Beware, the next giant killer’s getting his sling ready. . .

11 April 2012

On 11 September 2010, tiny FC United of Manchester played Radcliffe Borough in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup.

FC United are currently residing in 19th position of the Evo-Stik Premier League. If they were playing in Blue Square Bet Premier, they would be relegated out of sight. So what is going on?

In my younger days, I played for Harlow Town when they got to the fourth round of the FA Cup, knocking out Southend and Gary Lineker's Leicester City, before being beaten 4-3 by Watford.

We deserved the wins and played terrifically on each occasion. In between the rounds, we were rubbish in our Isthmian League games.

As a rookie manager, I was fortunate enough to have been on the right side of a few giant killings. As boss of Stevenage Borough, on our way to taking Newcastle to a replay, we knocked out Cambridge United and table-topping Championship side Swindon.

Why could little old Stevenage, with their brickies, plumbers and mechanics, give Kenny Dalglish, Alan Shearer, Stuart Pearce, John Barnes and a host of other household names, the fright of their lives, narrowly losing the replay 2-1 at St James' Park? A hundred-odd places separated the two teams but in both games there was very little in it.

On 6 May 1954, Roger Bannister became the first person in the world to run the mile in less than four minutes. It was an incredible feat.

An amazing fact about this story is what happened
in the remaining months of that year — the four-minute mile got murdered by a dozen more runners! Mental or physical?

This year's FA Cup is gearing up nicely already. Gillingham were knocked out on their own patch by Blue Square South club Dover Athletic. Gillingham manager Andy Hessenthaler and his assistant Ian Hendon had both previously been recent managers at the club. Did this inspire the Dover players?

The fact of the matter is that the greatest cup competition in the world brings out the best in the underdog.

Bannister once said of his great achievement: "It's the ability to take more out of yourself than you've got."

Ricky George, a regular visitor at Underhill, scored the winner in 1972, when non-League Hereford United knocked out First Division Newcastle. Ricky will tell you they had no right at all to win but they did!

The next giant killer is getting his sling ready. The huge gap in technical and tactical ability will be bridged with massive mental strength and belief.

So, big boys watch out because once it has started it becomes an unstoppable force and there isn't anything you can do about it.

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Beware, the next giant killer’s getting his sling ready. . .

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