TEQUILA!
Tranmere’s spirit fuelling fun-filled promotion push
THE march of Birkenhead’s maria chi regiment on Britain’s first roman city was complete and anyone present will begin the week with a ‘ tequila!’ worm still wriggling in their ear.
this is the sound of tranmere rovers on the rise, with nearly 500 in the away end celebrating a sixth successive victory to the tune of their own version of the champs’ infectious 1958 hit and its one-word chorus.
‘that was mega, wasn’t it,’ chuckled manager Micky Mellon. ‘We had colchester fans behind us joining in. this new tequila one, they were bobbing about to that.’
this, if Mellon’s ears were not actually playing tricks, represents an admirable sense of fun on behalf of the home crowd, as their team slumped to a third defeat in a row.
rather, it was all about the visitors, with momentum gathering fast and the prospect of back-to-back promotions taking shape. Little wonder they are rocking all over the Wirral after the misery of three years out of the Football League.
tranmere have not won six on the spin since March ’91, a heady sequence which propelled them in to the second tier via the play-offs and launched a golden era when they threatened to storm the top flight with John Aldridge and Ian Muir up front and John McGreal, now colchester manager, at the back.
Mellon’s team have kept six clean sheets in eight games. they are honest, organised and balanced.
In Scott Davies they have a goalkeeper making fabulous saves, in David perkins — creator of the first and scorer of the second — they had the best player on the pitch at the JobServe community Stadium and in James Norwood they have the most prolific striker in English football. His goal at colchester made it 28 in all competitions in his first full campaign in league football. ‘the secret is having a good team behind you,’ said Norwood (left). ‘ ten people working their socks off. I shouldn’t be missing the sort of chances they’re creating. All I’ve got to do is be there on the end and put it in. that’s the easy bit. ‘three sticks and a net and someone standing in the middle, it doesn’t matter what league you’re in, there’s no difference.’ It does look easy with a natural finisher at work. His 98 goals in 56 games as a teenager at Eastbourne town earned him a professional contract at Exeter.
When he failed to break through, he dropped back into the National League and forged a prolific career with Forest Green and tranmere, winning caps for an England c team which also featured Watford’s Andre Gray and Sam clucas.
At 28, Norwood is the latest talent to emerge from non- League and adapt readily to the challenges of the EFL. Andy cook, who left tranmere when his contract expired last summer, is scoring goals for Walsall. clubs from the championship and League one are circling Norwood, who is out of contract at the end of this season.
‘people didn’t used to look at that level until players like Jamie Vardy and Andre Gray got out,’ he said. ‘things are changing and there’s a lot of quality down there but I always felt like the only way I would get out was if we were promoted.
‘We worked hard for that and it was nice to share that journey as a team. I’m grounded from my time in the conference but I’ve got points to prove and I don’t want to let myself down.’
Norwood is planning a return to Wembley to support Watford striker Gray in an FA cup semifinal against Wolves on Sunday week, which should rekindle fond memories of his winning goal in the National League play- off final against Boreham Wood last May.
this year, however, Mellon’s team would prefer to avoid the breathless thrills of the play-offs and finish inside the top three.
It is well within their grasp and on this evidence they have every chance, inspired by their spirited army of fans, their ‘tequila!’ song and fuelled by the man sinking all the shots.