Farnborough’s long wait in the wings almost over

Thirty-five years later, Farnborough are being noticed all over the world as they prepare to take on Arsenal, the holders and reigning League champions, in the fourth round of England’s FA Cup next week in the sort of tie that makes the world’s oldest soccer competition also the most special. For most people, the name of Farnborough, 48 kms South-West of London, is synonymous with its air show, held on the site of Britain’s first powered flight. The tree where Colonel Cody, the former American wild West showman, lashed his flimsy, experimental aeroplanes was preserved for almost a century but has now disappeared, along with almost all the rest of the town’s aviation heritage.

By the time its football club were starting to climb their way through the lower reaches of the minor league pyramid in the 1970s, neighbouring Aldershot was the big brother in every regard. The home of the British Army was also enjoying its brief, and very relative, golden age on the football field, attracting almost 20,000 for the League Cup visit of Manchester United and fleetingly tasting life in the old third division after their first promotion.

Farnborough, still clearing the mess left behind by morning dog-walkers from their home pitch before each match, meanwhile won the Spartan League title for four successive years, leading to the development of their own new ground — Cherrywood Road.

Built on a marsh between two council housing estates on the edge of the M3 Motorway, it was little more than a soggy playing surface surrounded by a low grey wall but at least it kept out the dogs.

It was a heady time for the fledgling club and during the mid 1970s Farnborough chalked up a remarkable 87-game unbeaten home run, spanning almost four years and both grounds.

They also twice had Wembley in their sights via the FA Vase, only to lose to Essex club Billericay in the semi-finals in successive seasons. The climb through the leagues continued, gradually, with promotion from the Isthmian leading to the Conference in 1989.

Three years later the club came to prominence by holding West Ham to a 1-1 FA Cup draw and losing the replay to an 89th-minute goal. They had Aldershot firmly in their sights, only for their old rivals to go bankrupt and drop out of the Football League, leaving Farnborough as the area’s pre-eminent club. As automatic promotion to the League was introduced, leading to many conference clubs becoming fully professional, Farnborough remained predominantly part-time and they still are.

The ground, though much improved since its basic beginnings, remains shabby, with its three-seat press box spared an almighty squeeze by the decision to switch the Arsenal game on January 25 to Highbury.

The team colours have also changed from the early days, the traditional yellow and blue replaced by red and white stripes following the arrival of the omnipotent Graham Westley. Owner, chairman, manager, press officer and primary sponsor, the businessman has grand plans for the club which he saved from bankruptcy four years ago and now appears to run as an arm of his office cleaning company.

Westley, a former Farnborough player, has spent much of his time in charge trying to shift the club from its roots, only to see his various groundshare plans go the same way as his plea for a new local stadium — nowhere.

But the politics wil be forgotten, by the fans at least, a week on Saturday when around 7,000 of them fill the Clock End of Highbury hoping to witness the rewriting of Cup — and town — history. It is 14 years since a minor league club upset top division opposition, when Sutton United beat Coventry City, and not since Crystal Palace beat Wolves in 1909, three months after Cody’s ‘‘Army Aeroplane Number One’’ took to the Hampshire skies, has one claimed the scalp of the Cup holders. (Reuters)