The Rt Rev Alan Abernethy (51) will be wearing the No 7 shirt that bears his name as he watches his favourite team take on Chelsea in the big match.

It will be the nearest this clergyman will come to fulfilling a childhood dream.

"I always wanted to play for United as a boy," he revealed today.

"I've been a fan of the team all my life. Sure I was in Barcelona when they won the European Cup in 1999, up in the stand cheering them on."

The No 7 shirt with the Abernethy name emblazoned in white lettering was a welcome gift from the Knights of Columbanus of the Catholic Church after the bishop was a guest speaker at their dinner.

"It was a surprise present and I was gobsmacked," he said. " I wore it to watch United on television in the semi-final and I shall be wearing it again tomorrow night to see them tackle Chelsea."

In fact the bishop, married to Liz who is a hospital doctor with whom he has a son Peter (19) and a daughter Ruth (17), takes his red jersey with him wherever he goes to show it off to congregations in his diocese.

"Being bishop is a job I love," he says, "but I like football too and being a fan of a great club and wearing its shirt shows that clergymen like me are just ordinary human beings after all.

"I played the game once. I was a full-back and turned out for a Bangor reserve team. But I received an injury when I was only 17 and never got the chance to be transferred to Old Trafford."