All the way to Wembley - Part 4b

There are thousands of stories from Glossopians about the final. Whether they travelled on the ‘Hogwarts Express’ from Glossop to Wembley, or gathered in Trafalgar Square on Saturday afternoon, or took one of the many buses that left Surrey Street, or simply nostalgically commuted half an hour from your house having economically migrated down south years ago.

All these stories had one thing in common though – everyone was going to enjoy the day. In the build up to the game the town had gone North End crazy, with merchandise sales hitting unprecedented levels for the club and ‘Wembley’ being the only topic of conversation in local pubs. Chairman Dave Atkinson was ubiquitous, pictured in the local papers more than MP Tom Levitt.

My own personal difficulty over my daughter’s communion was solved by an uppity letter from the school over the clash that so infuriated me I decided I would stick a metaphorical two fingers up at them. Her communion took place a week later at a different church where she made so many new friends she moved to the school shortly afterwards. It was meant to be!

Preparation for the day took up all the spare time and thoughts of everybody connected to the club. Players and management found plenty of demands on their time from various sources as the town and media latched onto the story, and at the same time they had the matter of a compressed season to complete without getting injured. Semi final hero Kelvin Lugsden picked up a nasty knock in a home game with Abbey Hey that put his participation in serious doubt, whilst captain Dave Young was carried off at Squires Gate the week before the final. Ash Gotham had also picked up a knock as the season ended.

The match was set for a Sunday, but the North End bus set off from Glossop on Friday afternoon, waved off by supporters and both the BBC and ITV. The hotel chosen was the same one that the club had used for the semi-final, this time without the Friday night disco thankfully, and after a late evening arrival and a few drinks, preparations were made for Saturday. However, there was one surprise waiting for the club, as on reception a silver salver from Arsenal commemorating the achievement of reaching the final.

On the Saturday arrangements had been made to train where England train – Bisham Abbey. The session went well as spirits were high, but whilst Young and Lugsden came through without problems it was obvious to onlookers that Gotham was struggling.

From there it was off to Wembley Stadium where the FA Trophy final was taking place between Stevenage and York City. They served up a turgid match, giving the Hillmen nothing to live up to the day afterwards, but it did give the players a taste for the stadium…in the posh seats too.

After the game and back at base, High Peak Radio were broadcasting live from the hotel and Ben Price did his best to relax the players with a light hearted quiz and interviews. As the team went early to bed again, you felt that the preparation could not have gone better.

The morning of the game began with a team meeting. Steve Young began by telling the team that Ash Gotham had told him that he wasn’t fit. It would be a devastating blow to Ash and his family, who had been staunch supporters since the beginning of the season, and meant an unexpected opportunity for Matt Cooper, brought in as cover for this precise event. Young announced the rest of his side – Young, Kay, Lugsden, Yates, Gorton, Morris, Hodges, R Bailey, Hamilton & Allen. Subs were to be T Bailey, Balfe, Parker, Whelan & Hind.

Everyone went off to put on their Wembley suits and then gathered on the lawns behind the hotel for photos with friends and family before the time came for the bus to depart. The Wembley arch was soon in view and as the bus headed into the bowels of the stadium a small band of North Enders cheered it into the darkness.

North End had the home dressing room. I say dressing room, but these were so far away from the Surrey Street changing areas to be believed. As you walked in there was a management team dressing room on the right. A bit further along had the showers, baths and mirrors (complete with hairdryers) on the left and on the right were around 10 physio tables. Only when you went through the next set of double doors did you come to the changing room for the team, with its individual overhead wardrobes and fridge full of energy drinks. And then through another set of doors was a warm up area. In short, they were huge.

It was a few minutes before the players were allowed out onto the pitch, so they spent the time having their photos taken with the shirts that carried their names. Finally though, the gates were unlocked and we were allowed into the arena.

Walking out of the tunnel and onto the pitch, you could not help but to be awestruck. From the giant North End badge hanging from the rafters to the images of yourself on the big screen and the 90,000 seats, largely empty but still impressive, everywhere you looked was a reminder of what the team had achieved. However, there was no greater buzz than the moment Steve Young and Terry Hincks led the teams out to line up on the pitch. It is a moment every football fan dreams of but only a select few achieve.

But as we all know, it wasn’t to be a trophy presentation at the end of the afternoon. North End probably shaded the first half - although both sides hit the woodwork through long range shots from Nick Allen and an extraordinary effort from halfway by Adam Johnstone - but Lee Kerr took full advantage of a collision in defence to score from an angle for Whitley Bay, and just before half time Paul Chow scored on the counter attack – David Morris could have scored but for a last ditch block and the long clearance ended up in Chow’s path, one on one with Cooper.

After the break Whitley Bay applied some pressure and probably should have added further goals but eventually they tired. The Hillmen tried to press but could not get that first goal that might have given them the momentum to grab a second. The ultimate goal was just beyond the team, but as they took the applause from the magnificent support from Glossop folk they could, and should, be proud of what they achieved in that glorious journey - from Sporting Khalsa all the way to Wembley.
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NB - apologies for this final piece. Found it oddly hard to write. I think the weekend went so quickly and I tried to take so much in, I absorbed too much of the minutae and not enough of the big stuff - can barely remember a thing about the game.