PEOPLE BEHIND FOOTYHAMMER

Richard #7 Captain

Nationality: British
Favorite club: Southampton
Best footballing memory: The last match at the old dell , happened to be my birthday , and my good friend Matthew Le Tissier scored the last ever goal there . I’m lucky enough to have the very shirt he wore . Probably one of the most sought after Southampton shirts ever. Also non saints related id have to say Becks freekick vs Greece.
Best shirts: It is a tough one as I have had so many over the years. Southampton 1976 – 1979 Cup finals. Various Mathew Le Tissier club and country shirts. Kevin Keegan’s personal England collection of special shirts. Maybe Socrates, Brazil World Cup 1982 swapped with Graham Souness. However could easily have been Ray Clemence FA Cup Final, Diego Maradona, Michael Laudrup, Zeco, KHR, Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff, Kevin Keegan or Kenny Dalglish… The list is endless!
Favorite shirt period: Again another tough one! I think I would go with 1970’s as I always found older shirts on another level to the modern shirts of today, where there are too many issues and other kinds.
Network: With more than 25 years in the industry I have been fortunate to know and buy shirts and sports memorabilia from many former players such as Kevin Keegan, Graeme Souness, Ray Clemence and Matt Le Tissier to name a few big names. I mostly own and collect match worn shirts from my favorite club Southampton FC but also England. However Southampton are few and far between these days, as I probably own most of them, so I have recently started building up a legends match worn shirt collection to keep my collecting habits intact. Over the years I have built up a great list of reliable and trustworthy contacts some currently still active players in the game but also former players, former managers, former and current staff members aswell as fellow collectors from all over the world. For me collecting comes before selling, however as we all know, we need to buy and sell along the way to help fund our ever growing collections. It has never been a cheap hobby by any means!
My Goal: To preserve footballing history and help other collectors get their dream shirts along the way.

Jesper #10 Playmaker

Nationality: Danish
Favorite club: AC Milan
Best footballing memory: AC Milan beating Barcelona 4-0 in 1994 CL final. Unfortunately all AC Milan shirts were stolen after game so I do not own one and don’t think I have seen one or been offered. Anything Denmark related, but of course World Cup 1986 and Euro 1992 are best memories, closely followed by Euro 1984 and World Cup 1998.
Best shirts: Brian Laudrup Euro 1992. A few Michael Laudrup Denmark and Barcelona shirts and Peter Schmeichel. On the AC Milan front I own a signed Paolo Maldini Champions League final shirt vs. Liverpool in 2005. One of the best defenders to ever play the game, from one of the greatest finals ever played – well certainly the greatest comeback of all time. I own shirts from the popular dutch trio Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit (1987 – winner of Ballon D’or) and of course the one and only Marco van Basten, whom I have quite a few AC Milan shirts of ranging from 1987-1993. I also have a wider collection of older and new Milan stars. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is a must to have. A few older Denmark 1970’s shirts and various European Cup/Champions League final shirts ranging from 1983-2015.
Network: Many years of collecting high quality match worn shirts has per default created a network of highly trustworthy and honest collectors from all over the world. The best things about a trustworthy network is not always the shirts it naturally brings, but also the information about all the fakers, which unfortunately is still a massive issue in the world of collection memorabilia. My network and what it brings will now automatically also be made available to Footyhammer.com users in terms of shirts, key information and potential meet and greet with stars. I mostly own and collect match worn shirts from Denmark, AC Milan, Liverpool and Barcelona. Plus a few stars from older eras here and then if a good offer is on the table.
My goal: To make sure the integrity of the sports memorabilia and collection industry remains intact and fakers are stamped out! There are still far too many and I will have no issue naming and shaming the ones I come across along the way.