13 hours ago
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Weeks on from the FA Cup third-round draw, inside Weston-super-Mare’s modest clubhouse at their stadium a couple of miles from the holiday haven beachfront, there is still a tinge of incredulity at what might have been. Bridget Bolland, operations manager and one of the mini-army of staff who keep the part-time sixth-tier side ticking, relays how, normally, visiting teams have their post-match meal on a bench beside the skittles alley, sausage and chips usually the offering. The thought of Bruno Fernandes or Erling Haaland tucking in here is yet to fully evaporate.
But the draw meant Weston, the promotion-chasing National League South side who have reached this stage of the Cup for the first time, have been preparing for a different challenge: a tie at fourth-tier Grimsby Town, who beat Manchester United in the Carabao Cup in August. “As a United fan, I hated them that night,” says Weston’s manager, Scott Rogers. “I was going mad at the TV. But I’m hoping we can do something similar. There’s always an upset in the Cup: why can’t it be us?”
It is 10am and the players, who train twice a week, usually on Tuesdays and Thursdays, file into a room for a short analysis meeting. Gary Warren, the assistant manager and head of academy, runs through a few clips. “The only rest you get is at half-time, full time and when the final whistle goes,” he says. Rogers has the final word: “Let’s make sure we’re proactive. To get to the first round is a big achievement for a non-league side … to get to the third is almost unheard of.”
Weston, the joint lowest-ranked team left in the competition with National League North side Macclesfield, overcame division rivals Chelmsford City in the previous round. That day Louis Britton, a Bristol-born striker, was Weston’s hero, scoring both goals. After the match the team joined supporters at the Flyer, a pub round the corner from their opponents’ ground.
“We had a few beers with them and it was brilliant,” says Michael Smith, the 37-year-old full-back who won 19 caps for Northern Ireland. “That’s what this level is all about. You probably wouldn’t get that with league clubs but to give a little bit back to the fans was special. Great day.” How was the journey back to Somerset? “We were well lubricated, put it that way,” Smith says with a smile.
Rogers bought a crate of beers from Morrisons for the bus home (on which the forward Will Dawes turned DJ) and called his parents before joining the party. “I just sat on the coach on my own and it was nice to have that moment,” Rogers says. “Everyone was saying: ‘Why aren’t you in here?’ I just needed some peace and quiet because it had been so hectic. I had my notebook for the game, squiggles everywhere, and when we got to the 83rd minute I just wrote: ‘Please, God.’ Great memories. And I’ve been doing a lot of praying lately … come on, give us one more.”
Weston’s squad comprises players at both ends of their careers and everyone from builders and teachers to labourers and lecturers, in the case of the captain, Emlyn Lewis, who works at Cardiff Metropolitan University. “Luckily, we had enough time to put annual leave in,” says Lewis of travelling north on Friday. The youngster Charlie Cummins is on loan from Exeter. Adam May and Dom Bernard have played in League One, Scott Wilson in League Two. Smith faced Chelsea with Peterborough in the FA Cup third round in 2017. “Chelsea went on to win the Premier League, so it was a good squad: Pedro, Fàbregas, Kanté, John Terry,” he says.
Lewis’s doctoral thesis led him to record the lives of eight managers. “How do coaches manage the everyday pressures of the job?” Lewis says. “Have you been home? Have you seen your family? The research showed that there are no boundaries, it is 24/7. There were times when managers got sacked. I am very grateful they allowed me to be part of their lives, in a way, for 12 months.”
Jacob Cane, the club’s longest-serving player, who came through the ranks at Exeter, has made more than 400 appearances across 11 years. In his first season at Weston, he and Ollie Watkins, who joined on loan from Exeter with Matt Jay, now of Torquay, shared lifts from Devon. Cane remembers training on a “mud bath” that winter but these days there is a slick artificial surface. The midfielder remains close friends with Watkins – whose signed Aston Villa and Weston shirts adorn the walls of the boardroom – and attended the Euro 2024 final in Berlin to support his former teammate. “We still talk about his time here,” Cane says.
Around town there is pride at Weston’s progress. “My uncle Martyn, who I played under at Tiverton Town, managed for 36 years and never got past the first round,” says Rogers, who in 1999 scored the winning goal at Wembley to win the FA Vase. “When we got through to the second round this season, he said: ‘Bloody hell, unbelievable, I’ve been trying to do that all my life.’ To get through again … everyone kept asking: ‘Who do you want?’ I always tell my kids: ‘Don’t say want, because it’s greedy’ – but I would’ve liked Bristol City. That would’ve been my dream because I was an apprentice there and got released.”
Weston has long been a family business; last summer Paul Bliss stepped down as chair after 39 years, handing the baton to his son Oli, whose brother, Ed, is vice-chair. Paul, who turns 80 next year, will be one of 10 of the Bliss family in attendance at Grimsby, where Weston have a 1,200 allocation. This season Weston renamed a stand at their stadium in honour of their president, Dennis Usher, whose association with the club began in 1979 and whose father was involved in the 50s. Plans to build a 750-seat stand and new facilities were recently approved.
Victory at Chelmsford will live long in the memory for all involved but they are targeting another historic triumph. The Cup run has generated about £150,000 for a club with a mid-table budget for their division. “I can normally tell the manager how much budget they have left but this year it has been confusing – for a good reason,” says Oli Bliss, who budgeted for two wins across the FA Cup and FA Trophy. Saturday’s trip to Blundell Park represents Weston’s seventh match on a memorable adventure, one that began at Taunton Town in September and they hope it does not prove the last. “If we go through, it will be a pretty momentous day,” says Bliss.
