing simulations of the 1990's and one for management simulations. What we'd like you to do is to choose up to three favourites from each group. You've got five days to make your choices, and at the end of that period, the most popular three titles from each group will go through to the semi-finals. At that stage we'll have two groups of six where the winners will go through to the Final - more of which in due course...

For now, just pick up to three favourites from each of the groups below, and we'll fill you in on who's through to the next round in five days' time. Thanks for taking part!

Key:
AMS - Amstrad CPC; ARC - BBC Archimedes; AST - Amiga ST; ATA - Atari 2600; BBCM - BBC Micro; BIN - Binatone TV Master; C64 - Commodore 64; CA - Commodore Amiga; INT - Intellivision; N64 - Nintendo 64; NGB - Nintendo GameBoy; PC - Personal Computer; PS1 - PlayStation 1; SGG - Sega Game Gear; SMD - Sega Mega Drive; SMS - Sega Master System; SNES - Super Nintendo; WIN - Microsoft Windows; ZX81 - Sinclair ZX81; ZXS - Sinclair ZX Spectrum.

POLL NOW CLOSED
Thank you for all your votes in the First Round of our Greatest Retro Football Video Game vote-off. Here's how the voting went...Chris Ohttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-42330906164152074752014-09-28T21:46:00.000+01:002014-09-28T22:16:46.966+01:00The Greatest Retro Football Video Game Ever!

Way back in August 2012, on our second ever podcast, we covered the subject of football computer games and it was a whole heap of fun!

Chris and I were discussing the subject again recently while also observing it's been a while since we had a decent vote-off here in the Attic. Put 2 and 2 together and you get 4... which is a nice bit of maths for you, but nothing really to do with computer games... To that end, we decided we simply had to decide once and for all which retro football computer game is the best ever!

Now, that word 'retro' is there for a very important reason and not just because we happen to be a nostalgia website. No, it's there so we can apply some kind of cut-off in history, lest the poll be overwhelmed with embryos who never got to experience the thrill of three minutes of gameplay after half an hour of epileptic-fit inducing load screens, and for whom the best game ever just depends on which version of 'FIFA' we're on.

For us, to make the cut, the games have to have a large degree of unrealism! 'FIFA' may have realistic player faces (and indeed names) and may look so real as to be almost indistinguishable from a match on TV, but we don't care about that! Where's the charm in realism versus the delights of a blocky sprite going by the name of Alun She-Ra? It's all very well being able to score a screaming volley and watch it back from 30 different angles, but don't we all pine for a simpler time, when goals could only be scored one of two different ways? No? Oh ok... maybe not that last one!

My own personal journey through retro video games starts with one of the worst ever... Arctic Software's 'World Cup'; a truly awful game, but it makes the cut because it's my first... and we're running the poll ;-)

So what else makes the list? Well, that's where you come in... We want your suggestions and if you feel so inclined, a justification of why you think your nomination deserves a chance. And you don't have to limit yourself to your favourite as that's what the vote-off's for. You can nominate any game you've ever played... once we've got a good list, we'll set up the vote-off and let the games begin!

Right - as hinted at, there are some rules... not many though.

1) The cut-off point - we had to pick a point in time to decide between retro and modern and the point we've chosen is right before the PS2 was released. Why? The PS2 introduced the first batch of almost-realistic games. Sure, the PS1 had 'FIFA' and Actua Soccer which were almost there, but they're blocky enough to shade that degree of unrealism.

2) That's about it...

So, get nominating on the form below... and keep an eye on the list of games on the Vote-Off Candidates page.

Enjoy!

Rich (& Chris).

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See also:
Our video game reviews...

World Cup Soccer (ZX Spectrum)

Heads Up (Soccer Football) (Vectrex)

World Soccer (Sega Master System)

Super Action Soccer (ColecoVision)

NASL Soccer (Intellivision)

Nintendo World Cup (Nintendo GameBoy)

Pele's Soccer (Atari 2600)

Striker (Amiga/ST/Megadrive)

World Cup (C16)

Football Manager (ZX Spectrum)

Rich J (Sofa Soccer)http://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-34799682036940888432014-09-24T10:30:00.000+01:002014-09-24T10:30:31.474+01:00Catalogue of Eras: Marshall Ward - Autumn and Winter 1975-76

Once again it's time to plunge into the long-forgotten world of mail order catalogues as we search for football-related delights to remind us of an innocent time before the internet went and spoiled everything.

On this occasion, we're going back nearly 40 years to check out a Marshall Ward 'club book' that would have been put to good use in the run-up to Christmas 1975.

In our previous instalment, we found that football boots were available to buy in a 1982 catalogue, and here again they crop up, but in two flavours - 'cheap and nasty' and 'I could be the next Johan Cruyff.'

First up, the cheap options. There were two pairs of kids' boots, the first made by Form Sport ("the only company approved by the British Association of National Coaches") which were a multi-stud model, as if you'd buy boots with only one stud. Slightly more expensive, but still giving you change from a fiver, was the 'World Cup' boot that was made from all-natural PVC and came with a free inflatable ball and adapter. Just what you needed - a plastic ball to go with your plastic boots...

At the 'luxury' end of the market, there was an adult version of those Form Sport boots (made in Italy from PVC and leather), or for a few quid extra you could go for the Cheetah 'Ajax' alternative which had screw-in studs and a yellow flash down the sides.

For the budding pro with £10 to spare, however, there was only one option - a pair of Adidas Valencias. These were on a different planet as far as quality was concerned, with their padded collars, padded tongues and authentic Adidas stripes. In today's money, they'd have cost £90, but by golly, they'd have been worth it for sure.

But what are boots when you haven't got some proper kit to wear with them? Nothing - unless your Mum had a Marshall Ward catalogue and some loose change to burn.

For those of you thinking the replica kit market didn't arrive until the 1980's, think again. Here were Umbro vying for the attentions of school-age children everywhere with a quintet of honest-looking kits for all the best teams of the era.

There was the Man United option in red and white, the Everton option in blue and white, and the Aston Villa option in claret and blue. If Leeds United were your team, you'd be happy to go for the 'all white' option, but if you were a young supporter of Burton Albion hoping the next 34 years would fly by before promotion to the Football League arrived, you were in luck too, thanks to the yellow and black option that was provided.

But wait - that's not all! Had you been in need of an inflexible shoulder bag that was barely big enough to hold a pair of boots, you were in luck - and these ones had circular team badges hastily stuck onto them as well! Perhaps the hilariously-titled 'Telestar' football was more to your liking, especially if your budget didn't quite run to the official Adidas alternative.

Once your game of football was over and done with, it was back home for a glass of Corona orangeade and a quick rub down with Shoot! magazine before indoor football became the order of the day. With this catalogue, you had a choice of not one, but two Bar football tables - one with a sliding score indicator and bi-coloured team strips, the other without. Quite whether extra colour and a scoreboard at each end justified the cost being double that of the cheaper model, I'll leave for you to decide.

Even if the £8.99 basic version was too expensive, there was still another way. For less than half that amount, you could buy the Bobby Charlton football game by Casdon Soccer. Admittedly it lacked the hands-on appeal of bar football, but you could still have fun twiddling your knobs as you tried to make your players flick the ball towards your opponent's goal over the bumpiest of pitches.

If there's one game I never owned as a child, it was Striker. The thrill of being able to press down on a players head to make him kick the ball was a constant lure in my younger days, yet for some reason I always remained loyal to Subbuteo throughout.

Maybe the limited variety of teams was a factor in my not embracing the game, or perhaps the 'five-a-side' format made it seem somehow less realistic. Actually, cancel all that - it was probably the ridiculously short, fat floodlights that put me off. Squat, dumpy, and if Subbuteo floodlights were anything to go by, barely capable of illuminating a gnat's backside in a power cut.

If this embarrassment of riches wasn't enough to keep you entertained, there was always League Championship, a board game that in this catalogue appeared as a Leeds United special edition. Well, it did contain a colour team picture of Leeds United... Surely that counts?

This was the game where you played out an entire league season by moving your piece around a circular board, rolling dice and playing 'action cards' to skew the results in your favour. Eventually, after an hour or so, a league champion was determined, the futility of sixty minutes wasted was acknowledged and you realised you probably wouldn't be playing League Championship again in a hurry.

Finally, to round off an exciting football-packed day, what better than to go to bed with a copy of International Football Book No.17 under your arm? The latest in the long-running series had loads of articles and interviews with top players of the time, including Berti Vogts, Paul Breitner, Ray Clemence and Martin Buchan. Packed with over 150 photographs too, it was a great stocking filler to receive on your festive football day.

And with that, we say 'thanks, Marshall Ward.' You gave us everything we needed to reinforce our love of the beautiful game. All we needed now was a valuable two points from that tricky Boxing Day fixture away to Derby County. Such a shame the humble mail-order catalogue couldn't help us out with that one.

-- Chris OakleyChris Ohttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-9248021339161899802014-09-21T08:42:00.000+01:002014-09-21T08:54:00.723+01:00FKS: Soccer Stars 80

It's my firm belief that FKS should probably have been renamed 'NCM' around the start of the 1980's. 'Non compos mentis' is a fair description of what their football sticker collections were like back then, such were the variable standards employed throughout.

The new decade should have brought about a new dawn for FKS and its sticker albums in the UK, but instead they continued to churn out yet more of their basic, plain-looking stickers that were not dissimilar to the ones they were making a decade earlier. Look closer, however, and you'd have marvelled at some truly laughable examples of photography in the images that were featured, setting FKS well apart from the equivalent merchandise being made by Figurine Panini at the time.

To begin, there was the eye-catching front cover of the Soccer Stars 80 album. Overall, it had a more modern look than the corresponding Panini offering, although the picture showing West Bromwich Albion seemingly playing St. Mirren may have been every bit as baffling as some of the stickers inside. Along the bottom, a caption indicated that the English First and Second Divisions were featured among the 48 pages, and for good reason as this was the first time that Second Division teams had appeared in an FKS collection.

Inside, each of the First Division team line-ups consisted of 13 players, confusingly spread over one-and-a-bit pages. The extra 'bit' meant that some double-page spreads actually showed players from two or even three different teams. You wouldn't have got that in a Panini album, but then perhaps Panini had a bigger budget or better designers.

Each team section was titled in a never-more-Eighties green bubble font, followed by some rudimentary facts relating to the honours won by that team. There was also a handy grid showing their results from the previous season, with spaces provided for results in the current season too.

Sadly, FKS didn't bother with the team pictures and foil badges that were made so popular by their rivals, making do instead with the regular white-bordered player stickers bearing a name along the bottom edge. As for the photos themselves, let's just say they were... idiosyncratic.

While Panini standardised on 'head and shoulders' shots for their stickers, FKS were nowhere near as conscientious. They instead opted to raid image galleries, reuse old pictures from previous collections, take some of their own pictures and even paint over old pictures to form a tapestry of lunatic inconsistency.

If ever you're feeling depressed, just turn the pages of this album in its complete form to quickly cheer yourself up. Smile at Brighton's Peter O'Sullivan pinching his nose as he runs out onto the field for Brighton. Be amazed at Martin Peters wearing his Norwich City shirt from 1976. Laugh at Middlesbrough's Stan Cummins sharing his picture with one of his team mates, or Terry Cochrane proudly wearing his Burnley shirt despite having moved to Ayresome Park in October 1978. As for Trevor Francis, his shirt has had more paint applied to it than the Forth Road Bridge.

Uniformity was a key element of this collection - in more ways than one. Players were shown in their home kits, away kits, old kits, new kits, training kits, tracksuits and in Terry Cochrane's case, wrong kits altogether. The whole thing was a total hotchpotch from start to finish and could be considered to be 'interesting' if it wasn't for the fact that it was actually rather deranged.

In similar vein, the Soccer Stars 80 album featured a dozen England Under 21 players - six shown in the middle of the album, and six at the very end. None of the full England squad were included, though - just 12 upcoming young stars such as Russell Osman (in a grey Ipswich shirt), Derek Statham (distracted) and Kevin Reeves (asleep).

Luckily, higher standards were restored with the excellent gallery of Second Division team pictures, before leading into the Scottish Premier Division team pages that used the same format as their English counterparts. Then at the very end of the album there was the customary 'Special Offer' - something not unfamiliar to Panini fans. In this case, FKS collectors were invited to send off for up to 22 bronze medallions "each representing an English First Division Club from the current 1978/79 season." The front of each coin showed a club badge while the honours and cups won by the team were displayed on the back. Think 'fancy 2p pieces' and you're pretty much there.

With that, you have a full picture of FKS and it's floundering attempts to keep their foothold in the UK sticker market. Though they'd make further collections for another couple of years, they were finally declared bankrupt in 1987, never to be seen again.

It's anyone's guess what their stickers might have looked like had they still been around today, but my feeling is they'd be virtually the same as they always were. A plain white border around a randomly chosen photo - that was the FKS way for years and years. Unable to stray far from that tried and tested formula, it was perhaps this reason and this reason alone that ultimately proved the undoing for Britain's very own answer to Panini.

-- Chris OakleyChris Ohttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-35317745731590300442014-09-17T12:23:00.000+01:002014-09-17T20:40:22.630+01:00Last Chance To Enter The Last Ever League of Blogs

Last chance? Last ever? That sounds like an awful lot of finality... and it is...

There's just over three weeks left to get your entries in for the League of Blogs 2014, but not only that - it's your last chance to ever be in the League of Blogs as after this one, there won't be another.

The League of Blogs started out as a bit of fun and has always been just that and after three good years, we've decided to retire the feature once this one has finished.

We plan to replace it with something completely new next year which should be just as collaborative, but that's in the future... For now, it's all about the LoB!

So don't miss out on your last ever chance to be part of the nation's favourite* league... head on over to the instructions page and get scribbling!Rich J (Sofa Soccer)http://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-87783209266262051312014-09-17T10:17:00.001+01:002014-09-17T10:20:52.775+01:00Commercial Break 2

It's time once again to dip into the advertising archives as The Football Attic finds a short selection of British TV adverts that all take their inspiration from the world of football.

Sit back and enjoy Brian Clough doing some sterling voiceover work (even if his dental work leaves something to be desired), the worlds of Dad's Army and Fawlty Towers colliding, plus a triple bill of animated stripy chocolate bar delights.

As someone once said, they don't make 'em like that anymore...

(You can also see this video and many others on our Football Attic YouTube page.)Chris Ohttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-88858886901779474682014-09-16T16:08:00.002+01:002014-09-16T16:27:55.104+01:00The Football Attic Podcast World Cup Extra No.2
Rich and Jay from DesignFootball.com are back to finish off their review of the recent World Cup!

We were going to cover other stuff too, but ended up quite engrossed in the land of FIFA so consider this the conclusion of our World Cup Extra...

Once again Jay and Rich bicker over the pronunciation of certain footballing names, Rich moans about domestic football and Jay tries desperately to make sense of his love for Suarez...and fails... 'Ave it!

Download:
Subscribe on iTunes or download here. Alternatively, catch The Football Attic Podcast on Square One Football Radio.

See also:
The Football Attic Podcast archiveRich J (Sofa Soccer)http://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-52332066972918380012014-09-12T15:32:00.000+01:002014-09-12T15:35:26.297+01:00The Football Attic Podcast Extra No.2 - Vintage Era Football

The Football Attic loves going back to the 1970's and 1980's in search of fabulous nostalgia, but what happens when you go back even further - long before the Second World War and back further still to the late 1800's?

The answer comes in the rich seam of wonderful stories about the players, teams and other football folk that made the early days of British football such a glorious era.

To confirm that very fact, Chris O met up with Graham Sibley to talk about Chapman's Arsenal, a Twitter account that provides real-time insights into Arsenal Football Club during the late-1920's and early 1930's.

There's also a discussion about the formative days of British football that will feature in an upcoming podcast series that Graham's currently working on.

So if you fancy immersing yourself in a more innocent time when players had curly moustaches, centre-partings and very little money, why not listen in to The Football Attic Podcast Extra... you'll be glad you did.

Download:
Subscribe on iTunes or download here. Alternatively, catch The Football Attic Podcast on Square One Football Radio.

See also:
The Football Attic Podcast archive
WA & AC Churchman's 'Association Footballers' Cigarette Cards, 1938
The Guinness Book of Soccer Facts & Feats (1979)
The Sound of Football podcastChris Ohttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-64864079723293819812014-09-05T00:29:00.001+01:002014-09-05T00:29:21.799+01:00Catalogue of Eras: Littlewoods - Spring & Summer 1982

"Like discovering a whole new shopping world in your own home", mail order catalogues have offered people a tempting glimpse through the looking glass into retail heaven for decades. By thumbing through anything up to a thousand colour pages, it was possible to turn your back on those busy high street stores and buy clothes, gifts and all manner of things from the comfort of your Shackleton's high seat armchair.

The innocent (if self-indulgent) pastime of casting a casual eye over the lingerie section has now become the stuff of legend, but what did the humble mail order catalogue have to offer for young football fans? This occasional series aims to bring you the answer in a parade of long-forgotten memories, easy-pay instalments and dubious marketing strategies.

Littlewoods Spring & Summer 1982 catalogue

We begin with sleepwear, because that's where all young football dreams are formed, wouldn't you say?

If you were wearing an ordinary pair of old-fashioned pyjamas back in 1982, you simply weren't trying hard enough. Now it was possible to hop into bed wearing the kit of your favourite team like a proto-David Mellor. In fact, we wouldn't be surprised if it was this catalogue that gave the former Putney MP the idea in the first place.

To be honest, the choice wasn't terribly great. If you supported Liverpool, you could get a passable imitation of the kit Kenny Dalglish was wearing at the time (albeit with a dubious badge on the shirt), while the Manchester United set brings a whole new meaning to the word 'generic'. The best of the bunch was saved for the England pyjama set which had some very realistic Admiral details on the shirt, except for a basic white v-neck collar. All three were made in natural polyester and would set you back somewhere between £6 and £7.

To complete your England sleepwear tribute, how about a fetching blue full-length dressing gown? It, too, was made from polyester and added extra realism to that dream you had of staying at the England team hotel while the World Cup was on.

Admiral clearly had their heads screwed on straight in the early 1980's because more of their creations could be seen in the 'boy's clothes' section. Here you could snap up a blue England team pullover in acrylic - not quite the same one that Kevin Keegan wore in 1982, but not far off - plus three different NASL t-shirts for teams that Admiral provided the kit for (Dallas Tornado, New York Cosmos and Chicago Sting).

For English fans in need of bodily warmth, there were pullovers in the colours of - you've guessed it - Liverpool and Man United. Again, they lacked the attention to detail of the Admiral items, but for no more than £5.99 they were probably better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

At least it was possible to get a half-decent pair of football boots from your Mum's favourite catalogue, and in this one you could get some Adidas 'Hansi Muller's, Patrick 'Keegan Crown's or Puma 'Dalglish Striker's for less than £22. All were supplied with stud keys and Keegan devotees were even treated to some spare studs too.

So, you've got your pyjamas, your pullover and some boots... how about a football to play with? No problem, said Littlewoods, who stumped up three options to choose from.

First there was the 'bound-to-be-misshapen-within-a-fortnight' offering of the Atlas, a patriotically coloured 32-patch leather ball that would have set you back a not inconsiderable £7.50. For the same price, there was also the Silver Star model that looked altogether more Telstar-like in appearance, but if you were going to shell out the thick end of £8 for a football, you were better off making it a tenner and buying the Mitre 'League' ball. As discussed on a previous post, this was one of the three official models used in the Football League at the time and would no doubt have lasted a damn sight longer than those other cheapo offerings.

(Oh and by the way - I actually once owned a pair of those yellow goalkeeper gloves. They were useless. The cotton would get cold, wet and soggy in the rain, and the 'rubber reinforcements' on the fingers and palms were unable to provide any kind of grip whatsoever. Only the elasticated strap around the wrist comes out of this with any self-respect at all.)

Finally, having shown how the game was played outside on grass, what better than to return to the comfort of your own home and play some football on your TV? Though the imperial Atari 2600 was the must-have video console of the day (and available through this catalogue for £129.99), it was Intellivison that offered a more realistic football game.

Atari's take on football, Pelé's Soccer, was, to be honest, basic. Lacking distinctly in realism or excitement, it needed Eric Morecambe, Ernie Wise and Trevor Brooking to make it in any way desirable, and that's saying something.

Better, then, to go for the Intellivision option - as long as you were prepared to fork out £225 for the console. Once you'd done that, you could reflect on your new-found poverty as you settled down to a game or three of 'NASL Soccer,' a cartridge thrown in for free. All in all, a great computer game system, although I find the claims of 'Three-dimensional excitement!" and "Startling realism!" to be taking things a little too far.

So there you have it - a football-related carousel of wonderment provided by Littlewoods. Other mail order catalogues are available, and we'll be checking some of those out in future posts on The Football Attic.

-- by Chris Oakley.Chris Ohttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-90930164563473813702014-09-03T17:35:00.001+01:002014-09-07T06:19:13.200+01:00League of Blogs 2014 Deadline - Fri 10th October

All good things must come to an end...as does everything else...

Several people have asked if they're too late to join the League of Blogs and the answer right now is "NO!"

If you're asking on the 11th October, however, the answer will be "YES, WHY WERE YOU SO LAZY????"

What I'm getting at is we've now set a deadline for the League of Blogs 2014 entries and that deadline is:

FRIDAY 10th OCTOBER at midnight!

(23:59:59 for those who wish to be pedantic)

That means you've got at least another five weeks, so there's no excuse to not join up... NO EXCUSE!!!!

For details on what I'm banging on about, see here and for the excellent entries so far, go to the League of Blogs Gallery

Rich J (Sofa Soccer)http://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6702800010273076139.post-70037521122718837912014-08-29T03:23:00.000+01:002014-08-29T03:27:16.512+01:00Videoblog 5: World Cup Soccer (Macmillan Software)

If you thought all football computer games were about moving pixelated players around a pitch and scoring goals, think again. Back in 1986, one piece of software tried to entertain and educate kids with a two-in-one offering that was ambitious, if a little timid in its overall quality.

The title was World Cup Soccer and its combination of football statistics, team management and mini-game action caused one magazine reviewer at the time to liken it to Don Johnson with a wardrobe limitation.

To find out exactly what this means and to see whether England are capable of winning the World Cup, join Chris O as he brings you The Football Attic's fifth videoblog review.

Chris Ohttp://firstname.lastname@example.com


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Barcelona, Spain
Rambla dels Caputxins, 37, Ciutat Vella, 08002 Barcelona, Spain – Show map
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This guesthouse features an unbeatable location right on the iconic La Rambla, across from the Liceu opera house, and includes free internet and a buffet breakfast.
Score from 1001 reviews Very good
Just 50 yards from Las Ramblas and the Liceu Metro Station, Hotel Condal provides rooms with free Wi-Fi and private bathrooms.
Score from 1563 reviews Very good
Lodging Apartments Ramblas Boqueria MarketIn Barcelona Gothic Quarter, the Lodging Apartments Ramblas Boqueria Market has air-conditioned apartments with a rooftop shared swimming pool.
Score from 325 reviews Very good
Hostal Operaramblas is less than 325 ft from Las Ramblas and Liceu Metro Station. This guesthouse features rooms with private bathrooms, a 24-hour front desk and free Wi-Fi.
Score from 1389 reviews Good
Perfect value for money
Too noisy
Location + Location + Location, good but not great wifi
Receptions are rude most of the times, there is no views in the rooms,
Great location, personal cleans the romm every day
Very small rooms, on the picture rooms looks larger. Short beds about 185 sm.
towels have bad smell
i enjoyed te trip and hotel stay
Right on La Rambla, across the road from Placa reial and it's restaurants. 3 minute walk to metro. Absolutely spotlessly clean. Incredible value. Room was decent size
Not really a hostel, more a reception and a series of rooms, fairy soulless place, but great value accommodation all the same
Location. LOCATION! La Rambla, Boqueria market, merto station, supermarkets, lots and lots of places to have breakfast/lunch/dinner. Best location, really. What else... Friendly staff. Clean room and nice orange design. Very clean and good-looking bathroom - I didn't expect it looking that good for the price of the room! The room was cleaned every day, towels were changed too. Room has air conditioning. Strong signal of Wi-Fi.
WARNING: no place to leave your baggage before flight!!! They ask you to leave it in the corner of the room where reception is. So basically you either take it with you or leave it unattended where everyone in the hotel is passing by. What else... No hairdryer and no shelves or racks in the shower (no big deal about this, actually). No lock in the bathroom door. Kinda noisy in the room because of La Rambla day- and nightlife. For us it was okay and not disturbing, but some may find it annoying (and, for the record, it was in November - offseason for Barcelona I guess). Also, despite being on the 3rd floor, each 5-7 minutes you can feel and hear underground train passing by. This is noticeable only in silence and again, I can't say it was disturbing for us. But, overall, I'm very satisfied with the hotel given the location, price and cleanness of the room.
1) Location is the best. You can walk to almost all main touristic objects. 2) Good enough rooms. 3) There is a free safe - very usefull to store passports and so on. You won't find here some special atmoshpere, but it's just a good place to sleep and continue to explore Barcelona next day. You are not coming to Barcelona to sit in hotel don't you? :)
1) First night we where in the worst room (smaller than other) with small shower instead of bath and windows coming to the courtyard. Guys from receptio argued that rooms with windows coming to la Ramba are very noizy. Someone screamed all night in that courtyard - so if get this room, better change it. Next day they gave us another room without any issues. Windows good enough to stop noise. 2) Housemaid tried to enter our room while we was there - I don't like this. 3) When you leave you have to left the keys at the reception.
The place of the hotel its absolutely perfect, near to all of the metro stations, shops, restaurants etc. The staff is very helpful, they helped us in every issue we had. The cleaning is not amazing, sheets weren't changed not even once in 5 nights. Room small but comfy, strong wifi, machine coffe and water on the hallway. For this price we really coundt find better. I recomand the rooms that are not with the view on the principal street, you sleep good and you are not disturbed by any noise. The building its safe by night time also Wich is so important. Maps, info, extra pillows, hair dryer at the reception. Barcelone is fantastic, strongly recomand. Greetings from Romania
the fact that they didn't changed not even once our bed lenjery. No breakfast included
Best connectivity to Metros and happening places around.
The stinking smell due to lack of proper ventilation.
the blanket is not so comfortable. Need to pay for the printer.
Perfect location. Clean.
It's ok to sleep for 1 night, not more. Tiny room.
Very convenient place both for shopping,having meals and sightseeing. Simple room but enough clean.
They don't change sheets every day. No ammenity.No refrigereator.
It's central and the staff is very helpfull and great
You can hear what everyone's doing in the rooms near you.
Location was great! We we lucky and hosted in a room with windows to the yard and not to the La Rambla, that is too noisy for comfortable relaxation. but note, you might not be so lucky :). Room, linen, towels, toilet, shower were clean.Room was cleaned every day. They have lift in the building.There was no issue to go upstairs with heavy bags. Conditioning worked fine. Hot water. Big mirror. Safe is in the room.
Staff was always busy with its own delas. They were not all ears when you tried to ask something or to get help: 1)Our safe had blocked to some reasons and it was opened only next day after I asked twice. i was told that he had had too many deals to do and i had to wait.2)when i tried to find out if we can leave our bags on reception because of late flight - i was asked to ask this question again when i will be back from our walk :) it might be funny... but as is :) There is no hairdryer. i read that in comments, so i took it with me...but it is extra weight... No tea facilities..- i think they can buy one kettle for all their guests and put it on lobby with tea bags and sugar. It will make stay much more pleasant. i hope they will read this comment :)
-location -cleanliness -recently redone
- bed skeletons would need an upgrade, as they screetch
Very small beds
- the bed - la cama
- too much noise - there is no elevator for the luggage and the staff didn't help - the other elevator going up to the hostal wasn't working - there wasn't air-conditioning - bad wi-fi - demasiado ruido - no había elevador para subir las maletas a las habitaciones y los empleados no son capaces de ayudar - el único elevador que había para subir al hostal como tal, estaba averiado - no había aire acondicionado! - la internet una basura
location is perfect. hostal is on the La Rambla. Subway, marina and plaça of catalunya is very close. There are many resturants and cafe near the hostel. Rooms are cleaned every day.wifi is strong.In summary, it was ideal for us :)
No fridge. It can be a little noisy because it's on the street, but it wasn't important to us :)
The staff was very friendly and helpfull and with a smile. Comfort is good value for the price. And most important clean hostel. I was there for the skate event so the location was great ; close to the beach but still in the centre. Dulci
Hotel molto pulito, nel centro città; staff molto gentile. Lo consiglio! A very cleaned hotel, in the city centre; very kind staff, I can suggest this hotel!
Accessible by metro; near bus 59 stop to barceloneta. Very basic room, a place to sleep and take a shower, do not expect the luxury of a 5-star hotel. Receptionists are helpful. Room is cleaned and towels are changed daily.
bring your soap and hairdryer
Great Location
The room was way too small
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By: Natasha Odendaal Updated 4 hours ago As TSX-listed Osisko Gold Royalties geared up to combine its business with TSX-listed Virginia Mines, the Montreal-headquartered gold-focused royalty and stream company acquired a further one-million shares in Virginia Mines. Osisko, which still had to complete the acquisition of 2.38-million... →
Rochester royalty earns Rye Patch $2.61m in first nine months of 2014
By: Creamer Media Reporter Updated 4 hours ago Junior miner Rye Patch on Wednesday said the Rochester mine net smelter return (NSR) had earned it $2.61-million, or about C$2.85-million, in the first three quarters of this year. The Rochester mine paid a 3.4% NSR royalty quarterly to Rye Patch on each ounce of silver and gold produced and sold. →
SAIL wants Indian coal blocks to be awarded by govt
By: Ajoy K Das Updated 5 hours ago Even as the Indian government gets ready to launch its maiden allocation of coal blocks through competitive auction, demands have surfaced that the resource should be allocated through a 'government dispensation route', or based on government's recommendations. Leading the charge was Steel... →