text: The England C team is facing the axe after 36 years as part of Greg Dyke’s spending review at the Football Association. FA chairman Dyke must find £30million to fund his masterplan to reform grassroots football with more 3G pitches in urban coaching hubs, and has identified the non-league national team as an area of potential saving. England C, which has operated under different names since it was formed in 1979, is managed by former Barnet boss Paul Fairclough, who selects from players outside the Football League, aged 23 and under. FA chairman Greg Dyke could axe the England C team to save money to help improve grassroots football . The team normally plays only three or four times a season, but some friendly fixtures have attracted attention inside the organisation because of the elaborate travel involved. England won 6-1 in Bermuda, in June 2013, and won 1-0 in Jordan, in March last year. Fairclough’s team also compete in the International Challenge Trophy, a competition for European semi-pro national teams, but did not qualify for the semi-finals of this year’s tournament from a home-and-away qualifying group featuring Turkey, Slovakia and Estonia. They were beaten by Cyprus U21s in friendly in Larnaca, in February, but there are no more fixtures planned and, since a meeting last week, fears have increased about the long-term future for a team which has been known since its formation as the National Game XI, England Semi-Pro and England Non-League. Paul Fairclough (left) is the current manager of the team and he selects non-league players under 23 . Those capped at this level include George Boyd of Burnley, Craig Mackail-Smith of Brighton and Steve Morison of Leeds, who all went on to play at full international level, although not for England. Boyd and Mackail-Smith won caps for Scotland and Morison for Wales. Former Leicester winger Steve Guppy won one senior England cap after playing once for his country at non-league level. Guppy also won one cap for the U21s and one for England B, which could make him the ultimate one-cap wonder. Barnsley manager Lee Johnson was also capped at non-league level. George Boyd (right) played for the England C team before switching allegiances and playing for Scotland .
target: Greg Dyke could axe the England C team to find the needed £30million .
  The FA chairman needs the money to help with his grassroots plans .
  Premier League player George Boyd played for the non-league team .