Former Mansfield Town boss Stuart Watkiss is set for a nostalgic return to the One Call Stadium

To mark that 20-year anniversary, Mansfield Matters Podcast are reuniting the class of 2001/02 in a special series of ‘Stags Stories’ with manager Stuart Watkiss returning to One Call Stadium, sharing his memories in front of an audience of Stags fans on Friday, 22nd April.

Appearing alongside his assistant Neil Richardson and former striker Andy White, who scored a vital goal in the season’s finale, Watkiss will be recalling stories from behind the scenes at One Call Stadium with Stags fans of all ages welcome to attend and relive the glory with those at the heart of it all.

Watkiss, affectionately known as Skip, developed the core of the squad through the club’s youth team ranks in the late 1990s and helped thrust them into the first team light when he stepped into the role of assistant manager to Billy Dearden.

With players like Liam Lawrence, Bobby Hassell, Lee Williamson and Craig Disley helping to propel the Stags into the promotion race, Watkiss took over from Dearden in January 2001 and steered the club to promotion, thanks to a 2-0 home win over Carlisle United.

The all-ticket event has been supported by the Stags Supporters Association and Proud Stags, with SSA Members able to attend free of charge.

Standard tickets are on sale for £5 and can be purchased by visiting https://bit.ly/StagsStoriesLIVE - SSA Members should email [email protected] with their membership number to receive the discount code.

Mansfield Matters host and Mansfield 103.2 commentator Craig Priest will host the event, and said: “I’m delighted to have secured Stuart and Neil for this.

“The current season has already created so many memories with hopefully more to come – so it’s very fitting that the last manager to win Stags a promotion within the Football League should come home to reflect on yesteryear, with Nigel Clough poised to become the next one and go down in club history.

“Andy White has been fantastic in lining up some phenomenal guests for the full series including Chris Greenacre, Kevin Pilkington, Bobby Hassell and physio Barry Statham – more details of which will be released soon.

“We could have just continued with Stuart and Neil recording their episodes remotely, however, we wanted to give something back to Stags fans and get everyone together to remember a fantastic season, just as more memories are being made.”