Southside Star are run by a committee both on and off the pitch.

Most football clubs have a committee running their affairs away from match days but Southside’s committee are hands-on on the playing side too.

“We don’t have a manager,” explained Ollie Price, who has been involved with the club for close on 20 years.

“There are seven or eight of us who take it in turns to run the team on match day every week.

“We’re all on the committee and we all play as well. The committee is the strongest it’s ever been. We’re such a tight-knit group, it’s working well.”

It certainly is because at the time of writing Southside were leading the way in the Premier Division of the Cheltenham League.

It is the first season that they have adopted the committee system – two of them will take charge of any particular game – and Price continued: “It’s odd but it works for us.”

As well as Price, the likes of Simon Prince, Ben Plumb, Sam Ryder-Jones, Matt Reid, Aaron Batsman, James Cook and Ryan Brady have all had games when they’ve been in charge, and Price added: “We all love playing for the club.

“We can all put on a decent warm-up and we can all put on decent drills.”

The decision about who will take charge of an upcoming game is decided after training at Bournside School on a Wednesday evening.

The club have about 30 players signed on but are running just the one adult team at the moment.

They were formed way back in 1965 and for the most part were known as Southside Tigers.

They became Southside Star nine years ago when they merged with Star Football Club and these days there is no shortage of ambition at the club.

“We are in a much better position than we were a few years ago,” said Price, who is 28. “The aim this season is to win the Premier Division and win promotion to the Northern Senior League.”

Price also wants to see a reserve side established, although back in the day the club, who draw many of their players from in and around Hatherley, used to run four teams.

This season they have been playing their home games on the artificial pitch at Tewkesbury School and Price is a big fan.

“It’s one of the big reasons why we have so many players,” said Price.

“They know what they’re getting on a Saturday, they’re not going to be playing on a muddy pitch.”

Price is a former Bournside School pupil and he started playing for the club at the age of 10.

He is Southside’s player welfare officer but although he can often be found at the club, he actually plays for them only about once a month.

That’s because he also plays for Shortwood United in Division One of the Hellenic League, after previously enjoying spells with Tytherington Rocks and Newent Town.

He is primarily a full-back for Shortwood but says his favourite position is centre-midfield, although when he turns out for Southside he also plays on the wing as well as in centre midfield.

“I play for Southside whenever I can, if Shortwood don’t have a game or their game is called off, I’ll always try to play for Southside,” he said.

And he’ll certainly return full-time to the club closest to his heart before his playing days are over.

“Definitely, 100 per cent,” he said. “We’re all great mates.”

And while the club are doing great things on the senior side this season, they’ve been doing great things on the youth side for many years.

“We’ve got the largest youth set-up in Cheltenham,” said Price.

“We’ve got 40 teams and we’re growing by five a year. We should hit 50 by 2026.

“We’ve just set up our first girls’ team – they are under-11s – we’ve got 600 players on the books.”

That can cause the odd logistical problem, of course, but Steve Pitman, who has run the youth section for two decades, wants as many youngsters as possible to have the opportunity to play the game.

“They train at Bournside and Leckhampton High School,” explained Price.

“Steve’s ethos is that he wants kids to play football, he doesn’t want to turn anyone away.

“What he does for the children is amazing, he’s a coach but he does everything.”

The future certainly looks bright for Southside.