'Record promotion is what dreams are made of'

Worthing FC fans say their club's first promotion to the top-tier of non-league football in its 140-year history is "what dreams are made of".

Worthing beat Ebbsfleet United 2-0 on Saturday to secure their promotion to the National League.

Fan Simon Jenkins said: "I just couldn't quite believe it. I've been going there for nearly 30 years, it sounds like a tall tale but really back then it was 200 people and a Labrador."

While James Easton, who hosts a podcast about the club, says Worthing's rise through the leagues "doesn't feel real".

Club owner George Dowell joined Worthing FC in 2008 as a 16-year-old in the youth team and featured on the bench for the club before he was paralysed from the chest down in a car crash in 2010.

By 2014, the club had debts of almost £200,000, but the following year, aged 22, Dowell came to its rescue and became one of the youngest football club owners in the country.

Since his takeover, which he funded with his compensation money, the club has been promoted three times.

Actor and film producer Jason Maza says work is under way to develop a film based on the story of Worthing FC and its owner, named World at His Feet.

Maza says the club has "one of the most remarkable stories in non-league football".

Easton told BBC Radio Sussex: "Just the transformation George has done around the club [he's] just brought light to such a fantastic football club in a town that hasn't got a professional football team.

"You think about it and this is literally what dreams are made of and there's no surprises there's a documentary made about George."

Jenkins said: "What he's done and what the club has done is when you're there you sort of feel you're with your people.

"There's 2,500, 3,000, 4,000 people all from the local environs, you chat away to whoever is standing next to you and it's just a feeling of belonging and in the summer sunshine and in the winter sunshine in Sussex, there's no better place to be."

Following the club's promotion to the fifth tier of English football, Dowell reflected on his time with Worthing FC saying "the club saved me".

"I was in a difficult point of my life as well and I was stuck at home, twiddling my thumbs, not really knowing what to do with my life. When the opportunity came up I took it and I'm so grateful that I did for days like today," he said.

The match against Ebbsfleet saw the club set a new attendance record with 4,002 people watching the game.

Manager Adam Hinshelwood, whose son Jack plays for Brighton & Hove Albion, said: "Jack used to come and watch, grass pitch, not as many fans.

"The stand was falling down, and today to see so many [fans], absolutely packed out, and to get to the first tier of non-league football is phenomenal for this club."

Jack added: "They've been trying so hard to get out this league for the last few years, so to get it done today and now have a go at the National League, I think it's really exciting times for the club and something for Dad and the squad to look forward to."

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