ALLEN Vix wasn't going to let a two-hour drive stop him taking a trip down Memory Lane.

As a schoolboy he was a regular at the old Bromwich Street pitches so he couldn't miss the chance to see Wanderers going through their paces in Indianapolis - not when he lives just over the state line in Cincinnati.

"I lived so close to Bromwich Street," he recalls, "I was always there. I remember watching Eddie Hopkinson and, of course, the Brazilians in 1966.

"I was still there when Big Sam was playing and Paul Jones and John Byrom.

"Over here I'm a little bit out of touch but, as soon as I heard they were in the States, I just had to get over.

"Just being in the same environment as the players again has been a fantastic experience. I'm also hoping to pick up a few training tips for my daughter's team, which I coach!"

Allen Vix was born in the US but lived in Bolton between the ages of seven and 25 before returning to the States in 1978. He lives in Cincinnati with his wife, Barb, and 10-year-old daughter, Natalie. He said: "I have a son, Michael, and daughter, Cheryl, back home in Bo lton from a previous marriage and my mum, Edith, still lives on Strawberry Hill Road, just off Bromwich Street."