'I sold my late dad's diamond ring to get to Villa's Europa League final'

The gold ring, set with nine diamonds was bought by his father John Barnes, in 1988. "Everyone loved my dad, the whole family we loved him, he was so generous and used to pay for everything, we never went without," his son remembers. "I still have my dad's wedding ring, and my mum's wedding ring that I will keep forever.

" Selling the ring was not straightforward though, and Scott had to visit a number of jewellery shops to seal the deal. But then one came up trumps, and he sold the ring, along with a watch, and was paid £550. "When the jeweller gave me the money, I burst into tears in the shop," Barnes said.

He was very close to his father, but his emotions were heightened further because John had supported him through a gastric bypass in 2009 and the complications that followed, which included sepsis and septicaemia. "I had to learn to walk again, I couldn't do anything, so there was a big gap from going to the Villa," Barnes remembers. And now, despite being registered disabled, he tries to get to every game, whether it is home or away.

"The best day of my life was winning the European Cup", he says, which was a game he went to with his two uncles, in Rotterdam in 1982. It was his uncles who introduced him to Villa as his dad had actually "never watched a game of football in his life". After his ballot success, Barnes said he felt sick thinking there was no way he would make the crucial game 46 years later.