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FORMER MAN UNITED HERO & YOUNGEST WORLD CUP PLAYER, SELLS OFF MEMORABILIA

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Former Manchester United and Northern Ireland star Norman Whiteside raised £194,680 ($254,444/€215,604) when he auctioned off 60 items of football memorabilia from his career, including £30,000 ($39,000/€33,000) for his FA Cup final winners medal.

Whiteside had made history in 1982 when he broke Pelé’s record as the youngest player to take part in the FIFA World Cup.

He was only 17 years and 41 days when he made his international debut against Yugoslavia in Northern Ireland’s opening match of the tournament in Zaragoza.

The white Northern Ireland shirt he wore in that match was sold for £18,000 ($23,500/€20,000) – £10,000 (£13,000/€11,000) more than the highest estimate – in the event hosted online by Surrey-based Ewbank’s Auctions.

The shirt Norman Whiteside wore when he made history by becoming the youngest player to take part in the FIFA World Cup at Spain in 1982 sold for £18,000 ©Getty Images and Ewbank’s Auctions

At the time, Whiteside had made only two appearances for Manchester United and was earning £250 ($330/€280) per week. 

He went on to score 68 goals in 278 First Division appearances for Manchester United and Everton before being forced into retirement aged only 26 in 1992 due to a long-standing knee injury.

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Whiteside, now 55, revealed he had decided to sell some of the key items from his career to help fund his retirement.

The lot that fetched the biggest bid was Whiteside’s FA Cup winner’s medal from 1985 when Manchester United beat Everton 1-0 thanks to a goal scored by him.

It had been estimated that it could sell for up to £15,000 ($20,000/€17,000) but on the day that figure was doubled.

Norman Whiteside’s FA Cup winners medal from 1985 sold for £30,000 – twice its estimate ©Ewbank’s Auctions

The red United shirt he wore that day was also sold for £23,000 ($30,000/€25,000) – nearly four times what it was estimated to sell for.

Whiteside’s 1983 FA Cup winner’s medal was the second most successful lot after it was auctioned off for £24,000 ($31,000/€27,000).

The shirt that Norman Whiteside was wearing when he scored the winning goal in Manchester United’s FA Cup final victory over Everton in 1985 raised £23,000 ©Ewbank’s Auctions

In that particular Wembley outing, he became the youngest ever goal scorer in an FA Cup final at 18-years-old when Manchester United defeated Brighton and Hove Albion 4-0 in a replay.

Another notable football item in the auction was a Juventus home shirt worn by France international Michel Platini that Whiteside had swapped with him.

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That sold for £7,500 ($10,000/€8,500).

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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