A Norwich City fan has wasted no time in collecting all 230 of this year’s Canaries stickers – managing to round them all up in a single day and become the first to complete the book.
“I’ve been a Canaries fan pretty much since I was born,” said Heidi Ward, 28, who lives in Toftwood. “From a very early age I was into football and my parents bought me the Norwich football kit and took me to watch them quite early on.”
A true collector, Ms Ward has two complete editions of last year’s album – one that she looks at and another that she keeps safely in plastic.
With the release of the new album, Ms Ward said she wasn’t actively seeking to be the first to complete the collection.
“I didn’t even think of it to be honest,” said Ms Ward.
“I kept seeing it advertised on the EDP and all over Facebook. This newsagent just outside Norwich was selling the books and stickers on Friday. I was in Norwich, picking up some stuff for my family so I went over to buy the book and stickers and as I walked out of the shop, the man behind the till said ‘don’t forget: if you’re the first person to complete it you should contact Archant.’ I thought to myself, ‘that won’t happen’.”
Ms Ward bought two albums and 100 packets containing 500 stickers in total and is just 15 stickers away from completing a second album.
“I was really shocked when I saw I’d collected them all. I couldn’t believe it. I made my mum go through and check that every sticker was there,” said Ms Ward.
“It still hasn’t sunk in to be honest, I keep looking at them and thinking: no way.”
Ms Ward said she was glad to have so many cherished players in one book.
“My favourite sticker is Darren Huckerby. He was my all-time-favourite growing up, and when I was playing football, he was sort of like my role model,” she said.
“My favourite players in the current cohort are Todd Cantwell and Teemu Pukki. I liked putting the stickers of Cantwell together at the back of the album – and Cantwell’s from Dereham too, he went to the same school as me,” she added.
Ms Ward said that her family were very surprised at her having completed the collection so quickly.
“My mum was shocked that I’d spent £100 on stickers, but she can’t believe it either,” she said. It’s crazy when you think about it. I did sticker books and Match Attax and all of that growing up, but I hadn’t done them as an adult, until Norwich released their first sticker book last year, and I knew I had to collect them.”
“There are so many memories in the books. Malky Mackay – he was another of my all-time-favourites when I was younger. And I remember watching Jacob or Josh Murphy when they scored at Carrow Road and they came to high-five me in the stands. It’s got so much history in it, so I love it.”
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