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• Pack types: Both sets would have been sold in bags, with standard Subbuteo stapled header cards. The early set is shown here with a 1960s card, and the later set with a mid 1970s version.
• The later set appeared on the first (hobby-crest) bubble card.
• The original price of this set was 4s 2d
• Many thanks to Eddie Lang who provided the early version of this set for the above scan.

C114(a): Team Sheets.
For use with the Football Club Flag.

As mentioned above, this original use of C114 appears in the 1965-66 catalogue. The adhesive sheets cost 1s 9d.

C114: Mascot and bench set.
Comprising mascot painted in England's colours, manager with two reserve players sitting on touchline bench.

The mascot in the top hat is Ken Baily, who also appeared on the Football Express box. Somewhat unsurprisingly, there are variations to this set as well. The original set (shown left) was introduced in 1967-68, had a manager in a tie, and reserves in old style tracksuits. Ken Baily has his rattle in his right hand. The set was illustrated in the 1972-73 catalogue. There are actually a couple of different reserve figures, and looking at the pictures I have on file, you seem to get one type or the other, rather than one of each. There is one with both hands on his knees, and one with one hand away from the body (see the pictures). The reserves always seem to be painted in blue, but the tone varies from sky to dark.

The newer set featured much improved figures and was illustrated alongside the new C113 in the 1975-76 catalogue. Now there was one substitute with his arms crossed, and one with his legs crossed. This time out, the reserves could be painted in dark blue or red. The reserves can appear in green tracksuits in early editions of the Spectator set (C141), and I suppose it would make sense to have taken these from bench sets, but I've not actually seen this set in green. The manager in this later set had a cloth cap, and somehow reminds me of Bill Shankly. This figure originally appeared in the cricket deckchair sets, and the colour variations are the same as that set. That means he was usually in a sombre grey or brown suit, but sometimes he turned up in a lurid sky and red combo, as the sealed set above shows. In this second set, a thinner Mr Baily is waving his rattle in his left hand. Both versions of Ken are available in a pair of base variations - either thin and named, or thick and plain. The bench in the later set was also simplified. It no longer had a support bar underneath, and instead the legs were supported with triangular braces.

The bench set was replaced in 1976/77 by C139 which was the first outing for the more familiar clear plastic bench. That set originally featured the same bench occupants as the final C114 (sadly minus Ken).

• Pack types: The early set is illustrated alongside the early 1960s header card, which would have been stapled to a small polythene bag. Hardly a safe environment for that fragile rattle.

• A big thank you to Phil Eccles who noticed that the substitute with the arm away from his body wasn't illustrated on the site, and sent in the photo shown.

C115: Subbuteo Tie.
With single spot motif of footballer in red, silver white, with the word Subbuteo underneath in silver-white with red and yellow stripes on an attractive green background. Length 49in. with pointed end.

Isn't that just the greatest description? Introduced in 1967-68, this was a very short-lived item, with 1969-70 its final appearance. It is one of the few numbers to get reused. A few ugly Subbuteo ties have surfaced in Italy, but none match this description.

July 2013:- At last, the official Subbuteo tie is illustrated in all its glory. Note the lovely old kicking footballer logo (my favourite among them), and the moss green colour. This is just the best tie ever. Well done to Ashley Hemmings, who sent this one in. It only took 14 years to get this illustration!!
April 2023: Ashley has provided another picture of the tie, which allows some close-ups. A lovely item... Isn't the footballer upside-down on this one though?

C115(Z): Match Score Recorder.

This was a sensible re-number of the lovely brown match scoreboard that had been introduced as a replacement Set Z in 1969. As the replacement flags of this vintage came straight into the Continental range, it does seem odd that this set did not get a new number on arrival. It became C115 in 1973, and continued on that number until 1978. The catalogues used the "Z" suffix until 1977, probably because the set was still being sold in the original box. The old number was finally dropped with the "hobby crest" box produced in the late 1970s.

The scoresheets supplied just covered the English and Scottish leagues, and the home nations, although World Cup team names were also issued and foreign boards included their own sheets. The British team names were updated when necessary with Hereford replacing Barrow, and Wimbledon appearing in the final sets.

The last issue of the board was a World Cup 1978 version with World Cup name cards printed in red. It was replaced in 1979 by the black stadium scoreboard (C158), which had large legs designed to display the board over the new terracing.

• A rugby version of the board was also produced with slot in score cards as opposed to rotating wheels. This outlasted the football board in the UK, surviving until the end of the rugby game in 1983-84
• The football version was still being advertised in Dutch catalogues of the early 1980s.
• Box types:- Just the two boxes. The early 1970s "waving boy", shown under Set Z, and the "hobby crest" version shown here.

C116: Car Sticker.
3in. diameter... in red, green and black on white vinyl, depicting a Subbuteo footballer motif. Suitable for sticking on cars, and bicycle saddlebags.

Figuring most Subbuteo players weren't old enough to drive... Thanks to Paul Eyes, this item is now illustrated. Note that the football figure is the correct one for the era. Like C115, this was introduced in 1967-68, and 1969-70 was its final appearance. The number was reused in 1973.

This item first appeared in the 1973-74 catalogue as C116C. The second "C" referred to item "C" in the old A-Z range, which switched across to this range in that year to fill in one of the unused numbers (along with C109M, and C115Z).

However, there was a difference between the two items. Although the price lists still called C116C the "Advanced Table Soccer booklet" until 1976, the catalogues were more accurate, as the description at the top of this section from 1973-74 shows. Under this reference, the basic rules, advanced rules, and the "spin!" booklet were all combined into one handbook. Of course, this was also the rule book in the boxed sets, so you only needed to buy C116 if your dog (or gerbil) ate the original.

This combined handbook had different rules in the basic and advanced sections, and this was pretty confusing to new starters (I should know, as I was one). So eventually the basic rules were split out again. The full handbook survived until 1981-82. Its replacement in 1983 was a "revised" handbook on ref C193. Like the original C116, this only had the more advanced tournament rules within it. 

I have now illustrated three versions of the booklet. The first two (dated 1972 and 1973) are pretty similar, but you might see that the logo is slightly different. The early version still had the "Super Set" in the advert for boxed sets inside the front cover. The second version lost this, but gained the Munich Edition description. Both advertised Football Express on the back cover. The final version is the one I had as a kid. It had the Chiddingstone Causeway address, and the newer range of box sets (i.e. Stadium Edition). The basics were the same, but the advanced rules have been updated and lengthened. For example, the offside rule (rule 4) now had eleven points, instead of five. No wonder I was confused.

C117: Six Pitch Flags.
Four corner flags on bases with built-in ball raising recesses for improved corner kicks, and two halfway line flags.

There were two versions. The original set (shown left) had a triangular orange flag on a white stick. A drawing of these appeared as "new" in the late 1960s catalogue. These had quite a short period of production, as by the time of the first illustrated price list (1972-73) they had been replaced by the much more common big square flags (shown right). The square flags were closer in look to the old Set T.

Both types of flag came on the same green bases. Whilst Set T was designed to push through the cloth (and therefore hide the bases), the plastic base sat on top of the pitch. Subbuteo's designers made this into a positive change by providing a ball-raising recess on the corner flags, to make lofted corners much easier. The flag itself was then on a thin bar, so as not to interfere with the player taking the corner. I have been advised that this worked really well, as long as you were willing to stick the base down (blu-tac would do). When not taking corners, the flag could be turned around, so that the base did not encroach onto the field (unless you'd stuck it down....).

As I've already mentioned, the flags soon found their way into the boxed editions of Subbuteo from the Club Edition upwards. Room was made for them below the pitch in the early 1970s sets. As most kids had to play Subbuteo on the floor, and as the flags were near the edges of the pitch, most quickly broke, and it is hard to find sets with the full compliment of flags.

• Box Types:- The flags were originally sold in a long thin box, complete with card insert to keep them safe. This was an illustrated early 1970s box with kicking logo, and a nice demonstration of how they worked. This was the only box the triangular flags were sold in, although the square flags also used it. This shape of box was updated to the "hobby crest" range, before being replaced by a smaller square box, where the flags were jumbled in loose (the rugby flags received a similar box at the same time). It is unusual for any accessory to have two boxes within the same range, but this one does seem to.

C118: European Competition Trophy.
C119: Jules Rimet World Cup.

These two cups arrived in 1969, and were the first in an intermittent series of replica trophies. Obviously not in any Subbuteo scale, these sets are basically designed to look nice on a shelf in your games room (you don't have a games room?) The original boxes folded so you could display the cups within them, and had nice coloured inserts to make the cups stand out.