FA cup weekend, although probably dull to some should inspire everyone if they really consider the concept of it. To give an example of its brilliance, recently Sir Geoff Hurst – Winner of the world cup, top of his game now high up in the football association and deserved winner of an MBE was in a studio panel discussing the football skills of Jo Bruce, a plasterer from Basingstoke who plays semi professionally in the conference south division (6 divisions and a good 200 teams off top spot) In what other profession would you ever get that? That is the equivalent of Bill Gates taking interest in a computer programmer working at the slough division of Hewlitt Packard part time.
The FA cup brings many good memories to my mind as a Wycombe Wanderers fan who is not used to success. In 2001 we reached the semi finals of the competition, a feat that at the start of that year was 1000-1 (for those of you who are interested I unfortunately didn’t take that bet..buggar) Travelling to tourist hotspots such as Grimsby and Millwall I endured many cold nights and crap pies before reaching the ultimate semi final against Liverpool where I felt like the king of football. For one game I had bragging rights and I milked it for all it was worth (including buying a Wycombe Wanderers bed spread for a mere £25.99) The pinnacle of the entire event was in the quarter finals when our injury list was as long as Pavorotti’s shopping list and we had to advertise for a striker. As any good future employee would do a chap called Roy Essandoh rather exaggerated his past achievements as a footballer and managed to blag his way into the squad. He claims to have ‘played most of his football in Finland’ when what he actually meant was ‘I live in Finland and own a football’ a simple typo that could have happened to anyone.
However in true FA cup style while Mr Essandoh appeared to be queuing for a cup of tea late on in the match, the ball, rather painfully I presume, struck him on the head and went flying into the net for the winner. Before he could say ‘what the &*^#? He was surrounded by ten screaming footballers jumping on him and hurting his already bruised head. In a spilt second he had become an FA cup legend.
My point is not to lie on your CV, although it clearly seems to help. My point is that Wycombe got where they did because they had a team of people willing to work tirelessly for each other. Didn’t matter how talented the opponents were they could not compete with the work ethic of the 11 men. With hard work anything is possible. So next time you flick over and see Middleofnowhwere United battling their socks off on BBC prime time just think how they got there, and picture Bill Gates giving you a motivational tap on the shoulder.