THE OPPOSITION

Matt Woolley – The club captain, Matt is also ‘74’s longest serving player having made his debut as a substitute in the 2014 Boxing Day game at Widnes. A Northwich lad, he was signed from Cheshire League side Knutsford FC. Matt has had spells at Congleton Town, Alsager, Witton Albion and FC Halifax Town and he’s now chalked up over 350 games for the club, netting approaching 50 goals.

Lucas Weir – Now aged 23, Lucas first broke in to 74’s first-team in 2018, .after initially featuring for our U21s side. He quickly became an important part of the side, developing in to an all-round midfield player who also played in defensive positions. After taking a break away from the club to play and study in the US in early 2019, Lucas returned in 2020, and after a spell of real consistency he was snapped up by NPL Premier Division side Marine AFC and went on to feature over 30 times for the Crosby based club. We couldn’t be happier to welcome back a player of Lucas’s talent and personality to the ‘74 fold!

The Management Team – Since April 2017, 1874 have been guided by the managerial duo of Paul Bowyer and Wayne Goodison. Telford born Paul – who is a teacher by profession – joined ’74 at its inception and played in the club’s historic first game against Lostock Gralam. After initially playing in the youth teams of West Brom and Shrewsbury, the rest of Paul’s playing career was spent in the National game system with Market Drayton and the Cheshire trio of Nantwich, Congleton and Alsager Town but also included a short spell in Wales with The New Saints.

In comparison, Wayne spent the majority of his career in the Football League, firstly with Barnsley – where he served his apprenticeshipand then Crewe and Rochdale, chalking up a total of 209 league games. Since his playing days ended, he’s held a number of management posts, including at Buxton, Trafford, Salford City and Chorley. In addition to obtaining a degree in Football Coaching & Management from UCFB, Wakefield born Wayne followed this up by gaining a postgraduate Masters in Football Coaching & Practice.

The FA Cup, the worlds oldest surviving domestic football competition, 732 clubs will be whittled down to 2, over 10 months, and for some of those clubs - 418 to be exact, the fun starts today.

It got me thinking though, what was the FA Cup like back when it started in 1871? Google and Wikipedia were both able to provide me with more than enough information, and I was surprised to see that only 15 teams from the FA’s 50 members decided to take part, and 3 of those withdrew without even kicking a pigs bladder.

November 11th 1871 was when it all started, and what a different football world it was. Barnes beat the Civil Service 2-0, Maidenhead beat Marlow by the same score line, Clapham Rovers won 3-0 at Upton Park, whilst Hitchin and