Sofa so good as Cowleys face their biggest test
Impossible is just an opinion, it’s not a fact
AS KIDS, Danny and Nicky Cowley took football so seriously that they turned a sofa bed into a dugout in order to make playing computer game Championship Manager even more realistic.
Today, they will be in the dugout for real at Turf Moor inspiring Lincoln City to believe they can succeed where Premier League leaders Chelsea failed – by beating top-flight Burnley.
A clash with a Premier League side is the latest chapter in the brothers’ remarkable story, which has brought national attention in the last year with their decision to leave jobs in education and try their luck in full-time football after making their names in the semi-professional game.
But Nicky, who joined his big brother at previous clubs Concord Rangers and Braintree, revealed they have been teaming up since they were football-mad kids.
“When we were younger we often spent school holidays either playing sport or indoors playing Championship Manager on the computer,” said Nicky. “Our mum used to tell me off for spending too much time on it and tell me to get on with my homework.
“I recently reminded her that I was doing my homework!
“Dan would drive me mad. He would sit with a notepad wanting to make notes and I would want to get on and play the next game.
“We even used to argue about what name we’d use. We’d sometimes be ‘Dannick Cowley’. I would take it quite seriously and I remember once using a Z-bed that we had and turning it into a dugout!”
The pair, who were PE teachers at the same Essex school until May, have refused to leave education behind completely, with Lincoln’s Bishop Grosseteste University providing them with training facilities and computers which they use to analyse players’ performance and their future opponents.
And they have combined their FA Cup adventure with a return to the classroom by inspiring students with a series of lectures.
“We were very keen to give something back to the university because when you’re working with someone it should always be a fair relationship,” said Nicky. “Danny has done quite a few lectures and they’ve been successful.
“It’s a nice opportunity to go back into teaching and the classroom setting.”
But such has been the brothers’ success in their first jobs in full-time football, they have no intention of making their return to education permanent.
Their progress to the last 16 has already included two Championship scalps. After seeing off League One Oldham in the second round they beat Ipswich 1-0 in a replay then went on to defeat Brighton 3-1.
So while a scouting mission to the Clarets’ 1-1 draw with Chelsea last Sunday reminded Danny of the scale of their task, it did nothing to dampen the positive spirit that has got players in the dressing room and youngsters in the lecture theatre walking tall.
“Football is about winning,” said Danny. “I’m not going to Burnley thinking, ‘I’m enjoying this’. I’m going to Burnley to win.
“We know it’s a one in 100 chance but we have to believe it will be that one time.
“A lot of people have told me it’s impossible but impossible is just an opinion, it’s not a fact.
“For us to come through Oldham, Ipswich away, Ipswich at home and then Brighton was probably a one in 10,000 chance, so after what we’ve seen in the
FA Cup this year anything is possible. We watched Eden Hazard, Pedro, Diego Costa and Victor Moses all try to break Burnley down and they weren’t able to.
“Then Chelsea brought Cesc Fabregas on and he wasn’t able to unpick them either.
“So it won’t be easy but we will go there with a belief that we can do it.
“It’s not every morning you wake up with the opportunity to do something you’re going to remember for the rest of your life.” The brothers’ attention to detail will take on epic proportions today. Whatever the result of their lunchtime game against Sean Dyche’s side, they are planning an 85mile dash across the Pennines at the final whistle to watch North Ferriby – their opponents on Tuesday as they look to retain top spot in the National League in their quest for promotion to League Two.
“Nicky is going to drive and straight after the game we are intending to go to North Ferriby v Dover,” said Danny, who hopes to reach Humberside in time for the second half.
“The FA Cup journey we’ve been on has been amazing so we’re going to give that our very best and our full focus, but when the final whistle blows at Turf Moor we can’t affect that game any more so our attention will turn very quickly.”