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Durham City AFC are a non-league club who have their feet firmly placed on the ground and in the centre circle.

But how hard is it to run a non-league club that听rarely gets any media coverage, doesn't have 拢125 million to spend on the likes of David Beckham or even sometimes gives away season tickets? We spoke to the people in charge.

The modesty of Gerard O'Conner, the director of the club, shone through when we asked about his hopes for the next few seasons: "We haven't achieved what we'd hope to over the recent years, so we have a duty to bring good football to the city, the supporters and the area."

The manager, Lee Collins, has similar expectations on the pitch: "We'd like to win the league, get to the first round of the FA Cup and to win the FA Vase."

Durham City AFC currently play in the Arngrove Northern League in a stadium that can hold up to 600 fans. They strive to get into high profile competitions and one of their biggest seasons to date is the season of 2001/2002 where the club reached the semi-final of the FA Vase and won the Arngrove Northern League.

However, they gracefully declined the opportunity to move into a higher league for the 2007/2008 season as manager Lee Collins explained:

"I don't think we were fully prepared to make that step with the squad. There was so much uncertainty about the structure of the league and it got to a stage where it didn't seem viable to go in.

"You need a lot of luck in these competitions, good draws and good players. I've almost got everyone I want [for the squad] and I know a lot of them can go a lot higher, so I hope they can prove that this season."

Free season tickets?

Every club seeks out new publicity but not many can afford to the way that Durham City AFC has: "We've given away a lot of season tickets to kids, so we're hoping that could bring another 100 or 200 supporters in," said Lee.

Gerard added: "We've employed a commercial manager ... and we're always looking for sponsors."

For more information about the club and all the latest news visit the official Durham City AFC website: