Larsson x2

What a stellar career Henrik Larsson had, eh?! 

I remember there always being questions about his ambition when he was at Celtic... so then he went and played for Barcelona and Man United (when they were still good) Not to mention World Cups and Euros! 

I've already showed you Barcelona and Man U repaints of Larsson, so here's one of the World Cup kits, I think. Tho I can't be bothered to check, to be honest.

I've also done a couple of repaints of Larsson in his early career with Hogaborg, and Helsingborg. And Feyenoord, I think.

Here's one of his very last clubs: Raa. And that's basically all I can tell you about them!

Yak Jensen and Stuart Pearce

I've recently been reading my copy of Glove Story 2, which, in case you didn't realise, is a book all about goalkeeping that features some of my repaints, as well as hand made mini glove bags! 

Even though I wouldn't particularly call myself a goalkeeping enthusiast, it's a cracking read, including some great stories that you may well have never heard before. 

Of course, there are many stories and points of interest, but a couple that stick in my mind as I write this are:

1. A team of English pro goalkeepers had a basketball match against the Harlem Globetrotters in the 1970s

2. The story that led to this figure:

Stuart Pearce loved playing in goal in his youth, and while he was semi pro at Wealdstone, he missed playing with his mates... so he registered as "Yak Jensen" with Dynamo Kingsbury Kiev! 

In Glove Story 2, Pearce reveals that he even chipped in with some goals, by going up for free kicks and corners, and occasionally dribbling out from the back!

I was asked to produce this remodel for the book, and was happy to do so. As you may have guessed, the kit didn't take long to paint!

I was going to end this post there, but thought- I've mentioned Wealdstone, why not stick another pic on as a bonus!

Another fairly simple repaint, but effective in it's simplicity! I also like the handpainted number. If I'm completely honest, I only attempted it because I'd printed the decal backwards, but I think it came out well!

3 iterations of Alioski!

A defeat last night for Bielsa's boys, but what an exciting game! I'm not doing that as a meme- genuinely a brilliant game of football. 

I almost started a rant about 'changing style' and 'being pragmatic then, but I can't be bothered! It's not what you're here for, and if you still agree with pundits calling out Bielsa for having what is by and large a squad of Championship players competing for the top half, then the opinion of someone who paints little plastic footballers probably isn't going to change that!

Here is one of those championship players!

Alioski has gone through quite the array of hairstyles at Leeds... this prostar was based on his appearance in his first season at Leeds. A pretty good lookalike, I'd say. You can't see the kappa logos down the side on this photo, but I'm pretty sure I put them on.

What was that I was saying about hairstyles?! These 2 funkos are based on pictures of him from the same season! I was quite happy with both, though the top one does look like he's spent a bit more time on the tanning beds!!

Bianchi and Recoba, Torino

I haven't posted any 'overseas' figures for a while, so here are a couple of Torino players.

I did both of these quite a while ago. The one thing that jumps out at me about this one- I can see that the number 9 is hand-painted. Other than that, it's pretty standard!

This one is definitely more recent than the first. Something that I find myself pondering with this one is that with all the other diagonal 'sash' kits that I've painted (River, LA Galaxy), I'm sure it goes from left shoulder to right hip; ie the opposite way to this one. I don't know if that's usual, and I've probably never thought about it until now!

I might not have considered it at all, if i hadn't just finished a load of River Plate soccerstarz. Pics up soon, when I've had it confirmed that they've arrived in the US.

2 Youthful Forest Players!

Looking through my repaints album, I thought: I haven't posted any Forest pictures for a while, and these were the last 2 left.

I thought to myself  that John Terry must've had a rough paper round if he looked like that when he joined Forest as a young player, and then realised it was pretty much the same case for Sheringham!!

The thin white lines round the shoulders and cuffs are definitely the best bit about the terry figure!