A Bradford City hero has swapped defending for dancing as he launches his new career teaching people how to salsa.

Former footballer Ces Podd became a Bantams' legend by pulling on the claret and amber shirt more times than any other player in the club's history.

But now the fans' favourite is hoping to make a name for himself in the city by showing off a new set of silky skills.

Ces is returning to Bradford later this month to give people a chance to enjoy his new love: salsa dancing.

He is staging a salsa and Latin dancing day at the Midland Hotel in Forster Square and plans to turn the event into an annual occasion.

Ces took his first steps into Salsa dancing as a way of coaching young footballers at Leeds United's academy.

He said: "I was watching a Brazilian coaching video and I realised a lot of what they were doing was based around dancing.

"I started learning to Salsa dance as a way of improving players' co-ordination and mobility but although it started as a means to an end I started to really enjoy it.

"It is very liberating and I enjoyed the social side because it is a great way of meeting people."

Ces began Salsa dancing eight years ago while he was working for Leeds United's academy as a technical director coaching promising young footballers.

But since then he has been able to hone his dancing skills across the Caribbean and South America after leaving the UK to become coach of his native St Kitts national football team.

He began working for St Kitts in 1998 and for the last two years has worked as technical director for the St Vincent and The Grenadine's FA.

He said: "Most of the countries I visited had a Latin American dance scene and it was mainly salsa.

"Because I knew how to salsa dance I was able to mix with people which was really useful when I was scouting to find out about the teams we were playing."

And Ces believes that as well as being fun and healthy salsa dancing can also help people to do business.

He said: "It is a bit like doing business on the golf course, it is becoming more and more of a women's world and it is important for men to be able to have things in common with them, taking women salsa dancing is something people can do when they want to do business."

He has set up his own company X-ces to promote salsa dancing. He returned to the city this year to stage weekly salsa classes at the Dubrovnik Hotel in Oak Avenue, off Manningham Lane which attract at least 40 dancers a week.

Now he is hoping the salsa craze will continue to expand as he stages an international salsa day at the Midlands Hotel on Saturday, April 16.

Workshops for dancers of all abilities will take place from 9am to 5pm with leading teachers from the USA and UK and will be followed by an evening of salsa dancing and a show from 8pm until 1.30am.

Anyone interested in booking a place at the event should contact Ces on 07855 026250.