A MULTIPLE sclerosis sufferer is going to watch her beloved football team after buying executive lounge tickets in a charity auction.

Barbara Haining, of Peel Park Close, Accrington, saw the sale on the Clarets Mad website and pitched her bid at £200 for the £120 pair of tickets for tomorrow’s Burnley v Arsenal clash.

The auction was in aid of the Gail Simpson Memorial Fund for Pendleside Hospice. The tickets were donated by Burnley businessman Lawrence Daw, a friend of Gail’s family.

Mum-of-four Barbara, a former librarian at Accrington Library, said: “Because I am in a wheelchair it’s very difficult for me to go to football matches. I don’t like going in the disabled areas because in the past I have got cold and wet.”

Barbara has been a Clarets fan since her schooldays. Her favourite players have been Keith Newton and Frank Casper.

Gail Simpson died of ovarian cancer aged 61 last November. Her family are hoping to raise a minimum of £25,000 for the hospice in her memory.

Gail’s husband Alan said: “The tickets couldn’t have gone to a better person. Barbara is such a happy and cheerful lady despite her disability.

“I would like to thank her and Lawrence Daw for their generosity and to Tony Scholes at Clarets Mad for allowing us to auction the tickets.”