“It’s only the FA Cup…….”
For those of us of a certain age, in the 80s such a statement would be akin to sating, “I’m only going out with Anna Friel tonight….”. For lots of reasons the Magic of the Cup, is no longer so Magical. Whether it be Premiership riches, squad rotation, too many games, crap crowds, Far East TV schedules, Man Utd withdrawing to play a lucrative friendly…. the magic has been demagicacised. So whilst the past is all about 1973, all day Grandstand, cramp, extra time, the Mags getting stuffed to nil, the modern day reality is, the FA Cup is now a bit shit.
Mansfield Town, are they any good?
On current form, you’d have to think they are not very good……
Whoever their manager was, is no longer their manager, as he was sacked the other week. Nigel Clough is the bookies favourite to get the job, appreciate he’s potted and lives locally, but seems a bit of a shit job for him?
As with all games, it’s a shame we can’t go, whilst it would be a shite crowd, they’d have brought a few thousand for their big day out.
We will of course be favourites, I should perhaps have checked – but surely we aren’t having replays this season given the pressure on time? We will make a load of changes, but that’s no bad thing. Neil, Diamond, Embleton, Grigg and Graham….. this is your chance to shine. The 7.45pm at Fleetwood in the Papa John’s Pizza Trophy, is probably more realistic for Kimpioka – although he won’t be out Friday night due to Lockdown, so he might be able to make a 3pm kick off on Saturday?
Head to Head
We’ve only played them 5 times, we won all 4 of our league meetings and won 2-1 the last time we met in a League Cup 1st round tie in 2003, so far so good then!
Played for both
As always there’s a few players who’s careers have crossed the paths of both clubs. Matt Piper played 8 games on loan for the Stags before signing for us in 2002, whilst being a professional footballer is very much living the dream, it can be a very cruel game too? I didn’t realise that Piper was quite so young when he was forced to retire from the game, just 26 at the time, such a shame as he was a class player
Liam Lawrence scored 35 goals in 136 games for Mansfield before joining us for £175’000 in 2004. He definitely had a bit of quality, he only managed 10 goals in 73 games for us, but he did score at Sid James Park, (sadly it didn’t affect the result). He was probably a bit unlucky in that he signed for a Championship club and that was probably his level, sometimes getting promoted doesn’t suit all players? Decent career though, gaining 15 caps for ROI and making 499 club appearances, (that must be really, really annoying?)
Famous Mansfieldonians…….
“We Will Remember Them”
