Non-League and Academy football writer

FC Baresi are a real family football club. They were formed in Walthamstow, London, as Santos, in 1992 as a Sunday team. With the aim of giving youngsters the opportunity to play football, and to keep them off the streets. Founded by current chairman of the club Amjad Mahmood, FC Baresi/Santos as they were know then, would start off playing Sunday football in the newly formed Asian League, in Sunday league football. However, the club reformed in 1997, after not being involved in football for a while. The newly named Baresi FC, named after Italian footballing legend Franco Baresi, would return to Sunday football, and after a while their founder (Amjad Mahmood), also returned to take charge of the club. He would change the name of the club again however, to FC Baresi. A highly successful Sunday League football team, FC Baresi would only ever once finish outside of the top three of their respective leagues in Sunday football, such was their success as a club. There would be another pause in the history of FC Baresi, though, as the players of the club had got older, and started working, etc. And after a youth team of the club was run for a while, when they played under the Middlesex County League, FC Baresi would fold once again, as the players became older and had other commitments.

However, FC Baresi came back again in recent years. This time entering non-League football. In their first season in non-League football (Division Three of the Essex Alliance League), they won the double, and in doing so they became the first team in the history of the league to go unbeaten throughout a whole season. In the following year, the club ended up being promoted up two divisions, to Division One. They won the league at that level in their first season in that league, losing only two games all season. Hence they were promoted to the Premier Division of the Essex Alliance League, a league that they have been doing well in ever since, and during the current 2023/24 season, at the time of writing this piece, they are leading the league by 12 points, to second placed Woodford East. A club whose footballing philosophy has always been to play the FC Barcelona way, founder and chairman Amjad Mahmood, has always really appreciated that style of football, and he has always wanted the club to play fast football. When I was at a recent FC Baresi game, against Lymore Gardens, a league game which ended in FC Baresi winning 4-0, I was very impressed with how they approached the game.

FC Baresi have a really good balance of experienced players such as former Gillingham player Marvin Hamilton, Junior Appiah, FC Baresi’s excellent goalkeeper Eric Andoh, Romuald Boco, Murat Karagul and Marvin Smith, who is unfortunately out injured at the moment, but who along with Marvin Hamilton, has known Amjad Mahmood for a long time. They also have a very talented group of young players, players such as Raymond Poku, Abdoulaye Ly Athie, Lamine Brandao, Glody Kalunda, Qusay Mohammed and Isioma Richard, and the experienced group of players, as well as the promising youngsters, really complement each other well on the pitch, and this has been key to FC Baresi’s rise as a club. Marvin Hamilton is a Sri Lanka international, whose class and creativity on the ball was clear to see against Lymore Gardens, last Saturday. Along with the club, Marvin has been running football camps for youngsters out in Sri Lanka for his football organisation Marvin Hamilton Football World, which is a great thing that he is running with FC Baresi. Going back to FC Baresi’s fast football and the intensity in which they play, from their reserve side to their first team, playing on the floor is something which is so important to the people at the club, as well as the coaches. Former professional footballer and Benin international Romuald Boco is the player-manager of FC Baresi, and his great experience on the pitch, is so important to the team. In the dug-out for FC Baresi is head-coach Syed Tanveer Hussain, a man who has known Amjad Mahmood for a long time, and who has been involved with FC Baresi in various capacities for a long time.

 Syed Tanveer Hussain is also the current head-coach of Sunday team East London Ballers. Also, sporting director Tufail Amjad is often on the bench during games for the club, along with head-coach Syed Tanveer Hussain. Something which is very important for FC Baresi in their aims to progress as a club through the leagues, is that they ground-share with step four side Ware FC. This is something that the club are very thankful for, as it will allow them to continue to progress. FC Baresi have so far achieved some great things as a club, in a relatively short space of time. However, they have laid the foundations down for an exciting future in non-League, and a lot of that credit must go to the chairman and club founder Amjad Mahmood, as well as the coaching staff for helping to progress FC Baresi as a club. Step six football for next season is the aim, but the ambitions of this family club, are much higher than that. I wish FC Baresi all the very best for the remainder of the 2023/24 season. And I would like to thank Amjad Mahmood and Syed Tanveer Hussain for all of their help in writing this article.

Some questions that both Amjad Mahmood and Syed Tanveer Hussain answered for me in midweek:

What have you made of the current 2023/24 season, for FC Baresi?

Amjad Mahmood: I think that we’ve done well, but obviously our target is to get promotion this season. Our goal has always been to get promoted this season, with the cups obviously being a bonus, but we’ll go from there. So far I’m happy with the management team and Syed Tanveer Hussain and Tufail Amjad, but once again, this is now the business end of the season, and this is where it matters.

Syed Tanveer Hussain: We sat down at the start of the season and discussed our aims for the season, and we do have a five year plan. We’re ambitious in the sense that we don’t just want to go to step six, as we’ve got a five year plan within that, which is to go to step six and consolidate, and then go to step five. We are going to push to go up the ladder, and to hopefully build on the current season. I also work for a Sunday team called East London Ballers, and that is an opportunity to give those players the chance to play non-League football. We also want to give the players at FC Baresi, the opportunity to progress up the footballing pyramid.

For those who haven’t seen FC Baresi play, could you describe to me what style of football they like to play?

Amjad Mahmood: Since I formed the club in the early 1990’s, my philosophy has always been for the club to play the Barcelona way, and there wasn’t going to be any other way. We always want to keep possession of the ball as much as we can, and to play a quick passing game, and to play entertaining football. So we want people to come and watch the football and enjoy it, and not watch football up in the air.

Syed Tanveer Hussain: Just adding to what Amjad said, my ethos has always been the same. When I used to work with Troy Townsend, I follow the footballing style that he has, which is about fast and attacking football, which is really about passing the ball around the pitch. So we want to play an exciting brand of football, and we want people who come and watch our games, to be entertained. If they’re not being entertained, then what is the point!

Could you talk me through a bit about the current first team squad/group of players at FC Baresi?

Amjad Mahmood: I think that this is one of the best squads that we’ve ever had. I think that this level that this is our best squad, because we’ve got a good balance of experience and youth, and the youth players are progressing really well. One of the players who has been promoted from our Under 23 side this season, has done really well for the first team. So there is a good understanding between the younger and more experienced players, and the biggest thing was when we had our group bonding session up in Lancashire, at Accrington Stanley’s training ground last summer, because our manager Romuald Boco used to play for them. And that group bonding session has helped the squad a lot, to get to know each other, and it is about personalities.

What are some of your personal aims/the clubs hopes for the future, for the club?

Amjad Mahmood: We’ve got a five year plan at the moment, and we’re hoping to achieve that, but we want to go above that, at least in my life time, hopefully. However, these things take time and we want to take it step by step, and we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves too much.

Syed Tanveer Hussain: We want to be ambitious, and we’re not trying to be arrogant in any way, because we’re humble. However, we want to be ambitious, because if you want to achieve big, then you’ve got to dream big. If we even get halfway from what we are dreaming, then that is still a really good level of success. We have the right personnel at the club, and there is no one here with an ego, as such. If we find someone who is better at the job than I am, then I’ll still be at the club, but I’ll step aside. Because we want to get the best possible candidates into the best roles at this club, as we look to continue to progress.

What have been some of the highlights of the club, since it moved into non-League football?

Amjad Mahmood: Winning the Manchester tournament two years in a row and only conceding one goal, is definitely one. But we’ve played some very good football during our time in the very competitive Essex Alliance League, and it’s expanding every year, but we’re proud to have been taken on by the league. So we want to make the league proud by playing good football.

Syed Tanveer Hussain: I can’t really elaborate too much on what Amjad has said, but we want to show that where we are based, that there are some talented footballers out there, and that we will give them the opportunity to grow and to work their way into the game at some level. Behaviour for us is really important, as we are representing the league, and Amjad was firm on that at the beginning of the season, because he wants us to be a role model club. And we want to be brave in what we do, as you have to be brave to excel as a club.