TIVERTON Town boss Martyn Rogers is hoping he can arrange a pre-season friendly with Manchester United after meeting Sir Alex Ferguson last week.

The Ladysmead chief was invited up to the Red Devils' Carrington training ground by manager Ferguson on Friday to help celebrate Rogers' impending 1,000th game in charge of the Yellows.

And while he was getting a peak behind the scenes at one of Europe's biggest football clubs, Rogers could not resist the temptation to ask if there was any chance of one day returning the favour and playing host to the Premier League champions.

The Tivvy manager said: "I thought I would chance my arm and ask if there was any chance of arranging a pre-season friendly.

"They said I needed to write to the secretary, but at least they know who we are now and you never know what could happen."

Rogers spent the night before his meeting with Ferguson having dinner at former Yellows goalkeeper Ben Foster's house.

Foster spent a three-month loan spell at Ladysmead in 2003 and is now vying for the No.1 jersey for both United and England.

And the evening simply added to what was a thoroughly enjoyable couple of days for Rogers and his son George.

"It was nice to catch up with Ben. He's still pinching himself that he's at United and we had a good chat about old times," said Rogers.

"It was just an honour to meet Sir Alex. He was very complimentary. He's a nice fellow and made us feel really welcome."

Ferguson, himself a veteran of more than 23 years in charge at Old Trafford, was full of praise for his non-league counterpart.

The pair spoke for 20 minutes and Rogers presented the Red Devils chief with a couple of bottles of wine as a thank you for the invite.

Duty then called for Ferguson, who had to rush off to conduct a press conference with the world's media, before preparing his side for their trip to play Birmingham City at the weekend, which ended in a 1-1 draw.

Ferguson said: "Congratulations to Martyn. It is a fantastic achievement."

Foster added: "I had a really great time at Tiverton, everybody made me feel really welcome.

"Martyn was really good to me and I have kept in touch with him ever since.

"A thousand games is a fantastic achievement and I would like to congratulate him."

Rogers said: "I think Sir Alex was a bit taken aback by the wine I took up for him. I got our main sponsor, Steve Light, to sort out the wine because he knows his stuff and I think Sir Alex realised it was a good bottle.

"He joked that there must have been more than 50 years' managerial experience between us. The thing is, I think I'm a bit greyer than him. The difference must be the commercial side of things that I do."