WE WERE THE MINNOWS WHO SNARED A BIG FISH AND WE’RE HOOKED ON THE FA CUP

SELDOM, if ever, has a football club’s outlook been so transformed by a single FA Cup tie.

Marine are no longer just a grassroots pit-stop where the fence down one side is marked with numbers so they know which house to knock on the front door if a clearance ends up in the neighbouring back gardens on Rossett Road.

They are the minnows whose third-round tie with Tottenham Hotspur last season was the biggest mismatch – teams separated by a record 161 places on the English football ladder – in the Cup’s history.

And they are small-fry who earned the respect of big fish on and off the pitch, despite losing 5-0.

Now, after the circus of the world’s media descending on Merseyside’s northern coastal sprawl last January, a piece of Hollywood is coming to Crosby.

Today’s fourth qualifying round date against Wrexham – owned by Sunset Boulevard royalty Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney – for a place in the first round proper is a 2,150 sell-out, a fitting tribute to the grand old pot’s 150year anniversary.

For manager Neil Young and chairman Paul Leary, the magic of the Cup isn’t just alive and well: It’s all around them at a club refurbished, revitalised, reborn.

“Instead of people laughing at the prospect of Gareth Bale knocking on a neighbour’s door and asking if Spurs can have their ball back, Marine are remembered for getting it right on their big day,” said Young, 46.

“We sold 32,000 virtual tickets worldwide for a game where fans were locked out by Covid – and put the £300,000 proceeds into sprucing up the clubhouse and installing a 4G pitch next summer.

“Attendances here have more than doubled since the prelockdown season, we have a women’s team up and running and some northern-based Tottenham fans have adopted us as their second team.”

As a Merseyrail manager, Mariners boss Young’s day job is all about staying on the right track.

He can reflect on the most hectic week of his life with pride. Marine have invested their virtual ticket money, £75,000 windfall from live BBC coverage of the Spurs tie, £20,000 sponsorship from Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher and another £20k in prize money for reaching the third round wisely.

They are now equal partners with Liverpool, Everton and Tranmere in a Crimestoppers initiative to cut anti-social behaviour on Merseyside.

“The whole build-up leading up to the game was phenomenal, something I never felt was possible,” said Young. “When the draw was made, and Robbie Savage pulled Tottenham out of the hat to come here, the place went mad and my phone went haywire.

“For me, the abiding memory will be the 25 minutes I spent talking to Jose Mourinho on the pitch during the warm-up.

“I was struck by his respect for us as a club, which was reflected in the team he brought up here, and the first thing he did when he arrived was to come looking for me.

“He presented me with a Tottenham shirt – my name on the back, signed by himself – and they had obviously put a lot of time into researching what the occasion meant to us.

“From the fans’ perspective, I’m only sorry that it was played behind closed doors because the chances of us reaching the third round and drawing a club of Tottenham’s magnitude again are probably 1,000-1.

“Bringing the big boys to your home town is what FA Cup memories are made of, and the people of Crosby missed out on a once-in-alifetime spectacle.”

For chairman Leary, Marine’s new-found respect in the wider game was encapsulated by one package among the sackloads of post which piled up at the local Royal Mail sorting office after the game.

“It was from a Tottenham supporters club in Spring Lake, Illinois, a lovely letter saying how proud Marine should be,” said Leary. “They enclosed a Spurs scarf and T-shirt from their branch, together with a 10-dollar note to buy a bottle of Bud.”

‘For me the abiding memory is the 25 minutes I spent with Jose Mourinho’