John Mack has been part of the football family at Slimbridge for more than a quarter of a century.

The 77-year-old, who lives in nearby Coaley, is a familiar face at all their home matches and goes to a handful of their away games too. 

These days he’s the club’s president, a role he is enjoying because he likes what he’s seeing this season with Slimbridge AFC making an encouraging start to the first half of the campaign in the Premier Division of the Hellenic League.

“We’ve got a good management team and a good young side,” he said. “I’ve always believed if you’re good enough at 18, you’re good enough to play first-team football.”

Mack knows his football because he’s been involved in the game, in some capacity, for much of his life.

Originally from Chingford in London – he’s a Chelsea fan – he moved down to this part of the world with his dad Bob and uncle Dennis Wilson when he was 17.

“We set up Bymacks Furniture in Dursley in 1965, we were based in Long Street,” he said.

“We employed a lot of people and in about 1969 we formed our own football club.

“We started in the Stroud League and we had a good side, we went through the Northern Senior League and into the County League.”

Mack used to play for them back in the day – “I was a right winger,” he said – before the team folded in the early 1990s when the business was taken over.

But Mack remained very much involved in football.

“I joined the Forest Green Rovers board as an executive in the days when Trevor Horsley was chairman,” he said.

“Then I had a year at Cam Bulldogs before I went to Sharpness when they were flying high.

“They were in the Hellenic League Premier Division and were playing their home games at Forest Green.”

Mack then took a year out of the game but once he returned he has never looked back.

“Some of the lads from Bymacks said, ‘Come down to Slimbridge’, so I did,” he explained.

“I’ve been chairman, secretary, treasurer; now I’m the old boy, the dinosaur, the president!”

He still knows what’s going on, however – “I keep my eye on the ball,” he said – and his experience is invaluable as they chase a possible return to the Southern League.

“They’ve got a far better infrastructure these days,” he continued. “They are a lot better equipped to do well because there are more people involved.

“When I was chairman I took the decision not to join the Southern League when we won the Hellenic League because I didn’t think we were ready for it.”

That was at the end of the 2006/07 season and the club eventually went up to the Southern League after finishing third in the Western League in 2014/15.

They have been back at their current level since 2023/24 and Mack said: “The Southern League is a different ball game with all the travelling and the extra costs.

“But we’re doing well and attendances are up. If you’re winning, people will always come and watch you play.

“Importantly, we’ve got our own ground, that is very rare. We’ve got floodlights, a stand and a good pitch.

“We’ve also introduced a very good youth set-up. The current one has been going for six or seven years, it’s why we’ve got so many young players coming through.”

And Mack is delighted to see them doing so well.

“It’s a pleasure for me,” he said. “I can step back and enjoy it, I’ve done my fair share of work.”