He is already on the way to realising a life-long dream of becoming a football pundit on national radio thanks to a nationwide competition.

And now football-mad Kevin Clarke has ticked a few more boxes off his bucket list after meeting a host of stars on his path to stardom.

Kevin, 46, from Worthing, is within touching distance of winning his big break on talkSPORT radio thanks to Carlsberg People’s Pundit – a competition to find the UK’s next big football pundit.

The Albion season ticket holder recently met the likes of former Seagulls boss Gus Poyet, current Brighton boss Chris Hughton and ex-Albion and now Premier League defender Tommy Elphick as part of a series of challenges set for him during the final stages of the competition.

He has also been appearing live on radio twice a week.

Kevin said: “It was an incredible experience getting to meet and interview Poyet, Hughton, Elphick, Baily Cargill and Damian Webber.

“I would never have imagined a few weeks ago that this could have happened to me, so it’s been a very surreal experience.

“I spoke to Tommy a couple of weeks before Bournemouth’s promotion.

“He talked through his setbacks at Brighton through injury and missing out on playing at the Amex.

“I then met Gus at a golf club in Epsom. He was really open and no topics were off limits.

“We discussed the Uruguayan win-at-all costs-mentality, Luis Suarez and the biting, how his son Diego is getting on at West Ham and the influx of South American players to the Premier League.”

Last month Kevin also received some expert punditry advice from Sky Sports star Jeff Stelling. The pair were pictured in Worthing sharing a cold beer together before Stelling told his apprentice to “prioritise opinion and emotion over facts and figures”.

Kevin said: “I’ve also been on talkSPORT radio twice a week, which has made me appreciate how much preparation needs to go into a five minute slot, for example. It’s also a challenge trying to edit a 20-minute interview down to just two.

“The competition’s winner will be partially chosen by Jeff Stelling, Ray Parlour, Mark Saggers and a talkSPORT boss.

“The rest is made up of online votes, so it’s really important that I get as much support as possible from Argus readers and fellow Albion fans.”

To vote for Kevin visit thepeoplespundit.co.uk before midnight on Sunday.