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
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