Packs 44-46

After a Big Weekend and Big (very disappointing) Match we get back into the sticker swing...

Pack 44


Star Player - Andy Johnson - Everton: See they are shiny

Niko Kranjcar - Portsmouth: Also makes Radio Controlled cars...

Arjan De Zeewu - Wigan Ath.: Club Captain... oh no he's been released.

Lee Cattermole - Middlesborough: Northerm

Tugay Kerimoglu - Blackburn Rover: Hehehehe Too Gay Hehehehe

Pascal Chimbonda - Spurs: Decent French full back with a moaning pedigree as proof

Pack 45


Portsmouth Squad: GOT! Squaddy swap

Paul Gallagher - Blackburn Rovers: Young scot... that's it.

Tomas Rosicky - Arsenal: Only scores Cup screamers against Liverpool

Jordan Stewart - Watford: An example of why the were so easily relegated

Franck Queudrue - Fulham: Odd name

Nolberto Solano - Newcastle Utd: Little Nobby, great player

Pack 46


Stuart Downing - Most Wanted: You knoe the world is wrong when Stuart Downing is both a Star Player and Most Wanted - who the $*!@ by!

Heidar Helguson - Fulham: GOT! Useless swap

Stephane Henchoz - Blackburn Rovers: GOT! Still a great keeper

Kevin Davies - Bolton Wanderers: All together now... Who Ate All the Pies...

David Thompson - Portsmouth: Used to like this cheeky scouse scamp... now I think he's just a unprofessional, snidey, cheating scall.

Salomon Kalou - Chelsea: A good player in FM, not transferred it to the real Prem yet.

Stats

So 46 packs ripped open and 236 sticker lovingly eased into place. That gives me a completion percentage of 45.21%! So close to the halfway point now!

The NPP is till hovering just above 5 per pack at 5.13, so we still haven't reached the one Got Per Pack mark yet, with the GPP at 0.87.

The projected finish is now for pack 101.75.

Reading have really gotten static again, which has given Boro a sneaky chance to join them at the front of the race for team completion on 15 stickers. Arsenal and Blackburn are sticking close too on 14.

Bumper Six Pack: 38 to 43

Pack 38


Arsenal Kits: Not won nutthin...

Marlon Harewood – West Ham United: Seems to have been around for years... but has never really arrived.

Nicky Butt – Newcastle United: Doesn't look so good at the Toon does the England International

Eric Djemba-Djemba – Aston Villa: So bad the named him twice

Robert Green – West Ham United: Decent young keeper...

Scott Carson – Charlton Ath: Decent young keeper who really belongs to Liverpool - for now.

Pack 39

Fulham Squad: Or the scary squad as they are becoming known.

Francis Jeffers – Blackburn Rovers: Speaking of scary, annoying, unspeakably horrid things...

Jlloyd Samuel – Aston Villa: Jlloyd is such a made up name...

Aaron Lennon – Spurs: Nippy ickle winger

West Ham United Badge: Quality old skool badge

Kieran Richardson – Man Utd: Who says playing for a big club gets you into the England squad... well apart from Nicky Butt.

Pack 40


Luis Boamorte – Most Wanted: It mus be the kit...

Gary Neville – Man Utd: My eyyeeeeeeeeeeees. Irksome littl... sorry.

Robert Huth – Middlesbrough: Doesn't sound very German

Fabio Aurelio – Liverpool: Did look Fabio until his achilles went TWANG!

Rob Hulse – Sheffield United: Relegated journeman.

Ugo Ehiogu – Middlesbrough: Ugo has been around for ever. I remeber him playing for Villa against Tranmere in the league cup semi final... Bosnich so should have gone.

Pack 41


Liverpool Squad: GOT! It's a nice swap though.

Kevin Kilbane – Wigan Ath: Even even the Blue Noses thought he was crap.

Carlton Cole – West Ham: GOT! Still not as good as he thought.

Richard Wright – Everton: Ha haha hah ha hah ha. If he wasn't at Everton it would be tragic. He's been released now...

Brian McBride – Fulham: It must be the shirts, Brian isn't that creepy normally - surely?

Luis Garcia – Liverpool: The last time I heard about Luis he was at the Champion League semi final... watching Take That Live from Manchester on DVD. It's not been that long Luis...

Pack 42


Star Player – Stuart Downing – Middlesbrough: Star, yeah.

David Unsworth – Sheffield United: A sprightly young rookie.

Ishmael Miller – Man City: A haggard old veteran of some 53 years. Hang on...

Andreas Johansson – Wigan Ath: Nothing to say here... move along.

Ben Thatcher – Man City: Lucky not to be in prison, they're a bunch of softies at City.

Richard Lee – Watford: Understudy to the 14 year old Ben Foster.

Pack 16... sorry 43 - Yep, it's happened again!

Wigan Ath. Squad: That's fine...

Strange Lego thing – The Mantis: My second one of these stupid things...

Then we have the familiar grouping of:

George Boateng – Middlesbrough
Phillipe Senderos – Arsenal
Charlton Athletic Badge
Osmane Dabo – Man City
Julio Arca – Middlesbrough

All of who appeared together in pack 16. That to me is a bit fishy. OK my experiment doesn't replicate normal consumer behaviour - due to me taking packs from the same bulk retail box - but still it'll be interesting to see how this trend goes.

Stats

So 222 stickers are now well and truly stuck. If it was a cricket match I would be hopping along on one leg. That gives a completion of 42.53%!

The six packs were going pretty well until Doppleganger II: The Revenge. So we've 36 swaps. That means the GPP is still over 5 at 5.16 - with GPP obviously rising to 0.84.

The projected finish is still in triple figures at 101.11.

In the teams race Reading have stopped moving again allowing Boro to sneak to just one behind them on 13.

Packs 35-37: The Doppleganger

Pack 35

Star Player – Wayne Rooney – Man Utd: Shiny Shrek

Edwin Van Der Sar – Man Utd: A great keeper.

Marcus Hahnemann - Reading: A not so great keeper.

Theo Walcott – Arsenal: Baby Theo...

Man Utd Badge: A great pack for United.

Khalid Boulahrouz – Chelsea: GOT! Rubbish in every way.

Pack 36

Star Player – Joey Barton – Man City: See the way he's punched Fabregas in the face...

Cesc Fabregas – Arsenal: although Cesc did fall to the ground like a wounded ballerina.

Xabi Alonso – Liverpool: Half way line goal scoring machine.

Andre Ooijer – Blackburn Rovers: Sounds like a phrase from Carry On.

Stuart Parnaby – Middlesbrough: One of those solid players you know play football, but you never really see.

Kevin Doyle - Reading: Another Reading sticker! I'm only one sticker from completing a whole page!

Pack 14... I mean 37

Most Wanted – Kevin Nolan: I always confuse him with Tranmere Legend Ian Nolan...

Joey O'Brien – Bolton Wanderers: GOT! Goofy swap...

Frank Lampard – Chelsea: GOT! Fat swap...

Petr Cech – Chelsea: GOT! Fractured swap...

Ricardo Carvalho - Chelsea: GOT!... Hold on...

Sun Ji Hai – Man City: GOT!... Deja Vu!


Hmmm this is the sort of thing I was hoping to see.

Here we have two packs pulled from the same box with 5 identical stickers. If it was two, three, or even four I could maybe pass it off as coincidence... five is really pushing it.

Especially with such distinctive stickers.

Stats
Six packs worth of stats to update. We are now standing at 192 stickers stuck - we'll be over the 200 next time. Even with the disastorous pack 37 the NPP has stayed above 5 at 5.19, with GPP at 0.81.

The projected completion date has risen to just over 100 again at 100.59.

Reading have had a storming few packs and are now storming ahead in the race to completion with 15 stickers stuck. That's a full 4 stickers ahead Arsenal, Blackburn, Chelsea and Boro who are all on 11.

Packs 32-34

Pack 32


Man Utd Kits: Leage winning (boooo) kits!

Shane Long - Reading: There's a gag in there somewhere...

James McFadden – Everton: GOT! Everton really are struggling.

Robbie Keane – Spurs: Great little player, but has never really been as great as he promised early on.

Bobby Zamora – West Ham: A great Championship striker.

Nuno Valente – Everton: What is it with the Portuguese and naff slick hair?

Pack 33


Man City Kits: The Manchester derby is consecutive packs.

Antoine Sibierski - Newcastle United: Slap head cult hero. I said cult.

Andranik Teymourian – Bolton Wanderers: Where does Sam find them?

Sammi Hyypia – Liverpool: The best thing Houllier ever did for Liverpool

Claude Davis – Sheff Utd: You would not want to meet this bloke in a dark alley... or a brightly lit one... or a football pitch for that matter.

Graeme Murty – Reading: Reading keep storming on.

Pack 34


Tim Cahill – Most Wanted: GOT! A copy of the first sticker I picked out.

Paulo Bouazza – Watford: Another one for the cool names list.

Fabio Rochemback – Middlesbrough: Brazillian midfielder, I've resisted using the word cultured.

Radostin Kishishev – Charlton Ath: Relegated Bulgar

Keiron Dyer – Newcastle Utd: Fancy Dan moan merchant

Claus Jensen – Fulham: Fulham are probably thr=e oddest looking squad in the division.

Packs 29 - 31

Pack Twenty Nine


Aston Villa Squad: Although Villa have had a so-so season I reckon we'll start to see them as more of threat next season.

Javier Mascherano – West Ham: The Monster Masch. World beating international to West End Donkey and back to Super Smooth Euro Superstar.

Idan Tal – Bolton Wanderers: A name that looks like an anagram.

Didier Drogba – Chelsea: Dogbreath himself, I'm surprised he's only got 4 stars...

Leroy Lita – Reading: He's a good solid forward with a bit of spark.

Claudio Reyna – Man City: Looks like Andre's love child in his photo...

Pack Thirty


Blackburn Rovers Kits: Horrible betting sponsors...

Brad Friedel – Blackburn Rovers: Brad was frankly crap at Liverpool, he's now the most dependable keeper in the country.

Liam Ridgewell – Aston Villa: Looks a bit like my mate Rich... interesting that eh?

Christian Nade – Sheffield United: I've got Nade to say... ... ... sorry.

Stephen Hunt – Reading: A valid Reading sticker - blimey!

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink – Charlton Ath: JFH was such a disappointment. Usually guarantees a bag full of goals wherever he laces his mercenary boots.

Pack Thirty One

The Premiership Trophy: Sticker number 2! I think this another one that should be shiny shiny foil though.

Michael Dawson – Spurs: A good solid centre back, will probably get better and better with age.

William Gallas – Arsenal: A good solid centre back spolied by his Chelsea days and can't be arsed at Arsenal.

Matt Jackson – Wigan Ath: Is he the one that's been playing for 1500 years?

Nicky Weaver – Man City: Plucky nicky peaked when he was 19 in those play off final heroics... shame.

Tal Ben Haim – Bolton Wanderers: One of Big Sam's many exotic stars.

Stats
Wow, three packs with not a single swap! Very nice!

So another 18 stickers are added, making a total of 164 stuck. That's now a completion of 31.42%.

The NPP rises for the first time in ages to 5.29 with the GPP falling to 0.71.

With all that the completion target dips back under 100 to pack 98.67.

Reading are finally up and moving again, and Chelsea march on - both teams lead the way 11 stickers, but as you can see the spread behind is still plentiful and fairly even.

Only Everton and Watford are holding back, mustering less between them than most of the other teams in the league.

Villa Badge

Just as a quick break, you may remember me mentioning a while back that I quite liked the design of the Villa badge...

Well they must have been listening, because they've just announced a new version...


It's also quite nice actually, at least now I've got a bit more used to it.

As I've said, I like the old one, but it is a bit busy. The stripes on the background were maybe a little bit too much.

The new lion is a bit gayer looking, but overall the I like the retro look. The addition of their 1982 European Cup star is also quite a nice touch.

Overall I like it, but I still have a soft spot for the outgoing one.

After the long weekend

So after a nice relaxing weekend full of hands down toiles and other suc cleaning delights it's time to crack on...

Pack Twenty Six


Man United Squad: The newly crowned champions. At least it wasn't Chelsea...

Paul Scharner – Wigan: Doesn't he present high-brow history programmes?

Ricardo Gardner – Bolton Wanderers: Got!

Gary Speed – Bolton Wanderers: Got! Double Bolton swap catastrophe!

Paulo Ferreira – Chelsea: He's got odd hair has this Champions League failure

Matthew Spring – Watford: Not good enough for the worst team in the Premiership, Matt is now playing for the second worst team in the Championship...

Pack Twenty Seven


Chelsea Kits: Champions League Semi Final failing kits!

David Sommeil – Sheffield Utd: Part time Blades defender.

Thierry Henry – Arsenal: GOT! High quality swappage!

Reading Badge: GOT! My first badge swap!

Mathieu Flamini – Arsenal: VERY French

Steven Davis – Aston Villa: Very Ginger

Pack Twenty Eight


Wigan Athletic Kits: Wigan are going along quite nicely at the moment.

Pedro Mendes – Portsmouth: Got! Bit of a pants trio of packs really.

Dave Kitson – Reading: Only 2 goals this term for Reading's ginge.

Antonio Valencia – Wigan Ath: Ecuadorian, sounds Spanish....

Michael Brown – Fulham: Head butting cheating bastard.

Gareth Barry – Aston Villa: The normal Gareth Barry sticker - 1 of a set of 3.

Stats
So 28 packets down, 146 stickers stuck in - giving a completion percentage of 27.97.

The NPP has slipped to 5.21 thanks to the five Gots (22 in total) in this trio of packs. GPP rises to .79

With all that taken into account the projected finish for the project is now 100.11 - three figures for the first time!

There hasn't been a valid Pompey sticker for a while so League Cup Winners Chelsea have moved into joint top spot in the completion race... insert jibe about the only decent thing they will this sesaon here...

Packs 23 to 25

Straight on into...

Pack Twenty Three

Star Player – Phil Jagielka – Sheff Utd: This is a strange one, Star Players should be foil and shiny... this Phil isn't! So I haven't stuck him in yet just in case...

Seol Ki-Hyeon – Reading: Played 25 games, weighed in with 3 goals, not a bad season really.

Linvoy Primus – Portsmouth: I rate Linvoy quite highly, he's always played well against us... probably could have been a huge star but he bloomed a bit late.

Shaun Wright-Phillips – Chelsea: Ess dubba dubba dubba you you pee - still seems happy at CSKA London, but you have to hope he moves out this summer.

Morten Gamst Pedersen – Blackburn: Another player I rate very highly, I don't think Gmast and his traction engine left foot will be at Ewood next season.

David Weir – Everton: The run of good players comes to an ugly finish...

Pack Twenty Four


Sheffield United Squad: Very stripy...

Anthony Gardner – Spurs: There's a green fingered joke in there somewhere...

Emmerson Boyce – Wigan Ath: Another one for the cool names list.

Edgar Davids – Spurs: A bit of a disappointment was old Edgar, it a shame he didn't grace the Premiership in his prime.

Mark Delaney – Aston Villa: If he was Scottish-Italian he may have been named Solido McAverage.

Chris Morgan: Sheff Utd: GOT! And I still don't know who he is!

Pack Twenty Five


Most Wanted – Sylvain Distin – Man City: GOT. One of the few City players not yet to have been chinned by Joey Barton. Give it time.

Antti Niemi – Fulham: A great keeper who seems to have the excrement touch on the teams he plays for. Or he has bad taste in clubs...

Gaizka Mendieta – Middlesbrough: Seriously I thought he was a cripple with steel fused knees, surely they can't be still paying him a wage?!

Cheslea Badge: The 10th shiny shiny badge!

Johnathon Spector – West Ham: Another yank, looks like he should skulling for Cambridge

Ashley Young - Watford: GOT! Mr Bargain of the Century.

Stats
So pack 25 also brings the completion up to 25% - so 1% per pack... that's with 133 sticker stuck in and 17 Gots. That a NPP of 5.32 (down a measly .04) and GPP up slightly to 0.68.

The projected completion pack is now up to 98.12.

With Linvoy Primus, Porstmouth move into double figures in the race for first complete team, but Boro are really keeping close by moving on to 9. Chelsea, Blacburn and Reading are all keeping them close too.

Packs 20 to 22

If you are clever, you may have noticed that I didn't post any stats for the last packs... that's because by the time I'd got around to posting I'd already opened the next three packs and entered the data into my all seeing spreadsheet. I didn't have the time to do it manually...

There are double stats this time to make up for it!

Pack Twenty


Charlton Athletic Squad: When you have a squad that boasts Matt Holland as yo rstar you know you're goin g to be struggling. At least they can point at an injured Darren Bent...

Jens Lehman – Arsenal: The Mad Jerman himself

Paul Scholes - Man Utd: Do you think anyone ever tells United players they're having their pictures - they never seem to be shaved.

Ross Turnbull – Middlesbrough: Two keeprs in one pack, blimey!

Benjani Mwaruwari – Portsmouth: GOT! I had to copy and paste his name from the bbc website - again!

Joe Cole – Chelsea: Tricky midfielder and part-time actor/deep sea diver, and still not in the Champions League final - he he!

Pack Twenty One


Star Player – Gareth Barry – Aston Villa: Can't argue with that choice, what the poor lad has to do to get in the England squad I don't know. Maybe sleeping with McLaren might help - Downing must have done something...

Benni McCarthy – Blackburn Rovers: One of the bargains of the season,wouldn't have been to disapointed if Rafa had brought him to Liverpool.

Chris Riggot – Middlesbrough: Quite a solid run of Boro players of late...

Shay Given – Newcastle Utd: Another keeper! Shay's been one of my favourite keepers for a while - Newcstle might have been relegated a few times were it not for him.

Gilberto Silver – Arsenal: A good quality pack this, a fairly decent 5-a-side team...

Liverpool Badge!!!! GET IN! I know it's sad, but it made me very happy to get this - I have never, ever got one before... (sob...)

Pack Twenty Two


Charlton Kits: GOT! My first kits swap...

Darren Ambrose – Charlton Ath: You'll start to see what I mean about the Chralton squad in a minute...

Joseph Yobo – Everton: Blimey, they do put Everton stickers in after all!

Cory Gibbs – Charlton Ath: See.. (couldn't be anything outher than American with a name likr that.)

Bryan Hughes – Charlton Ath: The fourth Charlton sticker in the pack finalises the mediocrity of the team...

Jerzy Dudek - Liverpool: Another keeper... although Jerzy will always be a legend for his exploits in Istanbul, he'll always be remembered for having one awesome season - the turning absolute turd after drooping the ball through his legs against United... poor Jerzy.

Stats
So with six packets added there are now 118 stuck proudly in place, which is a 22.61% complete.

In 22 packs there have been 14 Gots which works out to NPP ratio of 5.36 and GPP of .64. After this many packs I'm still finding myself pleasantly surprised.

The projected completion pack is till hovering in the 90s at 97.32.

Portsmouth managed to add another couple of stickers to their total - taking them to 9. They are still leading, but there are a load of teams on their heals now, with Boro steadily easing from the pack like the bunch of also-rans they are...

Packs 17 to 19

Pack Seventeen


Shiny Fulham Kits: The long sleeve version wih the 'innovative' GloveSleeve is far more interesting

Gary Teal – Wigan: I remeber Sean Teale...

Stuart Downing – Middlesbrough: GOT! Rubbish winger, rubbish swap.

Nicky Hunt – Bolton Wanderers: Almost comedy gold. Mick Hunt would be better...

Lee Bowyer – West Ham: ...speaking of total Hunts.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – Man Utd: GOT! AGAIN! Look at him mocking me with his munchkin face...

Pack Eighteen


Porstsmouth Kits: Pompey keep on marchig on in the completion race...

Shola Ameobi - Newcastle: He's never really going to make it, let's face it.

Danny Shittu – Watford: GOT, it would be too obvious to use another Shittu pun.

Papa Bouba Diop – Fulham: The first character from the Star Wars Galaxy to play in the Premiership.

Andy Cole – Portsmouth: Made such a huge impact they let him go to Birmingham

Aaron Mokoena – Blackburn Rovers: GOT! Another double swap.

Pack Nineteen


Star Player – Scott Parker – Newcastle Utd: Star player? He's pretty good, but star?

Henri Camara – Wigan Athletic: Potentially useful, probably crap.

Tomasz Radzinski – Fulham: A classic one good game in twenty man - if you're lucky.

Lee McCulloch – Wigan Athletic: Sounds like a boxer...

Steve Kabba – Sheff Utd: GOT! Stupid jouneyman...

Brynjar Gunnarson – Reading: Icelandic, I'd like to go to Iceland one day. Also the first Reading sticker in yonks - they're now trailing way behind Pompey.