The man himself talks of his love for Peterborough United and Birmingham City ahead of ‘The Barry Fry Final’ at Wembley

Fry spent his most successful years in management at St Andrews before starting a lengthy association with Posh. The 80 year-old – it was his birthday on Monday – will celebrate his 30th anniversary at London Road next year.

One of football's most enduring, endearing and entertaining personalities managed Birmingham between December 1993 and May 1996.

Fry purchased Posh from Chris Turner later that month and appointed himself manager/owner, an experimental combination and a pretty crazy one even for a character who embraced the eccentric.

Fry’s flirtation with ownership drowned in a sea of debt and unforeseen problems, but the great survivor is still here working as the handsomely-paid director of football.

Fry took Birmingham down from the second tier in his first season as manager, but brought them straight back up again and added an EFL Trophy success at Wembley to complete a double he had promised to deliver. Fry also took Posh down, this time from the third tier, in his first season before bringing them back up again four seasons later.

Posh were also relegated in Fry’s final season of management in 2004-05, but it wasn’t long before Darragh MacAnthony and Darren Ferguson rode to the club’s rescue.

Fry is thrilled to see both clubs thriving. He expects to see ‘The Blues’ in the Premier League before too long now they have financial might, and he sees only a bright future for Posh as long as the two men he admires the most in football stay together.

Fry spoke extensively to the PT ahead of Sunday’s final at Wembley, at which he will be a guest of honour.

BIRMINGHAM

"I had my best days as a manager at St Andrew’s. I left Southend, who were top of Division One at Christmas, and joined Birmingham, who were bottom, because I was excited by the potential.

“We were relegated even though we won seven and lost two of our last 10 games. Relegation was confirmed at Tranmere and at the final whistle the ‘Bluenoses’ (Birmingham fans) charged onto the pitch. I thought they wanted to strangle us, but instead they carried me and the players off the pitch.

"I promised them then we would do the double of promotion and a win in a Wembley Final the following season and we did it. We won the league when only one club was promoted automatically and we won the Auto Windscreens Final against Carlisle in front of 78,000 at Wembley.

"There were 57,000 ‘Bluenoses’ there which I believe is a record for a single club and they’d probably take even more this season if they could. Segregation has stopped them which is a shame because one of the best things about the 1978 final was seeing fans of both clubs sitting together and getting along fine as they were all just happy to be there. As a club we’d be okay with Birmingham getting more tickets this season, after all it would be more money for us!

"The game itself wasn’t great, but we won with a golden goal (first team to score in extra time won the game in those days) from Paul Tait. He was ‘one of our own’ having come through the youth ranks, but unbeknown to me he had a ‘T’ shirt underneath with a rude message about Aston Villa which he displayed after scoring and got the club into trouble. We were celebrating our win when (managing director) Karren Brady rang me and basically blamed me for it.

“That was a bit frustrating, but we didn’t let it ruin the celebrations. We’d paid for them out of own pockets as the club refused on the grounds we had a big game the following Wednesday against Brentford who were top of the league at the time, but we beat them 2-0 anyway.

“To be fair to the owners David Sullivan and David Gold they helped us get to Wembley by slashing admission prices for all the Trophy games to £5 for adults and £1 for kids. We were getting crowds of 20-25,000.

"They were just great times. While I was there we beat Norwich and Bryan Robson’s Middlesbrough, who were both Premier League clubs, on our way to the Coca Cola Cup semi-finals where we lost to Leeds over two legs. We also drew two FA Cup ties with Liverpool before losing on penalties at Anfield. Unfortunately we didn’t score any of ours!

“It’s great to see Birmingham on the way back up. I managed a charity game there in the summer and was told about the plans and the level of financial backing they now have. Trust me they are heading for the Premier League and I for one will be delighted when it happens. The ‘Bluenoses’ have been to Hell and back in recent times. The club has been in turmoil, but the Sky’s now the limit with financial stability and the support of their wonderful fans.

"I did predict they would repeat my double this season, but now of course I hope they don’t!”

POSH

“I’ve been at all four Wembley wins, even the one in 1992 when I was managing Barnet at the time. I was good friends with Chris Turner and when Posh won at Huddersfield in their play-off semi-final he invited me to the celebrations at The George in Stamford.

"Chairman John Devaney invited me to Wembley because I’d told Chris they should sign Gary Cooper and Ken Charley from Maidstone and they both turned out to be top players. I ended up buying both of them for Birmingham and Cooper played in our Wembley win, while Ken missed out.

"I sat in the directors box at Wembley with Chris, while Lil Fuccillo took charge at pitchside. It was a great day for the club.

"Of course I was back in 2000 when my Posh team beat Darlington in the Division Three play-off Final and I was at the two Trophy wins as director of football.

"I was made up for the chairman and the manager. The job both have done is incredible. People forget we are still a relatively small club in League One, but we keep punching above our weight. Darren has delivered four promotions, three of them into the Championship, as well as the two Trophy wins, while also developing young players into great ones.

"I know I keep praising the chairman, but I don’t apologise for that. When I was Posh manager I remember asking Simon Jordan at Crystal Palace if I could pay for Leon McKenzie in 25 monthly payments of £1,000 as that was all we could afford. Darragh has paid more than £1 million for eight players in his time at the club.

"Of course we are not favourites on Sunday, but we definitely have a chance. The young lads who will play have never let us down. I will enjoy it no matter what. I love Wembley and go and watch every game I can from internationals to non league finals. It’s mad to think that 65 years ago I scored for England schoolboys there, 30 years ago I won the Trophy with Birmingham and 25 years ago my Posh team won there as well. I feel blessed.”

See Fry’s memories of both clubs in pics…..