They are an item of a bygone era but football pennants use to be all the rage.

Small ones for the rear view mirror in the car and the larger versions adorned bedrooms, hallways and some made it in the living rooms.

It was always a tradition to exchange them before International matches, a practice that still only just survives I think.

Many supporters clubs up & down the country had their rivals behind their bars as a token of past deeds between the respective clubs.

In fact they are mini versions of flags when you think about it, just one piece of a line of bunting is another way of looking at it.

Many moons ago when I was just a nipper, my eldest brother freshly back from a jaunt to Spain fetched me back huge silk versions, one of each of Barcelona & Real Madrid.

To a footballing loving kid these got pride of place on the bedroom wall, pure shiny silk, just how could newspaper cuttings and Goal magazine centre spreads compete?

They couldn’t and these insignificant items  fuelled a lust for football knowledge outside of these shores and I constantly begged to stay up to watch Sportsnight when European games were on.

I asked Smiths of Wigan in the arcade could he get World Soccer magazine and once a month it was worth every penny of my hard earned pocket money.

Who would have thought a bit of material could influence anyone that way ?

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PIE AT NIGHT PODCAST
We promise you that it’s easier to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t have to rely on us to remind you when a new episode comes out.

Apple sorts can find it on iTunes here – https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-pie-at-night-podcast/id1097853442?mt=2

If you prefer a different podcast app then just search for “The Pie at Night Podcast”.

You can also find us on Stitcher, here – http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-pie-at-night-pocast/the-pie-at-night-podcast

If you’re that way out, you can find and subscribe to our RSS feed here – http://feeds.feedburner.com/thepieatnight

And if you just want to take pot luck then you can find all our episodes on our Soundcloud page