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Nothing sheepish about Barrow's approach to Sunderland despite Shaun
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Their mascot may be woolly but Barrow's approach will not be as they
take 7,000 to the Stadium of LightShortly before kick-off at the
Stadium of Light on Saturday afternoon all 10 Barrow directors will
take turns to pat the head of a miniature model sheep named Shaun. It
is a familiar ritual which, back in south Cumbria, has come to be
regarded as a big reason why the Conference National side are in the
third round of the FA Cup for the second year running.Should any
sceptic dare query Shaun the Sheep's win-inducing powers Barrow
officials will quickly remind them just how radically the club has
been transformed by the financial windfall accrued during last
season's FA Cup run. The basic Ã‚Â£250,000 earned from a campaign ended
by a gallant 2-1 defeat at Middlesbrough was used as a springboard
which literally changed the players' lives.From being a band of
part-timers training two nights a week and holding down an eclectic
assortment of often demanding day jobs, Barrow's squad are now
described as near professionals who train three days a week at a
well-equipped base in Salford, an area most first-teamers live within
easy reach of. It's all part of our plan to slowly build the club up
and hopefully get back into the Football League, the team are much
fitter now, explains Martin Lewis, the commercial manager at Holker
Street, who dreams of helping Barrow return to the big stage they
exited in 1972.Not that the Conference National is too shabby a league
these days. It is surely no coincidence that Forest Green Rovers,
narrow losers to Derby County in last year's third round, have also
once again reached the same point and visit Notts County on
Sunday.Recently recruited as part of a drive to boost off-field
earnings, Lewis has presided over the opening of the new club shop
while also helping attract corporate clients. The Cup runs have
created a tremendous buzz, he says. We quickly sold out our 7,200
tickets for Sunderland.It was after another trip to Wearside, three
years ago, that Shaun became Barrow's lucky mascot. Travelling to an
FA Cup qualifying round tie at Durham City the team coach ended up
trapped on a country road, its path blocked by hundreds of sheep.
That's when it all started, says Maurice Duffy, a club director.
People were tearing their hair out but we got there, won 1-0, were
given Shaun the Sheep Ã¢Â€Â" [a model of the BBC children's television
favourite] Ã¢Â€Â" and, ever since, all the directors have patted his head
before cup games. We've become very superstitious about our little
sheep. We feel that, as long as Shaun is there, we can do it.Barrow
fans extend similar sentiments towards Jason Walker, the team's star
striker and scorer of their goal at the Riverside. Walker, who along
with his colleagues limbered up at Middlesbrough's training base near
Darlington on Friday, is certainly in bullish mood. Sunderland are
missing three main defenders, he says. I'm quietly confident.Walker is
far from the only recognisable face from 12 months ago. Sensibly the
player-managers Darren Sheridan, still a regular substitute at 42 and
keen on revenge after being released by Steve Bruce at Wigan in 2001,
and Dave Bayliss have resisted the temptation to make wholesale
changes and seven of those who were in the squad to face Boro should
be involved on Saturday. Bayliss has declared: We're not going to
Sunderland to be cannon fodder, we're going to compete.If the joint
managers' summer-time recruitment of Simon Spender, arguably the best
right-back in non-league football, from Wrexham, was inspired, Mike
Pearson's return at centre-half has also proved influential. The FA
Cup very nearly wrecked Pearson's career. The complicated double leg
break he suffered at Middlesbrough resulted in him leaving the pitch
wearing an oxygen mask en route to hospital before missing the
remainder of the season with his future clouded. Hopefully this time
I'll last 90 minutes and be able to shake hands with everyone at the
end, says Pearson, now finally fit again. We gave Middlesbrough a run
for their money and one or two scares, so why not Sunderland?For Brian
Keen, Barrow's chairman, and his son and co-director Tony, today's tie
is imbued with an uncanny sense of destiny. Brian's mother was from
Sunderland and he spent childhood summer holidays playing on Roker and
Seaburn beaches, hearing tales of Len Shackleton's exploits at Roker
Park and falling in love with the local team. As a child, Tony duly
slept in red and white striped pyjamas beneath a Sunderland AFC
bedspread.We've inherited the Sunderland supporting gene, Tony says.
So to sit with Niall Quinn in the directors' box will be surreal. It
will be the proudest day of my life.While the Keens, nonetheless,
intend cheering the non-leaguers' every touch, Vic Halom, part of the
Wearsiders' famous 1973 FA Cup-winning side and a former Barrow
manager, has slightly more divided loyalties. Sunderland need to
worry, Halom says. If Barrow are prepared to sweat their guts out and
give every ounce of energy, they can become heroes for the rest of
their lives.