ARSENAL 1996/97

Arsenal had 16 figures released in the kit worn for the 1996/97 season, 12 were released during the 1996/97 season and the other 4 were released during the 1997/98 season, however given how the kits for the 2 seasons are identical, collector's simply refer to them all as 1996/97 figures. The easy way to differentiate between the 1995/96 kit and the 1996/97 kit is the socks, the 1996/97 kit has them wearing plain White socks.

 

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Goalkeeper David Seaman being released twice, with both Seaman figures being the same sculpt as had previously been released but the kits were slightly different. The one released for the 1996/97 season had a Yellow shirt with Black trim detail on the sleeves and was part of the 12 pack, the other Seaman was released for the 1997/98 season and featured him wearing a Yellow jersey again but this one had a red trim around the collar and navy trim on the cuffs.

 

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Lee Dixon was a first time sculpt as were Steve Bould, John Hartson and Chris Kiwomya. The figures of Bould and Hartson were never released again, although Hartson was later released as part of the Prostars range of figures, Corinthian used a fresh sculpt for those figures, this Arsenal sculpt was never again used.

 

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The only way to acquire the Bould and Hartson figures was by buying either the 12 player pack or the 4 player pack which featured both figures, however that 4 pack was incredibly difficult to find, no single blisters were released for these two figures .Chris Kiwomya's sculpt was a superb likeness of the player and my personal favourite from this set, he has never again been released by Corinthian and was released in the 12 player pack, as part of a 4 player pack and also as a single blister.

 

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Corinthian released a 12 player box set of all the figures released for the 1996/97 season, the set was made an essential purchase for the serious collector as it featured a figure which had never been released before, and one was made solely available in the 12 player pack, that figure was Lee Dixon, no single blisters were ever produced of Dixon nor was the figure ever released again by Corinthian in any form.

 

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Along with the 4 new sculpts, the 12 pack featured the same 8 figures which were previously released in the FAPL Collection in the 1995/96 kit, which are Tony Adams, Paul Merson, Ian Wright, David Seaman, Dennis Bergkamp, David Platt, Nigel Winterburn and Martin Keown.

 

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The remaining 3 figures were released in the 1996/97 kit but for the 1997/98 season. The 3 figures were made up of a repainted Marc Overmars who had previously been released in the colours of Ajax, as part of the Dutch Staatsloterij series of figures. The other 2 were first time sculpts, those 2 being inspirational midfielder Patrick Vieira and manager Arsene Wenger, with the blister packs of these figures carrying the Headliners logo on them. and there are actually 3 variants to collect too!

 

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There are actually 3 variant blisters to collect, Corinthian re issued the figures of Tony Adams, Dennis Bergkamp and Ian Wright, the blisters carried the Headliners logo as did the collector cards, so for those who collect the cards or blisters, these are 3 more to pick up, however the figures are exactly the same for both versions.