There are some who are adamant that Wimbledon won the 1988 FA Cup final in the tunnel before the game. A couple of players from that side recall how delivering a lexicon of profanities at their Liverpool counterparts gave them a psychological edge, teeing them up for a victory that 27 years later remains one of the competition's greatest shocks.
Alan Bennett, the Dons' current captain and Cork native, is unlikely to promote such lairy antics on Monday night but he is confident that the League Two side, 71 places below the Merseysiders, will make it sticky for their lofty opponents and is more than hopeful of producing a similarly dramatic script.
‘Major upset’
“There is one major upset every year – we need to give ourselves the biggest chance of being the ones to produce it,” Bennett says. “We will play up to being the minnows, the fans will make it hostile and we’re going to make sure it’s uncomfortable for them.”
Neal Ardley, the AFC Wimbledon manager, had warned his players about giving interviews before their Christmas fixtures, wary that the glamour tie could prove a distraction from league duties. They have won three of their four games since, leaving them four points off the play-offs in 11th position.
Finishing in the top seven is the minimum aim according to Bennett – “We haven’t spoken about it in the dressing room but personally I think it is” – but now attentions are firmly trained on the Cup.
“It hasn’t been a distraction for me but for some of the younger lads, I think it has been difficult,” he says of the surge of excitement in south-west London.
“The day after the draw Neal came in and laid down the law. He said it was a great draw and it will be a great week building up to it but until then we were to forget about it. We were told to do no media and for there to be no talk around the dressing room about it. We had four games and we were told we needed to play well in those to be in the team. That was the right thing to do.”
Such a high-profile fixture attracts a unique set of problems. As captain it is Bennett’s duty to distribute tickets to team-mates but Kingsmeadow holds only 4,720. One player asked for 14 tickets but each squad member will only receive two. No wonder some would have preferred a trip to Anfield. Bennett himself had difficulty in deciding who his two tickets should go to.
“It’s been mad, my phone was going constantly from the time the draw was made but we can only get two each. A thousand tickets went to Liverpool, while the FA’s share is around 500, so there isn’t too much left over.”
Among supporters lucky enough to get a ticket, there has been a fevered sense of anticipation. A third-round debut is another landmark for a club that has battled up the leagues backed solely by supporters.
There is, however, an additional pressure on the players arising from the club being owned by the fans. Bennett recalls one particular incident early in his time at the club when the team were struggling and some on the terraces were growing restless.
“When I signed, the club was bottom of the league and struggling. We went to Bristol Rovers in my second game, lost 1-0 and we were warming down afterwards when a woman, maybe in her 30s, exploded. The rest of the stand was empty, everyone else had gone home but she came down to the barrier and roared abuse at us. It’s so personal for them. She was quick to remind us that it took 10 years for them to get the club into the league.
“There have been a couple of incidents like that but when we do well, it is great. I’ll be gone soon along with the rest of the players, the manager will go at some stage but the fans will still be there – they are the club.”
No stranger
Bennett is no stranger to big FA Cup outings, having played for Cheltenham against Tottenham at White Hart Lane in 2012 and at home to Everton in the fourth round in 2013. What he took from those experiences was a realisation that there are noticeable differences between your average League Two and Premier League referee; not least how they define fouls.
“We have League Two refs, who ref our games every week and see League Two challenges and understand our football. But then if you get a Premier League referee, it’s quite different and I remember that from the Everton game especially.
“Maybe this is a personal gripe because I gave away a penalty to [Marouane] Fellaini after winning a header cleanly but connected with him after. I couldn’t believe it – I still can’t now – because it was a clean League Two header. You need a strong ref who can marry the two and handle it.”
At 33, Bennett has started planning for life outside football – he recently obtained a degree in sports journalism and broadcasting from Staffordshire University, while he has been taking his coaching badges alongside John Terry among others. The millionaires in red who will line up alongside them on Monday are unlikely to have such worries when it comes to retirement.
“I’ve never looked at football as a career really. It has always been a case where at the start of every season I think ‘great, another year playing’, but I know when I retire I’ll need to work.
"I guess it shows how we have different motivations – we're playing to pay the mortgage, the likes of Steven Gerrard are motivated by a completely different set of circumstances," Bennett says, neatly encapsulating the gulf between the glamour of the Premier League and the graft of the lower leagues.
This will likely be the highlight of Bennett’s career despite having played in the Champions League, with his hometown team Cork City in 2006, and possessing two international caps having played for the Republic of Ireland on a US tour in 2007. Looking back there was a touch of farce about the international call-up but it remains a proud moment.
‘Really proud’
“I had just picked up a pair of boots from a shop in Cork when
Kevin Doyle
phoned me to say Steve Staunton’s assistant [Kevin MacDonald] was going to call. But I had to pretend I had been involved in the squad before because he was under the impression I had been, so when the call came I took it all in my stride and next thing I knew I was off to the US.
“It’s still a really proud moment. In the Wimbledon programme notes I’m listed as an Irish international and sometimes as a Champions League player – it’s difficult explaining that one to the lads. My brother was working over there illegally at the time, in Boston, and I had not seen him for five or six years so it was brilliant that he could come to watch me play.”
Surprising Brendan Rodgers's team would top the lot, however. "This is the biggest of all. Along with Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal, Liverpool is the biggest draw you could get. And although it would have been nice getting to Anfield, who knows, we might get there yet."
Spurred on by Wimbledon’s past glories against Liverpool, the current version, led by Bennett, will look to become another set of History Boys.
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