BY day, James French is manager of the Cirencester Arena, preferred winter training quarters of league clubs like Swindon Town, Cheltenham Town, Forest Green Rovers, and the Bristol Rovers Academy, as well as home to an array of Wilts & Glos Standard-sponsored five-a-side leagues, writes Danny Hall.

On training nights and Saturday afternoons, he is the track-suited boss of the successful Longlevens AFC.

Two years ago they were promoted from the Glos Northern Senior League and last season they won the David Wilson Homes-backed Gloucester County Premier League at only the second time of asking. To lift the title by five points from Tuffley Rovers was some achievement, particularly given the fact that they were at one point in 18th place out of 19 clubs in the division.

If their eventual triumph was not quite an example of coming back from the dead, that was quite literally the case with their skipper Mark Moore.

In a scenario that echoed the more famous incident involving Fabrice Muamba of Bolton Wanderers, Moore, 27, suffered a cardiac arrest last August during Longlevens’ third game of the season – an away cup tie at Southmead – and his heart stopped for 30 minutes.

It was only a quirk of fate that saved Moore’s life.

“On an adjacent pitch there was a match involving a team of paramedics,” said French.

“They came over when they heard the commotion, and retrieved some specialist equipment like defibrillators from their cars.

“At one point there were five of them trying various means of resuscitating Mark. I don’t think he would still be with us but for their expertise.”

Longlevens are to play a fund-raising match for those same paramedics and the Great Western Ambulance Service at their Saw Mills Lane ground on Saturday, July 23.

If Moore’s near-death experience was not the turning point of the Longlevens season, it certainly had a major impact on French’s squad.

“Understandably, with our captain in an induced coma, no one was very interested in playing football,” said French.

“The following two games on a Saturday and a Bank Holiday Monday were postponed.

“It was a traumatic time for everyone and it was very difficult to get them back training.

“The comeback match was at Frampton when we were presented with a huge bunch of flowers. We did not play particularly well but won 4-1.

“It was only when we knew that Mark had recovered that it focused everyone’s minds on what we wanted to achieve.

“At one point we had a run of 16 wins and a draw in 17 games.

“Because of a backlog of fixtures we were playing games Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday at the end of the season, but the belief we had was astounding.

“Even when we didn’t play well we would win matches, such was the team spirit.”

And French was able to use his Cirencester Town connections to draft in some extra bodies on the clogged run-in – the likes of Matt Sysum, Mark Pritchett and Lee Clatworthy all helping out at various times.

Ambitious Longlevens’s meteoric rise came too late to successfully apply for a move up to the Hellenic League this season.

“It was a bittersweet end to the campaign in that we could not get promoted,” said French. “But no one was considering promotion back in December when we had to make our case. We will not make the same mistake this time.”

MARK MOORE made extraordinary efforts to return to playing football, passing a stringent series of fitness tests. But after a minor cardiac scare in his first semi-serious game back, he has now decided to retire.