Now the first clue to our theme of this week was a bit of a fiendish one, because Leighton Phillips was also born in Neath, but a little bit later, on September 26, 1949. He started his career with Cardiff City in 1967, and his first touch of fame was as a schoolboy international. He seems to have been a versatile player, but he felt the club was not getting the results they deserved and so he decided to leave for Aston Villa, in whose strip he appears here. He was there between 1974 and 1978, and most of his appearances on cards are for Aston Villa. In fact it appears that the only card of him actually at Cardiff City is card 21 of the 1969 "My Favourite Soccer Stars" set which was given away with "Lion" Magazine. Unless you know otherwise?
Our set is not actually titled, so it has been called "Footballers" by default, though as a clarifier we do get the date of issue. It is another issue where there was a Scottish version (132 cards with yellow backs) and an English version (330 cards with these fiendishly hard to read and scan red and pink backs).
The first ever Topps Footballers was issued in 1975 and the bottom reads Topps Bazooka Ltd. All the rest, until 1981, one set every year, are credited to Topps Chewing Gum Inc. I never realised until starting to work on this that Bazooka was a Topps brand, and yet it was, since its inception in 1947.
I have found a report on our set from Cartophilic Notes and News Volume 7 number 77, September-October 1977. (all those sevens!) And it says : "Topps Footballers (AD) Series of 330. Another long series of Footballers coloured with white border, titled at the base with name of player and club. Backs are printed in red with a black border giving details of each player`s career with a detailed account of his appearances and goals scored etc. Issued with "Footballer" bubble gum and reported by Fred Smith"
And if you want to see an actual packet for "Footballer" bubble gum, just nip over to Australia, where Nigel`sWebSpace/Topps shows this one and others!