The Jim Magilton Interview - Part One Saturday, 1st Jan 2000 00:00
“I remember walking back in and I remember the place erupted. For whatever reason, I was walking in engrossed in my thoughts and the place just erupted, everyone stood up and I’m thinking, ‘What’s going on here?’. “And they’re clapping and I’m thinking ‘Oh my God, happy days, this is everything that you’ve dreamt of’. “But the focus again had to be on the game. You’d heard too much stuff about losing at Wembley being the worst feeling. “Coming out, we’d waited so long and the noise walking out was just incredible. We walked out at that end, our supporters are obviously at the tunnel end and it was unbelievable. It’s indescribable but it was everything I thought it would have been and again I wasn’t disappointed. “All the things after that, and then you’re in the game. Then you remember, they were a good, good side, they had top players. Hignett was a player, scored a great goal, alright off Richard Wright’s back. “You’re thinking, ‘We’re bang in a game here’. We can’t play this occasion, we have to play the game. Let’s get focused now on the game. “A few harsh words were said at half-time [with the score at 1-1], George was re-emphasising ‘Play, play, play, we’re not playing, we’re not doing enough, we’re not doing this, we’re not doing that’. A few little points. “And then we came out and had that really good period, a golden period where we dominated the game and at 3-1 were thinking it was over. “Then at 3-2, John McGreal had come back in, Jamma played, Crofty [Gary Croft] played, we had people out on their feet. Veno played, Mogga played, Johnno had to come off. Bam Bam [Richard Naylor] was in, Reuser then came on. “We kind of hanging in there at the end a little bit. Gjorgi Hristov missed a great chance but it was a great save because that brings them bang in it. At that stage we were hanging on a little bit and you could feel it. “But again, the character and the determination within the group, there was a real belief, we had to dig in, we had to really go and do the horrible bits and then we got the break away and Reuser, that commentary, ‘Reuser, Premiership!’, the rest is history. “You think of Bam Bam’s contribution that day, incredible. Stewy, calmness, a great header. All-round, Mogga’s performance. There were so many big performances, Wrighty’s performance, the save from Hristov, the penalty save. “A lot of people came to the party that day, which you need. To win any game of that magnitude you need everybody, all hands to the pump.” Reflecting on walking up the famous 39 steps at the old Wembley to collect the trophy and medals, and the subsequent celebrations, he added: “Boy’s own stuff, absolutely. Everything that you could describe. Everything that I had ever dreamt of watching every winning captain, I saw Mick Mills collect the FA Cup, winning captains get up there, lift the trophy. “The parties afterwards, on the pitch, the dancing, the messing, the people, the fans, the sheer elation, the changing room afterwards, it was like unfettered joy. “The ride back, the Suffolk Show, everything and then the day after I was just in another world, it was just everything I’d dreamed of and more. “I was so pleased for everybody, so pleased for George, so pleased for David Sheepshanks, the supporters and we were back in the Premier League, it was everything we dreamt of.”
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