How Emley's FA Cup story still stirs emotions for Glavin

The minnows from the Yorkshire village with a population of just 1,800 wrote their name into football folklore by reaching the third round.

Lincoln City and Morecambe were just two of the clubs flying high in their own divisions dumped out of the Cup by Glavin’s band of heroes en route to giving West Ham United an almighty scare at Upton Park.

It was a remarkable journey, not least because the Unibond League outfit were drawn awayfrom home no less than six times with their only home tie other than replays coming against Belper Town in the third qualifying round.

“There is no way it feels like 20 years ago,” said Glavin, now 66 and living near his adopted town of Barnsley, to The Yorkshire Post.

“Not at all. It was a unique time and I can remember so many details, from the run through the qualifying rounds to facing Lincoln in the (second round) replay at Huddersfield and then, of course, West Ham.

“Before the Cup run, we were used to playing in front of crowds of 170 but, suddenly, everyone wanted a piece of us. Everyone loves an underdog story and we were that year’s underdog. Days we will never forget.”

Indeed, they were, as momentum steadily built during a run that had begun in mid-September with a 3-0 win at Workington in the first qualifying round.

Durham City, Belper and Nuneaton Borough were all then dispatched to earn Emley only a second appearance in the first- round proper.

Morecambe, riding high in the Conference at the time, were tough opposition but Emley prevailed on penalties after a replay, goalkeeper Chris Marples the hero, to book a second-round date with Division Three leaders Lincoln and their infamous manager John Beck.

When at the helm of Cambridge United, Beck had developed a reputation for trying every trick imaginable to unsettle opponents – from cranking up the heating to sauna-like levels in the away dressing room to pouring a bag of sugar into the tea urn. Emley were clearly in for a scrap as they headed to Sincil Bank on the first Saturday of December.

“I knew John very well,” recalls Glavin, who spent five years at Celtic before moving south to join Barnsley in 1979. “We went back a long way. So, I knew there would be certain ploys he might try.

“Put it this way, I made sure we stayed away from the tea. The music was also blaring out in their dressing room, meaning we could hardly hear a thing next door. But we just blocked it out.”

It was far from the only time Glavin turned to mind games during the Cup run. “I found out through a pal of mine that the Nuneaton manager (Brendan Phillips) was coming to watch us against Gainsborough Trinity a few days before we met them in the fourth qualifying round,” laughed the Scot.

“So, I left five players out of the side that were going to play in the Cup. It worked a treat, as I later found out he had told someone, ‘They have nothing in their locker to hurt us’. He totally dismissed us. We won (3-2).”

The phrase ‘you can’t kid a kidder’ seems apt, and Glavin’s streetwise approach again paid dividends against Lincoln after he made a point, pre-match, of seeking out the referee.

“Lincoln were great at set-pieces,” he added. “They scored a lot of goals by, basically, blocking off at corners. It might be the ‘keeper or someone in the six-yard box but they did it very, very well.

“I took Richard Poulain in with me to see the referee. He was our secretary but also a (League) referee. I brought up the subject with the referee and said it was bothering me. I also asked if he would book a player who deliberately obstructed the goalkeeper.

“I wanted to plant the seed in his mind. For me, he didn’t do enough to stop it in the first game but he was better in the replay.”

Emley, having been denied a straight passage to the third round by a dramatic ‘98th-minute’ equaliser at Sincil Bank, switched the replay to Huddersfield’s McAlpine Stadium from their 2,500 capacity home. It meant double that number were present to see the two clubs go head-to-head again on December 17 with the prize of a trip to West Ham up for grabs.

Those who braved the cold witnessed a Cup classic on a snowbound pitch as Marples again emerged as the hero by saving two penalties in the shoot-out after the tie had finished 3-3. Emley subsequently moved to Wakefield in 2000 and folded 14 years later but the memories remain.

“I was told by someone at the FA that we were the smallest team to reach the third round,” added Glavin, whose side lost 2-1 at Upton Park to a late John Hartson winner. “Supporters will never be treated to days like that again but what a great time we had.”