Sean Dyche has spoken about how special a player Juninho was as he recalled captaining Chesterfield in their famous FA Cup tie with Middlesbrough.
Back in 1997, Chesterfield almost achieved the unthinkable by reaching the FA Cup final while playing in England’s third tier. Their dream was ended by Boro - but only after some controversy, and with a replay required.
The two sides played out a 3-3 draw at Old Trafford, before Boro’s team of superstars including Juninho and Fabrizio Ravanelli met expectations in the replay at Hillsborough, winning 3-0.
Reflecting on the game during an appearance on the Could It Be Magic? podcast with Joe Cole and Ashley Cole to mark last weekend’s first round of this season’s FA Cup, Dyche said: “We were like Division One at the time, unheard of for a team like us to get to where we got to.
“I was captain, so I’m like running players pools, organising tickets, players to get tickets, buying stuff, getting players to go to the local bingo. We’d never had a players’ pool, obviously never needed one. The only one we’d had, it was like we’d run a bar and people who, you know, put in for 800 quid on the bar for the end of the season trip. You know what I mean?
“So of course money starts coming in and they’ve got no one to manage it. Someone was looking at some of the bigger stuff that was coming in, but all the local little stuff, they’re coming to me.
“So I’m sort of saying to players, would you go and do that and you know, for a 500 quid fee and it goes in the pot. I’m doing all of that trying to manage things, doing all the media because it was only me and John Duncan, doing the media.
“You’ve got no media advisers, no team, nothing. You know, we’re just doing it day to day and then you get to the game or you’re on the way to the game and everyone’s like really edgy? This is massive for Chesterfield. It was big for Middlesborough, of course., but you know, they got Festa playing, Ravanelli, Juninho … Emerson played in the second game.
“Juninho at that time was arguably one of the best players in Europe. He was great, unbelievable. Little Mark Jules was asked to do a man to man job, I thought we were going to have to stretcher him off. Juninho never stopped I swear. He would get it and run all over the pitch, non stop. He could play.”
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The game was not without controversy and big talking points. Vladimir Kinder was sent off for Boro and the second division outfit went 2-0 up, with Dyche converting a penalty. Ravanelli got one back for Boro before the moment that still irks Dyche, as John Howard thought his shot had crossed the line, only for no goal to be given.
Dyche recalled: “You can talk about moments, but there was a goal that was over the line by this much (holds hands to create a gap). John Howard hits it against the bar and it bounces down. How they missed that is farcical. It’s like the Lampard one at the World Cup.
“It was that far over. Then it bounces out and Festa climbs all over Andy Morris, and that would have been 3-1. That changed the whole thing. They ended up going in front, with good players like Juninho running all over, by hook or by crook, and then Jamie [Hewitt] scored last minute to make it 3-3.”
Hewitt’s last-minute equaliser made for a famous result for Chesterfield, even if Boro ended up sealing their place in the final comfortably in the end in the replay. Despite that, it remains a moment of real pride for Dyche, who also noted the genius of the Spitfires’ manager John Duncan ahead of the first game.
“This day we’re all wandering around the pitch and we’re all, you know, getting edgy,” Dyche said. “John Duncan, had the best bit of management still to this day I’ve ever known. We are all nervy and he was really quite calm, John, and very dry in the manner he was.
Sean Dyche of Chesterfield receives the congratulations for his goal
Sean Dyche of Chesterfield receives the congratulations for his goal (Image: Getty Images)
“We lost him a couple of years ago. Rest his soul. Brilliant fella. And super helpful to me, both player, coach, manager and all that. So he was sitting in the dressing room and he went ‘right lads, calm down, calm down’. But quite seriously, he wasn’t really like that.
“He said ‘now then lads, I look around and I think you all look like you’re shitting yourself - and I hope you are because I am!’ Of course I burst out laughing and it diffuses everything. I look back on that, I thought, genius. Because I could sense everyone’s nervous. And he went, so ‘let’s have a right go’. And he just kept it dead simple. I remember after that game thinking genius. We didn’t need tactics, everyone’s too nervous for that.”
Could It Be Magic? with Joe Cole and Ashley Cole, brought to you by Carling, the official sponsor of the Emirates FA Cup and Adobe Women’s FA Cup. You can watch the show on YouTube and Spotify or listen to it wherever you get your podcasts. Episode 2 is out now and can be watched https://youtu.be/W9H1SXVhuzs or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts.