A regional daily is celebrating backing the winning team in a three-way tussle to find England’s first City of Football.

The Nottingham Post threw its weight behind the city’s challenge to win the prestigious honour and £1.6m funding from organisers Sport England.

And its campaign paid off as the home of world’s oldest league club in Notts County, double European Cup champions Notts Forest and famous for managerial great Brian Clough were crowned champions against old sporting opponents Manchester and Portsmouth.

Five months of hard work went into Nottingham’s bid for National Lottery funding to run a two-year pilot programme aimed at getting more people, particularly those aged 14-25 years, playing all forms of the grassroots game.

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

Mike Sassi, editor of the Post which has been around almost as long as the planet’s oldest professional side, said: “It’s great news being named England’s first City of Football. Nottingham be proud.

“Nottingham had an excellent bid – and an impressive array of supporters across the city. The Post was only too happy to jump in with two feet and give it our backing.

“We were just glad we were able help, because Nottingham is a very worthy winner – and £1.6m will make a big difference to the number of young people who are playing football in the city.”

After making the shortlist, Nottingham’s bid team went to work putting together their ideas and a full proposal with which to impress the judging panel from the governing body – who paid Nottingham a visit last week and were greeted by the bid team as well as Forest legend John McGovern at the railway station with the European Cup neatly tucked under his arm for good measure.

The proposal that finally impressed the judges includes plans for month-long festivals of football to a world record attempt in Old Market Square; 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.

The eye-catching bid was part of Team Nottingham’s vision to inspire “a social football revolution to help everybody find a connection to football”.

The Post originally 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’ which was praised by both bid partners and Sport England judges.