Cod Almighty | Diary

Putting goodwill in the bank

2 November 2017

Not so much Middle-Aged Diary as boring old fart diary today.

The first FA Cup final I remember watching was in 1970. For some reason, I wanted Chelsea to win the first game, which ended in a 2-2 draw, but for Leeds to win the replay, which they lost 2-1. Nowadays, if the same two teams were competing, I'd still watch. I don't watch much televised football but the FA Cup final still has a place in my mental calendar; I've only missed three since 1970. But given a final between Chelsea and Leeds, I'd be hoping for disgrace to befall both sides equally.

Like everyone of my age, I can rattle off the teams and scores from the 1970s finals without more than a moment's thought. This year's final? Arsenal v Chelsea was it, or was that the year before? I still watch, but I can't pretend it sticks in the mind.

On Saturday, the road to the final gets under way again, and if we were higher or lower in the league, I've no doubt we'd be hearing dire warnings of what a distraction it is. As it is, I see there is a suggestion Russell Slade might make a few changes to the line-up.

The FA Cup has not been kind to us in the last quarter-century or more. Since we started having to qualify for the third round, we have only once reached it, and even the joy of making Brian Laws a victim of the Grimsby Reaper in 2013 was forgotten by season's end, our cup run overshadowed by play-off failure. Laws himself oversaw a bit of a run for Town in 1996 – with a victory over top-flight West Ham – but it was only a temporary blip as the Ivano affair played out. We had a fine win over Norwich in 1998 but it was eclipsed by the myriad splendours of that season.

You really have to go back to 1988-89 for the last time Town fans took the FA Cup to our heart. It's instructive to read Pat Bell's piece and consider what is different then from now.

One thing is the same: then, as now, we wanted a sense of the direction the club ws trying to take. The team of 1988-89 – Keith Alexander, Marc North, John Cockerill and all – delivered that and more. They built a connection and goodwill that lasted many years. The opportunity is there for Russell Slade's team at Plymouth on Saturday.