Sir Gareth Southgate turned up at Top Field on Friday 3 April, bringing a documentary crew to Hitchin Town FC’s home game against London Lions and spending time with players and supporters before filming moved on. He gave the team a five-minute talk in the dressing room, then chatted to fans and posed for plenty of selfies as the club’s ordinary match night became something far bigger.

The visit only surfaced now because the programme is due to air at 9.00pm on Monday 8 June on 1. The film, made by Cardiff Productions, looks at life for young men in Britain today and follows Southgate as he examines the crisis he believes is facing young men and boys. For Hitchin, it was a chance to host one of the country’s most recognisable football figures, and one the club would have liked to shout about from the rooftops.

That was the problem. Hitchin Town FC had been sworn to secrecy because the crew wanted to protect Southgate from unwanted attention, even though officials knew the visit could have doubled the gate if they had been able to publicise it. The club first heard from Lorraine Evans of Cardiff Productions on 17 February, when she emailed about filming at one of its home games. The production company initially picked Hitchin’s match against Aylesbury on 21 March, before the plan shifted to Good Friday, 3 April, and the club phoned on Wednesday 1 April to check whether it was still happening.

They were told it was all systems go on the Thursday before the match, and the 10-person production team arrived for a day built around Southgate’s appearance. The former England manager’s trip to a non-league ground was meant to be part of a premium prime-time documentary, but the secrecy around it meant the biggest talking point at Top Field stayed hidden until after the fact. With transmission set for Monday 8 June, Hitchin’s brief brush with national television will now be remembered for what the club could not say out loud at the time.