Liam Davis could make history in two ways on Sunday as he prepares for The Buildbase FA Vase Final.
The Cleethorpes Town midfielder is aiming to lead his hometown club to a first-ever Vase title, as well as become the first openly gay male footballer to play in a Wembley Final when they take on South Shields.
And he revealed that the buzz around the Lincolnshire town is at fever pitch as they get ready for their trip to the national stadium for Non-League Finals Day.
“I’m a Cleethorpes boy and the excitement this run has generated has just been amazing, it’s all over town and rightly so,” Davis told the official Non-League Finals Day match programme.
“The club is only 20-years-old but we’re just about to play on the biggest stage you can possibly play on.
“It’s great, especially with the club being so well run from the junior teams upwards, the kids and their families are absolutely loving it.”
Davis joined the Owls last October and has scored 19 goals since to help the club to promotion to the Northern Premier League Division One South as well as The FA Vase Final.
And the spotlight is something which isn’t entirely new to the 25-year-old, who hit the headlines in 2014 when he showed his support to ex Aston Villa and Germany midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger after his announcement that he was gay hit the headlines.
“There was a lot of coverage at that time because of Thomas Hitzlsperger coming out,” he recalls.
“I tweeted a couple of things after Hitzlsperger and it got picked up elsewhere.
“I had actually been out since I was 18-years-old so it was nothing new for me, really.
“Someone said that [being the openly first gay male player at Wembley] to me the other day but I told them I hadn’t even given that fact a second thought since we reached the Final.”
Tickets for Non-League Finals Day, which also includes the Buildbase FA Trophy Final between Macclesfield Town and York City, are on sale here or you can purchase tickets on the day at Wembley Stadium.
You can read the full interview with Liam in the match Non-League Finals Day match programme, available at Wembley for just £5.
