Stacy Long’s return to Ebbsfleet last week was rooted in a family friendship stretching back more than 20 years and a star-studded Sunday League team.

Supporters rejoiced when the midfielder – who lifted the FA Trophy with the Fleet in 2008 – opened a new chapter in his Stonebridge Road story.

The club’s ambition and new manager Steve Brown’s coaching credentials impressed 28-year-old Long but his transfer tale goes deeper than that. Ebbsfleet vice-chairman Peter Varney is at the centre of the story, having coached the Bexley League side for which Long played as a primary schoolboy.

He said: “I’m close friends with Peter’s son, we’ve known each other since we were six or seven. Peter was one of my first coaches. He got a team together and 10 of the 11 players ended up at Premier League clubs, so he certainly knows his stuff about football.”

Long went on to join the Charlton youth set-up in 1995. He watched Alan Curbishley’s first-team which featured Brown in the centre of defence. Their paths never quite crossed. “I was a little bit too young and he was a little bit to old," Long said.

Since leaving Ebbsfleet in 2009, Long has been promoted – twice – with Stevenage and narrowly avoided relegation with AFC Wimbledon last season. While his focus is Ebbsfleet’s exciting future, he hasn’t forgotten what made his first spell at Stonebridge Road so memorable.

He said: “I always look back to the FA Trophy final. It was one of those days you never forget and to top it off by winning was just fantastic.”