England pioneer's historic shirt fails to sell

Viv Anderson's England debut shirt had a pre-auction estimate of £30,000 to £50,000

The football shirt worn by Viv Anderson when he became the first black footballer to play for England at full international level has failed to sell at auction.

The jersey, from the game against Czechoslovakia at Wembley in 1978, had an estimated price of £30,000 to £50,000.

Auctioneers said the item represented "a special moment in English football history", but the top bid was £29,000.

The former defender's cap from the same game also failed to reach its reserve price having been estimated to sell for up to £10,000, although his tracksuit top fetched a hammer price of £2,000.

Anderson's European Cup winner's medal from Nottingham Forest's 1980 triumph, which had an estimated price of £10,000 to £15,000, was withdrawn from the auction as it was announced a private sale had been agreed with the club.

The shirt from his England debut had been displayed at Manchester's People's History Museum for several years, but many of the other sale items had been "gathering dust" for decades, Anderson told the BBC last month.

He said it was the "right time" to sell so that his three children could benefit.

Anderson's tracksuit top from his England debut sold for a hammer price of £2,000

In all, more than 100 lots were auctioned including dozens of other caps and shirts from across his career, with many selling for between £500 and £14,000.

The total hammer price was just over £135,000.

Following the auction, Anderson said he was "disappointed the main shirt didn't sell, but pleased there was plenty of interest in the other items".

He added he would decide on what to do with his debut jersey after speaking to the auction house, which conducted the sale at Manchester's Old Trafford cricket ground.

Anderson made 30 appearances for England over 10 years and was part of four World Cup and European Championship squads.

At club level, as well as a league championship and two European Cup wins at Forest, he was part of the Arsenal and Manchester United squads which won the 1987 League Cup and 1990 FA Cup.

He went on to captain a Sheffield Wednesday side which finished runners-up in both the 1993 FA Cup and League Cup.

After a season as player-manager at Barnsley in 1993-94, he became assistant manager at Middlesbrough where he spent seven years alongside Bryan Robson.