DID you hear the story about the tiny non-league football team looking for funds that found itself linking up with a Hollywood film producer?
One that brought about links with bigger sides and opened up a myriad of potential links to make them better.And that film producer has worked at one of the biggest sporting names in the entire world, as well as one of the richest.
Sounds like nonsense, does it not? Well, welcome to Denton Town’s new reality courtesy of Rob Molloy.
When the Whittle’s Park side made an online fundraising appeal to get £2,500 so it could survive the Covid-19 shutdown that forced the cancellation of its Cheshire League, league one campaign, little did anyone know what would come of it.
The £1,000 received from Rob, who lives in Tampa, Florida, pushed them over their target and it has opened several different new avenues – they have now named him a specialist advisor.
A link-up with Northern Premier League side Matlock Town – mainly because their manager Paul Phillips’ son Finlay plays for Denton – has come about, alongside one with Wirksworth Ivanhoe of Central Midlands League Division One South, who Rob also donated to.
Both sides will be at Denton for pre-season matches, the one with Wirksworth on July 11 being for the Rob Molloy Trophy.
And the 28-year-old hopes to be in Tameside soon after revealing a connection to the area through ancestry.
He told The Correspondent: “Denton Town reached out to me after what I did for Matlock Town and without hesitation I wanted to help as in times of crisis we must all stick together.
“I didn’t know much about Denton Town, but I did my research before I donated and was intrigued!
“My ancestry is from Greater Manchester and the club has been in touch. I just looked up when the club was formed and how they were very successful for a long time from the 1920s onwards.
“I truly did this because they are a small club that needed help and when I got the call, I had to do something.
“My passion is in baseball and football, soccer as we say though. I’ve always loved the game of football and always have supported the game.
“For an American I know a lot about the game. Also, it’s their centenary coming up, so that was a reason as well.
“I plan on being there before the new season to see the grounds and to be at the home opener.”
Molloy comes from good sporting stock as his grandfather George Steinbrenner was owner of the New York Yankees baseball team and he previously worked at New York City FC, part of the stable controlled by the City Football Group which owns Manchester City.
“The Yankees is one of the biggest sports franchises in the world, I learned a great deal,” Rob added.
“Of course, I had some of the best mentors including my uncle and grandfather, my grandfather was world renowned in sports as the boss, he taught me everything I know.”
And as well as the link ups, the investment has seen further off-field boosts in the form of a new sponsor, Elite Spraying Systems Ltd.
Matlock manager Paul Phillips can certainly see the benefits, telling his club: “Having these links will hopefully prove to be extremely useful.
“It means we can keep an eye on any emerging talent at clubs in different areas.
“With not having a reserve side and with both Nathan Whitehead and Craig King coming back after long layoffs, we can get them on dual registration and monitor their way back.
“It should also promote our club in both communities, even though Matlock is about 40 miles away from Denton. has also donated to both clubs.”
While life off the field has been transformed, Denton Town are making plans on the field, with John Phelan joining Kyle Lord in working with fellow joint managers Darren Green and Phill Cooper as first team coach.
And the latest member of the trio revealed Denton Town players could progress up the chain through the link with Matlock, as well as Matlock players coming down.
He said: “If players are playing well and then go on to play for Matlock then that will be huge for us
“The management team has also had their eyes on a few players, and we’ve been in contact with them. A few have clubs so it would be unfair to mention them!”