World Cup fever has officially arrived in Braintree.
But with exactly a week to go until the tournament begins, it’s not the England team or even love of the beautiful game which is getting fans going...it’s stickers.
Sales of Panini World Cup 2014 stickers in Braintree are the second highest in the whole country, according to Tesco.
By the beginning of last week, a whopping 14,000 packets had already been sold at the supermarket giant’s stores in Braintree.
With ten stickers in every 50p pack that totals 140,000 individual stickers - the equivalent of more than three per resident of the town and almost enough for one per every person of the district’s 147,084 population.
The supermarket giant has put the surge in sales down to nostalgic men in their 30s trying to relive their youth.
One such man, Chris Coney, 33, started collecting stickers in 1988 when he used to stay at his grandparents and they got an album through the paper.
He has now completed more than a dozen of them.
See today's Times for the full story
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here