HE'S played at Wembley, been capped by England and marked Gianfranco Zola - now Salford "lad" Phil Power is splitting his time between helping disadvantaged kids and leading a football revolution.
After a playing career which saw him twice win the FA Trophy with Macclesfield and two England semi-professional caps, Phil became a social worker in his home town and is assistant player-manager at FC United of Manchester - the club formed by disenchanted fans after Malcolm Glazer's takeover at Old Trafford.
Recently Phil, 40, went along to the Swinton and Salford FC United supporters branch at the Palmers in Swinton and spoke of his love for his home city and his experience with Greater Manchester's newest semi-professional football club.
Phil, originally from Pendleton but now living in Boothstown, has been surprised at the success. He sain: "I was fully behind it when I was approched by the manager and friend Karl Marginson to help out. I like the idea of making football accessible to normal people again and putting a smile back on people's faces.
"We're pulling in 4,000 at some games and there are media from all over the world turning up every week - they even film us training!
"I played in front of 15,000 at Macc and more than that on my two trophy victories at Wembley, but this experience has been something else."
This week Phil turned out for a Macclesfield Town legends team against an all-star team including Gianfranco Zola and Mark Hughes to help raise money for the cash-strapped club.
Phil balances football with his full time job as a social worker for Salford Council. "I love my job, and take great pride in helping kids from broken homes who haven't had a chance in life. I didn't know what I'd do when I finished playing professionally for Macc, and consider myself lucky to be doing this job.
"Salford is a great place with some great people and I'm really proud of my area. Lots of the kids are getting into FC United which has given them something worthwhile to be involved with. They could never afford to go to Old Trafford, but it's only a couple of quid to get in at FC.
"As one of the biggest United supporting areas in Greater Manchester, Salford could be a real base for FC and I'd be the proudest man in the city if we one day got our own ground here."
Tony Howard
February 10th, 2006
(Punk Football apologises to no-one - toast)
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