I started collecting England autographs TTM back in 1999, the majority were sent through the club address and the success rate was phenomenal even from the top clubs like Chelsea, Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool.
I was also helped by clubs themselves who contacted me and offered to forward mail to former players on my behalf - I received a lot of help from Arsenal, Ipswich, Middlesbrough, Liverpool, Newcastle and got a lot of former players that way
Nowadays I'm barely getting responses from any clubs - I now purposely avoid the top 6 teams because they began sending out preprints and a covering letter saying they get too many requests ... but recently I'm not even getting responses from the bottom half of the premiership
I think a lot of it is because players rightly or wrongly believe that as soon as they sign anything it will be on Ebay the next day - while I'm not saying every collector is that unscrupulous, undoubtedly there are a great number of people who ask for an autograph ( or multiples ) to then sell on.
The hobby has been spoilt for collectors over the last decade - older players are still very good signers as the market for their signature declines, but sadly I'm now of the opinion that I'll just wait ten years for a players career to decline before they will reply
Mal Skelton
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