HAVE you heard the one about how World Cup winning manager Sir Alf Ramsey didn't speak to his centre-half Jack Charlton for six years while he was still picking him in his England team?

Or how about the tale of how a blind physiotherapist helped legendary Manchester City goalkeeper Bert Trautmann play in the 1955 FA Cup Final by massaging out a kink in his neck - only for the same player to famously break his neck at Wembley a year later?

Anecdotes came thick and fast at the Reebok Stadium on Thursday night, where some of the most famous footballers Britain has produced turned out to swap stories and raise money for players who have hit hard times.

An Audience With Soccer Legends saw about 400 people pack into the Premier Suite to rub shoulders with the good and the great of the beautiful game from the past 60 years.

From Mike Summerbee and Paddy Crerand to Viv Anderson and Bryan Robson - everyone had a tale to tell as thousands of pounds was raised for the former players' associations of Bolton Wanderers, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and Everton.

BBC Sport presenter Ray Stubbs kept things ticking along, hosting a chatshow-style interview with each of the dozen legends.

Bolton was well represented - with Farnworth-born World Cup winner Alan Ball recollecting the time he was rejected as a 15-year-old by his hometown club.

"I had nowhere to go at 15 or 16 when they said I was too small to make it," Ball said. "My dad told me that I would have to do it myself, and never to accept second best. And I didn't.

"Bolton rejected me and Ernie Machin, and signed Gordon Taylor. They knew a lot, didn't they?"

The irrepressible Frank Worthington stole the show, re-enacting his famous goal for Wanderers against Ipswich Town in 1979 before beating Phil Neal - himself a former Bolton player and manager - in a computer-simulated penalty shoot-out.

Peter Reid, who started his career at Burnden Park, gave his frank verdict of the current England team and 1958 FA Cup-winning full-back Roy Hartle explained how he still visits the Wanderers players before every home game to relive the buzz of a matchday.

But the real star of the evening was Sir Tom Finney - a man whom many of the legends argued was the finest player ever to wear an England shirt.

"It was a great honour to be invited," said Finney, who won 76 international caps and played for only one club - Preston North End - in a 14-year career.

"I'd give anything to play again, but reliving it all and listening to the stories is the next best thing."