Well today’s the day! this is what we set out to achieve 9 months ago back in August, if i’m honest, none of us though it would be easy or even possible to follow the cup all the way to Wembley for the final but we were going to give it our best shot & we knew we would need a bit of luck along the way, but here we were at Piccadilly station ready to catch the train to the game that would bring an end to our season.
12.15 and our train departs on time! Not as packed as i thought it would of been considering the rail network between Liverpool & that London was in turmoil with ‘essential’ maintenance work being carried out today, but there was a few red shirts, scarves & flags dotted about & a couple of Kopites were kind enough to take a photo for us as we set off…. well we did have a red & white scarf with us as well as the little FA Cup 
For the first time on this entire journey we’re not exactly sure what’s going to happen once we get to Euston, i got an email the day before at 3 o’clock telling me that we have to be at ‘Club Bud’ wherever that is?, for 3.30ish & be ready to go on stage at 3.45 to present the player of the round awards. Will had given me his mobile number & i was told to ring him as soon as we got to Wembley.
We took a photo of the 2 Kopites with the little cup to show that Mancs & Scousers can be friends after all and took our seats. Not knowing what sort of questions we would be asked, if any? We spent the journey re-capping this adventure. Best Game? Had to be the first one, Chadderton 2-8 Cheadle Town. For us it was the start of something special. 10 goals, yellow cards, a sending off, a spectacular free kick, a hat trick, a Tony Yeboah-esc goal, Penalties and amazingly it was back-to-back 8-2 score lines in the FA Cup for us as the last game cup game we went to was Droylsden getting thumped 8-2 off Leyton Orient in the 2nd round last season!
Best Goal? we differed slightly on this one, my pick was a fantastic free kick by Wayne Riley for Northwich Vic’s for their opener as they beat Trafford FC 0-2 in the 1st round qualifying, as good a free kick as you’ll see anywhere & i got the only video of it and put it on you tube (here).
The Rhino went for the George Williams goal for the MK Dons at home to Nantwich in the 1st round proper. With the game well & truly over, young George came on & immediately picked up a yellow card for a quite impressive forearm smash on the towering Dabbers centre half Mat Bailey, but with his next involvement he rounded the keeper & slotted the ball home cool as you like & he’s only 16! We sensed on the day there was something special about the young lad & who knows.. maybe we were there when the new Charlton / Shearer came into the limelight!?!
Best moment? CRASH! Every time one of us come up with something the other would come up with another memory just as good & we really couldn’t choose! After covering well over 2000 miles & meeting lots of different people in all sorts of places this ‘best moment’ question would be a reoccurring thing throughout the weekend and we had no idea of what was about to happen to us on this the last stage of it all? We knew one thing though, the dress code was smart / casual for the FA Club lounge. No replica football shirts or trainers could be worn, jeans were ok but this means the big fella has to buy himself a pair of shoes! Maybe i should of told him this before we set off or even last night! lol lol DOH! Let’s hope there’s not too much walking involved today as one of my shoes is digging in a bit already & i would hate to have 2 feet in new shoes!
It was 2.40 by the time we had made our way over to Kings Cross & left our bags in the left luggage office, there was no time to check in at the Hotel in Earls Court & get back to Wembley for the time stated to us by Will and even though we had put one bag inside the other it still cost £8.50 to leave ONE item with them for about 6 hours! From Kings Cross we can get the direct tube train to Wembley Park & later on once we had our overnight stuff back it’s a direct service to Earls Court on a different line so all we had to do now was get to the game! And as the big fella pointed out to me “you do know the bar giving away free Budweiser has been open since 1 o’clock!”
We arrive at Wembley for about 3.15, the Rhino is in a bit of a mood by now because people have been giving free Bud away for over 2 hours now & his new shoes are killing him! He’s not very happy with me when i want to stop & get a photo of the fans walking up Wembley way but as it turns out the photo i took includes a ticket tout being arrested & handcuffed! Strike one for the good guys! I asked the copper if i could get a better photo of this great moment but he just muttered something about ‘move along’ and told me he would confiscate my camera if i tried to take any.
I ring Will to come & meet us knowing this was going to be a bit tricky as we hadn’t met each other before so we didn’t know who we were looking for! The fact we’re a tad oversized & both had coats with ‘1 Leg On The Cup’ printed on the back of them must of helped as this young fella wearing a suit came rushing up to us saying “Tony… Tony… Tony, are you Tony?” so with the handshake over Will then lead us away from Wembley? just across the road was a huge marquee that was fenced off with a sign at the entrance saying ‘Club Bud’ this was the place the big fella wanted to be. “we’ll just nip inside to get your tickets, passes & wrist bands then we’ll have to go straight over to the FA Lounge as you’re going on stage at 4” a very flustered Will told us, “never mind that shite, have we got time for a couple of beers first?” no prizes for guessing who asked this question!
Inside Club Bud we meet up with Matt & the PR team from Budweiser, we’ve spoke many times on the phone & exchanged various email’s but we do the handshake & introductions as Will is off getting what we need and of course a couple of beers! There was a guy carving a very large block of ice that had been roped off in the centre of the room & the big fella asked me if i thought my tongue would stick to it if i licked it? “let’s find out!” and with that we were over the ropes and were now licking the ice cup! The sculptor wasn’t too happy but the Bud guys seemed to be up for it & took the photo, not my fault there was bits falling off it!
More bad news, Will reappears telling us there’s no time for a drink as we have to get over to the FA Lounge to do the presentation because they’re waiting for the competition winner to go on stage with Sir Trevor Brooking and present the player of the round awards, “where’s Tony gone John?” “he’s over there Will, having his photo taken with that ice cup” “OMG! What’s he doing???? get him over here now!” so with my the back of my hand smacked we were off over the road into Wembley & off to the prawn sandwich brigade lounge! We now had roadie-style Budweiser passes round our necks as well as free beer wrist bands on!… this was going to be a GOOD day! what a climax to our journey!
I’ll be honest, my arse fell out a little when we finally arrived inside the lounge, i’m told there was around 750 people in there all being fed & watered and every table i looked at i recognised someone! Peter Reid, Dennis Wise, Alan Hansen & John Motson were the first few we seen with their family & friends at their respective tables, at the bar the big fella is stood next to Martin Keown and was politely waiting for him to finish his conversation with the ESPN floor manager so he could ask him if van Nistelrooy was in here somewhere? When once again Will popped up ushering us off into the wings as it was almost time to go on stage, was this guy purposely stopping us from drinking?!?!?
Another ‘best moment’ to be added to our list as we meet Sir Trevor Brooking, what a perfect gent! We had about 5 minutes or so to kill while waiting for the TV people to give us the nod to go on stage, Sir Trev asked us why we were there & after we told him of our journey he said he would look us up on this website & have a read of it and congratulated us on our efforts and said “you guys are what i like to call true football fans, credit to you both” i was quite taken back by this & then apologised to him for not being there in 1980 as i was in 79 & 81! “oh don’t worry about it, there was a few others there that day” the great man said and with that we were whisked on stage & the big fella finally got the beer in!
People say the lights on stage are hot & i now know what they’re on about! i felt like i was melting and looking out into the crowd i couldn’t see anything other than the glare of the lights & all i knew was the big fella was out there somewhere drinking the beer i was now craving! Sir Trev was saying his bit while i was telling the very nice young lady presenter to my right how nice she smelt! “how do you do, i’m Tony. You smell nice, well better than me anyway!” “oh, er, hello.. thanks” the next thing i know there’s a microphone thrust upon me and i’m being asked to let everyone know who i am & why i was there. It was at this point my “very good friend” Johnny the Rhino decided to text me! so with my leg vibrating wildly & the dulcet tones of the Happy Mondays ‘Step On’ being picked up by the mic, i can’t remember what i answered whilst hammering my pocket to shut poor Mr. Ryder up! I read the text later after i had come off stage “these shoes are f*** killing me! where are you? I’ve posted 4 already your slacking!” some payback for making him buy new shoes! GIT!
Yet another ‘best moment’ well for me, was on stage when Stefan Brown came up to collect his award, Stafan hit a hat trick in 15 minutes in the 1st round proper for AFC Totton and as the presenters are announcing this and the crowd are clapping as he makes his way to the stage… Sir Trevor Brooking – FA Director of football development leans over & quietly whispers in my ear “Tony, remind me again, where’s Totton?” i couldn’t believe it! not that he didn’t know where Totton was, who the hell does? I couldn’t believe he called me Tony! He had remembered my name! ARRGGHHH – queue school girl type screaming with joy! Well inside i was as i whispered back “way down South fella, near Southampton” then when Stefan came on stage Sir Trev, in front of everyone said “i just had to ask Tony to remind me where Totton was, well done” i don’t care what you say.. after meeting the great man all i can say is……. me & Sir Trev are tight!
Finally i get a beer! The Rhino, who had been helping out by ordering 2 pints but drinking them both, is keeping a safe distance from me as he tells me “did you get my text? all them shoes i’ve got at home & you make me buy an overpriced pair from a railway station that are killing me?!?!?” to be fair he had a point, i was just relieved it was all over & i had a beer in my hand. Sir Trev had promised me he would come over to the bar after he had finished doing some official business and capture some of the celebs in the room for photos, i had told him i didn’t want to ask people as they were with their families and i felt a bit girly asking, he had told me not to worry & he would make sure i left with a full albums worth of snapshots! Will once again popped up! “c’mon lads we’re off to get your tickets from Club Bud” this was news to us? We thought we would be in the FA Lounge before & after the game as well as being in the posh seats for the match but… no! We had to go back outside to the tent, sign for our tickets then walk all the way round the ground to sit opposite where we thought we would be!
So we’re back in the Bud tent & i’m not happy that i didn’t get to say goodbye to Sir Trev! “he’s going to think i’m a right arse just leaving him like that, it’s not what friends do!” the Rhino now laughing at me as he’s helping out yet more Bud waitresses “shut up you clown he’s forgot who you are already! We’ve still got time for another & your behind 6-1” with kick off 30 minutes away we sink another pint and add Sir Trev to the ‘best moment’ list. This list is getting harder & harder to choose from, when you think of just the people alone we’ve met & spoke to; Jim Rushe, Karl Robinson, Dean Bowditch, Ian Wright, Roberto de Matteo, Mark Hughes & how can you top Lawrie Sanchez when you’re talking FA Cup? As we walk round Wembley to block ‘N’ i reminded the big fella that we were there when Torres scored & that classes as a ‘moment’. We get to the gate and notice that the girl had given us tickets sat 2 blocks apart from each other! But they had £115 printed on them so we decided to get inside and see if we could sort something out once we were in.
Once inside we were split up for the first half but the big fella kept his eye on an empty seat on his row, so if we could shuffle everyone down one seat at half time i could jump into the spare next to the big fella. But for now, i took my seat further down the block & that Wembley tingle soon returned to me, the Liverpool end was filling up & most of their fans had their scarves held high banging out that Kop anthem “you’ll never walk alone” love them or hate them, you have to give it to them… when it comes to knocking this tune out – they’ve got it nailed! Abide with me obviously had me choking a bit and when Mr. Dowd, who looks a bit like me, blew his whistle to get us underway i was overcome with a sense of relief that we had made it!
Flags were waving and songs were booming out from all parts of the ground & i felt a bit special to be part of it all, no need for a match report from me as i’m sure you’ve all seen the game or at least know the result by now, but on 11 minutes Ramires made our cup run even sweeter by ensuring that we would not have a 0-0 draw in all the 16 games we had seen! the only other ‘interesting’ fact about our journey is the furthest North we travelled to was Chadderton! The very first game & it’s only about 7 mile away from Droylsden! Best moment? Maybe not
With Chelsea 1-0 up at half time we don’t have to go for a pie at Wembley, all food is laid on for us back at Club Bud. We sit & reflect on the first half we had just seen and the big fella assures me that his final pie report & end of season pie report will be on our pie-ometer page as usual (here).
Together again in our ‘Ant & Dec’ style photo, the 2nd half gets underway and now it felt right! The game continued in the same way the 1st half had finished with Chelsea defiantly the better team, proving me right Didier Drogba, who else at Wembley? Slots the ball home to give Chelsea a 2-0 lead about 5 minutes into the half. The blue half of Wembley erupts and is now awash with flags & scarves with the fans belting out song after song.
Liverpool must do something to get back into this game so on comes Andy Carroll a couple of minutes after the 2nd goal. to be fair the big man made an immediate impact, taking the game by the scruff of the neck & dragged the reds back into the game. On 63 mins Carroll’s tricky bit of footwork in the box ends with him smashing the ball home for 2-1. A very different atmosphere inside Wembley for the next 20 minutes as the reds are now very much back in this game.
With time running out we get another ‘was it? / wasn’t it?’ goal or not in the same end as the Mata effort in the semi when Carroll’s header was celebrated by the reds players & fans only to see the ref wave it away as NOT over the line. Carroll seemed like a man possessed and had totally turned this game around single handily, another of our ‘best moment’ categories was that we were there when Torres scored, were we about to add ‘we were there when Andy Carroll won the cup for Liverpool?’
Short answer… NO! Mr. Dowd added 5 extra minutes and although Chelsea were well & truly on the ropes they held on to lift the cup for the 7th time in their history and bring an end to our epic, monstrous, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful journey!
Chelsea players dancing & jumping around in front of their fans whilst waiting for the engraver to add their name to the fantastic trophy, we know this because of our recent interview with David Barber. “ooh Johnny.. Barber!.. best moment?” “it’s definitely up there mate” and once Liverpool had been up all those steps to collect their runners-up medals it was time for the blues to go and collect the REAL, ACTUAL trophy
With all the players now on the pitch parading the cup in front of the fans i noticed David Luiz in his suit holding the cup. If anyone has ever epitomized what it’s like to be a top-flight footballer it has to be him, when you read his tweets & listen to his interviews he knows he’s somewhat blessed and says he can’t believe how his life’s turned out himself sometimes and he was really enjoying the party on the pitch!
We just have to give a ‘shout-out’ to this guy! shout out being the correct term in this case. On our way back to the Bud tent we noticed this guy with a megaphone on an open top bus, a massive party was obviously going on but this guy in a very direct & purposeful cock-er-nee accent kept saying.. “Scousers, my name is Geoff Shreeves, you DO know you’ve just LOST the cup final don’t you?” lol lol he just kept saying it over & over again! it was just Brilliant! not if you’re a Liverpool fan of course, but it’s the sort of thing we love! Top Man
As we were walking back we were stopped by the Sky Sports news team for an interview! We gave a very professional account of the game we had just seen & little of the story that had brought us here, as we left the Rhino said to me “if that gets broadcast & we go global that HAS to be the Best Moment!”
Back inside the tent & we set off on our own end of season party! Well why wouldn’t you if you’re on free beer? The first thing i notice is the ice sculpture has survived so i take a photo of it just in case someone tries to blame us for its demise later in the evening! The Rhino sets off ‘helping out’ again with more drop dead gorgeous waitresses but no photos this time, Wigan County Council have already blocked this address as ‘adult content’ in their school filter system and if i would of taken pictures of the big fella this time god knows what would happen!
I found it quite flattering the amount of people we were being introduced to, most of whom claimed to have followed the blog or follow us on twitter. Everybody seemed to work for the FA or Budweiser in some capacity or another & we managed to blag a couple of the bottles used by the players to spray Budweiser about on the pitch when they lifted the trophy, a magnum of Bud instead of champagne lol how times change still they are a nice souvenir of the day & they are the actual ones used by the players even if they are empty as the big fella pointed out when being given his… “oh, thanks very much… can’t i have a full one instead?”
With the beer flowing freely & the big fella well into double figures by now, his new shoes & sore feet seemed to have gone from his mind as i opted out of playing ‘Foot-Pool’ or whatever this mad game was called, and thrust him forward to have a go! The game, as you can imagine, was pretty easy to work out. A white ball, a few striped numbered balls & a few solid coloured balls, use the white to hit the numbered ball but with your feet.. easy!
I shout over to the big fella to rein act Wayne Riley’s free kick and he duly obliges… at this point i would like to once again apologise to Mrs. J. Wagstaff from Fulham, please send the repair bill for your broken spectacles to the address given to you on the night and i hope the swelling has gone down in time for your daughter’s wedding next Saturday.
Moving quickly away from the carnage with the little footballs, i spot a familiar face from back home! well, sort of. A rather large chap called Sam who’s a friend of fellow blogger Gibbo, a young lad from Bolton who’s doing his very best to do the 92 & blogging as he goes. I stopped this ‘Big Sam’ as he was walking past and asked him for a photo for young Gibbo back home? “no problem” he said “i’ve not seen Gibbo in a while, tell him to come see me at West Ham next season” follow Gibbo on twitter @JoeBillGibbo he’s a top lad.
The free beer was coming to an end at 9 o’clock and we had to get over to Kings Cross to get our bags back for £8.50!!! then over to Earls Court to meet up with the Chelsea podcast guys, so at about 9.30 we said our goodbyes & staggered away from the lovely tent! Shame all camping isn’t like that
Things just didn’t seem to happen the way they should for the next hour or so, we waited a long time for a tube train to Kings Cross, although we may have let about 3 depart without us, and when we got to Kings Cross someone had decided to move the left luggage office even though the staff were quite adamant it hadn’t moved at all! I left the big fella near the escalator & told him not to move as once again i set off to find our bags, on the way i noticed a bunch of Asian tourists running head first into a brick wall then obviously falling to the floor while others were videoing this strange activity!? I finally found the luggage office, paid the ransom and headed back to find the Rhino only to see a different bunch of people running at the same wall also being videoed! It was only when i stopped to look properly at what was going on when i noticed a plaque above their heads saying “platform 9 ¾” i chuckled to myself as i wandered off thinking… if me & the Rhino run into that wall i reckon we’ll burst through it but we won’t end up in Hogwarts!
After a very bumpy tube ride, the doors couldn’t open quick enough for me as we arrive at Earls Court! The Blackbird pub was just over the road but it had just turned 11 & we wondered if we would get served for our first beer of the day we would have to pay for! A quick chat with the doorman seen us safely inside & the big fella hit the bar as i went in search of the podcast team in this pub full of Chelsea drunks!
Only Terry Ross aka Chel-Tel, had survived from the podcast team we had met before! Chidge, the front bum, had left the pub only minutes earlier. Now i don’t want to use the phrase “Chelsea Pensioner” but it says it all when us oldies have the pace to see the day out while the young ones fall along the way we did quite well waving a red & white scarf around in this all blue pub & i think we would have defiantly got a smacked arse off True Blue Terri if she had still been there for doing such a thing! We presented Chel-Tel with our Droylsden scarf & made him an ‘Honorary Blood’ before we left! I think he was happy about it? lol lol.
Sometime past midnight we leave the pub and we have no chance of finding the hotel if the left luggage office was anything to go by, so we flag a cab to get us there. Logistical genius, the Rhino, has already been out to the Spar opposite the pub for the carry-out needed back at the flop, but i think i must of fell asleep half way through the first one! I remember the Football League show was still on TV but i could hardly see the screen anyway because of all the stuff that had been put in front of it in the tiny room.
Sunday morning! At least i think it is? It appears that once again the air in that London has made me ill because i didn’t eat anything last night so it can’t be the food? I decided to leave the camera in the room when we finally went for breakfast (trust me you don’t want to see ANY photos of us on this particular morning!) and we had a very ‘limited’ conversation over bacon & eggs. Me – “good day yesterday then?”…. “yeah” “you glad it’s all over now?”…. “yeah” ….. “do you think that woman from Fulham will be ok?”…. “who cares” in fact it was a good couple of hours & at least one shower later before the Rhino started to stir into life!
After a very slow stroll round to Earls Court tube station we wanted to get back to Euston & hang about there for our train back rather than chance missing it if we went elsewhere, there was only one change at Green Park to get us back to where we wanted to be so we buy a zone 1 single for £4.30 instead of the £7 all day ticket as we only need to get to Euston.
We’re at the right platform & the train pulls in, we both get on and stand in the doorway. “i can’t see Green Park anywhere on that map” i tell the big fella as we both scour the little planner before the doors shut, “are you sure this is the right one?” as quick as a flash the big fella is off out of the now closing doors… “no, it’s not this” by the time i had picked my bag up off the floor, the doors had shut & i was now heading off into a tunnel leaving the big fella stood on the platform! To make things worse, everyone on the train knew exactly what had just happened and were all sniggering & pointing at me! i get my phone out to ring the big fella…. NO SIGNAL! Of course not! I was in a tunnel!
I change trains twice at Notting Hill Gate & Bond Street before i eventually get to Green Park, and i’m hoping the Rhino will be heading for the same place? If he’s not here then he will be waiting back at Earls Court where i know he will have a signal on his phone, either way i can ring him once i find myself back in the daylight. I put my ticket into the machine as i exit the station & it swallows it! well of course it does… as far as it’s concerned i’ve completed my zone 1 single journey! AARRRGGHHHHH!!!!
The Rhino turns up 20 minutes later than me which confused me a little? “how have i got here well before you? I’ve been half way round that London & you were only a few stops away!” he then told me that the PA on the train had told him Green Park was the stop for Buckingham Palace & he thought he would go and see if he could get his mum a flag if there was any knocking about!
We notice this ‘Del-Boy’ type bloke in a little hut knocking out open top bus tours & various that London souvenirs, he was laughing at us arguing and when we questioned him he said “normally i’d have you 2 down as Northern monkeys, but i’m gonna call you Bears Arse’s! Christ you guys look rough!” Pete, the bloke was called & what a top man! He told the big fella that the flags with Her Majesty on them were £5 each or he could have 3 for £20! The Rhino not falling for it ended up with a shopping bag for his mum but then Pete delivered us even more bad news by telling us the Victoria line was closed & we had no reason to get off at Green Park in the first place!
Another! £4.30 train journey later we arrive at Euston for about 12.30. our train departs at 2.11 so we have a bit of time to finally sort out our ‘best moment’ once & for all. “It has to be about the fans we’ve met along the way, it’s what the cup’s all about” the big fella agreed with me as we recap a few of the people we’ve met along the way. From the fans of non league sides like Trafford & Northwich that have kept an eye on us after they were knocked out, right up to the bigger clubs from the Football League who have stayed with us to the end. The MK Dons made us part of their family from day one! No one more so than my mate Dave aka @stony_bloke this guy even went to the trouble of buying us a little FA Cup off Ebay that we have had with us ever since! And the best thing about the Dons is no one else likes them but they don’t care lol lol just made us LOVE them! COYD!
When the cup had us following Chelsea we knew their fans would be a tough nut to crack, coming from Manchester we got somewhat of a cold shoulder whenever we tried to join in on forums or follow groups on twitter. Even after i’d explained what we were doing & that we were Droylsden fans at heart they still seemed a bit reluctant and one or two called me a ‘Glory Hunter’!
Of course this all changed when we hooked up with Chidge & the boys from the Chelsea Fancast. These guys are full-on Chelsea fans but took the time to give us a go & once we had done the Birmingham replay we were in! After a bit of air time on their show we got tweets, emails & comments from Chelsea fans from all over the place! And after beating Leicester we were tagged as their ‘lucky charm’ which is just madness lol.
We were on the train by now and because of the maintenance work being carried out on the railways we had to change at Nuneaton, Nunny was one of the teams we had seen on tour without actually going to their own ground like Cheadle, Kendal & Leicester. It also reminded us about a great experience that i didn’t even blog about! When Nantwich beat Nuneaton in the last of the qualifying rounds last October, it meant the Dabbers were in the draw for the 1st round proper for the first time in their history. We went back to Nantwich on the Sunday to get some sort of reaction from people if they were to get that lucrative draw that means so much to non league sides.
The actual game was a tense affair with the Dabbers clinging onto a 1-0 lead & were down to 10 men after skipper Chris Flynn had been unjustly sent off, at the final whistle the place just went crazy with players, staff & supporters alike celebrating as if they had won the cup itself! Red Shift, a local on-line radio station were relived to interview me because they couldn’t find anyone else from the club & this was about 20 minutes after the game! We went back the day after and were amazed to find everyone in the town was excited & ready for the draw that will effect so many in the place. It was this moment that defined what the FA Cup is all about for us, all the money that cup holders Man City & now current champs Chelsea have between them couldn’t buy what was happening in Nantwich that day.
Just after 6pm the train pulled into Piccadilly & my only off-spring Kev2Legs was there to pick us up bless him x we called into the Pig & Ball Bearing on our way back to Droylsden for a quick pint with president of the ‘Bovril And Pie Society’ Mel B. We needed an end of season photo with Mel for the last blog and we were just a little disappointed that although she was in the pub she didn’t have her B.A.P.S. out!
We finally arrive at the Sweaty Spaniard to find Burkey waiting for us! Burkey is the non league guy from BBC radio Manchester on Friday nights and had us on the show on the eve of this epic adventure all those months ago. Plus he was also with us at the first game at Chadderton so it was only right he was here now it’s all over. With my boy on driver duties standing by we partied well into the wee small hours, well it was a bank holiday the next day i’m pretty sure the Rhino prompted Burkey into it, but after asking me various questions he finally delivered the one i had been waiting for, “Tony, can i ask you what your best moment has been throughout this whole adventure?” “Easy! Sunday 30th October when the whole town of Nantwich stood still & waited for the draw in the 1st round proper! and THAT my friend IS the essence of the FA Cup!”
So that’s it! The only thing left to do now is thank everyone who has helped & encouraged us or even took the time to read this over the last 9 months, there’s far too many to name individually but without many of these people i don’t think it would of been possible and it certainly wouldn’t of been as enjoyable! I would love to turn this adventure into a book and make a few quid to donate to junior football or something similar but writing a blog is one thing & a book is a totally different animal! Any offers?
What to do next year? Well it can’t be the same again as we’ve ‘been there, done that’ but it’s got to be bigger & better surely? Europe & Carling Cup adventures aren’t really an option as they’re all mid-week games & the logistics would just be a nightmare. So we’ll take a bit of time over the summer & come up with a plan of some sort for the 2012 / 13 season, all i know is that it will be cup football of some type or another
There’s only one way i could possibly end this blog & that’s to use a very familiar phrase to football fans everywhere! The 1 Leg On The Cup 2012 FA Cup campaign……….. from CHADDERTON to CHELSEA………………
They think it’s all over………………. IT IS NOW! :-)
