As Sir Bobby Charlton received all the attention from the media and guests at the launch of the 2006 Vodacom Challenge held in Midrand outside Johannesburg on Tuesday afternoon, Peter Draper travelling with Charlton to South Africa as one of Manchester United’s representatives at the launch, stood quietly and watched as fans clamoured for photo opportunities with Charlton.

Although Draper himself never achieved the lofty ranks that Charlton has on the field of play he has probably one of the most important jobs at Manchester United. He is their marketing director and part of his duties will be to lead Man United’s touring party when they jet into South African in July.

For a man responsible for ensuring that Man United maintain their number one position as the most supported and recognized team in the world, he is a humble personality and extremely approachable. Kaizerchiefs.com first question to the Draper when given the opportunity to quiz him on their up coming tour to South Africa, was whether Man United wanted to open new commercial doors as they have over the past few season journeyed to the Far East and the USA during their preseason tours.

“Our aim is for our legions of fans all over the world to get the opportunity to see Manchester United playing live in their country as everybody cannot afford to get to Old Trafford” said Draper. He further added “South Africa is not a new market for our team, as we have been on tour to South Africa previously and we have many fans here who have various contact with us in Manchester”.

Draper is also of the opinion that a tour to South Africa fits in well with Man United’s pre-season plans taking into account that the 2006-2007 season is preceded by the FIFA World Cup in Germany, “for us South Africa is the perfect place to tour as the time difference between here and England is not great and getting here and back to England is very convenient”.

As winter sets in, Chiefs fans can start warming up to the prospect of Amakhosi impressing against one of the world's best teams, the last time the two teams met back in 1993 the game ended in a 1-1 dead lock. That match also saw Man United introduce a young player by the name of David Beckham. When Chiefs meet the Red Devils in Cape Town on the 18th July, the Mother City will see a glimpse of the future when Manchester United and Kaizer Chiefs do battle.