“We want to play football the Montpellier Way.”

Those are the words of Montpellier Football Club chairman and founder Liam Bond, who has looked on with pride as his teams have taken the Cheltenham League by storm over the past couple of seasons.

They have teams playing in Division One and Division Two this season – they both won their opening games on Saturday – and they will be looking to build on the previous campaign’s success when they both topped their divisions.

And while success on the field is obviously important, so is the way that they achieve it, with 31-year-old Bond spelling out what he means by the ‘Montpellier Way’.

“It means hard work, working for each other and creating a family feel,” he said.

“We like to play attacking football, we want to score goals and we want to entertain. We enjoy winning.”

And they’ve certainly been winning plenty of games over the past couple of seasons, with their flagship team winning Division Three in 2021/22 before following up by winning the Division Two title and the Minor Charities Cup last time out.

Their 2^nd team, who were formed last season, also hit the ground running, winning Division Three, and, understandably, there is plenty of optimism around the club.

“The target is two more promotions,” said Bond, a centre-back for the 2^nd XI. “We’ve got a strong squad and we’ve added some good young players this season.

“We’re really optimistic about our chances and I think getting into the Northern Senior League is more than realistic.

“If we can win Division One this season our top team will be in the Premier Division next season. One of our aims is for there to be no more than one division between our two teams.”

And while the club have an eye very much on the present, they also have an eye on the future because they have just launched an under-16 team who are competing in the Cheltenham Youth League this season.

“They are the future,” said Bond, an account manager who lives in Bishop’s Cleeve. “When they reach 16 we can start to integrate them into the senior set-up. We want to keep the talent in-house.”

The under-16s, along with the two senior teams, are playing their home games at Priors playing field this season.

The club have previously been playing their home games at Clyde Crescent and Bond is delighted with the move.

“The clubhouse at Priors is council-owned and we’re the tenants,” said Bond. “We’ve got two pitches there, it’s somewhere we can call home.”

And Montpeller Football Club is certainly home for former Pittville School pupil Bond who played youth team football for Cheltenham Saracens before joining Prestbury Rovers at 16 and then going on to enjoy stints in the Cheltenham League with Newton Heath, Bishop’s Cleeve and Smiths Barometrics.

“I’d always wanted to set up my own club,” explained Bond. “During lockdown I had lots of time to think and I came up with this crazy, crazy idea to form Montpellier  Football Club.”

Two years later it doesn’t seem a crazy idea at all!