Seventh-tier club Gainsborough Trinity have taken the unusual step of alerting football's governing bodies after discovering that an unidentified individual has been posing as their manager, Russ Wilcox, in order to approach players with bogus contract and wage offers.
The non-league club confirmed that the matter has been reported to both the Football Association and the Northern Premier League, as the mystery impersonator's conduct breaches FA rules that require any transfer approach to be conducted through official club-to-club channels rather than direct contact between a manager and a player.
Gainsborough chief executive Matt Boles issued a pointed statement condemning the individual behind the scheme, telling them bluntly to "get a life."
The club's statement did not hold back in its criticism, stating: "To the person responsible: enough is enough. Stop impersonating our manager, stop wasting the time of players and clubs across the non-league game and, quite frankly, get a life."
According to Trinity, the person responsible had been posing as both Wilcox personally and as a representative of the club itself, using that false identity to dangle unauthorized transfer and wage proposals in front of players at other non-league clubs.
The statement clarified the situation further, explaining: "The individual concerned has purported to represent Russ and Gainsborough Trinity FC and, in some instances, has made approaches to players involving potential transfers and wage offers. We want to make it categorically clear that these approaches have not been made by Russ Wilcox, nor have they been made on behalf of Gainsborough Trinity Football Club."
The club went on to strongly condemn the actions, warning of the wider damage such behavior could cause. "We strongly condemn the actions of the individual responsible. Impersonating a football manager and making false representations to players is completely unacceptable and has the potential to cause unnecessary disruption and reputational damage to players, managers and clubs," the statement read.
Gainsborough also thanked other football officials who had been contacted by the impostor but recognized something was amiss, choosing instead to alert Wilcox directly rather than act on the fraudulent offers. The club noted that many of those who flagged the suspicious approaches did so specifically because of their familiarity with Wilcox and his reputation, saying it was clear the conduct did not match