A WORLD Cup cap belonging to a North-East football legend has fetched £3,800 at auction.

The blue-green cap, bearing a long white tassel and with World Cup 1950 Tournament stitched on the peak, was given to Wilf Mannion after the England team were beaten by the US during the 1950 campaign. Until recently, it had been gathering dust in an anonymous fan's house.

The cap was one of 26 the Middlesbrough hero earned during his international career, and the club had hoped to bring it home for the people of Teesside when it went under the hammer at Sotheby's, in London.

However, it was outbid by an anonymous sporting memorabilia dealer.

A Sotheby's spokesman said: "We were expecting the cap to fetch between £2,000 and £3,000, so it did very well."

Mannion became a favour-ite after making his debut for Middlesbrough in 1937, aged 18, in a 2-2 draw with Ports-mouth. He died two years ago, aged 81, and hundreds of people lined the streets to pay their respects to him at his funeral.

The club has three of Mannion's England caps loaned by his family on display at the BT Cellnet Riverside Stadium, and the cap would have taken pride of place alongside them.

A spokesman from the club said: "We were disappointed to have been outbid. We would have liked to have had the cap.

"We are interested in displaying the club's memorabilia for the people of Teesside but, unfortunately, we missed out this time. We had a figure in mind but this person seemed determined to buy the cap."