VENGEANCE is SWEET
Enfield Football Club will always occupy a special place reserved in my mind for the nasty, unpleasant things in life. It ranks alongside the Royal family, the Conservative Party and is marginally above mercenary Mike Gatting. The reason for this obsessive dislike is the way Enfield were fortunate enough to knock Barrow AFC out of the FA Trophy three years ago. In an epic semi-final there were two replays and two lots of extra time before Enfield finally won a place in the Wembley final. I make no apology for such strong emotions. I felt at the time it was our destiny not just to go to Wembley but ultimately to win. Enfield can boast previous Wembley appearances and a multi-millionaire chairman who could buy the best players whenever he fancied. It was like playing football monopoly for him. For Barrow it was of course, an entirely different story. They had no money. The team was thrown together from cast-offs and free transfers lured to the club by our charismatic manager Ray Wilkie. Enfield players it was rumoured, would get £300 each if they won a normal league game; probably four times as much as any Barrow player could think of earning. Although we had disposed of other Conference giants such as Runcorn and Altrincham we were, after all, just from the Northern Premier League. We were the clear underdogs. I have vivid memories of that great day when more than 6,000 fans crammed into Holker Street for the first round tie. It made me so proud to think our Trophy run had so captured the town's imagination. Sadly we froze on the day and went down 2-1, leaving a mountain to climb in the second leg the following week. But we took the lead with a Danny Wheatley goal in the opening minute and held on for a magnificent victory. I'll never forget the press box erupting when Danny scored. Which brings me to another reason why I have unpleasant memories of Enfield. Manager Eddie McCluskey said to me after the game his players had played dreadfully and he was very rude. I felt it was one of Barrow's best displays in their long and turbulent history. Surely he would give our brave lads some credit? But no, all he said was that Enfield were a better side and wouldn't have any problems winning the replay. When we eventually lost he still gave little credit to our men and with the exception of Nigel Keen one of their best players, I can remember most of Enfield's squad strutting around like peacocks as though they were Brazilian internationals. To add insult to injury they went on to win the Trophy. Surely it was Barrow who deserved the considerable financial windfall that came with a Wembley appearance. I have to confess I often hoped Enfield would hit hard times. Vengeance is a consuming emotion. I soon lost interest when it became apparent they were too big a club to fall on hard times, or so I thought. How wrong one can be! After a bad start this season, Enfield faded away. They set themselves ambitious standards of play and then failed to live up to them. Now they are no longer with us. Oh dear, what a shame. How wonderful life can be. As a former alcoholic English centre-forward keeps saying, football's a funny old game. Mike Gardner Issue 003 - May 1990