Northumberland non-league club gets £100,000 transfer share Published duration 26 November 2015

image copyright Getty Images image caption Fraser Forster joined Southampton from Celtic in 2014 - he played for Stocksfield until he was 15

A little non-league football club in Northumberland is to receive a £100,000 share of the transfer fee for a former player.

Stocksfield FC is to get part of England keeper Fraser Forster's £10m transfer from Celtic to Southampton

Forster joined his local club when he was eight and played until he signed for Newcastle United aged 15.

Stocksfield said the "overwhelming" sum could help it improve facilities and hire more coaches.

It took the club months to track down the paperwork needed to prove Forster, who has three England caps, played for the club as a youth. Much of it was eventually found in an attic belonging to one of the coaches.

Secretary and coach Phil Murray said: "It's unbelievable, we're so excited thinking how a small club in rural Northumberland has managed to get hold of this - we're absolutely delighted."

'Absolutely fantastic'

The club claimed the money under Fifa's compensation system which means any club fielding a player from the age of 12 gets a cut of later transfer fees.

media caption Goalkeeper Tom said former player Forster was his "idol"

"We expected a little bit of money... we might have got £1,000, which is the most we have ever managed to fundraise.

"But when we were going through the process we realised we were possibly due a little bit more, and it was only last week that the final six-figure sum come to fruit and we're absolutely overwhelmed as you can imagine," said Mr Murray.

"We've got some exciting plans. We would love to improve the facilities here," he said.

"It's amazing how many of the kids want to be goalkeepers now - everyone looks up to him, everybody talks about him, whenever people say they are from Stocksfield they talk about Fraser - it's absolutely fantastic."

image caption Coach Phil Murray said Forster did not start playing as a goalkeeper at the club until he was 12 or 13