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Anonymous Private Collector To Loan ‘Holy Grail’ Of Football To Museum
Over 450 of the world’s most prized football objects are heading to The National Football Museum, in Preston, thanks to the generous actions of a mystery collector.
Objects relating specifically to the great names and great games of footballs glorious past will arrive at the Museum during the week beginning 18th August. Unbelievably, one of the key items is the ball from the first ever World Cup final in 1930.
Curator, Mark Bushell, explained:
‘Many of the world’s great football collectors look to the Museum with envy but there are several individuals, that we know of, who have fabulous collections. These individuals will always be able to outbid Museums at auction so we always ask them, through the media, to consider loaning their objects to the Museum.’
Although the Museum has been taking objects on loan in this way, since opening in 2001, this is the first time that they will have received such a large and significant collection from one individual. And the material is simply sensational.
As Bushell explained:
‘We’re talking about the ball from the first ever World Cup final in 1930 when Uruguay beat Argentina, 113 medals including FA Cup, League Championship and a World Cup winners medal from the 1950 final when Uruguay beat Brazil.’
And the list goes on:
‘We have Alex Stepney’s shirt and winner’s medal from the 1968 European Cup final, Allan Clarke’s shirt from the Centenary FA Cup final in 1972. In total we have received 86 Caps and 65 shirts. The list appears endless we have shirts from Beckenbaur to Di Stefano. I’m completely overwhelmed; it’s an Aladdin’s cave of football goodies.’
The partnership is set to continue and the Museum will, in the near future, take receipt of several major collections that will detail the careers of legends such as Gordon Banks and Bobby Moore.