NEVERMIND the prospectus, just look at the trophy cabinet.

The University of Stirling will next week hold trials for hopefuls looking to land a place on their burgeoning football scholarship programme. It should not be a hard sell. The scheme, in its fourth year, enables students to combine study for a degree with high performance sport, and has thus far proved attractive to players who have perhaps lost their way a bit after excelling at youth level, those keen to get a qualification to complement their sporting talent, and others who see it as the best platform from which to try to re-enter the professional game.

The result is a squad bursting with talent and with the medals to prove it. On Saturday they capped a stellar season by beating Spartans in the King Cup Final, after previously winning the Scottish Universities Cup and the Alex Jack Cup, and reaching the British Universities Cup final. Their most impressive achievement, however, came in the East of Scotland League when they defeated Spartans on goal difference to finish the season as champions ahead of other established sides such as Whitehill Welfare and Edinburgh City. Should a pyramid system ever come into being, Stirling University, playing in what is effectively the fifth tier of Scottish football, would have a more than reasonable chance of pushing their way into the league set-up.

Their reward for winning the East of Scotland League is entry into next year's Scottish Cup at the second round where they could encounter third division opposition. Victory at that stage would mean a possible tie against a first division side in the third round, with Premier League teams waiting tantalisingly a round later. For those heading to Stirling next week on trial - and they include players from Newcastle United's youth academy, and others who have previously been on the books at Ipswich Town and Brighton - that prospect will likely provide extra motivation as they try to impress the university hierarchy and win a place on the programme.

"I would like to congratulate the players and the coaches on their achievements which is credit for the effort and commitment they have shown throughout the season," said Raleigh Gowrie, Sports Performance Manager at the university. "I always felt we would get to the position where we were winning trophies, but I expected it to take much longer, and the challenge now is to continue to progress.

"The chance to play in a national trophy provides a fantastic opportunity for our young players to showcase their talents and hopefully helps to profile everything we are doing around sport here at Scotland's University for Sporting Excellence."

Captaining the team is Rob Pearson, who spent seven years in Liverpool's youth academy and then three years full-time with Wrexham before moving to Stirling where he is in the second year of a Sports Studies degree. "It's a fantastic achievement," he said. "We set out to win the league, but never expected to win almost every available trophy. I feel we won in style and much of that owes to the fact we have lots of players with a good footballing background. The set-up at Stirling is brilliant and the coaches encourage us to get the ball down and pass as much as possible, which means we are quite an exciting team to watch."

Pearson gave up the opportunity to stay with Wrexham to move north and has no regrets over doing so. "We won the under-19s league at Wrexham and I was offered a new deal, but then I heard about the opportunity to come to Stirling," added the 21-year-old. "The quality of the set-up and the football was obvious when I came up to the trials. I'm really looking forward to the experience of playing in the Scottish Cup and who knows, if we get a kind draw then we could end up playing against an SPL side."