DREAMS ARE MADE UNDER THE ARC MADE ARCH
IT DOESN’T seem all that long ago that Thatcham Town were in the Wembley press conference trying to take in what they had achieved.
As manager Danny Robinson rightly said, the Kingfishers are forever in Wembley history following their FA Vase triumph.
Shane Cooper-Clark scrawled his name in the record books with the only goal in the 1-0 win against Stockton Town.
On the same pitch only the day before, Chelsea and Manchester United had played out the final of the FA Cup, arguably the world’s greatest club competition.
No one can ever take that slice of Wembley glory away from Thatcham or any of the Wembley winners down the years (six finals were played at club grounds during the stadium rebuild, while others have won in replays away from the hallowed turf).
But if you believe all the whispers down the years, that may well have been the case with speculation about supposed dwindling crowd sizes rearing their head every so often to cast doubt over the final’s future at the home of football.
Talking point
But even before the FA made the decision to launch Non-League Day three years’ ago – with the FA Vase and FA Trophy played on the same afternoon – the venue has been a talking point.
A piece in The Independent from Whitby Town’s 1997 win references the debate. Thankfully the FA recognised the importance of final staying put. To move it would take away nearly all the prestige.
Because, in this country, Wembley is the dream and it is special that players right down the ladder get their shot at making it.
And so this weekend, little more than three months after Thatcham’s triumph, the journey has begun.
Only two will make it but that won’t stop more than 600 clubs dreaming this could be their year.
Ask any Vase winning manager and they will tell you it’s a marathon and everyone who pitches up in London in May will have had the bounces of luck required in sticky moments.
The arch has never been so far away. But what a place to be aiming for.