RON TO A WINNER!
Radford and George are inspiration for Bulls boss Gowling to mastermind another Cup giantkilling
ONCE again, the goalscoring feats of Hereford FA Cup heroes Ronnie Radford and Ricky George will be replayed on the TV as the Bulls find themselves under the famous competition’s spotlight.
A televised first-round tie against League One high-fliers Portsmouth at Edgar Street on Friday night will not only boost the National League North club’s coffers, but will ensure another wave of nostalgia.
The BBC, who will show the game, will be busily dusting down the archive film of Hereford – then of the Southern League – putting top-flight Newcastle United to the sword on a mudheap of a pitch, with fans perched in trees and hanging onto floodlight pylons.
Earlier this year, some of the victorious side, including manager Colin Addison, met in the town’s Green Dragon Hotel to commemorate the 50th anniversary of one of the FA Cup’s greatest shocks.
Now, current boss Josh Gowling and his side will be looking to forge their own piece of history in front of a live TV audience.
“Friday night on TV puts the club out there, in terms of our profile,” Gowling
(right) admitted.
“But also the money from the cup run is fantastic and so important for the financial stability of the football club.
“Because of what has happened in the past, the
FA Cup is so important to the area.” It is a club which has come back from the dead. The original one – which boasted West Ham and England striker Jarrod Bowen in its ranks – was wound up in 2014 with a phoenix club rising and moving up the pyramid to the National League North four years later.
So the £50,000 TV appearance fee, allied to extra revenue from a bumper crowd, will come in very useful.
The feats of Radford, with the scorching 25-yard equaliser, and George’s neatly threaded winner in that 2-1 humbling of Newcastle still dominate the landscape when the FA Cup is ever mentioned in these parts.
Radford, now 79, who later moved back to his native Yorkshire to continue his profession as a carpenter and joiner said: “Even now, all these years later, the first thing most people want to talk about when they meet me is that goal against Newcastle.
“It still gets played a lot when they talk about FA Cup upsets, so I’ve seen it loads of times, but I still get emotional. To think that on any other day that shot could have ended up in the car park!”
Addison, 82, who also played for Arsenal and Nottingham Forest before taking Hereford into the Football League, recalled: “Ronnie’s goal is still one of the best ever seen at Edgar Street.
“We thought he was going to pass, but no goalkeeper in the world could have
stopped it.”