England’s 1966 World Cup-winning manager Sir Alf Ramsey once famously said of Martin Peters that he was 10 years ahead of his time.

Well, something along similar lines could be said of one of the teams at Bishop’s Cleeve Colts where 80 per cent of their squad are certainly a year ahead of their time.

That’s because 16 of the 20-man Bishop’s Cleeve Colts Youth Under-13s Celtics are actually young enough to play under-12s football.

Their manager Gareth Jones takes up the story.

“We moved up an age group at the end of the under-10 season so last season we were under-11s playing in the Cheltenham Youth League Under-12 division,” he said.

“The reason we did it was because four of our players were training with development centres and they wouldn’t have been able to play for us on Saturday mornings in the under-11s.

“But the under-12s play on Sunday afternoons so we were able to keep all the squad together.”

And they certainly made light of stepping up a level last season because they won the league cup, beating Churchdown 5-4 in a penalty shootout after the match had finished 1-1.

So who was their shootout hero?

“Our goalkeeper Archie Jackson,” said Jones. “He saved a penalty and then scored the winning one.”

And there’s even more to the story than that.

“Archie wasn’t meant to be in goal,” continued Jones. “Our goalie Liam Howard got injured in the warm-up, he played 10 minutes later in the match but then had to come off and Archie went back in goal for the shootout.

“He’s normally a centre midfielder but he’s played in goal before and done very well.”

And Jones’ young team had a very good league campaign as well, going on to finish third in what is always a very competitive division.

But while that was impressive, it’s nothing compared with what they have done so far this season – they’ve won all seven of their league games and are also through to the semi-finals of the league cup. They have also progressed to the fourth round of the County Cup. 

“We’ve scored 41 goals and conceded just four in the league,” said Jones. “We’re playing Lakeside Reds in the semi-final in March, they were the team we beat at the same stage last season.”

Jones has recruited four under-13 players to his squad this season but that makes their achievements no less spectacular.

“It’s our first season of 11-a-side, we shift between 3-4-3 and 3-5-2 formations,” added Jones. “We play three centre-backs and I like to rotate attacking formations to suit the game.” 

And the formations are certainly working for Ronnie Churchley who has scored 15 goals in 10 games.

Jones’ son Ashton, who can play up front or on the wing, is the captain and Jones senior said: “I’ve put a bit more responsibility on him. He’s always the first at training and the last to leave.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for him because when we’re at football he has to share his dad with all of the other players.”

And there is plenty of football because as well as playing on Sunday afternoons, the players train every Thursday evening and there are also optional training sessions twice a month on a Tuesday evening.

“We all put quite a lot into it – players, coaches, parents and myself,” said Jones, who lives in Bishop’s Cleeve having moved to this part of the world from Pontypridd in 2008. “I enjoy it and we try to develop the players as much as we can.

“We have played in Oxford, Swindon, Forest Green, Hereford and Tredegar in South Wales. Players and parents have always been very committed.”

The results on the pitch show that all that hard work is certainly paying off.

“I began helping out from the under-6s, I was a parent helper,” said Jones. “I took on the team full time with the under-9s.”

Surprisingly, Jones, a programme manager, does not have much of a football-playing pedigree himself.

“Not since I was at school,” he said. “I used to play rugby. When I moved up here I played rugby for Cheltenham Civil Service. I was a centre and had a couple of seasons in their 1^st team.”

These days, Cleeve Colts are the centre of attention for Jones, of course, but he’s not the only member of the family putting in the hard yards.

“My wife Sara is a big support,” Jones said. “She helps out a lot, putting up the nets, sorting out the equipment, giving lifts to people.”

And it’s also fair to say that young Ashton, who has scored 10 goals so far this season, is not the only up-and-coming footballer in the family either.

“Our younger son Caden plays for Bishop’s Cleeve Under-10s,” said Jones.

At the moment his dad can watch him play because the under-10s play their matches on Saturday mornings, but that will not always be the case of course.

“In two years’ time we might have a bit of a problem,” said Jones with a chuckle.

Bishop’s Cleeve Colts Youth Under-13s Celtics squad: Liam Howard, Kyle Price, Marley Thomas-Graves, Finn O’Kelly, Patrick Dadson, Sonny Warren, Zain Kavla, Hari Patel, Olly Montague, Spencer Danter-Wilson, Monty Proctor, Sam Jones, Mitch Ashton, Patrick Odea, Archie Jackson, Josh Denne, Jude Forrest, Ashton Jones, Ronnie Churchley.