HOW many people can claim to have played football at a high standard with Premier League stars Ryan Giggs and Nicky Barmby?

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Not many I suppose.

One man who can is Del Deanus from Welwyn, and this week he met up with his former England schoolboy teammates to publicise his new book Memories Never Die.

The paperback, which came out 
Monday and is written by his journalist friend Jerry Lyons, covers the 34-year-old’s battle with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) and investigates the possibility of a link between playing football and developing MND.

The meeting with the Red Devils’ left wing legend and the Hull City midfielder was filmed in a one-off special feature and shown on Manchester United’s digital TV channel MUTV.

Del, a former Tottenham Hotspur youth player, said of the day: “It was fantastic to meet up with Ryan and Nicky and my England schoolboy manager Dave Bushell [now head of education and welfare at Manchester United’s 
Soccer Academy], who kindly gave us a tour of the amazing training facilities United have.

“It was really good of them to give their time up to help raise the profile of the cook and charity.

“I’m very thankful of them and it made for a very memorable day, I’m pleased it happened.”

Already in the short time since the book was released, Del has received positive feedback with one person commenting that reading his blog prior to the book has helped them cope since getting the disease.

The former Welwyn 
Garden City FC manager added: “Hopefully people will enjoy the book. When I got the disease I was looking for information and help.

“People have said the blog helped them come to terms and they are really looking forward to the book and that was the main reason I did it, so that means a lot to me, it makes it worthwile.

Del, who is expecting his first child with wife Emma, added: “It’s been a really emotional experience. It has been a rollercoaster.”

* To order a copy, send a cheque made payable to Emma Luscombe for £12.99 (price includes postage and packaging) to 22 Lockleys Drive, Welwyn, Hertfordshire, AL6 9LU.

All profits from the sale will go to the MND