Few places do lore and giant-killings quite like Tamworth, which is a roundabout way of leading into an FA Cup third-round tie against Tottenham Hotspur, but the visit of Ange Postecoglou’s men is a chance to write more history.
“It’s going to be a big challenge but that’s what football’s all about. For us it could be a big leveller because they’re not used to a small ground, smaller pitch and the 4G pitch.
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Read MoreThey face the competition’s eight-time winners as the lowest-ranked remaining name in the hat, currently sitting 16th in the National League. The journey even to get that far has been extraordinary.
Like so many teams at this level, Tamworth is as much about the people around it as what happens on the pitch. The club is still less than 100 years old, having replaced the defunct Tamworth Castle FC with the help of a local newspaper campaign.
His tenure took them from record low attendances and the financial pits all the way back to the Southern League and, in May 1989, the greatest day in their history: glory over Sudbury Town in the FA Vase final, won in a replay at Peterborough United via a trip to Wembley.
“All the facilities were very old, not had anything done to them for a long time, so we had to set about doing bits and pieces – the pitch initially, then the stands and the dressing rooms. It took us quite a few years to get anywhere near.
Singh after Tamworth’s second round win on penalties (Photo: Getty)“We’re all local people. I was born a quarter of a mile from the ground, one of the other guys was about half a mile from the ground. [Former co-owner] John Bayliss was a Birmingham lad but he played for Tamworth’s first team as a player for six or seven years before he retired.”
This is just the fourth time Tamworth have graced the FA Cup third round, with goalkeeper Jasbir Singh the hero in the 4-3 shootout win over League One side Burton Albion in the last round.
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Read More“The club’s on a massive journey,” says Scott Farrington, the Tamworth Supporters’ Club chairman.
The clubhouse was full for the live screening of the third-round draw. It may not have amused Spurs fans to hear the chorus of “Tottenham get battered, everywhere they go” from a group of children in front of the TV as the numbers were picked out of the pot.
Only Arsenal and Manchester United have lifted this trophy more regularly in 154 years, but their last captain to do so was Gary Mabbutt in 1991. “Mabsy” is now 63 years of age.
Tamworth are the lowest-ranked side remaining in the FA Cup (Photo: Getty)
“He [Peaks] came in and we were struggling two leagues below where we are now,” Farrington says.
The tie will be littered with other individual stories. Tamworth can only train twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Singh, the keeper, is a surveyor who works on site by day. Tom Tonks, the midfielder who has gone viral for his long throw-ins, sells sandwiches.
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Read MoreNevertheless this is an occasion which momentarily threatened to lose its magic, overshadowed by a row over ticket price hikes. A home ticket at The Lamb will typically set you back £18-20.
“The tickets flew out,” Farrington points out. “They went on general sale on Sunday at 6pm and they sold out within the hour.
The FA Cup is still a lifeline at this level, and with replays scrapped the takings from 12 January 2025 will be referred to in the books for years to come. TV money is a welcome boost too.
In so many ways Tamworth is a classic post-industrial Midlands market town, one which has seen unprecedented change over the past three decades. For 90 minutes on Sunday, whatever happens, more will be added to that tapestry.
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