Eric Hughes, a cryptology expert with Simple Access, an electronic-commerce consulting firm, conducted his own experiment: at a technical conference, he issued a roll of pennies to every participant and explained that there was a one-cent charge, payable into a box beside the door, each time anyone entered the main room.

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And he believes that the three-times former league champions, graced in the past by names like Mal Aspey, Eric Hughes, Mick Burke and the Myler family, and by Martin Offiah, Joe Lydon, Andy Gregory and Jonathan Davies in their great days of the late 1980s, can go on to reprise former glories.

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Chapman has previously created tile mosaics of footballers Eric Cantona and George Best and portraits of Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and Fulham boss Mark Hughes using coins.

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