The FA Cup’s former ability to convert market-town footballers into figures recognised nationally was shown by a recent social media time capsule. There emerged a short clip from a 1997 edition from the BBC guffaw-fest They Think It’s All Over featuring a blindfolded Rory McGrath and Gary Lineker feeling the bumps of a full-kit Sean Dyche and fellow members of the Chesterfield team that had reached that season’s semi-finals. The players, and their manager, John Duncan, standing shyly at the back, were greeted with warm applause.
The tale of that Chesterfield team is well told. Kevin Davies, their teenage striker, scored a hat-trick against his future club Bolton in the fourth round. A classic Old Trafford 3-3 semi-final with Middlesbrough will be forever recalled for Dyche taking a penalty exactly as you might expect and the scandal of Jonathan Howard’s shot, clearly crossing the Boro line after coming off the crossbar for what would have been an unassailable 3-1 lead, being ruled out. The referee, David Elleray, entered eternal notoriety.
