A CHINESE football fan has made a 12,000-mile pilgrimage to visit his favourite English football team.

Huang Wenbin was not heading for Liverpool or Manchester United - but the humble surroundings of Millbank Linnets Stadium to see Runcorn Linnets of the ninth-tier North West Counties League Premier Division.

His love for the club dates back to his days spent playing Championship Manager 01/02, when he decided to take charge of Runcorn FC Halton as they were then known, taking them all the way to the top-flight.

He signed the likes of David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Roberto Carlos and Edgar Davids for the club, and unsurprisingly won a clutch of trophies including the English Premiership, the Uefa Cup and even the European Super Cup.

And his love for the small club grew so much that he decided he had to pay them a visit in person.

Huang flew to Liverpool with his wife Lin Xiaoru and children Yandao and Geshu to find the non-league club.

After arriving in England last week he set up a Twitter account to contact the club to try and organise a visit.

Huang and his family were greeted by club chairman Mark Buckley on Sunday and given a tour of the ground.

Huang said: “We all breathed a sigh of relief when we saw that someone was waiting for us in front of the stadium. We spent over 24 hours to arrive in Liverpool from Xiamen in China.

“We spent three hours trying to find the club. It must be my poor English speaking and listening.

“Mark is such an easy going person and he introduced the Runcorn Linnets club to us.

“He brought us a box of club souvenirs, such as a badge which my son wore on his clothes immediately.

“My son wanted to kick the ball on the pitch. Mark was so kind to let him do that and my son enjoyed himself to the full.”

Huang was shown pictures of Runcorn legend Steve Carragher on the walls of the clubhouse, who was his favourite player during his time playing the game.

Runcorn chairman Mark said: “I don’t think he realised that he was quite big news.

“He seemed quite astonished that we were happy to see him.

“We have a Swedish fans group and a Norweigan fans group but China is a little bit special.

“It’s such a different culture and it is so far away. I don’t think he realised that we were as glad to see him as he was glad to see us.”