Paul Hurst interview: Shrewsbury Town targeting Wembley triumph
Sunday 8 April 2018 15:00, UK
Shrewsbury Town take on Lincoln City in the Checkatrade Trophy final at Wembley on Sunday. For Shrewsbury manager Paul Hurst it is the chance to repeat the achievement of winning this trophy against his current club as a player with Rotherham.
Ahead of Sunday's game, Adam Bate caught up with Hurst to discuss that memory, what a Wembley win would mean to the club and how the result will affect the club's unlikely bid for promotion to the Championship.
Have you been able to keep a lid on the excitement of going to Wembley?
It has been a little while and there are certain things that we couldn't avoid like getting fitted for suits. It was that or turn up looking a mess which we don't want to do. Some of the logistics had to be planned and I do want the players to enjoy the occasion.
As much as we want to win, I want them to soak it up and remember it because I think it is very easy for that type of experience to pass you by. So I am hoping that we can win but make the most of it at the same time and understand that it might not come again.
The manager and players get the attention but it will be great for the chairman too. He has been involved for a long time and his story is unusual in this day and age. He used to stand and watch the team on the terraces at Gay Meadow. It would be great for him to win it.
So did you target success in the Checkatrade Trophy from the start?
Right from the off I wanted to do well in the competition, despite all of the detractors that it does have. You know right away that there are one or two teams who won't perhaps treat it with respect so you'll lose some of those teams. I just thought that, particularly with us starting the season well, there was an opportunity there for us to have a real go at it.
We were never going to win the League Cup or the FA Cup, although we did managed to get to the all-important third round with a replay on TV. But this competition was one we felt we had a chance of winning and now we are a game away from achieving that.
Live Checkatrade Trophy Final
Perhaps I am influenced by my own experience as a young player who managed to win the trophy, ironically, against Shrewsbury. I fully understand what a great day it can be and it is a very fond memory for me that I would not change for the world.
What are your memories of winning the trophy with Rotherham in 1996?
There are a few bits that do stick in my mind. We played at Blackpool just before and I wasn't in the squad. I watched from the stands and I was thinking that I wouldn't get the nod for the final. Gary Bowyer played left-back but he was sent off. He was still available for the final and we were not told the team until the day of the game. It was a long wait.
When you drive to the stadium and you see the fans. I remember seeing my family, including my girlfriend who is now my wife, waiting to greet me as I got off the coach. I can't remember too much about the game but I had an early touch of the ball which always settles you down and we won the game 2-1 with the goals by Nigel Jemson.
I still say to this day that their goal took the faintest of touches off my foot before it went in. It probably isn't something to be proud of but it did. Thankfully, we held out and won that trophy. The other thing that is certainly a memory is a very bad hair style that I sported at the time. It was the Ryan Giggs, to be fair. It is starting to thin and get a bit more grey in it these days, that's for sure.
How will the result at Wembley influence the club's bid for promotion?
Without pre-empting what is going to happen on Sunday, I do feel I can use the result in a positive manner either way it goes. People said when we reached the final that it was going to be a distraction. But you only have to look at the results to see it has not been. There has only been one defeat since we reached the final and quite a few wins.
Even if results had not been as kind, I see the players on a daily basis and I know that they have been committed. I have hardly heard a mention of Wembley from them. It was not a banned word and there were no fines, but I wanted them focused on the league campaign. It is a credit to the players that they have done that.
Someone asked me if we would be having some sort of function afterwards but we have got a game on Thursday against Bradford on Sky. So we might allow the players to have a drink on the night but it's a day to recover and then we are back into training. Perhaps there will be the opportunity to celebrate at the end of the season.
