Ex-Man Utd and Forest player hits lottery jackpot

Clifford Bull is the former Manchester United and Nottingham Forest player who never got the chance of a jackpot career because of injury.

A succession of knee problems, including dislocations in both legs, meant the now 82-year-old failed to make a first-team appearance for either side.

But now, nearly seven decades on from joining Matt Busby's Red Devils as a schoolboy, the one-time footballer turned long-time plumber has won big in the People's Postcode Lottery with a £400,000 share in a £3.2m prize pot.

The grandfather from the village of Gotham in Nottinghamshire said he "never dwelled" on the football career he never had, as providing for his family was his priority.

And nothing has changed now he has won the lottery.

"I've got a wonderful family, counting them all there is 21, and my first priority is a holiday so we can all get together," he told BBC East Midlands Today.

"It's always been my priority to look after my family because they have looked after me so well."

As a left winger with promise, his contract with Manchester United in 1958 - one he signed just 10 days before the Munich air disaster - was for £2.50 a week.

Injuries he suffered at United led to his departure a year later and another brief stint with local club Nottingham Forest.

He was there to revel in the Reds' FA Cup final win against Luton Town in 1959, but it was with them that his sporting career stopped.

"I was able to go down to the cup but nothing altered with my knees and I knew full well then that I was not going to make it in the game because I was just not fit enough," he said.

By that stage he had also met Jeanette, his future wife who passed away three years ago.

"I met Jeanette and that was the best lottery win of my life for sure," Bull said.

"I thought if I'm really serious about this girl, I have got to get a proper job and money coming in, so like any other couple and save for a house, and that is ultimately what I did do."