Matt Jansen, Phil Babb, Frank Sinclair and Micky Gray all added to Legends squad
By Ray Simpson
The manager who was in the opposing dugout when Reece Styche jumped into the snowdrift against Chorl...
The manager who was in the opposing dugout when Reece Styche jumped into the snowdrift against Chorley in January will be playing in the Marathonbet #NonLeagueChallenge legends game on Sunday!
Our friends from Marathonbet have this afternoon announced four more players for their squad to take on Darlington on Sunday (arrive early for the 2pm kick off!) -- and what great additions they are.
Matt Jansen
Matt Jansen is familiar to Darlo fans, having started his career with a very good Carlisle squad in 1994.
He was transferred to Crystal Palace for £1 million in 1998, and just a year later, was transferred to Blackburn for £4.1 million. He helped them win promotion to the Premier League, and he also scored one of their goals in their 2002 League Cup final win over Tottenham.
He scored 52 goals in 153 games for Blackburn, before briefly joining Bolton and then dropping into non league.
He was in the opposing dugout in January as Chorley manager when Reece Styche jumped headfirst into the snowdrift -- it will be interesting to hear what he thought of it! -- and resigned as their manager at the end of the season.
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Phil Babb[/caption]
Phil Babb was once the country's most expensive defender when he moved from Coventry to Liverpool for £3.6 million in 1994, and went on to win the League Cup the following season. He made 170 appearances for Liverpool, before going on to Sporting CP in Portugal (where they won the Portuguese championship) and then Sunderland.
He was capped 35 times for the Republic of Ireland, appearing for them in the 1994 World Cup.
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Frank Sinclair[/caption]
Frank Sinclair started his career at Chelsea in 1990 and made 218 appearances for them winning the FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup Winners Cup before moving to Leicester City in 1998, making 194 appearances and winning the League Cup in 2000.
He then went on to Burnley for another 102 appearances, before finishing his career at Huddersfield. He had a brief spell as manager of Colwyn Bay.
Frank was capped 28 times by Jamaica, and played in the 1998 World Cup.
Micky Gray made nearly over 400 appearances for Sunderland after making his debut for them as an 18 year old in 1992.
He helped them win promotion twice to the Premier League before moving on to Blackburn, Wolves and Sheffield Wednesday, playing nearly 600 games in total.
Micky is now a TV pundit, and regularly appears on the Channel 5 football show on Saturday nights.
Micky was capped three times for England in 1999, one of the few players from outside the top division to be capped.
The full Marathonbet #NonLeagueChallenge squad, which will be managed by England legend Sir Geoff Hurst, is as follows:
- Russell Hoult (GK)
- Alan Stubbs
- Danny Mills
- Luke Young
- Micky Gray
- Matt Elliott
- Frank Sinclair
- Phil Babb
- Kieron Dyer
- Chris Waddle
- George Boateng
- Jay Jay Okocha
- Ruel Fox
- Matt Jansen
- Jeremie Aliadiere
- Clinton Morrison
- Yakubu
- Marco Gabbiadini
- David Preece (GK)
The Darlington first team will play the Marathonbet legends for the first half, and then the Darlington Legends will play the remainder of the game.
The Darlington Legends team is:
Craig Liddle
Robbie Painter
Amar Purewal
Liam Hatch
Alan White
Tommy Wright
Graeme Armstrong
Leon Scott
Chris Moore
Peter Jameson
Chris Senior
Micky Cummins
Jamie Chandler
Plus two fans who successfully bid for places:
Michael Barrass
Michael Matthews
