Part two of our...
FA CUP RETROSPECTIVE 1995 The build-up
Another all ticket game. Capacity set at 3,500 again. And no doubt that this time all the tickets would go. And they did. So for the privilege of mixing it with the big boys in the next round, and for being one of the twelve remaining non-League teams in the Cup, Barrow could expect some media attention. And they got it. But, with the exception of an article in the Independent which highlighted the fact that Neil Morton would be playing against his old club, that Barrow were recent winners of the Trophy, and that the tie appeared to be neatly balanced, it was lamentable. The Alan Partridge Knowing Me, Knowing You Award for the most pathetic coverage of the game went to 'Granada Tonight', who chose to home in on the fact that whilst Ashley Hoskin had been at Accrington, Phil Collins, sometime drummer, singer and songwriter of the parish, had sponsored his playing kit due to some kind of facial likeness between Ash and said drummer/singer/songwriter. So, Granada Tonight devoted the entire two minute feature on getting Ash and his mates at the scrapyard in Accrington to mess around in parodies of old Genesis videos. It was downhill from there. Tony Hesketh managed to get a couple of words in. "What's his favourite Phil Collins' songs?" the interviewer asked in his analytical style. "'Missed Again' and 'Against All Odds'," replied Hezza, reading the piece of paper that the Granada boys had hurriedly thrust into his hands. Ho, ho. Wasn't that funny? Wigan were mentioned. Once. Before the feature on Ash, the same programme had revealed to an astonished world that Colwyn Bay's (Bay were playing Blackpool away in the Cup) manager's full time occupation was... wait for it 'cos this one will have you rolling in the aisles... a butcher! Well, what a corker. Cue jokes: we'll make mincemeat of 'em, they're for the chop, lambs to the slaughter, pig's ear, and a dozen more. Well, I've got a message for 'Granada Tonight'. If you can't deal with non-League clubs seriously, without trivialising them, then SOD OFF! They ignore us for twelve months until the Second and Third Rounds and then all they can think off is what inane angle they can put on the story. Next time, why not just report it straight. Or is that beyond your capabilities? (Almost certainly. Online Ed.) But the build up on the Saturday was great, though I was disappointed not to see anything on Grandstand's Football Preview. They're too busy looking after Jimmy Hill's preoccupations (Fulham) and promoting their Southern bias. Lest you doubt this, consider whether features on Brighton, Bognor Regis Town and the aforementioned Fulham in the same twenty minute programme are not clear evidence of it. Anyway, get to Holker St at twenty past two and it's already packed. Bay FM broadcasting their tired old records format live from the car park. Programmes almost all gone. Singing from behind the Holker St goal. And a great atmosphere of expectation and promise despite the grey clouds scudding over the slagbank. And, surprise, surprise, a new stand! Yes, where 24 hours earlier there had been nothing, there were now five brightly painted steel cantilever sections towering over the 'Match of the Day' camera position. At last! We tried to phone Challenge Anneka to see if she could get the rest of it finished during half time, but we didn't know her number. Yes, we're definitely on our way back. And this is the day when we make the rest of the football world sit up and take notice... Issue 024 - January 1996