The Irish Football Association’s Education and Heritage Centre has launched a series of tours which will be hosted by some of Northern Ireland’s legendary players.
The centre at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park in Belfast, which is celebrating its first birthday this month, has lined up the likes of Keith Gillespie, Pat Jennings, Sammy Clingan and Tommy Wright to lead the Legends Tours.
The tours will be staged on the last Sunday of each month and Keith Gillespie, the former Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers and Manchester United star who won 86 caps for his country, will get the ball rolling on 25 March (12pm start).
Next up is Sammy Clingan, the former Nottingham Forest, Norwich City and Coventry City midfielder (39 caps) who currently plies his trade with Glenavon, on 29 April.
And Sammy will be followed by St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright (31 caps), who played for Newcastle United and Manchester City, on 27 May. Fellow goalkeeper Pat Jennings, Northern Ireland’s most capped player with 119 appearances, has agreed to lead a tour later this year.
Each tour will have a maximum of 30 people who will all receive a free keep sake from the tour. Following tea and coffee, ticket holders will enjoy a walk around the Education and Heritage Centre and then a behind the scenes tour of the stadium. The experience will end with a question and answer session with each legend in the stadium’s media centre. And there will also be a photographer on hand to take pictures of visitors with the legends.
The Education and Heritage Centre tells the story of Northern Ireland football using a variety of media, interactive displays and key artefacts from the 1880s to the present day.
Visitors are able to relive the atmosphere of famous nights, gain insights into the drama on and off the pitch and feel the rush of emotions shared by everyone inside the stadium - win, lose or draw.
Tickets for Legends Tours cost £25 each and are aimed at fans aged 16-plus. You can see a full list of upcoming tours and book onto them now by CLICKING HERE.
Jim Magilton took a group of competition winners on a stadium tour on Sunday 4 March. You can view a gallery of images from the event by CLICKING HERE.
