Colchester are moving out of their Layer Road home into a new stadium, and have been auctioning off memorabilia from the ground.

Mussels chairman Mathew Major headed to the auction with the initial idea of buying 30 seats, to add to the current 70 which they have at Middle Road - so the club have the minimum 100 seats for their ground inspection in March.

Major won one lot of 40 seats for £80, then another lot of 40 seats for £70. And then he decided to replace all the seats at Mussels' ground, and won another lot of 42 seats for just £30.

That was not the end of his day, though.

Major explains: "We ended up buying 122 seats for the absolutely incredible price of £180.

"I was still in shock when a reporter from Sky Sports News approached me after the bidding, and asked if I could give them an interview.

"I was even more shocked to see it shown on TV when I got home on Sunday night. It was first shown around 6.45pm, then again at 7.45pm, and 8.45pm, and goodness knows how many times after.

"The phone calls I have had since have been staggering. It is incredible how many people have seen it.

"Even some of our players were amazed to see their very own chairman on the television, when they were probably tuning in to see what players their Premiership team had signed that day."

Mussels have until August 8 to collect the seats, and Major said: "We are planning to collect them sometime next week.

"Once here, we will store them safely and look to replace them as quickly as we can find a window to do so - hopefully in the next few weeks."

-----------------------------
Click here to return to Gazette sport.

Where are you? Add your pin to the Herald's international readers' map by clicking here.

Email the Gazette: steven.bailey@jpress.co.uk