Collector offers United items to club museum

Dec 1 2007 by Tony Henderson, Evening Gazette

ONE of Britain’s top football collectors swooped to buy a gold league championship medal won by a Newcastle United great – and then offered to return it to its spiritual home.

Welsh businessman Neville Evans’ collection includes 1,200 international caps, 2,000 football shirts, over 200 FA Cup winners’ medals and a mass of other valuable memorabilia, including the ball from the first World Cup final.

And last night Mr Evans offered to present, on long-term loan, the 20 to 30 Newcastle United items in his collection to the club’s museum at St James’s Park.

They include international shirts worn by United centre forwards Jackie Milburn and Wyn Davies, items which belonged to United’s great Welsh forward of the 1960s, Ivor Allchurch, international caps from a dozen Newcastle players, United FA Cup winning medals, and even the whistles used by the referees in the two-legged Fairs Cup Final which represents United’s last major trophy.

Mr Evans, who runs a tyre import and distribution company in Aberystwyth, paid £4,700 for the 1909 League Championship medal awarded to Newcastle captain Colin Veitch at an auction in Newcastle by Anderson & Garland.

At the start of the sale, the medal had been priced at £500-£800.

Last night Mr Evans said: “I have been collecting for many years to try to protect the heritage of our game.

“It is not about items in a bank vault or collecting as an investment.

“I have some quality Newcastle United items and I would like at some point to return them to their spiritual home in the club’s museum so that they can be seen by the true fans.”

Mr Evans has already loaned 1,000 items to the National Football Museum in Preston.

A Newcastle United spokesman said last night: “This is what our museum at the ground is for and we would be very interested in speaking to Mr Evans. “

Colin Veitch played in five FA Cup finals for Newcastle during his 15-year career at the club.