Faversham Strike Force founder Gary Axford reflects on the club’s rapid rise as club marks 25-year anniversary

The founder of one of Kent’s largest and most well-known youth football clubs has been reflecting on their remarkable rise ahead of a major milestone.

Faversham Strike Force, formed by Gary Axford, is celebrating their 25-year anniversary today.

“It’s really flown by,” said Axford, who’s now Strike Force’s club manager. “But, at the same time, I can still remember those early days.

“It’s quite spooky, really, with how quickly that time has gone and how vivid my memories are.”

With Faversham Town not having the youth section they have today back in 1999, the dad-of-three explained how looking for somewhere for his eldest two sons to play football helped inspire him to form the club.

He said: “My oldest two sons, Chris and Tom, were looking to play football.

“Chris was probably seven and Tom maybe was five. Back in those days, there wasn’t any youth section at Faversham Town.

"Previous to that, they did have quite a good youth section because, when I was a kid, I played there.

“But they had a barren spell where they didn’t have any youth and that was the time when my oldest two boys were looking to play football.

“That’s how it all started, really. Just with a small group of lads at The Mount - all different ages. There was a coaching session going on and I took Chris and Tom.

“It was very unstructured - we didn’t play any team games, we didn’t play in a league - and it, literally, was just a gathering.

“Within six months, I’d got involved, taken it over and turned it into a football club.”

While there was little structure to the sessions Chris and Tom, an England Schoolboy international, initially got involved in, the appetite for youth-team football in Faversham was evident to Gary.

“There was a young lad from out of the