SAMBA STAR CAME FORTH!

SANDRO’S shock arrival at Harborough Town last week gained worldwide attention – but it’s not the first time that a Brazilian has turned up in Non-League football and set tongues wagging.

- Richard Edwards

Back in 2003, in the humble surroundings of the Northern Counties East League, Simon Clifford – the founder of the Brazilian Soccer Schools – wasn’t a man short of ambition.

After taking over at Garforth Town he revealed his ambition to take them to the Premier League within 20 years.

Having built up a range of contacts within Brazilian football – not least, the father of Middlesbrough legend, Juninho, who he sat just a couple of seats away from in the home end of Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium – Clifford planned his greatest coup to bring Socrates – who had played his last competitive match in 1990 and finished his career for the Selecao at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico – to Wheatley Park at the age of 50!

“In those days there weren’t loads of photos on the internet, so I didn’t know the condition he’d be in when picking him up at Manchester Airport,” Clifford told The Athletic.

“Turned out he was a little bit heavier than I’d been expecting. But that was fine. All that mattered was he was here.”