I’m out to make up for Eric’s stunner
ROCHDALE hero Ian Henderson has revealed how Eric Cantona ruined his only trip to Wembley.
While the League One basement club are rubbing their hands at a £1.3million cash jackpot from their FA Cup run this season, skipper Henderson is dreaming of Wembley glory.
The Liverpool fan was in the crowd when his heroes went down to Cantona’s extra-time winner for Manchester United in the 1996 final.
Now Dale’s shock 2-2 draw with Tottenham means the 33-year-old will go to the national stadium for the first time as a player.
He would love to emulate Cantona by adding to the six goals he has scored in this season’s competition, including the first against Spurs and the replay winner in the previous round against Millwall.
“Wembley memories? It’s a sore point,” said Henderson. “Cantona shattered my day when he scored the volley from the edge of the box, although he showed amazing technique and skill to do that.
“It would be nice to write our own history at Wembley and that’s the dream. If I score then I’ll run off, swinging my shirt around my head!
“I’m so excited, it’s actually my dream come true to play at Wembley. As a little kid, playing with my mates, I dreamed of scoring at Wembley. I’m absolutely buzzing.
“The FA Cup is as special as ever. It is one of the most prestigious competitions and it’s magical and special to me personally.
“Are we still in it? What do you think? We gave a good account of ourselves. It was amazing, wasn’t it? I think we showed the beauty and magic of the FA Cup. You have to dare to dream.”
Cash-strapped Rochdale may be up against it to pull off a shock in the replay but they will be winners when it comes to cash.
Like Sunday’s game, the replay will be screened live on television earning each club £123,750 – on top of the £247,500 they each received for the first encounter at Spotland.
Rochdale had already earned £77,000 TV income when their second round tie at Slough was televised.
Then there is the £186,300 in prize money they have pocketed from reaching the fifth round.
But the real jackpot will come from the gate receipts they will receive from the replay. Early estimates suggest it could attract a 50,000 crowd which would bring in between £1.5m-£2m.
Dale would receive 45 per cent of the gate so even receipts of the lower figure of £1.5m would give them £675,000. In total it means their earnings from the cup would add up to over £1.3m, a huge financial boost for a club who have never been out of the bottom two divisions and have spent most of their existence in the fourth tier.
And in the unlikely event of pulling off an upset, they would receive a further £180,000 in prize money and another live TV game away to Swansea or Sheffield Wednesday.
Dale – whose average home gate is only 3,000 – have already spent a big chunk of that money on relaying their pitch but man of the match Andy Cannon – who laid on Henderson’s goal – says Dale must concentrate on climbing off the bottom of the table, starting at home against fellow strugglers MK Dons tomorrow night.
“The dressing room was unbelievable and everyone is buzzing,” said Cannon. “But we’ve got to get Wembley out of our minds. Our main priority is to start winning in the league. “The Spurs game is a good confidence boost for us and now we go again and we need the three points against MK Dons.
“Then we’ve got Wigan on Saturday. We need to crack on.”