A SOCCER supporter aims to share his love for his Boro idols with a town.

Businessman Riaz Hameed discovered a treasure trove of football memorabilia when he bought a Middlesbrough pub to renovate.

It is the 30-year-old's aim to have the vast collection of signed photographs, shirts, clocks and souvenirs of Boro football matches from the club's former Ayresome pitch displayed either in a local museum or at Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium.

Mr Hameed and his brother, business partner Rasheed, both Middlesbrough-born Boro supporters, want to see the collection go free to a good home.

Riaz said: "We had numerous approaches from private collectors, but I do not want to split up the collection, which is a real gem.

"There are photos signed by Jackie Charlton, Willie Maddren and Bernie Slaven, and memorabilia from the 1966 match with Korea which they signed when they were here. There's a massive amount of stuff. We are looking at putting it somewhere where the public can view it and to conducting negotiations with either the club or a museum."

Riaz is managing director of Hush Leisure, which has put between £2m and £3m into a two-year conversion of the former three-storey Ayresome Park pub, in Albert Road.

The ground floor has been converted into a vodka bar, with a nightclub on the floors above. The venue will open on Saturday.