A YOUTUBER has begun a quest to take Basingstoke Town FC to the Premier League... and has already raised £5,000 for the club.

Over the next few weeks, YouTuber Loki Doki will attempt to take The Dragons from the eighth tier of English football, where they are now, to the promised land of the Premier League on the game Football Manager.

And alongside this, he'll be raising money for the real-life club.

Since launching the series on Friday, the JustGiving page has already exceeded half of the target - raising £5,500 so far from a combination of Basingstoke Town fans and from Loki Doki's 57,000 subscribers.

The first episode of the series, an introduction of the history of the club, has been viewed more than 10,000 times.

Speaking about the why he chose Basingstoke Town in the first video, Loki Doki said: "I have personally spoken to the manager, the whole board of directors, all the higher ups at the club and because I wanted to make sure that this club is heading in the right direction and it was being run by the correct people, the first mission is to get the club to survive and then hopefully thrive.

"Basingstoke is a really big town, it is a sort of commuter town to London, it is growing exponentially, it is ripe for having a big football club."

Club chairman Kevin White called the reaction to the first videos "simply mindboggling".

"The response has been fantastic and shows that through the grey clouds of lockdown this is a huge ray of sunshine," he told the Gazette.

"People from all around the world are now wanting the club to do well and show support by donating and buying our merchandise."

He added that in the few days since the series launched, he has been posting club merchandise to the likes of Germany, Scotland, Finland, Sweden, Holland, Ireland, Canada, USA, Australia and France.

The series opens with a tongue-in-cheek news report from the alternative universe after manager Dan Brownlie is fired for allegedly stealing cheese slices from the club's burger van.

Loki Doki is drafted in as the new manager, with the first episode based around him assessing his squad and looking at areas in which it could be improved.

Club captain Simon Dunn is one of those that risks being axed, with the new man in charge jokingly saying he is "stealing a living".

A new episode will be released every day, and you can find them here.

You can also donate to the JustGiving page here.