A UNIQUE set of autographs from yesteryear is going on display at Blackpool Football Club.

Signatures of soccer greats including Sir Stanley Matthews are in the collection donated by Weymouth businessman Paul Rainford.

"It's a set of Blackpool and Manchester City autographs from 1943," Paul explained.

"They were handed down to be me by my father when I was a small boy, but I feel things like that should go into a show case. I thought it would be nice if the collection 'went home'."

His father came by the autographs when he worked for the Manchester Evening News before joining the Navy in the Second World War.

Later, he took up a posting as a coastguard in Weymouth and the collection went with him.

It includes the autographs of Alex Herd, father of sixties Manchester United player David Herd, and of Harry Johnston, the skipper of Blackpool's 1953 FA Cup winning team. The collection also features the signature of Frank Swift, the Manchester City and England goalkeeper who was killed in the 1959 Munich air disaster while working as a newspaper reporter.

"My father can remember Frank Swift could actually catch a ball with one hand," Paul said.

"There are other great names on there too, but also ones unknown to me. I thought fans would enjoy trying to identify them," he added.

Blackpool FC's assistant secretary Roger Harrison confirmed the autographs had arrived and the club was planning how best to display them.

He said: "They're a little hard to read and fragile. But eventually we will get them framed, I think."