Ricky Ponting is the part-owner of a Manchester based football club

Ricky Ponting, the former Australian Cricket Test captain and his country’s all time leading run-scorer, is as beloved down under as he is loathed across whole of England. That is, with the significant exception of a little pocket of land just south of Manchester.

Altrincham FC live in the shadow of their giant neighbors Manchester United and Manchester City but the team, which piled up its trade in the fifth tier of English soccer, has built itself a reputation as a giant-killer after a string of famous cup victories.

In 2009, Ponting became a part owner of the club after being given 500 shares by the chairman, Geoff Goodwin. The pair had struck up a friendship through Goodwin’s many years of driving Ponting around on the Australian team bus when the team had been touring England.