Doctor Who’s secret Forest past

The Northern Premier League side are England’s reps in a brand new competition

There’s a new European competition featuring a selection of handpicked clubs, set to take the continent by storm... and isn’t the Super League.

But while that ill- fated shambles threatened to take something away from the game as we know it, the newly formed Fenix Trophy aims to add a new dimension.

The brainchild of Brera Calcio head honcho Alessandro Aleotti, down in Italy’s seventh tier, this tournament is exclusively for non- pro teams and will kick off in September. Eight clubs from seven nations will battle it out for the inaugural trophy.

England’s first representatives are FC United of Manchester, founded in 2005 by Manchester United fans irked by the Glazers’ ownership. The Red Rebels were approached to take part due to… well, their heritage. It’s one point in a list of qualifying criteria.

“The first thing they wanted was the sporting context, so we’re all between the sixth and eight levels of our domestic leagues,” explains FC United chairman Adrian Seddon. “The second point was that they wanted clubs with interesting stories – none of them are run- of- the- mill non- league clubs and all of them have something to showcase.

“There were also the practicalities in this first edition because it’s all self- funded, so we had to pick good locations to travel to. We couldn’t have a club in the middle of nowhere with no flight links that would be really expensive to get to.”

That means the line- up for this season’s competition includes the likes of Milan- based Brera, Valencia’s CD Cuenca- Mestallistes and HFC Falke from Hamburg. There’s also room for 1964 Eredivisie champions AFC DWS.

The octet will play each other in home and away matches across two group stages, before taking part in a finals event in the Italian city of Rimini next summer to decide the victor. But it wasn’t just the prospect of a sunny weekend away that appealed to FC United’s board.

“There are just no opportunities in non- league football to play in Europe, and after growing up watching Man United play in the Champions League, those nights are ingrained in us,” Seddon says. “We’ve always tried to continue that mentality at FC, so pretty much every year we’ve gone

“WHY CAN’T NON- LEAGUE CLUBS DREAM OF PLAYING IN EUROPEAN FIXTURES?”

abroad for a match. When the Italian team invited us, we were very keen – because it’s part of our DNA.”

While timing might suggest the Fenix Trophy was devised as a direct response to the elite’s Super League plans earlier this year, Seddon says conversations were happening months before that.

Some fans of English non- league clubs have already made comparisons to the closed- off nature of the Super League, but Seddon says the founders want to expand in the future.

“At the moment it’s two groups of four, but there’s no reason why it can’t grow,” he adds. “Year one we had to target clubs, but if others are interested in joining, we’d listen to them and try to expand.

“It’s pretty unique and isn’t driven by money – it’s more about providing sporting opportunities for our players and supporters. I don’t think there’s another opportunity to do something like this, so why can’t non- league clubs dream of playing European fixtures? It’s not just for professionals, it can be clubs at our level too.”

Are you listening, Florentino Perez?