OUT-OF-WORK football manager Ron Atkinson gets his big chance on Sunday - when he manages the Silsden Ladies football team.

The former Sheffield Wednesday manager, who lost his job at the end of the season is to spend an afternoon coaching the go-ahead ladies team as they prepare to move into the Yorkshire Ladies League.

Silsden Ladies won a national competition organised by Vauxhall Motors to ' Win a Manager for a Day'. They had to tell competition organisers why they needed professional coaching.

There prize for winning the competition was Ron Atkinson as their manager for a day.

"We were absolutely staggered when we heard we had won, a lot of the girls thought it was a joke. One thing is for sure Ron won't ever have coached a team like us," said player-coach Sara Raine.

Atkinson, who has also coached Aston Villa, Manchester United and Coventry in a long career at the top, will be putting the Silsden team through their paces on Silsden's FC's ground - near the golf driving range - from 2.30 - 4.30pm on Sunday.

Stuart Lidbury, who normally takes the girls for training said: "They are over the moon that Ron is coming, the girls are by far the most enthusiastic footballers I have come across.

"We started with seven or eight girls and now there are 20 training three times a week. They just can't wait until the start of the league season."

The team is also planning to hold an Open Day in August to encourage more girls to take up soccer. "We just want to encourage them to come down and give the game a try, hopefully we will soon end up with quite a few womens' teams in the area," said a club spokesman.

Big Ron's decision to accept the job is the second piece of good news the team has had. Star player Louise Hall recently scooped £1.2 million on the National Lottery.

n The jubilant side prepare for their big date with Big Ron, the most flamboyant manager in football.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.