“It's a bit of a tenuous link but we're going to claim it anyway because it's a good link!” Craig Davis said after Ousmane Dembélé came back into view during the Ballon d'Or ceremony. Winchester City are happy to lean into the joke because the connection has a long backstory, and this latest burst of attention gives the non-league club another chance to enjoy it.
The Football Manager story behind the link
The whole thing began with Football Manager, where Dembele digitally took Winchester City on a journey to the top of English football while he was at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. A France national team video from that tournament later showed Dembele and Antoine Griezmann joking about bringing the World Cup to Winchester.
That old connection has now been pulled back into the open. One of Winchester's media team took a club shirt to the red carpet ahead of the ceremony, posted a photo with Dembele in the background, and Dembele replied with emojis. Davis said the club had a bit of back and forth with him at the time, before it all went quiet.
Why Winchester City are enjoying it again
Davis said the attention has reignited the fire, and there is no need to overcomplicate why the club are happy to run with it. Winchester City currently sit third in the Isthmian South Central Division after 14 matches, and they have won five of their past six league games.
The joke has worked because the club have a bit of substance behind it as well as a story. Davis is not pretending Dembele is about to arrive at the club, and he even joked that a seven-day notice of approach would not be enough to get him to sign. The punchline is the same one it has always been, but Winchester City have every reason to keep claiming the link while the promotion push continues.
Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
