CHELTENHAM GOING GOOD
Canny Irish trainer has Town clear of the field
Several Irish tricolours were still hoisted at Cheltenham’s racecourse on Saturday afternoon, a reminder of where the winners had come from in the Festival week just gone.
Barely a mile down the road it is a Northern Irishman enjoying success, less noticed on a national scale, with Belfast-born Michael Duff leading the regency town’s club to the top of league Two.
as this demanding season approaches its final few furlongs Cheltenham lead the most tightly bunched of the top four divisions, keeping their nose in front with a 2-0 victory over Salford City.
Built on the site of what were once hunt kennels, the stadium at Whaddon road nestles in between a large postwar housing estate and the period splendour of Pittville.
Uniquely, it is a football club that operates in competition with both a world famous racing venue and a rugby club, nearby Gloucester. This was their second home fixture in a week, itself a signpost of these unusual times.
‘Usually we wouldn’t host matches during racing week because of all that comes with a town of 120,000 swelling by another 60,000,’ reflected Paul Godfrey, Cheltenham secretary of 30 years. ‘It gets so busy that if we have any players staying at a hotel we sometimes have to temporarily rehouse them in Bristol.’
Currently on matchdays Godfrey doubles up as a stretcher-bearer at the club he has supported as man and boy. Nobody has felt the absence of fans more keenly than him. ‘I feel very lucky to have seen all the matches,’ he says. ‘To go 1-0 up against Manchester City and not have any spectators in to witness it, that was heartbreaking.’
In late January they were within 10 minutes of springing a huge upset in the Fa Cup fourth round against the team who have swept all before them. For all the late agony that night, ending in a 3-1 defeat, banking around £300,000 from the tie means Cheltenham’s stretched finances will emerge healthily intact from the present turmoil. The additional £30,000 they will get from what promises to be a crunch Good Friday match against Tranmere, televised on Sky, will also help.
Duff, capped 24 times by Northern Ireland, has forged a tight unit from the resources available, and led them to the top despite not having a prolific goalscorer. He is clearly ambitious, but few managers feel such a visceral attachment to their club. He played 300 league games for the team and scored the 93rd-minute winner in 1999 that sent them into the Football league for the first time.
‘I started playing football at 17, so in 26 years I have had two clubs, here and Burnley. I married a local girl so this is home now,’ says the 43-year-old. ‘No matter what I do in football my family will stay here, so there’s definitely a strong emotional connection.’
He learned plenty from working with Sean Dyche at Burnley: ‘Sean has been a massive influence on me, along with Steve Cotterill. Sean’s brilliant, I still probably speak to him once a week.’
The likes of Wycombe and Burton albion inspire thoughts of what can be achieved on a limited budget as Cheltenham try to return to the third tier for the third time in their history.
‘This is a very competitive league, and maybe the pandemic has brought the finances of teams closer together which is why it is so tight, there’s nobody outspending anyone 10-fold,’ reasons Duff.
He has assembled an experienced team whose signature threat is the throw-in of skipper Ben Tozer, which sees him propel the ball into the box like a sidewinder missile.
It took three minutes for one of these to find the head of defender Sean long. Sleepy Salford looked like they were still dreaming of their Papa John’s Trophy win the previous Saturday at Wembley.
Onlooking co-owner Gary Neville, one of the few punters who made it to Cheltenham in race week, left looking somewhat displeased.