A football player with several Champions League winners medals remembers how he often met the same young boy who waited for the training ground of the Premier League club when he left.
Out of habit and sympathy for the young person who would have come rain or sunshine, he would roll down his window and sign some items. It would not take more than 30 seconds.
A few weeks later the player asked the boy why he was not at school.
“My father pays me not to go to school,” he said. “He drops me off to have everything signed and picks me up. We make more of this than his normal job. '
The sale of signed Memorabilia is a lucrative company, with some football shirts for four digits and now more than ever, independent sellers left, right and center with social media are coming up in.
Earlier this month a video from Pep Guardiola was created that told signature hunters near his house. “Do you want to live your life with this, frankly?” The boss of Manchester City asks. 'Don't come anymore, I'll not tell you anymore. I know your faces. '
On the stick to the football podcast, Roy Keane stabbed the boot by calling them 'idiots' and an 'absolute nuisance'. “Good for you Pep,” he added.
Within industry, however, the perception is different, not least when so many signed goods do not have a certificate of authenticity (COA) or real evidence that the article has actually been signed. “For those guys, that video is brilliant,” says Ben Soley, director of Sales on icons.com. “It's free promotion, free advertisements and free authenticity.”
Icons.com started in 1999 and has a long -term reputation when it comes to signed memorabilia. Their products come from closed signing sessions where players and managers receive a fee for their time or for a fixed number of items, ranging from shirts to photos to bracelets and boots. In terms of signed merchandise, they even have an exclusivity agreement with Lionel Messi.
“Assuming they sell, the value in total that shirts in the video is easily four digits,” says Soley. 'The Home Shirt from Barcelona sell it signed, framed and license by Barcelona for £ 650.
'The figures that go on the city shirt, there are three those PEP signs. We also sell that for £ 650, but we pay for royalties and licenses. Buyers can sell again later if they choose and the consumer gets something that they can fully trust. '
Icons.com has working relationships with people such as Eric Cantona, Ronaldo and Guardiola, who last had a signing session after City won the Treble in 2023.
But without regulations, the internet is full of signed memorabilia of independent sellers, sold for a fraction of the price of people with coas, where many simply use photo or video light. Peter Johnson, who founded Stella firm, got his business off the ground by taking enormous risks.
He said Mail Sport that he heard Barcelona that Barcelona flew from a public airport, so it flew from Birmingham. He then booked a 'fake flight' from Barcelona to get to the terminal and was signed merchandise from people such as Neymar, Luis Suarez and Messi.
Now his company is one of the most recognized memorabilia brands in the world, together with stars such as Ben Stokes and Paul Gascoigne.
However, it is increasingly how signature hunters work a reason for concern. Some Premier League clubs Fine players who stop outside of training grounds. If one stops, this sets a precedent and return hunters. It is also not uncommon for star players to report cars they follow, and hunters often book rooms in hotels where teams are staying.
Mail Sport has recently shown that Manchester United is increasingly frustrated by so -called 'professionals' who perform their players with some sources 'industrial scale signatures' at Old Trafford. They arrive with poor shirts or books full of numbers that can then be printed on shirts, with many who arrive five hours before the kick -off to get their place. Some appear in Stockport Station, which often go to London in London.
Outside Stamford Bridge there are two sets of lights near Fulham Broadway station where hunters gather, knowing that players will never come through both lights on their way home and will have to stop at one. There are always real fans who show up, but players are increasingly aware of the same faces and voices.
Some throw their children at the front, because players are more likely to stop. There are no limits. Sir Alex Ferguson was furious when he was asked to sign a shirt outside the Manchester cathedral after the funeral of club icon Kath Phipps this month.
One hunter remembers how Cafu was on the phone in a hotel lobby and he put the shirt in front of his face. The double World Cup winner was furious but signed it to avoid him.
Such examples are endless and explain why players stop, even though they know that they can be paid beautifully for signing items in a 'legitimate' way. For top players, an independent signing sessions of one hour can yield a sum of five digits.
“It is a human interaction and it is not necessary to sign a few things,” says a former Premier League player. 'We have to get rid of them, such as when we leave the ground. It is frustrating, but players are aware of their image and want to be seen as interaction. With all the people around you it is difficult to choose between fans and sellers and you don't want the return. '
Some players such as Mohamed Salah do not sign signatures at all, but general boycots are rare and athletes are often satisfied that these products are ultimately sold to real fans.
However, customers are still being exploited. When someone sells 20 signed shirts for £ 100 each, for example, the concept of those in the game they have protected one geniune signature and subsequently forged them. Manuscript experts are used.
In 2008, the owner of a store in Chester was found guilty of falsifying signatures after Liverpool and United Players and Rugby legend Jonny Wilkinson shared their concerns. Public prosecutors discovered that fake shares were mixed with real shares, so it was easier to mislead the audience.
More recently, icons have provided evidence in a lawsuit where the authorities struck a warehouse and caught a man who signed with a pen in hand. He earned £ 1 million for nine years and was found guilty of fraud and money laundering. “Ultimately, everyone in the industry hurts,” says Soley. “There is a huge black hole vacuum where nobody controls and cannot trust monitoring and buyers.”
The market only grows with people who see signed memorabilia as investments. The market value of one authentically signed Messi shirt went from around £ 350 to £ 1500 after Argentina won the World Cup 2022.
Sellers are increasingly proud of the fact that consumers do not have to travel and wait outside stadiums and training grounds without a guarantee that they will get what they want.
“It's nice to say to go to school and do something, but everyone is free to do what they want,” says a Jager signature, which only sells via Instagram and Facebook. “It's not illegal, right? There is money to be made and we do the time and effort.
'You just have to look at the messages I received during Christmas to see that we make dreams come true. We bring hours waiting in the cold, so others don't have to do. '
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