BURY’S Tracey Neville is in line to follow in the footsteps of Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson after being nominated for a top prize at the 2015 UK Coaching Awards.

The UK Coaching Awards honour sports coaches and coaching organisations who have demonstrated outstanding success over the previous 12 months.

This year's star-studded black-tie event will be held at the iconic Midland Hotel in Manchester on December 1 and former Elton High School pupil Neville will be in attendance after being nominated for the Performance Development Coach of the Year award, supported by the Tim Lewis Trust.

As the head coach of Manchester Thunder Neville led the squad to their second title in 2014 having been victorious in two out of her three years at the helm.

Then, when appointed Interim Head Coach of England Netball, Tracey secured a bronze medal at the 2015 Netball World Cup despite losing her father while Down Under.

Previous winners at the UK Coaching Awards include Jessica Ennis-Hill’s mentor Toni Minichiello and Sir Alex, and chief executive officer of sports coach UK Tony Byrne insists Neville deserves to be up for one of the 12 gongs up for grabs.

"The quality of this year's finalists has again been fantastic and the expert judging panel struggled to narrow down the finalists from the 1000+ nominations that we received,” he said.

“The UK Coaching Awards are an opportunity for us to take the time to thank our current coaching workforce that deliver excellent sporting experiences for all.

“Coaching is at the heart of sport and has the capacity to enable every child, player and athlete to follow their dreams, have fun and fulfil their potential.

“The evening gives us the chance to raise the profile of coaches and the role that they play in encouraging participation, performance and excellence.”

The UK Coaching Awards 2015, hosted by sports coach UK is a chance to recognise excellent coaching and coaching organisations that have achieved outstanding success over the past 12 months. For more information visit: www.sportscoachuk.org