Wanderers legend Roy Hartle dramatically withdrew his football mementoes from auction after they were sold at the 11th-hour to a mystery buyer.

The 72-year-old was due to sell his collection at Bonhams auction house in Chester on Wednesday.

Instead, a private purchaser snapped them up for their estimated £12,000 value. It is believed that the buyer did not want the mementoes split up.

Mr Hartle was "absolutely delighted" they had been bought as a job lot.

He said: "We were looking forward to the cut and thrust of the auction but I'm so pleased that somebody wanted the collection and wanted it all.

"At auction, the 12 items could so easily have gone to 12 different people."

The collection included Mr Hartle's 1958 FA Cup winner's medal after the Wanderers' 2-0 victory over Manchester United.

Mr Hartle said: "It wasn't easy to decide to sell the medal but I spoke about it with my wife and we decided it was the best thing to do. It was only being kept in a drawer in the house and being brought out every now and then."

He said he did not know who the private buyer was.

A Bonhams spokesman told the Bolton Evening News: "Mr Hartle's collection was sold privately before the auction to an anonymous buyer. The mementoes will be kept together as a collection and were sold for a figure close to their pre-sale estimate."

Mr Hartle, nicknamed "Chopper", was widely regarded as the best full-back never to win an international cap.

Among the other items on sale were his shirt and shorts from the FA Cup final of 1953 in which Bolton were beaten 4-3 by Blackpool.

An autograph book packed with signatures of some of Manchester United's Busby Babes was estimated to be worth £700.

Mr Hartle gathered the mementoes over the course of his 14-year professional career in Bolton.

In total, Mr Hartle made 499 appearances for Bolton, 447 of them in the league. He scored 13 goals.

The footballer turned professional in 1952 and, together with left-back partner Tommy Banks, formed arguably the most-feared defensive combinations in English football.

DELIGHTED: Roy Hartle