by Joanne Ginley http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/

WHEN lifelong Leeds United fan Joseph Ashworth's numbers came up on the National Lottery he couldn't believe his luck. Now the 78-year-old is hoping his good fortune will rub off on his team.

But yesterday Mr Ashworth, who has followed the team since the 1950s, carefully declared "no comment" when he was asked if he would swap his £1.2m windfall for his team returning to top-flight football next season.

Mr Ashworth was at home in Leeds when he discovered he was a winner and jokes that he almost had a heart attack.
He said: "I nearly dropped on the floor when there were all six numbers on the first line I checked. I phoned my daughter Karen to tell her what had happened and she came round in case I had a heart attack.

"Fortunately I didn't, but since then I've been on super-hype and still haven't come down to earth."
"This is more money than I have ever had," he said.

Mr Ashworth, a retired private investigator and father-of-three, did not immediately realise he was a winner.
He said: "While watching the programme on Saturday night, I remembered that I had left my tickets in another room and as the programme was coming to an end I jumped up and got my ticket to check the numbers.

"When I got back the numbers were still on the screen, so I scanned the ticket and then the TV – I couldn't believe it I had matched all six."

He bought the winning ticket from a Sainsbury's store in Leeds. He has played the Lottery since it began, and usually sticks with the same numbers.

But on a whim he bought an extra two lines selected by lucky dip and hit the jackpot with the numbers 1, 25, 26, 27, 39 and 49.

He's still contemplating on what to spend his new-found wealth but is hoping to follow his team more closely. Since suffering a stroke several years ago, he hasn't managed to get to a game but now he has the cash to see Leeds in a little more style, perhaps as a season ticket- holder or from the comfort of his own box.

Mr Ashworth, a widower, also plans to use his £1,173,072 windfall to visit his daughter Linda Dawes, 48, and grandchildren Gareth, 23, and Lauren, 22, in Australia. He's been before, but plans to spend a few months Down Under.

"I will spend some of my winnings watching Leeds United but I would also like to see my daughter Linda and her family, who live in Australia," he said. "The win means such a lot to me as it will give both me and my family security for the future."

Mr Ashworth isn't a Leeds United season ticket-holder and says he could never got to see them week in, week out because his job as a private investigator, working on divorce and other cases, often took him away from home.

He says his favourite Leeds United player was Johnny Giles. He isn't sure whether the team he began supporting in the 1950s will manage to secure promotion to the Premiership next season.

However he isn't planning to use his cash to bolster the team. "I don't think I could afford a player," he joked.