CLIVE Wilson, one of the men behind Eastleigh's meteoric rise up the non-League pyramid, is hoping to achieve similar success with Romsey Town.

After learning he was no longer wanted as a trustee at Eastleigh, Wilson - managing director of SES Autoparts -is ready to back a five-year plan to get Romsey out of the Sydenhams Wessex League and into the Southern ranks.

Having been involved with Eastleigh as sponsor, president and vice-chairman over the past decade, Wilson has gradually disappeared off the Stoneham Lane scene since he and ex-chairman Roger Sherwood lost last season's crucial vote about how the club would progress.

While he and Sherwood wanted a limited company by guarantee, the vote went in favour of shareholders, with manager Paul Doswell and chairman Paul Murray among the six equity directors of the new company, Eastleigh Football Club Ltd.

Wilson took over as acting chairman while the new company was being formed and then stood down as president during the summer to make way for Eastleigh's founder, Derik Brooks.

He remained a life vice-president and trustee at the Silverlake Stadium, but said the last straw was getting a letter from chairman Murray saying he was no longer wanted as a trustee.

Wilson said: "It was a bit of a blow considering I spent several months guiding Eastleigh through the changes after Roger had gone.

"Our head office of SES Autoparts has relocated to Romsey and I'd already been approached by (general manager) Trevor Holmes at Romsey.

"When I got that letter from Eastleigh it totally cheesed me off and that's when I decided to give Romsey a hand."

Wilson will not be joining Romsey in an official capacity, explaining: "I'm going to be here more in an advisory capacity and use my experience to help drive the club forward and develop the business side of things.

"At Eastleigh a lot of the marketing side was put in place by myself, networking with suppliers, and it's my intention to try and get as many people involved with Romsey as possible.

"We live only about two or three miles outside Romsey, so it's as close as my family have got to a home town."

Full story and more non league news in today's Daily Echo