SAINTS legend Lawrie McMenemy is preparing to wave the English flag again tonight.

McMenemy is flying out to Turkey today as part of an FA 'peacekeeping' mission designed to promote the spirit of friendship ahead of England's potentially volatile Euro 2004 qualifier in Istanbul next Saturday.

The former Dell manager is joining ex-Leicester chief Gordon Milne on a short trip which takes in an appearance at the Turkish League's player of the year ceremony tonight.

The two men, who know Turkey well - McMenemy was involved with England and Northern Ireland on international vists to the country while Milne was boss of three Turkish clubs - are tomorrow due to visit a school for disabled children in Istanbul.

The FA are highly concerned at the prospect of trouble in Istanbul this weekend and have warned England fans not to travel.

There is a real concern that any major trouble involving English fans could see the national team barred from competing at next summer's Euro 2004 finals.

It won't be McMenemy's first mission as an official FA ambassador, for he visited war-torn Afghanistan in February 2002 along with former England and Spurs defender Gary Mabbutt.

"That was certainly an eye-opening experience," recalled the Daily Echo columnist.

"We had to fly out of Brize Norton at 1am on the biggest transport plane I've ever seen, there were just plastic seats down the sides - we had to sleep on the floor in our sleeping bags.

"You had to land in darkness in Afghanistan and you had to leave in darkness as well.

"When we got there our room just had some beds, no bedding, and no running water. There was a little paraffin heater and at night you put a pan of cold water on it so that it was hot when you woke up!

"We basically lived like the soldiers did."

McMenemy's visit to Afghanistan came just months after the Talaban had been defeated in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on America.

"There were 54,000 orphans in Kabul, which is where we played a game in the stadium where so many people had been executed," he recalled. "I coached the locals and Gary coached the soldiers.

"The stadium was full, there were about 10,000 people outside who couldn't get in, some of them had walked for days to get to the ground.

"It was massive news in America, there were CNN cameras following us.

"When we landed back in Britain the pilot told us we'd been shot at twice when we took off!"

"I got a letter from the Prime Minister for going - when you're asked to go on something like that you don't say 'no'.

"It's the same with Turkey - I'm delighted to be asked and hopefully I can do my bit to help.

"It'a going to be hard for England in Turkey. They will be going to a place which is very noisy, the home fans are very passionate, they have to get a result and they won't have many of their own fans at the game."

McMenemy continued: "As an FA ambassador, I get asked to do things quite often - but they're not too time-consuming.

"Most of my time these days is spent on my charity work, I've been down here 30 years and I'm involved in about nine charities from autistic kids through to age concern.

"I went to the Special Olympics in Dublin earlier this year as an ambassador, it was amazing. There were 7,000 competitors with learning difficulties.

"In all, there's one and a half million lads and lasses with learning difficulties in the UK. That's three million parents and add in family and friends and you're looking at around 12 million people who know someone affected.

"I'm happy to do my bit as it helps raise awareness. There's lots of opportunities around for those who want to play football, or any sport.

"By playing sport, it improves their day-to day-living, and gives them more confidence.

"I thought initially I'd go to Dublin and that would be that, but it's an ongoing thing.

"There's three different kids of Olympics - the normal one, the paralympics and the special olympics - and they're all growing."