From Dallaglio’s medals to Cantona’s shorts, sporting memorabilia is big business | Emma John

The Guardian

Like transfer fees and ticket prices, mementoes are one more marker of sport’s rampant self-inflation The auctioneer cradled his gavel in his palm like a pipe, the handle pointing towards him. It gave his patter the air of a Victorian gentleman holding forth by the mantelpiece in a period drama. “Are you bidding, Wilf? You’re waving at me.” Under the hammer was a Barclays Manager of the Month trophy, complete with travel case, but no indication of which Premier League luminary once owned it. It outstripped its estimate and sold for £700. An hour and a half into what Budds auction house dubbed…