I WAS THE HERO TOO SCARED TO GO ON MATCH OF THE DAY!
FA Cup giant-killer Tim Buzaglo’s starring role in Woking’s finest hour
CAN you name the only man to have taken points from Zimbabwe in an ICC Trophy and scored an FA Cup hat-trick? Tim Buzaglo raises a wry smile. ‘I was a batsman and I opened for Gibraltar. Gibraltar cricket is even worse than Gibraltar football but in the 1980s we took two points off Zimbabwe because the match was waterlogged and abandoned!
‘They were a top team: Graeme Hick, Kevin Curran, John Traicos, Duncan Fletcher. You can imagine they were not very happy.’
For Buzaglo, it was an early taste of upsetting the big boys. As a 29-year-old striker at non-League Woking in 1991, he found nationwide fame when he scored a devastating hat-trick as the Vauxhall League side beat Second Division West Brom at the Hawthorns.
Twenty-eight years have passed but for Buzaglo and Geoff Chapple, Woking’s manager that day, memories abound.
We meet, peculiarly, in the kitchen at Woking’s stadium. Outside, the queues stretch long and wide as supporters gobble up tickets for tomorrow’s FA Cup tie against Watford but as Buzaglo wanders out through the crowds, minds are wandering back to the famous 4-2 win. It was Woking’s first time in the FA Cup third round and before the tie they were 5,000-1 outsiders to win the trophy.
Chapple says: ‘I remember Phil Ledger, a former Woking director, was in conversation with a local Midlands MP and the FA chairman Sir Bert Millichip. The MP had said “Where is little Woking?” Phil went up to them afterwards and said, “You know where little Woking is now”. But you could understand the doubt. Our players were part-time. Tim worked in computers. We had couriers, painters, decorators and builders.’
Buzaglo nods. ‘I thought we had no chance,’ he recalls. ‘We were not even in the Conference. When they went 1-0 up, I thought, “Here we go, this is 5-0”. But they had scored against the run of play.
‘It was interesting before the game. A lot of their players were sitting down reading newspapers in the dressing room when I peeked in. I thought, “Is this what they normally do or are they taking the p*** here and thinking it will be easy?” We had a decent side of local boys. I asked a ballboy what the score would be and he said 5-0.’
West Brom took their one-goal lead, through Colin West, into halftime but Woking roared back in the second period, Buzaglo scoring a hat-trick inside 14 minutes and Terry Worsfold making it four.
‘I had never scored a hat-trick in such quick time,’ he says. ‘The first one was from a through ball. The second was a flick on and I just ran on to it. The third was brilliant. There were dummies and quick passing, a proper team goal.’
After the final whistle, whis slots on TV, the radio and back pages beckoned for Buzaglo. It was, surely, the stuff of childhood dreams. ‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ he protests. ‘No, no, no!
‘I tried everything to avoid going on Match Of The Day. I had never been on camera. I was forced to do it. They said, “You’re coming with us!” I was on with Des Lynam and Trevor Brooking. To say I was scared is an understatement. I couldn’t even celebrate as I had to wait to go live. Everyone else went out. I have got everything still on the old VHS.
‘I was mobbed at work. The telephone wouldn’t stop ringing. It got so silly I had to go home. Somebody phoned up and one of my work-mates gave out my home number. We almost had to go ex- directory. My wife got a load of magazine phone calls. I had to be photographed in my Woking football kit but also wearing cricket pads and with my bat so I could be the footballer-cricketer.’
His clearest memory is the generosity of the West Brom supporters. Their side had been humiliated yet the home fans scurried on the pitch and raised Buzaglo on their shoulders as his mum, Jennie, watched from the stands. His father was the chairman of the ICC and away in Australia at the time.
Buzaglo explains: ‘There were no barriers then. I was scared but Geoff told me to go down to the end where the West Brom fans were. I made him come with me and they were as good as gold. They started singing, “Sign him up!”.’
West Brom did not move for Buzaglo but it did spell the end for manager Brian Talbot, who was sacked soon after. His assistant manager was Sam Allardyce.
Chapple, who still works as the football secretary at Woking, grins: ‘I became friendly with Brian. We were at a big dinner a few years ago. He said, “I need to thank someone. Geoff, when you beat us I got the sack, received £100,000, put it in the bank and now it’s worth £200,000!”.’
Buzaglo had previously represented Gibraltar in cricket World Cups and the consensus is that he ought to have had a more fulfilling football career.
Chapple, 74, says: ‘He didn’t like training or travelling. He’s very laid back but put him on the pitch and on his day, he could turn anyone inside out. He could have gone right to the top. We would have games in Gateshead and he’d say, “I’m not going on the coach, I will be sick”. I told him to be there at 2pm. He’d get someone to drive him. We played at Kidderminster and I looked over during the warmup and he’s asleep in the dugout.’
Buzaglo, who had fleeting interest from Northampton and Exeter, agrees: ‘Dedication and myself do not go together. I was the worst trainer, the last one out to warm up, I hated the cold. I was happy playing for Waysiders in my local league. I had my mates there and we were half- decent. I was just too lazy. I could have come to Woking a lot earlier but I couldn’t be doing with training twice a week and the travel.’
In the fourth round, Woking travelled to Everton. The home side, who presented Woking with a crate of champagne before the game, won 1-0, but once again, high-ranking opponents were given a fright.
‘I had a big chance,’ Buzaglo says. ‘I played a one-two and then Neville Southall was running out at me. He’s a big guy, massive! I had a split second and should have scored.
‘I do still have my shirt from the games and I have Kevin Ratcliffe’s jersey from the Everton tie.’
Tomorrow’s fixture against Watford provides an opportunity for a new generation. ‘It’s important for the town. Woking is always thought of as the Surrey stockbroker belt, rather being known for football.
‘They can write their own history. What I’d like is for this lot to beat Watford and take all the fuss away from me!’
We’d no chance. When they scored I thought here we go, 5-0