Rushden & Diamonds players celebrate promotion to the football league at last (LaurenceGriffiths/Allsport)

It was the kind of simple, understated message that highlighted the industrious nature the king of Dr Marten's boots has implemented throughout the creation - from the ground up - of a club that is ready to challenge the football league establishment. And next season we will see how Rushden & Diamonds will get on.

Because the Northamptonshire club have finally climbed into the league. And the respect they are already being shown is evident in the fact that they are fast becoming many people's tips for a second promotion to the Second Division.

Rushden & Diamonds will arrive at the league table in a far healthier state than any team since promotion to the league became automatic in 1987 (ground regulations permitting).

And the club's condition rests as much in the ambition of rebuilding off the pitch as in the expensive team that manager, former Arsenal midfielder, Brian Talbot has created on it.

As well as a newly-built stadium at Nene Park with a capacity of 6,635 (4,800 of which are seats), the club can boast conference facilities and a training complex that a majority of First Division clubs would be proud to call their own.

The Diamond Centre, attached to Nene Park, gives the club all-year round revenue, with the ability to hold conferences for up to 500 people, banquets, social functions and exhibitions. The club has even obtained a licence to hold wedding ceremonies.

Final Conference Table	P	Pts
Rushden & Diamonds	42	86
Yeovil Town	42	80
Dagenham & Redbridge	42	77
Southport	42	69
Leigh RMI	42	68
Telford United	42	65
Stevenage Borough	42	63
Chester City	42	62
Doncaster Rovers	42	58

But it is the Sports Centre that is the shining jewel in the Diamond's crown. Housed inside The Diamond Centre it plays host to a multi-purpose gym, 5-a-side pitches and outside facilities, as well being a training and development area for players, coaches, management and staff.

Plus a rehabilitation gymnasium and state-of-the-art treatment facilities are also include in the brand new building, opened only last summer. It even boasts a match day creche (imaginetaively titled 'Little Gems').

These facilities are only part of the club's commitment to the local community and the enthusiasm they have shown in growing a fan base, almost from scratch in nine years of existence, which belies their non-league status. The heart of that desire to be big emanates from the very busy Community Department which organises, among other activities, soccer schools, stadium tours and complimentary ticket schemes for local youngsters.

It is (or was!) also the only non-league club to be part of the 'One to One Ability Counts' scheme which, with the help of the English Federation of Disability Sports, provides football opportunities for the local disabled community.

Before the home fixture at Yeovil in November last year more than 50 disabled footballers took part in a two hour session before joining more than 5,000 fans to watch Rushden beaten 2-1. It is the kind of scheme that has seen a rapid growth in attendances for a club which lies just 30 miles from Luton, 40 miles from Oxford, the same distance from Coventry City and can call Second Division Northampton Town and Peterborough neighbours.

But the whole set up at Irthlingborough is all the more remarkable when one considers that the club has only been in existence since 1992. That was the year that Dr Marten's (as in the boots) magnate Max Griggs persuaded United Counties League side Irthlingborough Diamonds and Rushden Town (Southern League) that their only chance to progress was to merge.

	Nene Park, Irthlingborough, Northants. Home of Rushden & Diamonds FC (ShaunBotterill/Allsport)

Both clubs had registered some success in the lower leagues, but had run up against the age old problem for progressive non-league clubs - ground improvements. By 1984 Rushden had suffered one relegation at the hands of the administrators and, despite making improvements, were denied re-entry by the Southern League.

Meanwhile, Irthlingborough Diamonds had enjoyed considerable cup and league success in the 70s and early 80s. They won the United Counties League title in 1971 and reached the semi-finals of the FA Vase in 1980/81 and 1983/84.

But the club began to drift and, by the time Max Griggs arrived on the scene, both Rushden and Irthlingborough were amenable to the idea of amalgamation. However, the inaugural match for the newly-formed Rushden & Diamonds, a 2-2 draw against Bilston Town gave very little indication of the success that was to come. Just 315 spectators turned up to watch the Southern League Midland Division match.

But with Griggs' business guidance and money, success soon came. The Beazer Homes League (now Dr. Martens) Midland Division title was won in the 1993-94 season and by 1996 the club were in the Conference after winning the Premier Division title.

On the pitch, Rushden & Diamonds' policy of investing in players garnished them with the reputation of being a football league club-in-waiting well before they arrived in the Conference. The arrival of Darren Collins (£20,000 from Enfield) and Gary Butterworth (£22,000 from Dagenham & Redbridge) within a couple of seasons mirrored that ambition.

But the Diamonds' standing as the biggest club in non-league football was proved beyond all doubt when they managed to lure Carl Alford, star striker of the so-called bigger non-league fish in the community, Kettering Town, for a fee of £85,000.

	The fat man cometh! Fans join the players in celebrating promotion to the Conference at Chester City (LaurenceGriffiths/Allsport)

Their arrival in the Conference in 1996 began disastrously, though. After an appalling string of results the club were one point adrift at the foot of the table by Christmas. It took the arrival of Talbot as boss to save the club from a return from whence they came.

Talbot immediately introduced some steel into his side and they managed a respectable 12th place finish. But Rushden were well aware of how difficult their ultimate goal would be. In 1998 Halifax Town, relegated from the football league, proved too strong for everyone in the Conference.

In 1999 Cheltenham ran away with the title, while last season Diamonds suffered the last day disappointment of losing out to Jan Molby's Kidderminster.

And the disappointment looked set to continue when a poor run of form in October and November saw Yeovil take a 12-point lead at the top of the table. By December, Rushden had already exited the FA Cup and after a 4-1 thrashing at Dover at the beginning of December the pressure was beginning to show.

Talbot was upset at some minor barracking from the fans and when he showed his frustration in a press conference after a match at Nene Park the local paper, The Evening Telegraph, splashed his criticisms of the fans across the back page.

It had the expected effect and fans showed their dissatisfaction with Talbot's attitude with a demonstration at the News Years Day fixture against Nuneaton. Amidst the chaos no one noticed that Rushden had won again. And that while all this frustration was pouring out from fans and management, the club had turned a corner.

Little did the club and the fans know that the Dover defeat would be the last defeat Rushden suffered until well into April. By then the championship would be at their mercy.

	Brian Talbot in buoyant mood (Laurence Griffiths/Allsport)

By March, as Yeovil suffered a dip in form, Rushden were beginning to look like they might live up to their pre-season favouritism.

A 2-0 win at Woking coupled with a draw for Yeovil at Stevenage and a win at Boston for the Diamonds, while the Somerset side were losing, ironically at Rushden's bitter rivals, Kettering, cut the lead at the top to just two points.

The following week Brian Talbot's side went top, where they were to stay for the duration of the season. By the time the two teams chasing the championship were to met - at Yeovil's Huish Park - just after Easter, the Somerset side were five points behind with just a game in hand.

A 0-0 draw, in front of the Sky TV cameras and a capacity crowd, as good as sealed the championship, but Rushden had to wait until May 1 to have their football league place confirmed.

A freak result as Hereford scored two late goals (one as late as the 97th minute) to beat Yeovil meant that Rushden & Diamonds could celebrate the title at Chester City on the last day of the season without having to get a result.

In just nine years Max Griggs' promise of league football has become a reality and the club are already prepared for it. Consolidation is what the club is preaching to the public, but many believe that Rushden could leapfrog straight into Division Two.

'Now we're in the league we want to maintain that league status, that's the most important thing,' Griggs said after the Chester game. 'We never want to lose that because it's important for the area.

'If we had an opportunity to go forward then obviously we'll take it but at this stage I'll say we're just happy to be a Third Division side and consolidate that.'

Those that have witnessed Rushden take Luton, Sheffield United and Leeds United to the wire in the FA Cup under Brian Talbot see a different path for the young club - one not too dissimilar from the Wimbledon side that rose to the top from the Southern League in the 70s.

In the meantime, Talbot believes his side will grace the Third Division and the football league. He said: 'I think we want to consolidate and play relaxed, exciting football without the pressure of winning. Of course we want to win things but we want people to come here and enjoy themselves.'

Certainly, there is enough raw material at Rushden & Diamonds for a new footballing jewel to rise out of the Northamptonshire countryside.