Former football scout from Lytham puts footy past on sale for charity

Ron Ray, 83, hopes to sell off the hundreds of old football programmes to raise money for the British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research.

He said: “I would like to make a donation to the British Heart Foundation because I had a quadruple bypass myself in the 80s and then I used to go around schools talking to school kids about smoking and the damage it can do.

“I don’t imagine they are very expensive, but they might be worth something to fans of the clubs.

“Some of the names on the programmes bring back a lot of memories to me even at this stage.

“I’d sell them for just enough to make myself satisfied that whoever’s buying them got a good deal, but I’m not underselling.”

Ron, who lives at Clifton Gardens in Lytham with his partner Ruth, worked as a football scout for Doncaster Rovers at the beginning of the 1970s.

He went on to collect programmes from Southampton, Aston Villa, Bolton Wanderers, Tottenham, Norwich City, Ipswich Town and more over the course of 20 years.

He said: “My job was reporting on the opposition that we were due to play that week. It’s a wonderful but hard job.

“I would do a match report on the way they played and who were the dangerous players to look out for.

“It is a wonderful memory.”

Heart charity

Find out more about the British Heart Foundation online at www.bhf.org.uk

Are you interested in buying a vintage football programme?

Call Ron on (01253) 424035.