Two football-mad fans are kicking off on a challenge - to drop by 44 football clubs in 44 hours for charity.

Matt Clewes, 24, and mate Chris Milligan, 23, will be embarking on their epic 1,600-mile road journey over the August bank holiday weekend.

They are on a mission to net as much memorabilia from Premier League and Championships clubs and then auction it off to raise money for Mind, which supports people with mental health issues.

They first met at Solent University, so fittingly they will be setting off in their car at Southampton’s St Mary’s Stadium and aim to finish there the following day.

The two men have both suffered with mental health issues and want to highlight problems impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Gills and Chelsea supporter, Matt, of Hinton Crescent, Hempstead, said: “Mind is a great charity who do amazing things and with everything we have gone through in the past few months, mental health is more important than ever.

"We both love football and would watch any team play.”

Arsenal fan Chris, from Watford, said: “We are massive football fans and it is something we have always wanted to do and we are beyond happy to do it for Mind.”

They will be starting off at 5am on the Saturday and heading for Brighton, taking in the London clubs, including Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal, before heading north to Liverpool, Middlesbrough and Newcastle and then on to Wales.

They are planning to make it back to the Hampshire ground just before midnight on the Sunday. Both were involved in their uni radio station the Big Fry Up. They both studied journalism.

They hope to raise £1,000 for Mind from the sale of merchandise and, hopefully, some autographs from top players and managers from some of England's and Europe's leading clubs.

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