The grassroots football club that's also an unofficial finishing school for Man City players

It's Thursday night at the Vestacare Stadium in Oldham and the footballs are flying as 60 kids all look to catch the eye of their coach at their weekly training session.

Then Friday comes along, and one of Manchester City's brightest young defenders is on the same pitch with the same coach looking to build on his Champions League debut for the club. Welcome to Bee Inspired, the grassroots club and training centre that is also serving as a finishing school for the next generation of elite footballers.

The brains behind the project is owner Dean Brathwaite, a City fan raised in Middleton who swapped the frontlines of the Kippax for a central view from the South Stand of the Etihad when he realised he wanted to be a football coach. Brathwaite had done some work for City and was a one-to-one specialist at a private football academy in Wythenshawe when, disheartened at the direction it was going in, he opted to take the plunge and go it alone in 2017.

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Bee Inspired, with its nod to Manchester in the name, began with just a few and has grown to the point where kids are coming from Sale, Warrington and beyond to Oldham every week. Brathwaite and two other coaches run an open training session to all kids aged five and up on a Tuesday, with the grassroots club training on Monday and Thursday with teams from Under-8s up to Under-15s before matches at the weekend.

They are having success too; their Under-10s will soon head to Manchester United's academy for the final of the Manchester Youth Super League’s Super Champions Cup. The more progress is made, the more kids buzzing around the sessions.

“Obviously I want to give back opportunities that I