Mark Quayle is 25. He is the only Scarborough player who cost a fee. The rest of his non-league team consists of loan deals and free signings. Quayle, scorer of the only goal in the third round FA Cup tie against Southend United, cost precisely £2 000.
His goal has earned the little seaside town a guaranteed payday of about £400 000 as they take on a Chelsea side which, at the last count, has cost £110-million to put together.
The McCain stadium, capacity 6 000, has never seen the likes.
Scarborough, a Yorkshire resort town gradually tumbling in to the North Sea as ocean levels rise, had a brief spell in the lower reaches of the league after promotion in the late 1980s, but most of their 124-year history has been spent in obscurity.
Worlds apart? Yup. Liverpool-born Quayle has played for Notts County, Grantham Town, Morecambe and Nuneaton. His opposite number, Romanian Adrian Mutu (24), has played for Dinamo Bucharest, Inter Milan, Verona and Parma before his £15,8-million move to what has now become known as Roman Abramovich’s Chelski.
Weekly income? Quayle earns £350 a week, which is about the national average of £18 000 a year. Mutu is on £62 000 a week (sans calculator, I make that about £750 000 a year plus bonuses, house, car, free meals at the training ground, free kit and so on), is in the fourth year of a law degree and has just split from his Romanian TV presenter wife, Alexandra. Quayle earns the same as a teacher. Mutu gets the salary of 10 prime ministers.
It’s a similar tale at Northampton on Sunday, where Manchester United are the fourth-round visitors. With a capacity of just 8 000 at their compact Sixfields stadium, prices have been raised from between £14 and £17 to between £30 and £35 for the United game.
Manchester United supporters club association spokesperson Mark Longden says, with an acute lack of understanding: ‘Northampton are being unreasonable. One of the main reasons we look forward to FA Cup ties like this is that we get a different atmosphere. And lower ticket prices.â€
United now say they will help with the costs. As if United fans, renowned for their prawn sandwiches, need it.
For Scarborough and Northampton, this weekend represents a rare opportunity for profit — and the possibility of progress in years to come.
Scarborough chairperson Malcolm Reynolds, rubbing his hands in glee at the prospect of a £265 000 television fee, £50 000 in prize money plus record gate receipts, reckons: ‘The proceeds from the Chelsea game will be the key to our promotion back into the Football League.â€
That’s how bad things have become in the English game. One game against a Premiership giant can transform a minnow; millions are needed to fund the lavish lifestyles of the foreign players, not always commited or particularly brilliant, who dominate England’s game.
The less unbalanced FA Cup ties are too numerous to mention: Arsenal will stuff Middlesbrough after Tuesday’s Carling Cup shock at Highbury (Boro won the semifinal first leg 1-0 against a Gunners reserve side; I was there, it was dreadful), Birmingham may need a replay to get past lowly, first-division nomads Wimbledon, Burnley may struggle with Charlton’s third-round conquerors Gillingham at Turf Moor.
Coventry should be too much for Colchester, Ipswich and Sunderland are too close to call, Luton will fall to knockout specialists Tranmere. Premiership plummeteers Portsmouth, fortunate to scrape past Blackpool in round three, have got Scunthorpe this time. They should squeeze through again. Preston should swamp Swansea, Millwall will topple Telford.
The big one? Liverpool versus Newcastle is the late game on Saturday, and it promises to be a cracker. These two have shared plenty of goal sprees over the past few years and neither club can afford to bow out of the FA Cup early.
With Laurent Robert scoring fantastic goals for fun, I’m backing the Toon Army to crush the Mersey men, and Gerard Houllier will take another step towards the Anfield trapdoor.
On Sunday, five ties: Everton should beat a Louis Saha-less Fulham, Manchester City will go down to in-form Spurs, Northampton have got no chance against United, Nottingham Forest will need a replay to get past Sheffield United and, finally, Wolves should be too good for West Ham, no longer a big club.
The eventual FA Cup winners? Strangely, I’ve got a good feeling about Spurs. It must be a virus. Bzzzt.