CHAIRMAN Mark Pye is pleased with the progress of Rylands FC under ownership of Wayne Rooney’s agent Paul Stretford, writes Matt Bates.

The high-flying Blues first team have made an excellent start to their inaugural season at a higher level, while the club is booming across younger age groups too.

Since reacquainting with his former club, having played for Rylands during the 1970s, Stretford has invested into the senior team and helped secure their spot in the Hallmark Security League First Division South this season.

It is the first time in the club’s 107-year history that Rylands are competing at this level, and 11 wins from their 15 matches this season is an impressive way to assert their presence, making chairman Mark Pye very happy.

He said: “The club is blooming at the moment. The first-team managers Stuart Wellstead and Dave McNabb are absolutely fantastic.

“The first-team coach Fraser Ablett is another great lad who’s brilliant to work with. I hope they stay with us into the future.

“Paul is really helpful too. Obviously, he’s a busy man, but he’s always there and provides us with support and guidance.”

The division’s top scorers also have a formidable goal difference of 35, having netted three goals or more in all except one of their wins this season and boast the best defensive record.

However, Pye expressed the importance of feet being kept firmly on the ground.

He stated: “We are just trying to grow at our own pace. We are not putting any pressure on ourselves as everyone is relaxed and enjoying it – that’s the environment we wanted to create.

“The first team are fantastic, supported by the reserves and under 21s. We are doing really well, but also making sure that we take each step at a time.

“We said from the beginning that getting into the North West Counties League and establishing ourselves is the priority this year.”

With the current successes in step six of the football pyramid, there is a promising future awaiting Rylands, which is something firmly in the minds of everyone at Gorsey Lane.

Pye added: “We are a community club and pride ourselves in recruiting kids from the local areas that could play for us. We are trying to home-grow the players through to the first team.

“Since I took over two years ago, we’ve grown from just two senior squads to a variety of teams across different age groups. We are getting a lot of interest with junior players coming in their numbers, so it is all going well.

“The overriding ambition is to progress up the leagues, but it will take as long as it takes. We want to avoid doing anything rash and suffering for it later on.”

Rylands, who host ninth-placed Stone Old Alleynians at Gorsey Lane on Saturday, kick off 2pm, defeated Cheadle Heath Nomads 5-0 in the Macron Cup second round at the weekend.

Liam Moran netted once in each half, with Jay White, Ste Boothman and Ste Wolhuter also getting in on the action.