FOOTBALL coach Shabbir Ahmed has led his five-a-side team to the national finals for a tournament - now he is hoping someone else will lead his side to glory.

His team, Deep Dale FC, need to win one more game if Shabbir is going to lose his job, and the list of possible replacements would make even Blackburn Rovers' board go green at the gills.

For Terry Venables, Ron Atkinson, Peter Beardsley and Barry Fry are among the names lined up to take over from Shabbir this weekend - and he couldn't be happier!

That's because part of the prize for reaching the last eight of the Dreamcast Millennium Cup is chance to see your side be coached by one of soccer's greats.

Shabbir has already successfully guided his team to the finals of the tournament, which are due to be played at Arsenal's Highbury ground on Sunday.

Out of 10,000 teams who entered the competition, just 16 are left, including Shabbir's Deep Dale side.

Delighted Shabbir, who plays and coaches, said: "As we normally play seven-a-side, I think we have done really well.

"We won the local heats and then the national semi finals in Nottingham and this is our prize."

He added: "The standard of football is higher than we have ever encountered before, and we have had to match that so we have done really well.

"Hopefully we will win through to the last eight so I can sit back and let a professional guide the team to victory!"

The tournament has officially been confirmed as the biggest five-a-side tournament in the world, with teams made up of television and entertainment stars taking part in a celebrity tournament on Sunday.

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