1996 Merlin Premier League Collector Cards

Well, the 2014/15 Premier League season is done tomorrow. My boys already secured the championship a couple weeks back. Just have tomorrow's games to settle the last team to be relegated, and one possible spot in the Europa Cup. Conveniently, the randomizer picked this pack from my scan folder of 44 different sets to be posted. Damn good timing. I have no dang clue where I found this. It may be a pack I found in an old dollar store bin. If there was every a statement of the junk wax era, this pack is it.

Look - they're "official"!!! I had never heard of Merlin's. In fact, there is no Wikipedia page about them. If you search the disambiguation of "Merlin", there is just a mention of the company:

Bought out by Topps in 1995. Topps kept the Merlin's name, though, as it continued to produce football cards. Anyway, we got 3 cards and a superstar standup. Let's have at it.

First out of the pack is the standup. Alan Shearer is pictured as a striker with Newcastle, where he spent the bulk of his career, also logging 4 years each with Southampton and Blackburn before finishing his career with the Magpies. Shearer is the all time leading scorer in the Premier League with 260 goals.

Graham Hyde with Sheffield Wednesday. Sheffield has been up and down between Championship and League 1 since they were relegated from the top tier in 2000. Sheffield Wednesday is one of the oldest football clubs in the world, founded in 1867. They also are the first English club to ever field an American when they brought over John Harkes in 1990.

A goofy caricature of Gary McAllister dressed in a Coventry City kit, a club he has just signed with for the '96 season. Scotland native, McAllister earned 57 caps with the national squad during his career. Fun fact: he shares a birthday with Jesus. You know his parents only gave him one present on Dec 25th.

Last card is Gunner midfielder David Platt. Platt was a bit of a journey man in Europe, playing with seven teams over a 17 year career. He spent time with the English National team and scored 4 goals in a World Cup qualifier in Feb 1993 against San Marino.

Card back. Recycled image way back in 1996. It seams with the numbers this may have been some kind of card game? Nothing talked about that though. Note the metric measurements and the space for the players autograph. I should send these in a TTM and ask them to sign the backs.

There was some ad card in the pack talking about 1997 Premier League sticker collection being released, but Blogger seems to hate the scan and won't display it. Oh well.