With transfer speculation reaching fever pitch ahead of the start of the season, non-league Farnborough Town’s squad will contain some heavy hitters, with Messi, Pele and Maradona on the books.
And there is a perfectly good reason why such illustrious names would be plying their trade in the lower echelons of English football. And the reason is Paddy Power.
The Irish bookmaker has signed a sponsorship deal with the club in the sixth tier of English football. The deal rescues a club that went into administration last April, and Paddy being Paddy, decided to have a complete overhaul. So the ground has been renamed, the kit has been updated, while their playing squad and manager have changed their names to some of the biggest names in football.
Manager Spencer Day has become Jose Mourinho, while players such as Alan Inns, Matt Ball and Dave Tarpey have swapped monikers by deed poll with greats who played in their respective positions, from Franz Beckenbauer to Paul Gascoigne.
“The end result is that, on paper, the Skrill South team will be without doubt the best combination of playing talent that has ever been assembled,” a Farnborough press release boasted.
So forget about the Nou Camp, Old Trafford, the Bernabeu or the Allianz Arena, if you want to see some of the biggest names in the game, Paddy Power Park is the place to be this season.
