THE part of Les Parry that will forever be a Tranmere fan is going to jump into overdrive on Saturday afternoon.

For a few minutes Rovers long serving physio can put aside his current responsibilities as caretaker manager of the team and gaze down memory lane at the heroes from his past.

Dozens of players who served the club over the past half century will be taking their bow in a parade to mark Tranmere’s 125th anniversary.

“It is going to be a fantastic afternoon,” says Parry.

His love affair with Rovers began in the 1960s and 70s, when he would “bunk in” to Prenton Park to watch games played in front of big, noisy, Friday night crowds.

“I can remember standing on the open terrace of the Kop end, then going behind the goal at the Cowshed end for the second-half because you could walk around the ground in those days,” Parry recalled.

This time Parry will have the best view in the house, from the manager’s dugout.

The two coaches who are helping him on the temporary assignment – Shaun Garnett and Wayne Allison – will be part of the parade, thanks to their memorable contributions as players.

Parry’s contacts book, built up over close to 20 years of looking after their health and fitness of players at Prenton Park, has been invaluable to the process of inviting the heroes of yesteryear to come back to take another bow.

“A lot of the players I worked with are still involved in the game today, as coaches and managers and some are still playing, so they won’t be able to come,” said Parry.

“But my memories as a fan go back a lot further than that. I can remember singing songs about our goalkeeper Jimmy Cumbes saving penalties – and Jim has been chief executive at Lancashire Cricket Club for more than 10 years.

“I can remember Dave Philpotts at centre-half and Ronnie Moore at centre-forward in the team Johnny King took to promotion from Division Four in 1976.