The Great Football Experiment & Spectacularly Failing

It was like being a twelve year-old going to your first training session with a new Sunday League club.

As I approached the pitch in front of me, there were a group of timid, young(ish) men, all adorned in their various football shirts. I looked around to see what they were all sporting; Germany 1990, Scotland 2008, Chile 2004 and me in my garishly bright Holland 1974 shirt.

We were knocking the ball around, assessing how good one another are, while across the pitch our regimented opponents, resplendent in pristine white shirts emblazoned with their sponsor Nivea plastered across the front.

It may sound like the well-oiled Ivan Drago against a very makeshift Rocky Balboa, but it was in-fact a team of bloggers versus a pub team.

However, this was no ordinary pub team. This was Ivory FC, who have been selected to undergo 'The Great Football Experiment', a season-long process of turning an average side into title challengers, all under the watchful eye of two FA-qualified coaches and the odd ex-England international or two.

This evening though, it was a training session for us to see and experience first hand how these lads are turning their fortunes around. Seems simple enough? Well, how about throwing in ex-Manchester United and Chelsea wizard Ray Wilkins into the mix.

Ray Wilkins, a man who has played in two World Cups (well, one and a half if you ask him) and has coached some of the brightest football talent on the planet, the same Ray Wilkins who would be leading the session, running his analytical eye over everything the Ivory boys do and more worryingly what we do.

While it wasn't as intense as first thought, we broke off into small groups to practice basic drills such as dribbling around cones, building up to more competitive activities such as attacking versus defending.

Throughout the drills I was thinking to myself 'make an account of yourself, and who knows maybe Ray will pluck you from domestic obscurity'. After one moment of mild brilliance, passing the defender and smashed it into the bottom corner, I nonchalantly trotted away, but in all truth the buck stopped there.

We then split into small teams for 6-a-side matches. This would be my real chance. Despite refereeing, shouts of 'great play fella' from Ray resonated in my ear drums. It was like he was actually spurring us on. My passing was average, my touch, paltry at best. I'd blown it, all in-front of Ray. My football dream was over.

But for Ivory FC, the dream is still continuing. Six months ago they were a run-of-the-mill Sunday League team in Essex, now they find themselves on the upward curve, thanks to the work of their new coaches and the inspirational words from Messrs Wilkins and Clemence.

The team's manager Will Rockett admitted afterwards that the experience has put in perspective what it takes for the lads to succeed at that level. Now they think twice before getting plastered the night before a match. For the boys from Brentwood the target is simple: today beat a bunch of bloggers, tomorrow the world.

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