Published 14 August 2026 4 min read
Grassroots Football
Origins: Dan Ford tells the story of Bishops Cleeve FC
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Our Origins series with Goal Click continues with a visit to Bishops Cleeve FC...
01 Jan 2026
Goal Click: Dan Ford, Bishops Cleeve FC
Dan Ford is the General Manager at Bishops Cleeve FC, where he helps support the growth of the club both on and off the pitch.
England Football and Goal Click are teaming up to tell the stories of grassroots football communities across England. Through the eyes of individuals within these communities, we will share stories that reveal how the game is lived, felt, and passed on to future generations. Their stories are shaped by the places they grew up, the pitches they played on, and the communities that raised them.
Dan Ford is the General Manager at Bishops Cleeve FC, where he helps support the growth of the club both on and off the pitch.
What We Stand For
My name is Dan Ford, and I am 41 years old. I was born in Wolverhampton but currently live in the small market town of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. One of my earliest football memories is cheering on Ireland at the 1994 World Cup - a slightly unusual choice, but one that has stayed with me ever since.
Dan Ford is the General Manager at Bishops Cleeve FC, where he helps support the growth of the club both on and off the pitch.
What We Stand For
My name is Dan Ford, and I am 41 years old. I was born in Wolverhampton but currently live in the small market town of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. One of my earliest football memories is cheering on Ireland at the 1994 World Cup - a slightly unusual choice, but one that has stayed with me ever since.
The 1994 tournament was my first World Cup, and it came at the perfect time. My family went on holiday to Ireland every year, and that connection has stayed with me into adulthood. I still try to get over as often as I can, including taking two campervan tours around the country. I would like to think my passion for both football (and rugby) comes from the countless hours I spent trying to play Gaelic football!
That year was especially memorable because we travelled to both Ireland and the USA, so I felt completely immersed in the World Cup. Ray Houghton's famous lob over Gianluca Pagliuca remains one of my very first football memories.
Shortly after that, I started playing for a local village team before joining Coventry City's Academy. Football has always been a huge part of my life. I spent nine years coaching children aged three to 18 and worked in a variety of roles across the game before getting involved with Bishops Cleeve FC in 2024.
At the time, I owned an audio and visual company and originally visited the club to quote for a new PA system. In true non-league fashion, just as we were about to go ahead, the club was hit with a large bill for a new POS system in the clubhouse, so the audio project had to be put on hold.
During that conversation, then-chairman Dave Walker happened to mention that they needed some advertising boards. As luck would have it, I also owned a design and printing business, so I started producing the boards and signage around the ground. From there, we kept talking about other ways I could help, which eventually led to an invitation to the Sponsors' Evening.
That evening turned out to be a real turning point. The now-chairman, Clive Rawlings, became emotional while talking about the Comets pan-disability initiative, and within seconds I had decided that this was where I wanted to be.
I initially focused on the club's social media, building our media and communications team, before taking on responsibility for organising pitch bookings throughout the week. It all became a bit of a whirlwind. Over the next year, I found myself involved in just about every area of the club.
That year was especially memorable because we travelled to both Ireland and the USA, so I felt completely immersed in the World Cup. Ray Houghton's famous lob over Gianluca Pagliuca remains one of my very first football memories.
Shortly after that, I started playing for a local village team before joining Coventry City's Academy. Football has always been a huge part of my life. I spent nine years coaching children aged three to 18 and worked in a variety of roles across the game before getting involved with Bishops Cleeve FC in 2024.
At the time, I owned an audio and visual company and originally visited the club to quote for a new PA system. In true non-league fashion, just as we were about to go ahead, the club was hit with a large bill for a new POS system in the clubhouse, so the audio project had to be put on hold.
During that conversation, then-chairman Dave Walker happened to mention that they needed some advertising boards. As luck would have it, I also owned a design and printing business, so I started producing the boards and signage around the ground. From there, we kept talking about other ways I could help, which eventually led to an invitation to the Sponsors' Evening.
That evening turned out to be a real turning point. The now-chairman, Clive Rawlings, became emotional while talking about the Comets pan-disability initiative, and within seconds I had decided that this was where I wanted to be.
I initially focused on the club's social media, building our media and communications team, before taking on responsibility for organising pitch bookings throughout the week. It all became a bit of a whirlwind. Over the next year, I found myself involved in just about every area of the club.
During my first 12 months as General Manager, my day-to-day has included pitch bookings, media, design, signage, marketing, events, venue hires, community projects, commercial partnerships, matchdays, groundcare, grant applications, emptying bins, painting, and even putting up a stud wall!
Bishops Cleeve FC
Our ground sits at the bottom of a beautiful hill along a quiet country lane. One end of the lane leads to Cheltenham Racecourse, while the other takes you into the village. We are surrounded on three sides by fields, hedgerows and brooks, with rabbits and deer regular visitors - and regular headaches for our grass pitches!
There is a thriving grassroots football scene within the county, with 18 clubs carrying a GL postcode. Over the past few years, we have worked tirelessly to become a bigger part of village life, and we are now seeing really encouraging increases in attendance at both matches and community events. There's still plenty to do, but we are definitely heading in the right direction.
Bishops Cleeve FC
Our ground sits at the bottom of a beautiful hill along a quiet country lane. One end of the lane leads to Cheltenham Racecourse, while the other takes you into the village. We are surrounded on three sides by fields, hedgerows and brooks, with rabbits and deer regular visitors - and regular headaches for our grass pitches!
There is a thriving grassroots football scene within the county, with 18 clubs carrying a GL postcode. Over the past few years, we have worked tirelessly to become a bigger part of village life, and we are now seeing really encouraging increases in attendance at both matches and community events. There's still plenty to do, but we are definitely heading in the right direction.
People around the area know we exist now, for a start! We have grown from having one senior men's team to four, alongside a men's veterans team, an Under-18s side, two women's teams, a darts team, five talent centre teams and around 45 Colts youth teams. In just a few years, we have gone from having one man and his dog watching matches to welcoming around 3,000 people through the ground every week.
I think what makes all of this possible is our authenticity. Any person, business or football club can say the "right" things on social media or in their marketing, but you soon get found out if your actions do not match your words. We genuinely are a welcoming, friendly, honest, inclusive and progressive community club, and I am incredibly proud of our values and everything we stand for.
We have big ambitions as a club, and we are not afraid to try new things. We will not always get everything right, but if we can keep progressing while holding on to that personal, community feel, then we will have done okay.
Every Club Needs A Gary
I would also be remiss if I did not give a shout-out to Gary Lawson, because he is an absolute superstar. Match steward, bingo caller, hospitality, plumbing, painting - if something needs doing, Gary is always on hand to do it. People like him are invaluable. Every club, and probably the world in general, needs more Gary Lawsons.
I think what makes all of this possible is our authenticity. Any person, business or football club can say the "right" things on social media or in their marketing, but you soon get found out if your actions do not match your words. We genuinely are a welcoming, friendly, honest, inclusive and progressive community club, and I am incredibly proud of our values and everything we stand for.
We have big ambitions as a club, and we are not afraid to try new things. We will not always get everything right, but if we can keep progressing while holding on to that personal, community feel, then we will have done okay.
Every Club Needs A Gary
I would also be remiss if I did not give a shout-out to Gary Lawson, because he is an absolute superstar. Match steward, bingo caller, hospitality, plumbing, painting - if something needs doing, Gary is always on hand to do it. People like him are invaluable. Every club, and probably the world in general, needs more Gary Lawsons.
One of his more memorable jobs is wearing our bear mascot costume on matchdays. On a sunny day, it is about a thousand degrees inside, so it is not exactly the glamorous side of football!
What stands out most, though, happened last year when Gary was rushed to hospital with a serious heart problem. For several hours, we came frighteningly close to losing him, and his wife Sandra, was sending heartbreaking updates to family and friends.
Thankfully, Gary made a miraculous recovery. One of the best phone calls I have ever received was him asking if someone could pick him up from Bristol Hospital because he had been discharged. We drove over to collect him, and all Gary wanted to talk about was what he had missed at the club. He was determined that we should take him straight to the ground so he could say hello to everyone, but thankfully we managed to convince him that home and bed were a much better idea.
While he was in hospital, we organised videos and messages of support from the players to keep his spirits up. One of the very first messages I received after he had come round was simply: "What's the line-up?" ahead of a big FA Trophy match. That pretty much sums Gary up.
How It Should Be
Despite the challenges of the late kick-off times, we have been blown away by how many local people have joined us to watch the World Cup. For one match alone, we welcomed nearly 250 adults and children, showing the game on both our indoor and outdoor screens. We put on food and drink offers, and let the kids run around on the grass pitches to help ease the tension of watching England!
We have worked incredibly hard to build a culture where everyone feels welcome and wants to be part of what is happening here.
That is why it was so rewarding to see people of all ages come together for the England matches. Plenty of those who joined us had no previous connection to the club, but many have been back since. We even made sure the groups who had claimed their tables at the start of the tournament could keep them for superstitious reasons! Before long, though, those tables had to get bigger as more people joined them with each game. By the semi-final, what had started as separate groups had become one big community of people who had got to know each other.
Exactly how it should be.
What stands out most, though, happened last year when Gary was rushed to hospital with a serious heart problem. For several hours, we came frighteningly close to losing him, and his wife Sandra, was sending heartbreaking updates to family and friends.
Thankfully, Gary made a miraculous recovery. One of the best phone calls I have ever received was him asking if someone could pick him up from Bristol Hospital because he had been discharged. We drove over to collect him, and all Gary wanted to talk about was what he had missed at the club. He was determined that we should take him straight to the ground so he could say hello to everyone, but thankfully we managed to convince him that home and bed were a much better idea.
While he was in hospital, we organised videos and messages of support from the players to keep his spirits up. One of the very first messages I received after he had come round was simply: "What's the line-up?" ahead of a big FA Trophy match. That pretty much sums Gary up.
How It Should Be
Despite the challenges of the late kick-off times, we have been blown away by how many local people have joined us to watch the World Cup. For one match alone, we welcomed nearly 250 adults and children, showing the game on both our indoor and outdoor screens. We put on food and drink offers, and let the kids run around on the grass pitches to help ease the tension of watching England!
We have worked incredibly hard to build a culture where everyone feels welcome and wants to be part of what is happening here.
That is why it was so rewarding to see people of all ages come together for the England matches. Plenty of those who joined us had no previous connection to the club, but many have been back since. We even made sure the groups who had claimed their tables at the start of the tournament could keep them for superstitious reasons! Before long, though, those tables had to get bigger as more people joined them with each game. By the semi-final, what had started as separate groups had become one big community of people who had got to know each other.
Exactly how it should be.
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