Spartans FC graduate with honours

If that wasn't enough, he then became a founder trustee of the shiny new community football academy where he is now groundsman. So he knows what he is talking about. Spartans is in his blood and he is not alone.

This afternoon dozens of former players will gravitate towards Ainslie Park in Edinburgh, not simply because Spartans are hosting their glamour fixture against Manchester United, but because it serves as an excuse to renew acquaintances.

Those enduring bonds distinguish the club from many others, says Hutchison. "It's an inner thing and it is always great to see so many former players coming back. It's about the club and that is what we have stood for for 60 years." He has organised a commemorative strip for today "because I want these players, maybe in ten or 20 years' time, to have that and think about the club in that context and still want to be associated with it. Because, once a Spartan, always a Spartan. That's the way it used to be and I want it to still be like that now."

This season marks the 60th anniversary of the club, founded by Second World War veterans who returned to civvy street craving a university education and the chance to play football. "When they left university they wanted to continue playing so they formed the Spartans," explains Hutchison. "It was really just a group of friends, mainly from Edinburgh University, who wanted to put their education and their career first but still wanted to play football and wanted to play to a high standard. It was a combination of ambitious people whose ambition also translated into the sport side of things. Times have changed and it is no longer all university graduates but there are still an awful lot of people at this club who are like that.

"In my opinion those guys played the game for the right reasons; they didn't play it for money, they did it because they love football and the ambition was in trying to do well in every game, for each other and to win trophies at the end of the season."

A lot of things have changed in the club's 60 years but a family feel and the quest for success remain central. In recent years the East of Scotland League side have undermined many a higher league club on Scottish Cup duty, making them one of the minnows most managers would least like to draw in the knock-out competition, while last season they made it three league titles on the bounce (their sixth in the past ten years) as they swept the board in East of Scotland football.Today they will pull off another ambitious coup, when they welcome Manchester United.

"First of all, for the players, this is something they are all looking forward to. They will be up against somebody who could be a household name in years to come and it is not very often that a player at this level can say they have played Manchester United," says co-manager Sam Lynch, another whose relationship with the club has lasted several decades. There are plenty like him on the committee and on the staff. "But this is a wonderful day for everyone in the Spartans family and shows how much the club has grown. The academy is an amazing facility and it means we can now stage big games without being let down by the ground. We have been enjoying a lot of success on and off the pitch and we still have ambitions to take it further. Getting this game is incredible."

From the decrepit City Park, Spartans have moved a few minutes' walk away to the sparkling new community academy. Former Manchester United midfielder Gordon Strachan is the patron and it has received rave reviews from several luminaries of Scottish football, but as well as bolstering the people of north Edinburgh, the modern facility also helps the club accommodate a burgeoning men's set-up, a youth section which comprises more than 500 boys and girls, and three women's teams.

In 2008 Spartans made a bid for admission to the Scottish Football League. Back then the academy was still a building site and Annan Athletic were given the nod instead. But Spartans have delivered the trophies, facilities and community projects they said they would and have not given up on their goal. They are desperate to see a pyramid structure in Scottish football to allow teams to develop and progress without the fear of clattering heads of glass ceilings. As things stand, players who would prefer to stay at Spartans and progress along with with the club are being forced to leave if they want league football.

For those who have stayed to fight for a fourth-successive title, this afternoon is the kind of game to get the juices flowing again.

"It is frustrating not being able to get into the SFL but we are still motivated as a team and as individuals to win every possible trophy," says midfielder Jack Beesley. Including the Ronnie Swan Challenge Cup which is up for grabs today. "We would prefer to be getting ready for an SFL season but at least this is a fresh challenge and a wee bit of glamour."

It will also see a crowd of 3000-plus packed into the ground. It's a far cry from those early days. "None of us in the 70s, never mind the people who founded the club 60 years ago, would ever have envisaged a Spartans team playing a club of Manchester United's standing," says Hutchison. "So it means so much to me that we do it well.We have staged big games against Livingston and St Mirren before across the road which is an old dump of a place but this is a wonderful way to showcase this facility and this club.

"I have always thought that the club motto should be that we do the right things in the right way. Well, we try to. We are ambitious but we still want football to be played the right way, for the right reasons, for the love of the game. I hope we never lose that."

This weekend old memories will be dredged up, former highlights relived as the boys of yesteryear catch up. On the field the current Spartans will be charged with forging new ones.

"I was going to try to swap my shirt at the end," says Beesley, "but now I know that we are getting the commemorative strip I definitely don't want to give my shirt away."'