One of the world's most famous football clubs is to help publicise the disappearance of missing Baildon man Ian Walton.

Manchester United will publish an appeal for information about Mr Walton, who went missing in Amsterdam on December 20, in its fan magazine. The magazine goes out to supporters all around the world, including Holland.

The Telegraph & Argus reported last week how Mr Walton's father, Laurie, himself a season ticket-holder, had approached the club asking it to publish an appeal for information in its programmes. Ian has followed the club for more than 20 years.

Today a spokesman from the club said it was happy to work with police and the Missing Persons Helpline to try to find Mr Walton, and would publish details in its fan magazine. Mr Walton, of Kilnsey Mews, West Lane, disappeared while on a four-day break in Amsterdam. He was last seen by his friends, Ian Shackleton and Paul Holmes, in a bar and they were told he left ten minutes after they had.

But since then there have been no sightings of Mr Walton, who works as a shower installer but is also a qualified joiner, shop fitter and sound engineer.

Dutch police have searched the canals and area around the last sighting of Mr Walton and put out appeals on Dutch television programme Ter Plaatse this week. The missing persons bulletin is repeated hourly.

Amsterdam police said there had been no calls as a direct result of the programme but they had been searching an area of the canal with a boat, special dogs and divers, and would be continuing their search today.

Mr Walton's distraught family, who live in North Ferriby, East Yorkshire, and friends have been doing everything they can to publicise his disappearance, including putting up posters and appearing on Dutch TV and radio stations.

His mother Margaret said: "We have had a lot of help from people putting up posters and publicising Ian's disappearance. We are doing everything we can - we can't stop to be honest."

And his father Laurie added: "We are keeping our fingers crossed and thinking positive. We are hoping and praying that someone will have seen something."

A spokesman for the Missing Person's Helpline said: "We usually contact football clubs if we know the missing person particularly supports them and Manchester United have been very supportive in the past."