Among My Souvenirs

It's official! I have got FA Cup Fever. All this week my mind has been preoccupied by thoughts of Stoke and Stoke City. The reason I did not post yesterday was because I got so wrapped up in creating a gallery of Stoke-on-Trent pictures on Calvin Palmer Photography.

I also changed the home page with several new photographs in the slideshow. Check it out. Oh and the Stoke-on-Trent pictures are in Gallery Five.

I knew that I was stricken with Cup Fever when I started browsing through my collection of Stoke City football programmes this morning. Now if that isn't a reason for a visit to the ER, I don't know what is. LOL

One of my most prized possessions is a programme from Stoke City's Centenary Celebration Match. The game against the mighty Real Madrid, featuring such legends as di Stefano, Puskas and Gento, was played on Wednesday 24th April, 1963. Somehow the programme has survived to this day. I used Photoshop to remove my name written in the handwriting of a nine-year-old. The things we do as children. That embellishment probably means the value of the programme is probably a fraction of what an umblemished copy would fetch. Oh well.

The signature belongs to the then Stoke reserve goalkeeper Bobby Irvine. The team photograph on the back of the programme also carries several autographs, among them Tony Allen and Jackie Mudie; while inside I have the autograph of Stanley Matthews, later to become Sir Stanley Matthews.

Only one more day to go before the showdown at Wembley with Manchester City.