I'm a former Busby Babe and I’m absolutely staggered i've won £400k on the People's Postcode Lottery

Clifford Bull, 82, scooped a share of £3.2 million, more than 65 years after he was signed by Sir Matt Busby ten days before the 1958 Munich air disaster.

The ex-Red Devil was once a promising left winger but his career was cut short after being forced to retire in his teens due to a serious knee injury.

Despite his short career Cliff played with some of the world’s best players, including World Cup winner Nobby Stiles and Leeds United legend Johnny Giles.

He went on to retrain as a plumber and has now vowed to take 22 family members on a holiday of a lifetime following his People's Postcode Lottery Win.

Cliff, of Gotham, Notts., said: “I’m absolutely staggered, I’m still lost for words. It opens up so many possibilities.

“I’m overwhelmed to be quite honest. It’s beyond what I could ever have dreamt.

“I can pay for a holiday for all of the family, that would be my dream for all of us to go away, which at the last count was 22.

“That would make me very very happy.”

After Cliff was signed by United legend Busby in October 1957 as a 15-year-old schoolboy, he left school and moved into digs close to Old Trafford on January 27, 1958.

He added: “I was 15 when I signed for Manchester United, and I signed the papers in Matt Busby’s office.

"My mum always used to say that ‘one of the greatest kicks I’ve had in my life was being able to kiss Matt Busby’.”

However ten days after his dream move, tragedy struck when a plane carrying Manchester United’s playing squad and staff crashed at Munich airport.

The disaster claimed the lives of 23 people.

Cliff signed for Nottingham Forest after two seasons at United but his career ended prematurely after a series of nasty knee injuries which required around 26 operations.

Cliff and his wife Jeanette, who passed away three years ago, went on to have three daughters and he is now a grandfather of seven and a great-grandfather of two.

Cliff added: "The overwhelming disappointment is that Jeanette’s not here to see it, but she’s a big part of this.

"But I’ll be able to help out all my grandkids financially, especially with the expense of things today. I’m sure they’ll be over the moon, probably more than me.

“I’m getting on now and I’m hoping to have a few more years and I’d like to take the whole family away which would be fantastic."

He joked: “Skegness at this time of year is a little bit nippy, we might have to go somewhere a little bit warmer.”

Cliff was among a trio of players to net the top prize after their postcode, NG11 0JR, was announced as the winner of the lottery’s Postcode Millions prize on Saturday (1/3).

Shirley Woltman, 62, bagged the biggest prize of £800,000 and Cliff’s close-friend and next-door neighbour Mandy McMenamin, 57, also won £400,000.

Shirley said: “It doesn’t feel real at the moment, I’m sure at some point it will become real."

Mandy said: " “I just couldn’t believe it, I felt butterflies and I just wanted to cry, and I did cry.”

The remaining half of the £3.2m prize was shared out between 237 people in the postcode sector with each person winning at least £6,20