Former Bradford City winger Mark Ellis has revealed that his new role as director of football at Eccleshill United is only a small part of his new venture.

Ellis is running a football development programme in Leeds for the London-based Richmond University.

And he will be joined by new Eagles boss Ian Banks, who was assistant manager at Valley Parade under Nicky Laws, and legendary City winger John Hendrie.

Ellis is excited about his new project, saying: “This is a unique programme. As far as I know, it’s the only one like it anywhere in the world.

“We will see how it goes but already I have a lot of players from different nations and by year four, I hope to have 100.

“They study at Leeds City College and live in residence halls in the centre of Leeds.

“Ian is a UEFA A-licensed coach and he will work with lads on the course, as well as running the first team at Eccleshill.

“John still works with some of the youth groups at City and he will be with us in this, as will a lot of other very good coaches.

“Eccleshill will benefit from this next season because some of the players will sign for the club, but it is such a massive project that the aim is to eventually link up with a Football League club.”

Ellis got involved in the project through his work as a coach at American colleges, and it is being funded from that side of the Atlantic.

Ellis added: “There has already been a lot of time and money invested in it, and the directors of it are based in America.

“The lads all go through the enrolment and registration in New York city and then they are sent over here to learn and improve their footballing skills.

“They are not all from the USA because we have 60 scouts looking for talent there but also Canada, Mexico and other countries. We already have a Berm-udan goalkeeper and a Belgian lad.

“Of the first batch of lads, some are already decent players with loads of potential.

“I don’t say all the lads will make it into the full-time game, either here or in their own country, but they will be given the best chance.”