Soccer stars shine for Busby charity dinner

They were among football stars who united to help Manorview Hotels and Leisure Group raise £19,000 for the charity, which helps to improve life chances for young people from deprived areas.

A&M Scotland was co-founded by ex-professional footballer Andy McLaren, who played for Dundee United, Kilmarnock, Partick Thistle and Morton.

The money was raised from a charity day which included a Legends Football Match at The SuperSeal Stadium, the home of Hamilton Academical Football Club.

The Legends match saw former Old Firm players unite for charity. Arthur Numan, Bert Konterman and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink flew in from Amsterdam to play.

They joined Charlie Miller (ex-Rangers) and Simon Donnelly (ex-Celtic).

Also playing were former Hamilton Accies players Jose Quitongo and Mark McLaughlin, while charity co-founder, Andy McLaren, got his boots back on.

The entertaining match saw The Legends triumph 4-3, achieved by scorers Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink who grabbed two, Andy McLaren and Charlie Miller.

Later a Sportsman’s Dinner held at The Busby Hotel included entertaining chat from Bertie Auld and Derek Johnstone.

A&M Scotland provide facilities for boys and girls in some of the most deprived areas in Scotland and offer football coaching, dancing classes and life skills at no cost to the young people who participate.

The charity has also started their summer holiday camps, where hundreds of boys and girls will be participating in sport and keeping active during the school holidays.

Steve Graham, Manorview CEO, said: “I’ve seen first hand the great work that A&M do.

“They make a real difference to the lives of young people.

“As well as keeping active, they are gaining confidence, and self-esteem, having positive experiences and being shown better life chances.

“I’m delighted to donate this money in the hope that it can help A&M continue their great work”.

Andy McLaren, co-founder A&M Scotland said, “We’ve just started our summer holiday camps where there’s hundreds of boys and girls making friendships and keeping active in a safe environment.

“The reason we do what we do is to give young people access to sport, to create the memories and experiences some of them would not get the opportunity to have.

“We need to continue to do what we do and ensure our young people have the best life chances possible”.

A&M currently works across 30 different communities in Glasgow, using 40 venues on six evenings per week and working with up to 1,500 young people each week and has around 2,000 individuals registered to take part in our activities.