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Wednesday, May 13, 2015

25 Years Since The Welsh Cup Win106


It is 25 year to the day since Hereford United lifted the Welsh Cup with a win over Wrexham at Cardiff Arms Park.


Matt Healey has spoken to a number of the faces involved in that day. Firstly, he spoke to manager Ian Bowyer about what brought him to Hereford:

"John (Newman) was the reason I went to Hereford. I'd been offered a free transfer and I decided I wanted something different.

"There was myself and Peter Isaac, he did two or three jobs and I did two or three jobs. We were radically understaffed but we got on with it and did ok ultimately."

And then onto the Final: "The noise generated by Hereford United supporters was fantastic. It's up there with my best memories in my whole football career. For a local boy to score the winning goal, Ian Benbow, it was a really good day.

"It doesn't register high in the footballing world, but we went round the streets of Hereford on an open-top bus. I'm quite proud that my last game in charge was as a winner in a cup final."

Asked about his departure from Hereford United shortly after: "The club had got a strange opinion of my son's ability as a footballer. They certainly over-egged that. We're talking about people who weren't football people in charge at the club.

"My opinion on it is that they wanted to take the club back to 1972. But you'd get a different opinion depending on who you spoke to.

"Now, I work for Blackburn giving Gary advice but mostly working as a Scout. All the way from the Premier League through Under 21s and as far down as Conference and below."


Next, goalscorer Ian Benbow spoke to Matt, firstly about Ian Bowyer: "What a challenging man. Unpredictable, I think is the term. Sometimes you didn't really know what was coming next but I enjoyed it."

Asked about the day of the game: "The morning is near on impossible to recall as I keep going back to the goal when it went in, I was so disappointed. I focus on how poor a shot it was!"

"I can still see in. A cross from Paul Tester, a knock down from Russell Bradley, and the bounce-bounce-bounce into the net."

"The celebrations - it was the best time in my life. I was absolutely shattered. Everyone I knew was in the pub, it provided some community spirit."

Asked about Bowyer's departure: "I managed to develop a good relationship with Ian. He was honest and a good driver. I was learning a lot.

"Average age of 19/20 in the squad. If it was kept together I'm sure we'd have gone on to do good things."

Benbow moved on to Telford shortly afterwards: "Colin Addison chose the team he wanted and I wasn't part of that."

Benbow then speaks about his life-threatening incident last year, when he was diagnosed with a similar problem to Fabrice Muamba and almost died at work:

"I had a defibrillator implanted in my chest. Eight months later I collapsed at work and died. Three seconds later the defibrillator kicked in and brought me back. It was a life changing moment.

"It was a hereditary condition, not realising I was walking that tightrope while training and playing."

Benbow is now working with Merthyr Council on social regeneration in the area.

Matt has further interviews with Colin Robinson, Steve Devine, Shane Jones, Mark Jones, Russell Bradley, Tony Elliott, and Gary Bowyer as well as fan Brian Watkins on his AudioBoom page - https://audioboom.com/matthealeydj