Historic England shirt on permanent display after Brathay Trust help (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Historic England shirt on permanent display after Brathay Trust help

9:23am Wednesday 4th January 2012 in Football By Patrick O'Kane, Senior News/Sport Reporter

FORMER Manchester United and Nottingham Forest star Viv Anderson’s England shirt will be on permanent display at the People’s History Museum in Manchester thanks to the Brathay Trust.

Mark Bushell from the trust discovered the shirt after he persuaded Anderson to bring some of his memorabilia to Brathay’s headquarters for one of its programmes and now, after 33 years in storage it will be on permanent display.

Anderson became England’s first black international when he was selected to play against Czechoslovakia on November 29, 1978 and Bushell was delighted the England star agreed to present the shirt to the museum.

He said: “The shirt represents a seismic shift in the way black people were beginning to be perceived.

“Although Viv was a fantastic player, recognised by the best managers of the day, he suffered terrible racial abuse and discrimination, before going on to play at the highest level in the game, culminating in him becoming the first black player to be capped for England in 1978.

“Unfortunately the shirt was in a poor condition but thankfully the conservation department at the People’s History Museum have done a fantastic job in cleaning it up and preparing it for display.”