Fight At The Fort: Documentary looks at Shadab Iftikhar's fight to keep Fort William in the Highland League
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Back in 2021 in the heart of the Scottish Highlands, Shadab Iftikhar became Britain’s only Asian football manager.
Desperate for a break, he took on one of the hardest jobs in the country, trying to save Fort William FC from relegation, a team that hadn't won a league game for over two years.
Fort William FC’s picturesque home sits at the foot of Britain’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis, but a more ominous threat overshadows the club.
This season, for the first time ever, the Highland League - the fifth tier of Scottish football - has controversially introduced relegation for the bottom placed team, a position Fort William FC has occupied for the past five years.
Relegation and its financial ramifications could be the end for the community club.
To make matters worse, the league has deemed their pitch substandard, ordering the team to play all their home games away.
This season, the stakes couldn’t be higher for Fort William FC.
In a remarkable twist, a new chairman, John Trew, secured the services of a young manager with a CV unlike any other in the league.
At 22, Shadab Ifitkhar was one of the youngest ever coaches to gain a UEFA training ‘A licence’.
At just 31 years old Shadab has managed in Mongolia, Samoa and scouted for the Belgium national team manager, Roberto Martinez.
Shadab is now set to become the only Muslim and Asian football manager in the country – and in one of the least likely locations.
He has a mountain to climb, arriving halfway through a thus-far winless season, with the club rooted to the bottom of the table.
Fight At The Fort follows the efforts of the charismatic young manager as he battles challenges on and off the pitch to save the club.
With meagre resources, he builds a new squad mixing local players with imports from England and abroad who, desperate to play professionally, are accepting a paltry wage in return for one last chance to prove themselves.
Shadab sets out to pull off what he describes as “the greatest escape in the history of the sport” while facing the threat of defeat from a growing set of unforeseen challenges.
The documentary from Amped Pictures follows on from 2019’s RTS award-winning film, The Fort.
Fight for the Fort airs on Tuesday, August 23 on BBC Scotland at 10pm.
