THE owner of a Lowland League outfit hopes to make fantasy football become top-flight reality after offering fans the chance to buy into his club.
Edusport Academy currently play in the fifth tier of the Scottish football ladder to average crowds of just 15.
But owner Chris Ewing has ambitions to propel the side up the divisions and into the Ladbrokes Premiership by 2025.
His plan involves luring an "online supporter base" who will get the chance to choose a new name for the club as well as its colours and crest.
They will also be able to recommend signings and take other key decisions in return for a £25 annual membership subscriptions.
Edusport currently sit 11th in the Lowland League, whose champion is involved in play-offs to reach Ladbrokes League Two, and play their home games at Annan's Galabank, although a search for a new base near Glasgow has already been launched.
Ewing, a former Motherwell and Stranraer player, originally formed his project in 2011 as a residential course for young French footballers in Scotland but now wants to offer Scottish football fans a new experience.
He said: "Yeah it's ambitious – but I'm an ambitious guy.
"Reaching the Premiership by 2025 is a bold statement but I stand by it as there is no reason why it can't be achieved.
"The whole project is based on trying to inspire people so you need big hairy ambition and that's what we're offering.
"When you see how many people play things like fantasy football or Football Manager and how passionate they are about it, you can see the interest is there.
"If we can try and apply that interest to a real modern-day football club then I believe there is opportunity and potential there.
"The challenge we have is making it seem niche and game-like for the members but at the same time making it professionally run and organised."
A number of Scottish clubs – including Hearts, Motherwell and St Mirren – are now engaged in a fan-ownership model but Ewing's scheme will take it to another level.
He said: "People are crying out for transparency and to have a voice at their club. For a lot of fans, once you pay your season ticket money, they get nothing back other than seeing 90 minutes on a Saturday.
"For some people that's enough but I believe fans deserve more.
"There is a trend in Scottish football where fans want to be more involved.
"We are now offering that opportunity to run the club the way that fans want but we're doing it without the politics because there is no existing fan base, there is no conflict of interest.
"There are no board of directors or investors – it's myself who has this club and I'm opening up the door and offering to share it.
"It's Roy of the Rovers stuff but if we can have enough people who buy into this idea, why can't we get to the Premiership by 2025? Why can't we be playing in the Champions League within 15 years?"
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