Football fever is raging here in Bagarmossen today. New Order, Robin Hall and Jimmie MacGregor, the Lightning Seeds and Jorge Ben Jor are on constant repeat on the gramophone.

And yesterday in a Södermalm chazza I caught sight of something that made my week. An exquisite, Stanley Matthews thermos flask Who needs a Joy Division Oven Glove when you’ve got one of those?

My son was pleased as Punch when I have it to him, even if he hasn’t a Scooby about the legendary Wizard of the Dribble.

The artwork is from the March 1953 cover of Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly, the first quality, post-WW2 football mag. This article by Simon Inglis is an excellent read.

“Launched in September 1951 – at a time when all British males, players included, still had to complete national service – Charlie’s brainchild was football’s first ever glossy. Its arrival, just as the Festival of Britain exhibition was winding down on London’s South Bank, coincided neatly with the nation’s transition from post-war austerity to a bolder, brighter future. The only mystery is why such a publication took so long to appear. If football’s popularity is measured purely in attendances, rather than by » Continue Reading.