Wembley again then - yawn, yawn, yawn. This is how
Liverpool fans must have felt when they were all-conquering in the 80s and had
to trek down to north London to win yet another Milk Cup. Why can't Wembley be
near Bromyard or somewhere nice and handy like that if we're going to have to go there so often nowadays?
To cap what’s been a pretty surreal year or so on and off the football pitch, Hereford FC step out onto that fabled turf on Saturday to face Hornchurch FC in the FA Trophy final as firm favourites to take the silverware back home to Edgar Street - a sentence that still seems, several weeks after beating Woking in the semi-final, to be somewhat unreal.
It’s presumably not the final the sponsors were hoping for given that neither club plays in the top tier of non-league football, but frankly who cares? The Bulls, whether United or just united as FC, are still, despite everything that’s happened in recent years, a big fish in the non-League pond, a status that possibly went some way to persuading Josh Gowling and Steve Burr to sign two-year contracts with the club recently - fabulous news and a rock-solid sign that after recent wobbles the club is now being run capably.
Even bigger news than that, and I’m claiming this as an exclusive for Bulls News, is that Hereford are yet again going into a Wembley final with neither Mustapha Bundu or John Mills in their starting XI. Supporters will remember the last time those players were controversially left out as the Bulls started as favourites for that Twin Towers match five short years ago, and it didn’t end well. Admittedly their absence this time around may owe something to Bundu now flying at FC Copenhagen (on loan from Anderlecht), and The Chop showing people how to drive round Banbury, but still. Hopefully it won’t be as costly this time.
In an attempt to ensure that the players weren’t to be overawed on the big day, Josh Gowling reportedly took them to visit the stadium a few weeks back. I’m not totally convinced that this psychological gambit will ensure that the players will now take to the Wembley turf on Saturday with the same relaxed mindset they would for a match at Briarwood ‘Stadium’, Leominster, for instance, but there’s no harm in trying I suppose.
The Bulls’ favourites tag is due to Hornchurch being from lower down the pyramid, specifically the Isthmian League Premier Division. However, given their heroics in seeing off Notts County in their semi-final, following the taking of other National League scalps before that, any complacency in the Hereford dressing room could prove to be very costly. That said, there’s been no evidence at all in the club's 11-game unbeaten run leading up to this match that the players and coaching staff have approached any game in that run anything less than fully prepped. The level of professionalism in the face of unprecedented stop-start adversity has been admirable, and gives the impression that next season could be one to look forward to, especially given that news about the management team’s new contracts.
With
the Bulls finishing the season like an express
train, albeit one that only runs once a month, several players have
emerged as
player of the season candidates, but if anyone gets the vote ahead of
rock-like
Jamie Grimes they’ll have fully deserved it. If the former Cheltenham
and
Kidderminster defender can be persuaded to stay at Edgar Street for next
season
supporters will be thrilled, and it could be the catalyst for others to
sign
new deals. How refreshing it would be not to start from scratch with 20
new
players yet again, but to have some continuity and a few foundation
stones in
place, a process that has already started with Luke Haines, putting his
1990s stint as the singer with The Auteurs very much behind him in
signing a two-year deal this week. Just the sort of player to offer the
versatility Gowling and Burr are looking for in attempting to make a
Skoda budget perform like a Ferrari one.
With Shrewsbury and now even little non-League Cheltenham so far north of Hereford in the footballing hierarchy, and the latter reportedly somewhat aggressively creating 'academies' (which I imagine to function like that terrifying child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) in traditional Bulls heartlands, it's high time some authority was reasserted locally.
The Urchins played just ten games of their league season before that whole tier of football was called off due to the pandemic. It was a fairly humdrum experience for them, winning four, losing four and drawing two. They’ve got a shrewd and experienced head coach in Paul Stimson though, someone who actually coached our Josh at Gillingham, and he'll have his charges fine-tuned and raring to go. The last time a club from Hornchurch’s level won the Trophy was...well, probably ages ago. OK, OK, I’ll check - Burscough, 2003, and that was at Villa Park not Wembley, so I think I'm right in saying that a club at Hornchurch's level has never won a Trophy final at Wembley.
This is it then until August, and the start of a season many are starting to believe will be something to savour. At last. 100 points, 100 goals, total football, regularly scoring five and even seven? Is the away kit going to be yellow? It needs to be.
See you then.
COYW