Peterborough United players celebrate the 20th anniversary of their victory in the ‘Forgotten Final’ at Wembley talking Premier League-standard celebrations, Barry Fry’s ‘crap’ teamtalks, fiddling bar tickets and turning despair into joy

Posh press officer Phil Adlam managed to get captain Andy Edwards (AE) player-coach Steve Castle (SC), forward David Oldfield (DO) and goalkeeper Mark Tyler (MT) together to reminisce and the PT was given permission to listen in.

SETTING THE SCENE

It had been a typically tumultuous season under the management of Barry Fry with star men Simon Davies and Matthew Etherington sold for a combined fee of £1.2 million to Premier League soon after a club record 5-0 home defeat on Boxing Day 1999 at the hands of Rotherham United.

Popular coach Paul Ashworth was then sacked and replaced by Wayne Turner, but somehow Posh pulled themselves together to finish fifth and reach the play-offs.

In the semi-final Posh beat Barnet 2-1 away thanks to goals from Jason Lee and Andy Clarke and 3-0 at home thanks to David Farrell’s superb hat-trick before taking on an expensively-assembled Darlington side led by Marco Gabbiadini in the final at Wembley.

BEES ARE BADLY STUNG

SC: We won 2-1 in the first leg at Barnet and I can remember the atmosphere at Underhill more than the match. Every other time I’d been involved at Barnet there seemed to be just one man and his dog there, but it was packed to the rafters for this game. I’m not sure we deserved to win, but we battled.

MT: We’d have won more comfortably if ‘Clarkey’ hadn’t walked that ball into the net when he was offside. If he’d have left it, the ball would have gone in anyway!

DO: We were very conscious it was only half-time. I’m not great at remembering specifics, but we finished the regular season on a good run so we were confident we’d go well in the play-offs.

MT: In the second leg ‘Faz’ was unbelievable, He tore both full-backs to shreds and scored three worldies with left-foot, right-foot and then a 40-yard chip. It was a pretty easy game which suited me as I was working my way back from injury.

SC: Faz went home straight after the game. That’s the sort of bloke he was. The rest of us did his celebrating for him though. There was a 10-day break before the final so we could let loose.

BIG MATCH PREPARATIONS

AE: We went to Jersey for a bit before the final as a treat and as a team-bonding exercise it was perfect. I had a slight injury which bothered me so I had to be careful out there and have some early nights. I remember a few lads indulged themselves. No names though!

SC: We also went to the Marriott in Cheshunt for two nights before the final.

DO: The final was a Friday night as England were playing Germany at Wembley the following day. We didn’t do many things differently to a normal game. We knew Darlington were a very good side with attacking threats and prep was difficult because of the gap between the games, but we worked hard as well as letting our hair down and we approached the final in good spirits.

AE: All I can remember about the build-up was having to deal with requests for complimentary tickets. No-one ever used to come and watch me play so I didn’t normally need any, but because it was Wembley I had 85 requests! We only received four free tickets so I had to pay for 81. We also only got four tickets each for the bar afterwards so I nipped down the local shop to get some photocopies. I had about 60 in my possession. One night Wayne Turner knocked on my door saying he’d heard about the bar tickets so I thought I was in trouble, but it turned out he needed some for himself!

MT: Friday morning was very low key. It was light hearted I just got myself ready with a light session with our goalkeeper coach Tony Godden. He was excellent with me.

AE: It smashed it down with rain all day and pessimist that I am I thought the match would be called off. It was a big game for three of us here, but not so much for Oldfield as he’d played in many big games. He told me on the way to the game that once scored twice for Manchester City against Manchester United! I remember we’d had suits measured up for us in Peterborough to wear to the game whereas Darlington turned up in tracksuits.

DO: There’s no way I would have mentioned a game I played for City at that moment!

A STICKY START TO THE FINAL

MT: My warm-up was horrendous. I hated it. The rain was still heavy, not good for a goalkeeper. I was really stressed and when I slipped over kicking the ball for the first time in the match I felt sure I was going to have a nightmare.

SC: It wasn’t much of a game in the first-half. We didn’t play well, but Mark was in good form and the lads defended well.

AE: It was a sticky start. We didn’t give up many chances though.

DO: I played up front just off ‘Clarkey’. I don’t think I touched the ball in the first 10 minutes. I was very ineffective in the first-half.

SC: At half-time Barry spent five minutes saying how crap we’d been. That was pretty much whet he said in every teamtalk in my three years with him! But to be fair he worked well with Wayne. Barry would gee us up and Wayne would deal with the more technical stuff. Steve Butler was helping coach at the time and he was involved in tactics, but Wayne deserved a lot of plaudits for what he did that season. He came in at a rough time and picked us up.

AE: Wayne got us organised. He gave us clarity in our roles, but you could have a laugh with him as well. He’s the best coach I’ve played for and he deserved more success than he got. I’ve played for poor coaches who were successful and good coaches who didn’t always get good results. Wayne was one of the latter.

GLORY, GLORY PETERBOROUGH

DO: I remember a bit about Clarkey’s goal. A long diagonal was aimed at me, but the ball didn’t get anywhere near me. Instead Jon Cullen won a header and Clarkey got a shot away which was well saved, but he tucked the rebound away nicely. Clarkey was a bit hit and miss like most of us, but he finished that one well. He didn’t run very far for his celebration as he was probably knackered by then. I remember having a buzz of adrenaline surging through me.

AE: I was elated obviously, but now desperate to see the rest of the game out without making a mistake.

MT: So was I. Anything could happen to a goalkeeper in those conditions so I didn’t relax at all.

AE: You made a great save straight after the goal from Gabbiadini. Richard Scott made a great block towards the end, but we played well after scoring and created other chances. It was a long 15 minutes or so though.

MT: I saw Gabbiadini’s shot late and just managed to get my fingertips on it. I was just praying I’d got enough on it to tip it round the post and I did. Credit to the back four though and don’t forget Gareth Jelleyman who filled in for Adam Drury at left-back after Adam was injured and played a blinder.

AE: I always felt one goal would win it. I was hoping we’d score a second though!

SC: Our younger players were excellent. I just battled against Michael Gray in midfield and we just cancelled each other out. Darlington probably thought they deserved a draw, but we had the killer instinct on the night.

DO: I remember how wet my shirt was by the end. I joined the club late in the season and all the normal sized shirts had gone so Gordon the kitman gave me an extra large one which weighed a ton by the end of the game.

AE: Obviously I was thrilled and excited when the final whistle went, but relief is the strongest emotion. When I joined Posh I wondered what on earth I’d let myself in for as there were so many difficulties, but we signed some good players and we had good youngsters coming through. By the end of the season we had a strong squad. Top players like Dean Hooper and Jason Lee didn’t even play at Wembley as they were injured.

FINAL MEMORIES

SC: I was in the twilight of my career so this was a big deal for me. My father had played at Wembley in the FA Amateur Cup Final in 1958 so it was always an ambition of mine to play there. I was 34 when I managed it.

AE: I enjoyed six promotions in my career including a couple early on at Southend, but the one with Posh stands out for me. I also played for Barry at Southend and Birmingham and I was pleased to see him so excited again.

DO: After the game we spent some time at Peter Boizot’s pizza place and then we went out.

SC: We were Premier League standard at celebrating victories!

DO: The culture around drinking has changed now, but I always felt going out helped you get to know people better. That Jersey trip was important for me as I was still fairly new to the club.

AE: The open-top bus ride round the city was good for a hangover! Actually to see so many Posh fans at Wembley and then around the city was incredible.

SC: I still have my final shirt I in my living room.

AE: Is it really only 20 years ago? Looking at some of the faces here it seems like longer!

MT: Oi, I haven’t even officially retired yet!