13th Apr 2010
It has been announced today that six ‘99 treble-winning heroes including Jaap Stam and Ronny Johnsen will be joining the likes of Ronan Keating and Austin Healey at United Relief Live: The Big Red Family Day Out, taking place at Old Trafford on Saturday 1st May.
The unique fun day will kick off with a pre-match pop concert, featuring an extra-special performance by legendry crooner, Tony Christie, who will perform hits including the 2005 Comic Relief No. 1 record ‘Is This The Way To Amarillo?’.
This will be followed by a celebrity football match with two squads of footballing greats and celebrities going head-to-head in an unmissable star-studded showdown. The event aims to raise money for the Manchester United Foundation and Sport Relief.
Each star studded squad, Manchester United XI and The Rivals, comprises 18 celebrities and footballing World Cup greats.
Manchester United legends set to take part include Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Andrew Cole, Denis Irwin, Ronny Johnsen, Jaap Stam, Dwight Yorke, and Lee Sharpe. The footballing aces will be joined by Manchester United celebrity supporters including Boyzone’s Ronan Keating and Keith Duffy, X Factor star Olly Murs, pop sensation Tinchy Stryder, former English sprint athlete Darren Campbell, actors Max Beesley and Ricky Whittle, TV presenter Angus Deayton, and radio DJs Mark ‘Chappers’ Chapman and Mike Toolan.
Tackling some of their greatest rivals is opposing squad, The Rivals, featuring football aces John Barnes, Dean Holdsworth, Ian Rush, Peter Beardsley, Des Walker, Alan Thompson, as well as celebrities including former English rugby player Austin Healey, presenters Tim Lovejoy and George Lamb, and comedians Jason Manford, Paddy McGuinness and Lee Mack - with more names still to be announced.
The football match is the centrepiece of a fun day out for the family, with chart-topping pop acts The Saturdays, The Hoosiers and Tinchy Stryder all performing a string of top ten hits for the 60,000-strong crowd. Britain’s Got Talent’s dance troupe and world dance champions Flawless will also be performing at half-time.
Kirsty Gallagher and Anita Rani will bring all the action from the sideline, delivering a live analysis of the beautiful game to a 50,000-strong crowd. The prolific voice of The X Factor, Peter Dickson, will be the match day announcer. The game will be refereed by the legendary Graham Poll.
Kirsty Gallagher added: “I cannot wait for United Relief Live: The Big Red Family Day Out! It’s going to be a fun-filled, star-studded event with something for everyone and it’s a great way to help those who live tougher lives than ours across the UK”.
The charity event will take place at Manchester United's home ground, Old Trafford, on Saturday 1st May 2010. The event will also be broadcast on MUTV. Tickets are on sale now, priced from £15 for adults, £5 for children – just call 0161 868 8000.
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