Here we have Frank Richard George Lampard, who was born in September 1948. He is shown in his West Ham colours, which he wore for most of his life, starting in 1967, though he did also play for Southend United, and for England.
We were a bit sneaky with our clue here as we were after his son, who was born not too long after these cards were issued (in 1978), and even then, not because of his club, nor his birthplace, but as an author, of children`s books, including the "Frankie`s Magic Football" series, of which there are almost twenty, and each of which come with collectable cards.
This set may look similar to those issued by A & B.C. Gum, and you would be forgiven for thinking that there must have been some kind of error, like them forgetting to change the Topps name before they were printed. However in the mid 1970s things changed, and Topps took the license back, so the last set issued by A. & B.C. was "Footballers 1974-75". After that the sets were issued by Topps UK, with Bazooka bubble gum, so they are very much still proper trade - though, intriguingly, their name is given on the back as "Topps Chewing Gum, Inc." This is even odder, when you consider that their earlier set, known as "Footballers - Red/grey back" has "Topps Bazooka Limited" in that place, and that both these sets show a pack of Bazooka gum on their wax packets.
If you look at the packets for this set you will see that it is billed as the "Biggest Series Ever" and there were three hundred and thirty cards, all individual footballers from either the First or Second Division. That was a hundred and ten more cards than the set before, and it was not beaten until the 1978 set with the orange backs, which had three hundred and ninety six cards.
It is catalogued in our original British Trade Index, part III, as :
FOOTBALLERS 1976 (A). 89 x 63. Back "Topps Chewing Gum Inc.", latest dating on backs is "Season 1975-76".
1. English edition. Back in blue. Nd. (330)
2. Scottish edition. Back in red. Nd. (132)