HARROGATE Town are preparing to face two giants of English football and a number of World Cup stars in their warm-up for the UniBond League premier division season.

With Leeds United pulling the plug on their annual fixture against Harrogate, the club have moved quickly to secure the visits of Manchester United on July 20 and Newcastle United a week later.

Both clubs are expecting to send strong line-ups for the pre-season fixtures - but there could be one or two superstars in the Manchester United set-up even though they are due to tour the Far East at the same time.

David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Fabien Barthez, Quinton Fortune, Juan Sebastian Veron and Wes Brown are among the many Manchester United stars set to return from the World Cup in Japan and South Korea and could be rested from the club's jaunt back out there.

Town had tried to lure Alex Ferguson's men to Wetherby Road at the start of last season, but although the then-Premier League champions were fully-booked, they promised they would play a friendly in the future.

Bobby Robson's Newcastle side are likely to bring their big guns to the Wetherby Road with former Harrogate schoolboy Andy O'Brien set to marshal the defence against his hometown team.

Town have also revealed that they are also set to take on Steve McClaren's Middlesbrough side, although a date has yet to be confirmed, while Celtic and Liverpool have politely rejected invitations to play them.

Updated: 12:14 Wednesday, May 29, 2002