Now for our first clue we had this card, which showed Peter Bonetti, the famous goalkeeper, who played more than seven hundred matches for Chelsea alone, but also took part in the World Cup in 1970.
The American connection was because in 1975 he left our shores and joined the St. Louis Stars. And the post office connection was because after he retired from football he moved to the Isle of Mull, and became a postman.
The set appears in our original British Trade Indexes as :
FOOTBALLERS
9. Portrait in rectangle with rounded corners, white border team name in pennant at base. Back in yellow. 81 x 55. (101)
1. Nos. 1/54. No. 1 is unnumbered team picture of West Bromwich Albion, back "Football Check List". Anonymous team pennants, see set ZJ12-8.1, were issued with this section.
The wording for that ZJ12-8.1 tells us that there were 26 known, on adhesive paper, and that they were extra large, measuring 202 x 70. And that they must have been anonymous, as they appear as a "Z" set. If anyone has a Chelsea pennant from this set do let us know as we can combine the two sets together as originally intended.
Now when we get to the updated British Trade Index there has been some changes, most notably the total of cards given for the set. This reads :
FOOTBALLERS (A) 1968/69. 81 x 56. Nd. (146). H & S portraits in rectangle with rounded corners. Yellow back borders. English issue in two batches, Nos. 1/45 listed at HA-14 to distinguish from Scottish issue, [also] numbered 1/45
1. Nos. 1/54. No. 1 is unnumbered team picture of West Bromwich Albion, back "Football Check List".
Now this does not mention the Anonymous team pennants, because they have been moved out of the Z section and inserted a bit higher up on the A. & B.C. listing.