Meet the father and son duo masterminding FA Cup miracle backed by England star
Weston-super-Mare head into their FA Cup third round clash with Grimsby Town having already gone the furthest in the competition in their history but they are not satisfied quite yet
Weston-super-Mare have made themselves one of this season’s great FA Cup fairytales at the 84th attempt. The National League South side will take an army of 600 fans to Grimsby Town and are dreaming of going one step further in their remarkable cup run.
Weston-super-Mare chairman Oli Bliss has finally taken the club into the third round for the first time in the club’s proud history. It has surpassed even his dad, former chairman Paul Bliss, who came within a whisker during his 39 years at the helm after reaching the second round in 2004 when they lost to Northampton Town.
The father-and-son double act are enjoying the romance of the FA Cup but also know it means everything to non-league clubs like theirs.
Weston-super-Mare, along with Macclesfield, are the lowest ranked team left in the FA Cup and the semi pro club’s line-up is made up teachers, sports coaches and labourers.
They have had some support from England star Ollie Watkins – who had a loan spell at Weston-Super-Mare while he was a young player at Exeter City – who is still pals with current players Jacob Cane and Jason Pope and a signed Aston Villa shirt hangs on the wall off the clubhouse.
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And the clubhouse is really quite something in itself. The Optima Stadium holds 3,500 fans and sits on a roundhouse on the outskirts of the seaside town in the South West of England which is a 500 mile round trip to Grimsby.
But this is what the FA Cup is all about. There is such a buzz around the place ahead of this weekend and the extra cash will help them strengthen the squad and potentially push through with their plans to develop a new 5,000 seater ground on the existing side.
Oli reckons they have already banked £200,000 and the prize for the winners of Saturday’s tie is £121,500 and they will get £40,000 in TV money as the game is on being shown live on Discovery Plus.
But Liverpool fan Oli does not want the run to end just yet. “The third round is such a big stage for non-league clubs,” he said. “We came close in 2004 but we were never in the game in the second round. They were too good for us.
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“But we always knew we had a chance against Chelmsford in the second round this time and we feel we’ll be in with a chance against Grimsby on Saturday. We’ll go there believing we can do it.”
And Oli says he fully intends to give the players a bonus if they can land an FA Cup upset against Grimsby who have already caused a huge story themselves this season by knocking out Manchester United in the league cup.
“We had a bonus structure – but I never expected to get this far so I’ll have to think of something else!” he said. “The players have already had a trip away to Liverpool, a night out on the town and they all went dressed as minions! I don’t know what they’ll do this time.”
The romance is there for Weston-super-Mare. But the FA Cup is also a lifeblood for non-league clubs. The finances, driving interest in the club and allowing them to dream. It is huge for the whole football pyramid.
Oli said: “It’s so important for non-league football because it affects the budget so much, it gives the fans a great day out and it can affect the season in the league as well which is what it’s done for us.
“Crowds have increased a lot in non-league and there’s such a buzz around non-league football. I think the FA Cup is a big part of that.
“It’s huge for us. We’re trying to improve the squad, build a new ground and we only budget for two cup wins so the first round proper, second round and now this is a real bonus.
“If we’re able to keep going in the cup, we can put it into the development with 97 apartments, a new club house, all of this is going and we’ll have a whole new ground other than the pitch and the big stand at the end.
“Even before the game on Saturday, we’re already touching on about £200,000 which helps us keep pushing in the league – second at the moment – and it’s also huge for the fans.”
They are already dreaming about who they could get if they get through. “My dad’s a Man United fan, but I’m Liverpool and so we’ll take either one of them.
“In fact, any away day in the Premier League would be fantastic. But, please, away from home! It will mean so much to us financially.”
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