It was probably mid-October when a friend with a good understanding of the rhythms of non-league football first mentioned Farnham Town.

They had banged out 10 wins in a row at the start of the Combined Counties South season prompting a few murmurs of interest and questions about their budget so I kept an eye on their progress.

By the turn of the year, they had won 16 out of 16, a record matched by PSV Eindhoven at the time but Ruud van Nistelrooy's team soon dropped two points and Paul Johnson's team carried on winning.