THE venue for An Evening with Norman Whiteside was the aptly named Legends Bar in Great Yarmouth, owned by the Caister-born ex-Norwich City and Glasgow Rangers footballer Dale Gordon and business partner Steve Brierley and was the first of a series of special events planned at their new lounge bar on Sandown Road.

THE venue for An Evening with Norman Whiteside was the aptly named Legends Bar in Great Yarmouth, owned by the Caister-born ex-Norwich City and Glasgow Rangers footballer Dale Gordon and business partner Steve Brierley and was the first of a series of special events planned at their new lounge bar on Sandown Road.

In a relaxed, up-close and personal hour-long question and answer style session the United favourite recounted some of the great games, players and moments from his playing days at the very highest level of the game as a prolific goal scorer with Manchester United, Everton and Northern Ireland - a career which was tragically cut short at the age of 26 by a knee injury from which Whiteside never fully recovered.

“Big Norm” has the distinction of being the youngest player ever to play in a World Cup when, aged 17, he played in Spain '82, beating Pele's previous record by a matter of days, the youngest United player to play for the first team since Duncan Edwards, as well as the youngest player to score in an FA Cup final.

In his short but acclaimed career Whiteside appeared 273 times for United, scoring 66 goals, played 37 times for Everton and won 38 caps with Northern Ireland, scoring nine goals

Revered by United fans as a true legend and famous for scoring vital goals in important matches, Whiteside showed a real ability to entertain an audience by answering questions, telling stories and re-living episodes from his colourful life - rising from the Shankill Road in Belfast to playing at the highest level of world football and with and against some of the greatest footballers of his age.

Dale Gordon said: “It was a brilliant night and great to be able to bring a player of the calibre of Norman Whiteside to the town and to the bar, the guy is a true legend and the audience loved every minute of big Norman's presentation tonight.”

Further events are planned at Legends, see press for details.