Fry’s best example of Cup magic

THE FA Cup offers 15 minutes of fame, can build reputations, shatter them, wipe out debts or grow bank balances.

Over five decades, Peterborough director of football Barry Fry has experienced all that – and more.

So, there really isn’t any need to ask if the magic of the cup still exists. Of course, it does. You just have to spend those 15 minutes in his company to be convinced.

Fry (below) said: “If you want to know what the FA Cup means, here’s one of the best examples.

“When I first managed Barnet, we were part-time. We trained on Tuesdays and Thursdays and all of our players held down other jobs. “We were drawn against Brighton in the Third Round. They were in the old First Division and we were non-league.

“We played them at Underhill, held them to a goalless draw. We were struggling financially and there was a replay at the Goldstone Ground, with 17,500 punters.

“The gate receipts we got and the advertising around the perimeter at Underhill – it was on television – helped us massively.

“But not only that – Mike Bailey, Brighton’s manager, made a bid for my left-back Graham Pearce, after the game. It was for £35,000, a fair amount of money in those days.

“But the magic of the Cup did not reveal itself until 12 months later.

“Brighton – then under Jimmy Melia – reached the FA Cup Final. They drew 2-2 against Manchester United – and should have won it.

“Graham played in that – and the replay too. He went from being a non-league nobody, who was a printer, to play at Wembley in front of 100,000 and millions on TV and having a career in the First Division – all within the space of 12 months.”