From Burnage to Barcelona

This is the story of Chris Davies, an ordinary football-loving man who started a local amateur team and had ambitions to take the team all over the world. Starting on a muddy park pitch in Manchester, the team went on to play in famous stadiums in Barcelona, Mexico City and New York, amassing 96 matches in 30 different countries, against 7 National teams and before over 312,000 spectators. The team - called Grasmere Rovers - and now known as Cheadle Town playing in the North West Counties League - toured under the name Manchester AFC and are still the only English soccer team, amateur or professional, to have played in Cuba. The author organised all the tours as Chairman of the club, and quickly learned that international football tours can involve much more than just playing the beautiful game! Being caught up in a coup in Kenya was just one of a catalogue of problems and amusing incidents in exotic locations from Povoa de Varzim to Port au Prince and Nice to Nassau. The story also explains how Chris' fears of flying were conquered and turned into over 400 hours in the air in everything from a small Piper Cherokee to a Jumbo jet. Many famous names have been involved with the touring scene including Sir Bobby Charlton, Alfredo di Stefano, Pele, Jairzinho, Rajiv Gandhi and Ronnie Biggs.