Legendary United goalie Harry Gregg's recent passing reminded me of United's tour of NZ in 1967.
Harry Gregg, by then in his mid-thirties, had been sold to Stoke City months before and then retired.
So Alex Stepney was in goal when United thrashed an Auckland XI 8-0 and the All Whites 11-0.
A great team, probably United's best-ever, most of next year's European Cup winning side toured NZ
Brilliant major feature on United's tour of NZ in 1967 on the official Man United website last year:
https://www.manutd.com/en/news/detail/the-ultimate-away-day-in-manchester-united-history
Leggy, didn't you play in both those games vs.Man United and again in 1975?
Different times with NZ Olympian Peter Snell dishing out free cigarettes to players as an ambassador for Rothmans...
Line-ups and stats for United's NZ tour games in 1967:
https://www.rsssf.com/tablesm/manutd-nz67.html
Three past or future NZ cricket internationals in the Auckland side.
A Scotland FA XI toured NZ weeks later in 1967 with one Alex Ferguson scoring a hat-trick in a 4-0 win vs. Auckland.
United played in NZ again in the 1975 off-season.
Beat an Auckland XI only 2-0 this time.
We'd had a national league for five years by then, so no doubt standards had improved.
Full program for Auckland vs.Manchester United 1975 online here:
https://issuu.com/friendsoffootballnz/docs/auckland_v_manchester_utd_24_june_1975