Meet the ex-SAS assasin who has taught a Sussex football team how to be winners.

Ron Eastwood, who served with the special forces in World War Two, is the football-mad president of Royal Sovereign in the Brighton Premier League.

The 80-year-old pensioner's input has helped Sovereign to the top of the league with a 100 per cent record.

Eastwood is no stranger to the game as he managed the now defunct Newick Rangers for 30 years, during which time they won the top division in the Sussex Sunday League 11 times and were runners up on seven occasions.

Then there were no academies to coax youngsters into the senior game and Eastwood had five players on his books who went on to represent England at various levels. Players of the calibre of Colin Woffinden and Willie Smith.

Eastwood's Sunday League side even took on Sussex as a one-off to celebrate the county FA's 25th anniversary and they drew 2-2, he says proudly.

Now Eastwood helps run Sovereign, and the energetic OAP never misses a game. The Liverpool fan said: "I like to see an organised defence but I played with five forwards in my day."

Eastwood, an outside right with an eye for goal in his pomp, acknowledges the game has changed greatly since then, even in the amateur field.

"There is no loyalty in football these days," he adds. "The footballers are not as tough either, the professionals lead a particularly pampered existence.

"I always tell the lads what I think of their performance in the bar afterwards."

Not surprisingly Eastwood's persuasive powers have helped Royal Sovereign to the summit of the league and their defence is the meanest in the division, having conceded just six goals.

The team's latest victims were Southern Rangers Old Boys who were ruthlessly dispatched 3-1. On that occasion a brace from Gary Mansell and a Mick Bird effort did the damage, but the whole team have been performing admirably.

The table-toppers have recovered well from the recent loss of their influential skipper Matthew Keen with a broken cheekbone.

Keen can now be found keeping Eastwood company at the bar on a Saturday before and after matches.

Despite his advancing years, Eastwood maintains a legendary reputation for boozing within the club.

"I like gin and tonics," he said. "It is the only drink that doesn't give me a hangover.

"When we were at the Beaufort, there was a lad who came in and challenged me to a drinking competition on champagne and brandy. We drank 20 and then in extra time I turned round and he was on the floor.

"They used to encourage us to drink in the SAS but it was hard. You couldn't even phone home."

Today Ron still monitors politics and international affairs closely. So what does he think of the current troubles in Afghanistan? "I'd love to be there," he said. "I loved those mountain jobs."

Sovereign chairman Peter Martin said: "He never misses a game, and is always the last to leave the pub. He's a real character and certainly says what he thinks.

"He doesn't mind upsetting the boys and he tells a few home truths after a bad performance.

"Ron often moans that the teams aren't as good as they used to be. But the players have great respect for him and he always wears his SAS gear.

"He has SAS memorabilia all round his room and we are just grateful he is in our club. Ron's enthusiasm for the game is remarkable."

Keep up the good work Ron. Park Life promises to parachute in a case of London Pride, but don't expect me to drink it with you.