A regional daily is putting its ‘historical boot’ behind an audacious bid to be England’s first City of Football.

The city of Nottingham is home to the world’s oldest league club in Notts County – formed in 1862 – and famous for managerial great Brian Clough and his back-to-back European Cup champions Nottingham Forest.

Now the Nottingham Post, which has been around almost as long as the planet’s oldest professional side, is supporting the city challenge to win the prestigious honour and £1.6m funding from organisers Sport England.

The Post celebrated the arrival of the Sport England delegation in the city to assess the strength of the bid – with a wrap round edition headlined ‘Make Us England’s City Of Football’.

The paper, which first hit the city’s streets in 1878, told its readers: “We are proud to support Nottingham’s bid to be the City of Football.”

With a front page picture of youngsters armed with footballs running through the city’s ‘Old Market Square, the article pleaded: “Help us bring the beautiful game to thousands more children.”

Nottingham has been shortlisted alongside Portsmouth, whose bid was evaluated on Monday, and Manchester, whose judgment day will be tomorrow (Friday). Sport England will announce its decision the three bids next Tuesday.

The city’s campaign has already received universal endorsement from many prominent figures, including Prime Minister David Cameron.

Now, the team behind the bid and its supporting cast of partners hope for the ultimate endorsement, with one key figure, Steve Hill, the Football in the Community boss at Notts County, saying: “The City of Football is a fantastic opportunity for Nottingham that we’re all really excited about.”

The Post has revealed to readers ‘secret’ details of the bid’s proposals for a month-long festival of football to a world record attempt; from changing the culture of ‘no ball games’ to using cutting-edge social media communication techniques so people know when and where they can play.

It’s is all designed to increase participation, particularly among those aged 14-25.