Member Article

Football legend set to grace Albrighton FC fundraiser

One of football’s first £million signings will be headlining a special sportsman’s evening this week to help a local club raise vital funds for its expansion.

Former Wolves legend Steve Daley will be taking centre stage to discuss his £1.4m transfer deal (a then British record), scoring one of the fastest ever goals in European competition and his time playing for Manchester City and in the United States.

The event, due to be held at Albrighton Sports and Social Club on Friday 15th April, will be compered by Arsenal FC match day announcer Paul Burrell and features former Premiership referees Dermot Gallagher and Alan Wiley.

Local comedian Mick Martin will be entertaining the guests and the night will close with Irish lottery and a prize draw raffle.

This will be the first time an evening like this has been hosted by Albrighton Football Club, with all the money raised going towards new matchday equipment and strips for the junior teams that include more than 180 boys and girls from the village and nearby areas.

“We are a very young club, but have ambitions to really expand the number of teams we run and get more young children involved in a sport that is great for keeping fit and gives them the opportunity to make lots of friends,” explained Charlie Blakemore, former Chasetown Football Club boss and now manager of the Under 12’s girls team.

“This is the first time we’ve put a fundraising event on of this type so to get someone like Steve involved is a massive plus and we’ve sold over 100 tickets in the first week.

“He’s got some great stories to tell about his transfers, European glory nights at Molineux and some of the more humorous tales about plying his trade in different countries. There’s a real honestly to his after dinner speeches.”

He went on to add: “There’s been a great reaction from the village and we have to say a big thank you to Albrighton Fish and Chip shop, who are providing the fish and chip supper for the evening.”

Established in 1992, Albrighton FC is a charter standard football club based in the home of the English Rose.

It boasts a number of male and female teams from Under 7s up to an Under 18 and then a first team that competes in Division 2 of the Sportsjam Regional Football League.

There are some tickets still remaining for the Sportsman’s evening and these cost £12.50 and can be booked by contacting Jo Jordan (07972 257373) or Craig Jones on (07450 491148).

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Russ Cockburn .