Live fast, die young. Those who played alongside Alan Nicholls say that he was the embodiment of that phrase, living life at 100 miles per hour. He was the prodigiously talented goalkeeper who went from the Beazer Homes League to the England Under-21 team in the course of one extraordinary year but then quickly fell back into obscurity before his tragic death in a motorcycle accident at the age of 22.

It is a remarkable story and ripe for retelling since it will be 20 years on Wednesday since he met his end while travelling as a pillion passenger on the A1 just hours after making his debut for Stalybridge Celtic against Dover Athletic. What was he doing on a motorcycle? You might as well