IT started with former Tyro League footballer Stuart Gates answering an advert on Sky for the football equivalent of the X-Factor or Pop Idol ...

... and the youngster's epic journey will end on his 18th birthday tomorrow when the nation finds out whether he has won a year's contract with Premiership champions Chelsea!

For the last 10 weeks, Gates and a selection of other young wannabees have been featured on Sky TV's Football Icon 2 soccer talent show.

The former Hamble College and Barton Peveril student is one of the last three youngsters who have reached tomorrow's final from a nationwide search for a talented player to join the Blues.

Alongside Lowford-based Gates in the final is Tom Bird, who was a member of the Basingstoke side which won last season's Hampshire Sixth Form Colleges League, and Geordie Carl Magner.

Gates is a striker, Bird a left-back and Magner a centre half.

The Hamble ASSC striker was originally selected from around 7,000 hopefuls who took part in regional trials across the country.

Full story in today's Daily Echo