IN football terms, Walshes Meadow is a world away from Old Trafford - but a Stourport man has proved himself to be equally at home in both.

Nigel Green has entered his third season at secretary of Stourport Swifts, having retired from his role as a Premier League linesman at the compulsory age of 44 two years ago.

But the man who faced a barrage of missiles and abuse from thousands of angry West Ham fans in their notorious "chicken run" after he had controversial striker John Hartson sent off at Upton Park still has to have his eye on the ball in his current role.

And qualified chef Nigel, who trained at London's Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane and also worked at the Metropole at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre, is experienced in both the pressure cooker atmospheres of a busy kitchen and England's finest football stadia.

Nigel, who lives in Golden Hind Way with his wife Hilary and 18 and 22-year-old sons, has been a lecturer in hospitality, leisure and tourism at Halesowen College after taking a slight change of direction 20 years ago.

This move freed up his weekends and made it easier to focus on refereeing. He began in the Kidderminster League and worked his way up through the Midland Combination and West Midlands League, which subsequently became the Midland Football Alliance.

In 1990 Nigel joined the national list, which saw him step up to running the line in the Football League and Premier League - but he finds it difficult to pick out his favourite grounds.

"Old Trafford is the most intimidating, and West Ham is the most threatening when you're standing five yards from the chicken run," he said.

"I was pelted with coins when I had John Hartson sent off for hitting an opponent and the customs officer, who was a West Ham fan, recognised me when I was on my way to Calais the next day!"

Nigel says he has only made a couple of howlers in front of the television cameras, wrongly flagging Tottenham star Jurgen Klinsmann offside in a decision which was branded "appalling" by the usually reserved BBC pundit Trevor Brooking.

His knowledge of the Football Association led to an invitation to take up his current role at Swifts, a club he often watched as a teenager. The workload is "three times as much" as he anticipated.

But he cites a great "camaraderie" among players and club officials as one of the secrets behind the team's unprecedented promotion to the Dr Martens League for the new season which starts on Saturday.

As for Hartson and company, Nigel would like to see all professional footballers faced with a compulsory course on the laws of the game.

"Half of them haven't got a clue," he added.