There’s a Russian guy, let’s call him Vladimir (which is handy because that’s his actual name). Every year Vladimir flies over to watch his beloved Chelsea at the Bridge. After negotiating security, he meets a guy called Terry in a car park near Heathrow. Terry & Vladimir have known each other for years. Vladimir has bundles of cash, & Terry has a van full of merchandise that his Russian friend is desperate for, & it’s all available in batches of a hundred. After sampling some of the goods, & a quick bit of negotiation, hands are shaken & merchandise & cash exchanged. Everyone is happy.
Welcome to the fanatical world of football pin badges.
We’re in a garage somewhere in deepest Oxfordshire. Terry is stood in front of a wall of hundreds of small blue boxes, the ones you usually see in DIY stores full of nails and stuff. But these are labelled with quintessentially English place names like Bridgwater, Lyme Regis, Chichester, and each one is full with metal pin badges in plastic wrapping.
Terry has always been a collector. It started when he was a non-league footballer playing in the Hellenic League, picking up badges of the teams he played against. He played on a Saturday, then again on Sunday, and he even ended up being Chairman at the wonderfully named Beacons Bottom Athletic while still playing. He wanted to get a badge made for his side, and that’s when Terry's life changed forever. He got in touch with a badge seller he’d become friends with, a chap called Toby. Now, Toby was a Wealdstone supporter who also ran the club shop, and his path to becoming a collector and badge maker was all down to his dog, Mick.