When a sportsman is forced to retire from the game prematurely, it must certainly be hard to take. When it happens through no fault of their own, then the mental torture must be intolerable.

But that is the situation facing Yeovil Town midfielder Darren Way who, at the age of 29, was forced to retire from football due to the horrific injuries he suffered in a serious car crash in December 2008.

The popular midfielder was travelling as a passenger when the vehicle he was in collision with an oncoming car. The fact he merely survived is something of a miracle, but it put paid to his career in the game.

Today though, Way will be the centre of attention as a Manchester United XI travel to Huish Park to provide the opposition in his Benefit game.

"The ticket sales have been phenomenal and I think by the end of the day, there will be about 6,000 tickets sold," Way said. "It is my final farewell as a footballer and to finish it against Manchester United and to have such good memories with the Yeovil Town supporters is fantastic. I am hoping it will be a good memory for them and one they won't forget.

"These things usually take a long, long time to arrange, but there is no hiding what I have been through. The 'football family', as I call it, have stuck together and helped me out and that support I have had has made my life easier.

"I cannot thank Manchester United enough for what they have done for me. I have been up there a number of times now and they have been fantastic and always treated me well."

Believe it or not, Way is in fact a Chelsea supporter, but such is his standing in the game that it is no surprise he has managed to attract the very best opposition for his benefit game.

Today's match will mark the end of an era for Way, but while it is the final chapter on his playing days, it is the start of a new career as he now forms part of manager Terry Skiverton's backroom staff at Huish Park.

"I will come on at some stage and I am really looking forward to it," Way added. "As you know, I can't really kick a ball anymore, but I will be on the pitch. I don't want to think of it as an emotional way to finish because I want to finish it in a positive way and I can't go wrong when I have sold 6,000 tickets. It goes to show the support I have had.

"I am bitterly disappointed with how it has happened. It is not good to lose your career at the age of 29 in the way it has happened and not gain anything out of it. No one has admitted liability and that has been very difficult to handle and that is still going on now.

"Saturday will be a good day for me. Genuine honest people will be there to support me and it is nice to have people around like that when you have been through something where you don't know whether to turn left or right because people are in control of what is happening in your life.

"I did nothing wrong that day and I have lost my football career, I have lost my financial status and that is difficult to accept. And then to deal with the legal aspect as well is hard to come to terms with when no one is admitting liability and I was only a passenger."

Way admits: "That has built up a lot of anger inside me and I would be lying to anyone if I said I haven't had sleepless nights trying to get to the bottom of it. But Saturday is about finishing the career against Manchester United and cherish all the good memories that I have had at Yeovil with the supporters because they are the best memories I have ever had in football and hopefully everyone will go away thinking: What a great day."

Such was the severity of Way's injuries that he had to be airlifted to Dorchester hospital. He suffered a fractured dislocation of the right elbow, which needed a new radius, a fractured dislocation of the right wrist that has since had a plate put in and a fractured dislocation of the right hip, which also has a plate and six screws put in.

Way also fractured his femur in two places – that needed a nail put in – a fractured patella, which had four screws put in, deep lacerations to both shins and a fractured tibula.

"I remember everything about the crash," Way recalls. "I'm very thankful that I wake up every morning and get to see my kids. But it has been really difficult to spend such a long time in a wheelchair and not being mobile when you have been a professional footballer all your life and spend half of your time out in the fresh air.

"To stay in a hospital ward being unable to walk or move and stay in that bed day after day was a big psychological barrier that I had to overcome."

Today though is all about Way. The fact that 6,000 supporters have already bought tickets for the game shows the esteem in which he is held by both Yeovil supporters and within the game itself. And no one is more deserving of a fitting farewell.