A LIFELONG football fan has left a famous semi-professional club more than £300,000 in his will.

Colin Rowell was a passionate supporter of Bishop Auckland Football Club for more than 70 years – and when he died in January he left the proceeds from the sale of his bungalow to his beloved team.

Stunned club officials said that the generous bequest would help secure the future of the world's most successful amateur side - best known for winning the FA Amateur Cup an incredible ten times - for years to come.

They are planning to repay the magnificent gesture by naming part of the ground after him – and scattering his ashes on the pitch.

Club chairman, Richard Tremewan said: “Although we have received one or two bequests before, we've had nothing like this. It's a stunning amount of money and one that will make a huge difference to the club.”

Mr Rowell, 79 when he died, was born in nearby Cockton Hill.

Almost as soon as he could walk, his father, a train driver, took him to his first match and those early years led to a lifelong love for the club.

At the time, the team were enjoying an unprecedented run of success in national and local competitions.

Between 1947 and 1956 they won the Northern League seven times. They finished runners-up on the other three occasions.

Bishop Auckland’s record in the FA Amateur Cup is even more impressive with 18 final appearances and ten wins, including a record three consecutive victories. Bishops were the most successful amateur side of their generation, a fact confirmed when Manchester United called on Bishop Auckland for reinforcements after the Munich Air Disaster in 1958.

Mr Rowell’s partner, Nora Robson said: “Football was his life. He used to talk about the team and the matches he'd been to all the time.”

Darren Brown, a partner in the probate department of Hewitts Solicitors in Bishop Auckland, added: “Colin never married and he had no children so it was, perhaps, the natural thing for him to leave it to the football club that had given him so much pleasure over the years.”

Mr Rowell insisted the money be used to improve the team's Heritage Park ground.

Club director Terry Jackson said: “This magnificent gesture gives us the opportunity to do some of the things around the ground we would like to do – as opposed to what we can afford. It's up to us to honour Colin's memory by making sure every penny is spent wisely.”