Rob Tonks was still a youngster when he came on as a late substitute for Dean Calcutt in Emley’s unforgettable 1998 FA Cup Third Round tie at Premier League West Ham.
John Hartson had just scored the winner for West Ham, who had been the given the biggest fright of their lives after defender Paul David had cancelled out Frank Lampard’s early opener.
Tonks was a semi-regular for Ronnie Glavin and he went onto be a loyal servant to Emley having stayed on during their subsequent move to Belle Vue and name-change to Wakefield & Emley.
The recently appointed assistant manager of Hemsworth Miners Welfare shares his memories of playing for Emley at Upton Park on that famous day.
You can also read Mark ‘Willy’ Wilson’s memories of playing for Emley at West Ham HERE and Steve Nicholson’s account of the second round replay with Lincoln City HERE.
West Ham United (Lampard 4, Hartson 82) 2-1 Emley AFC (David 56) – Saturday 3rd January 1998
The Teams
West Ham United: Craig Forrest, Tim Breacker (Samassi Abou 67), Steve Potts, David Unsworth, Rio Ferdinand, Ian Pearce, Stan Lazaridis, Frank Lampard, Eyal Berkovic, Paul Kitson, John Hartson. Subs unused: Keith Rowland, Bernard Lama, Iain Dowie, Paolo Alves.
Emley AFC: Chris Marples, Mickey Thompson, Steve Nicholson, Neil Lacey (Mark Wilson 5 (Nick Wood 89), Simon Jones, Paul David, Ian Banks, Dean Calcutt (Rob Tonks 82), Michael Reynolds, Glynn Hurst, Deiniol Graham. Subs unused: Ray Dennis, Paul Hutson.
Referee: Jeff Winter
Attendance: 18,629
“I joined Emley from school around 1993 or 1994 because Steve Codd who was the manager was a teacher at my school so he brought me to the club. I played in the Reserves with PD (Paul David) and then Ronnie obviously took over the first team and he introduced me to the first team and I think I made my debut in 1995. So when we played West Ham I had been skirting around the first team for a couple of years.
“We had an unbelievable team. It was a team of men back then and I don’t think you’ll get many sides like that in today’s football. We had a strong squad, but if you had said at the start of that season that we would get to third round of the FA Cup you would never had believed it. It was the stuff of dreams to play West Ham. An ambition of Non League clubs at that time was getting to the First Round and if you managed to do that you had massively over-achieved. We went quite beyond that.
“I played in quite a few of the early rounds. I scored in the Durham away tie, but at the time you’re not thinking about getting to the First Round, you’re just thinking about the next FA Cup game. The real first big game was the Nuneaton game, the fourth qualifying round tie. We weren’t expected to win because we were playing a big Conference side away from home. The deep down feeling was that it was too far for us to get to the First Round because we were playing a big side. But within that dressing room we had the mentality that we could win. I remember Simon Jones scoring an absolutely worldly from 25 yards. It was on his wrong foot and it was totally out of character for him. It changed our FA Cup run and it started from there.
“The atmosphere at Emley for a midweek game was always special, but that night against Morecambe in the First Round replay is something that sticks with you. I started against Morecambe in the away game which was tough and I started again in the replay. I came off for Dean Calcutt and had to watch the drama of the extra-time and penalties from the bench and it was terrible to watch. But for us to score that injury-time equaliser and win the penalty shootout, it was stuff of dreams for someone like myself who was 21.
“I was a substitute for both Lincoln games. I came on for the last few minutes at Lincoln and nearly scored because I hit the post. In the replay at Huddersfield Town I came on after 60 minutes and I finished up playing 60 minutes because it went to extra-time. I also think I was next up to take a penalty before Marps saved Phil Stant’s attempt so I was absolutely crapping myself. The penalty shootout was one of the most nerve-wracking things I have ever been involved in because we knew we had got West Ham if we won. In both games against Lincoln we had been in front. Obviously in the replay they were winning 2-0 and we came out of nowhere to make it 2-2 and we were winning in extra-time. We got it back because we had a squad which was never-say-die. We were hanging on and as soon as they equalised you think ‘that’s it, our chance has gone, we have had too many lives’. It was nip and tuck during the penalties and I was looking round thinking there weren’t many people left to take a penalty, it is going to come to me. The pressure gets to you and you’re thinking ‘just don’t miss’. When Marps saved it, you’re giving him a hug because he’s won you the game and saved you from taking a penalty. That night for me was probably the highlight. Just because I was part of it, knowing West Ham were next. As a young kid I had surreal feelings and I was thinking it cannot be true.
“After Marps saved the penalty we all set off running after him. I had all my family and friends in the ground and most of them came on the pitch. I remember looking in the faces of the lads and seeing the joy. Ronnie very rarely showed his emotions, but everyone had that unbelievable feeling of ‘we have done it’. Back in the dressing room, there was beer all over the walls and the celebrations went on for hours. We all went back to the Emley club and I don’t think I got home until four or five in the morning and this was a Wednesday night. It was a special night.
“We all got bits of media coverage. Me and Dean Calcutt did an interview at the ground which was on GMTV. We were both playing in the same position so we were rivals at the time within the team. We were only young kids and there was Nico and Mickey Thompson in the Fire Service. I am now in the Fire Service, but I wasn’t at the time. I think I was working for the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce. Neil Lacey was a Policeman so they had a big careers which the media wanted to focus on. So basically if I had been a fireman at the time, I’d have got more coverage! Every training session there were TV cameras and press there. It was quite daunting for me as a young kid because you weren’t used to it. The older lads took it in their stride. Myself and the rest of the younger lads didn’t want to say anything stupid in front of the camera or be tung-tied. The GMTV interview is quite funny as my wife and I got together just after the West Ham game, but we knew each other and see was having her breakfast at the time and I came on the telly and she spit all her Corn Flakes out! I have actually still got the VHS of GMTV that morning, but it is in the loft somewhere. My mum recorded everything on VHS. Anytime there were clips on Look North or Calendar of training, she was pressing record. I’ve got the game on VHS and I’ve got all my newspaper cuttings. It is amazing really because if it happened now you’d go on social media or Youtube and it would be all documented. You can find anything out. The only photos I’ve got are the press ones. No-one had cameras on them in those days. Now there would be hundreds of photos on Facebook or Instagram within seconds.
“The media coverage was great, but we had a big match to prepare for and we trained a lot more than normal. As a young kid, training with Ronnie was sometimes a nightmare as he was on you all the time. You were scared of him too because he was so authoritative. I’ve seen him take lads off after a couple of minutes. He never did it to me, but I remember playing Spennymoor Town away on a Tuesday night and obviously from Emley it was a right trek. The game kicked off and one of their players did a diagonal ball and Simon Jones missed it and the winger went down the line, crossed it and they scored. Ronnie took him straight off. He did it with Dean Calcutt away at Ashton United. Dean had come on as sub and after his first tackle he got booked so Ronnie brought him straight back off. He knew where you were 24 hours a day so if lads had been out on a Friday night he knew what pub you had been in. He knew the likes of Willy would be out on the beer and he knew if Willy had been in a pub in Barnsley he knew which one.
“Ronnie made you perform. You knew if you weren’t at you weren’t going to be playing. He made me the player I was by giving me that desire. He was a taskmaster and he demanded the best and I think that’s why we got as far as we did. He was absolutely the best manager I worked under. His attention to detail was the best I have ever come across. He did his research and even if you were playing a normal Saturday game you felt you were playing Real Madrid because he made you prepare right for them. He made you feel superhuman because every little detail was covered. There were no grey areas. He had his own scout and he had that many contacts in the game so there was nothing that was a surprise to him in games. He knew everything. It is not until you finish playing or go into management that you realise how good he was.
“We’d do set-pieces and he’d pull you to one side and tell you the player you were playing against and what his strengths are and what you need to do to stop him. He always broke it down into sections. Certainly from the Nuneaton game onwards, Ronnie’s team-talks were more about motivation stuff. He had done the tactical work in training and he was regularly saying things like ‘there’s no pressure, go out and give it your absolute maximum because we have nothing to lose and a lot to gain’.
“The biggest thing that stuck in my head about the whole West Ham game and his methods was on the day of the game around lunchtime. We were all suited and booted and ready for the game at The Tower Thistle in London. It was a team meeting and most of the lads hadn’t slept the night before because they were preoccupied about the game. I didn’t sleep a wink. Everybody was nervous and we didn’t know the team. Ronnie fetched this old bloke in and this bloke had a tweed suit on and he looked like a bit of a scientist. Everyone’s looking round and thinking ‘who’s this bloke’? Basically he did a relaxation technique on us. He turned all the lights off and had us doing a breathing technique. He had us focussing on our own positions and he was talking softly. He was talking to us for about 30 minutes, but it felt like three hours. When he finished we all felt half asleep, but we felt so relaxed. I think it took all the tension out of it. There was quite a few sceptical lads at first. The likes of PD and Neil Lacey weren’t too impressed. It was a little touch that Ronnie did because he knew he had to get us relaxed and calm. We had never seen the bloke before and we never saw him again. When they came in we expected Ronnie to name the team, but he walked out and left the bloke to it. He just said ‘give him your respect and attention’.
“I didn’t expect to start because Dean was in better form. I also had a niggly injury which I was getting over. I was praying that I would start, but in the back of my mind I knew I wouldn’t be. I remember Willy getting pulled out of the room just before the team meeting. You felt sick for him because you knew that he wouldn’t be starting. Willy came back in and you could see that he was devastated. On the other side of it he came on after a few minutes because Neil got injured. He finished up playing nearly the whole game.
“It was surreal when we got to Upton Park. There were that many people from Emley that you couldn’t see your own family. Ronnie did the team-talk and myself and Dean Calcutt got changed as fast as we could because we wanted to get out onto the pitch. When we first went out there wasn’t many people in the ground, but soon they came in their droves and you were looking at the away end and thinking ‘wow’. The atmosphere is something I’ll never forget.
“The tactics were to be solid, compact and to weather the storm. We knew we couldn’t play like we normally would. We had loads of pace in the side so we could counter-attack, but I think Ronnie felt it was about stopping them play first and defend for our lives. We knew we couldn’t try and play football because we would have got annihilated. West Ham started in unbelievable fashion and they scored straightaway. You were thinking that it was going to be 10-0 and a long day.
“But I remember being in the tunnel before the game and you could the rain coming down sideways. I was stood at the side of Eyal Berkovic and he went ‘oh for ***** sake’ as if they didn’t fancy the weather. It was probably a bit of a leveller for us.
“At half-time we felt we were the better side and it is weird because after the game no-one spoke for ten minutes because we were so disappointed. We felt we could have got a result. The first person to speak was Harry Redknapp who came in to say ‘well done, you’ve done yourself proud’. We’d played a Premier League who were five leagues higher and we were actually disappointed that we had not got a replay or win.
“In the second half we just got back into it and I remember PD’s goal like yesterday. We had some brilliant headers of the ball like Lacey, PD, Thommo and with Ian Banks’ delivery we were always a threat at set-pieces. That was the avenue we were going to concentrate on. I remember the ball coming across and I felt there was a chance and then PD got his head on. Me and Nicky Wood were warming-up and we had stopped to watch the set-piece and we celebrated by running up and down the touchline. We were at the other end. If we had been at the end PD had scored we’d have been on the pitch. There’s no doubt about it.
“Banksy hit the post and Deiniol and Glynn Hurst upfront were a constant threat and we felt like the team on top. Their actual goal came as we were attacking so we had sort of left ourselves open. It was like a sucker-punch, but that shows you the quality of West Ham. You look back at their team and there were Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, unbelievable players. Hartson upfront. That’s the difference in the levels. They get half a chance and it is in the net.
“I came on after Hartson scored. Immediately as the ball hit the net, Ronnie literally put me straight on. I was desperate to get on. I warmed-up for the full game. I never sat down because I was trying to influence the manager. You want him looking down thinking ‘he’s ready’. To go to that game and not get on the pitch would have been a massive disappointment. The position I was playing you’re trying to be explosive and make an impact. I chased every ball and I had a few touches. I remember getting the ball and looking up and seeing Rio Ferdinand and thinking ‘this isn’t normal this’. They all seemed twice as big too. David Unsworth was up against me and it was like ‘Jesus, he’s a man mountain of a man’. In the end we ran out of time.
“We did a lap of honour and my mum and dad spoke to some West Ham fans and they said it was the first time they had seen the West Ham fans stop behind to clap an away side. We did a full lap and ended up back in front of the Emley fans. I have a really photo of us stood in front of the away end.
“By then a lot of us had swapped shirts and that’s quite a funny story. Some of the lads swapped shirts straightaway. I swapped with Samassi Abou, but a couple of the lads hasn’t swapped shirts. Harry Redknapp came and said his piece saying ‘you’ve done yourself proud and I wouldn’t mind signing a few of you’. A few lads joked ‘I dare you’. I can’t remember who it was, but one of the lads said ‘we have forgot to swap shirts, can we go and get one now’? So Harry sent them into the home dressing room. A couple of lads went in and West Ham had the old washing baskets. The lads were going through them and trying to get a good name. So they were throwing, say a Tim Breacker shirt, on the floor, while trying to find a Lampard shirt. The West Ham players were taking the mick out of each other saying things like ‘you’re rubbish you, they don’t want your shirt’. I’ve still got my Emley shirt because each player got two shirts and I’ve still got Abou’s shirt. I’m assuming Samassi Abou gave my shirt to the dog or he uses it to polish the car! I certainly don’t think it will be on his wall.
“We went back to the hotel on the Saturday and the club put a big meal on for all the friends and family and the committee. There was speeches and bizarrely we watched Match of the Day. They showed the game and the interviews with PD, Ronnie and someone else. There was a disco, but the likes of me, Dean Calcutt and the other younger lads, we were like ‘we’re going round Soho in London’. Ronnie gave us the night off! I don’t think his contacts stretched to the London club scene! We finished up getting back to the hotel to have an hour’s sleep before breakfast. All the Emley fans went back up North and they were waiting for us in the village for when we got back. It was like a hero’s reception and we had another big party back up in Emley. We didn’t expect the fans to be waiting for us. We expected to be dropped off in Emley and to get in our cars and drive home. We felt like royalty and they were treating us like we had won the game. But we had put the village on the map and it was a nice way to finish the weekend because we didn’t get to mix with the fans at the ground.
“I didn’t experience such a high again and it was definitely my career highlight.
“The Emley team that year is one of the most remembered Non League teams there has ever been and it is a travesty that we never won the league. The closest we came was when we finished with 101 points a few years later, but that side wasn’t as good as the 1998 team. I think we suffered in the league because of the FA Cup and FA Trophy. Our league form wasn’t the best, but we had that many big games that season our league form suffered. It was a great era to play in and a great squad to play in and learn from. If you got in the team you knew you had earned your place because it was such a strong team.
“We had great times together and I think the last time we semi-got together was when it was Willy’s 1000th Non League game and there was myself, Ronnie, PD, Dean Calcutt and a couple of others there. We were meant to get together recently for the Manchester United legends game, but that obviously got cancelled.
“It isn’t easy to get everyone together. Deiniol lives a long way away. Glynn Hurst lives in Liverpool. You drift away from people. I’ve always kept in touch with PD, Willy and Steve Nicholson. I’ve known them since my early 20s since I started with Emley. I remain in touch with Dean too.
“I regard Emley as my club because I was there so long. I think I was there 13 or 15 years. It felt like home and it wasn’t until PD was manager that I left. The club were struggling financially and he told me to go and I signed for Ossett Town. Players nowadays are always hunting for a better deal. I never thought about leaving. I stayed when Ronnie left and Ian Banks took over. PD and Ray Dennis then took over and I was there throughout the Belle Vue debacle. I always had a sense of loyalty because I had been there so long. PD had made me club captain and even though we had moved out of Emley, it still felt like as my club.
“Eventually it was not Emley anymore, it became another football club, but I had loyalty to PD. I remember him phoning me pre-season saying ‘I know you’ll sign, but I you need to go and I’ve had a call off Steve Kittrick at Ossett, he wants to sign you’. I think he was looking after my interests and he knew I had given everything I could to the club.
“After Ossett I went to Stocksbridge, Bradford (Park Avenue) and then to Wakefield FC because Nico phoned me. But by then it was a different club. In hindsight they should have never left Emley, but that’s another story.”
Rob Tonks was interviewed by James Grayson