Football fan Dean Rudge is living the dream.

Just over a year ago he came up with the idea of setting up his own football club and now, 14 months later, he is the prime mover and shaker at a club that has two teams competing in the Cheltenham League.

The club in question are Gloucester Athletic and if Rudge has anything to do with it, that’s a name that we’re going to be hearing a lot more about in the coming weeks, months and years.

And it’s fair to say that Gloucester Athletic have, in reality, been many years in the making even though their rapid growth and development owes much to modern-day thoughts and processes.

“I used to play junior football for Churchdown Panthers,” explained 36-year-old Rudge, a Liverpool supporter. “But then I injured my knee and, much as I loved the game, I never played adult football.

“Over the years I played a lot of Football Manager and one day I suddenly thought, ‘I have to do this in real life’, not realising that there is a lot more to running a football team in real life!”

But to run a football team – or teams in Gloucester Athletic’s case – you need to have players, of course, and at this stage, Rudge, an IT analyst, didn’t have any at all.

“A lot of people said I was mad,” said Rudge. “It was October 2020 and we were in the middle of lockdown but I thought, ‘Why not give it a try?’.

“I was fed up with all the doom and gloom. I wanted to do something positive. I knew it could go one of two ways – positive or fall flat – but I created a Facebook post asking if anyone is interested in playing football.

“We got a few responses straight away but then overnight we got loads more and I thought, ‘Wow, there is definitely an appetite for it’.”

So much so that 30 players turned up for their first training session in December once the lockdown restrictions were lifted temporarily in the run-up to last Christmas.

“That wasn’t bad at all when you consider it was all down to social media,” enthused Rudge.

The country was soon to be plunged back into lockdown, however, but Rudge wanted to maintain the momentum that had been built up.

“We had to keep people interested so we set up a lot of Zoom calls,” he said. “We did a bit of fitness stuff on Zoom and I think the lads liked it, we tried to get a club feel.

“It wasn’t the most exciting but they enjoyed having a bit of a laugh, not everyone knew each other because they were brought together via social media, it certainly helped.”

And Rudge was able to offer more.

“We’ve got a sports psychologist,” he said. “Kayleigh Dougan works at Luton Town but she heard about us and got in touch.

“She said it was great what we were doing and was happy to support us. I let the players know and four came forward and said they needed help with their mental health.

“I’ve never met her but we’ve done lots of Zoom calls. It adds to the club feel, I want us to be like a football family.”

And they’re a family club with family values.

“We’re affiliated to Kick It Out and we support the charity Gloucestershire Young Carers,” said Rudge. “A couple of our players ran the Cheltenham Half Marathon in October and raised £1,600.”

But while sending out the right message is very important, it’s also important that the club gets things right on the pitch as well.

And first-team manager Richard Lord, Rudge, who is club secretary, definitely thinks he has the right man.

“He told me he wants to win silverware this season and that’s just what I want to hear,” Rudge said. “We’ve got to aim high, we’re ambitious and want to push on, we want to be established in the Northern Senior League in five years’ time.”

The club, who play their home games at Plock Court, have 53 players signed on and the flagship team have made a bright start to life in Division Two of the Cheltenham League so promotion is a very definite possibility this season.

The reserves, meanwhile, are playing in Division Three, and have just appointed Ryan Lewis as their new manager.

Gloucester born and bred Rudge, who lives in Hempsted, had been running the team up until then, but will now have more time to devote to all areas of the club he founded.

“I’m  loving it,” he said, “I’m absolutely living the dream. I didn’t think I’d get as much enjoyment from it as I am. We’ve got a couple of guys from Ghana playing for us.

“They said that before they played for us they used to just go home and sit in their rooms on their own every evening. Their families are in Ghana but they say that now we’re part of their family.”