THE heroes of 1977-78 will be in the crowd, alongside the editor of Viz, Blyth Valley MP Ronnie Campbell, a newspaper reporter from Poland and members of The Quireboys rock band, whose song, We Are The Famous Blyth Spartans, has become the club’s FA Cup anthem.

More than 30 years after Ron Guthrie, an FA Cup winner with Sunderland in 1973, and his teammates upset Chesterfield and Stoke City to become the first non-league side in decades to reach the fifth round, the Northumberland club are preparing for another night of giant-killing at Croft Park. Sam Allardyce, the Blackburn Rovers manager and unpopular in these parts, had better beware.

At least twice in the past three decades Blyth Spartans, who were described by the Football Association’s Ted Croker as “the most famous non-league club in the world” during their most famous Cup run, almost went out of existence. As the shipyards and pits fell silent and Blyth became an economically depressed area, chairman Tony Platten and several other businessmen had to save the club. The community, emboldened by the exploits of a team who have played in the first round of the FA Cup 31 times, a non-league record, had to rally round, too. The estimated £400,000 in overall revenue from this season’s progress in the Cup will secure their future.

Their past is steeped in the romance of the Seventies – Crewe and Stockport were vanquished in another successful campaign in 1971-72. But the greatest days came in 1978 when a Stoke side who had won the League Cup six years earlier, had only recently dropped out of the top flight and included Howard Kendall and a young Garth Crooks were beaten 3-2 at the old Victoria Ground.

Newcastle ought to have been their next opponents but lost 4-1 at Wrexham and Blyth Spartans took up the cudgels. Former Brentford and Southend striker Terry Johnson’s goal gave them a lead in Wales that seemed to have taken them into the quarter-finals and a home draw against Arsenal.

Then, in the last minute, referee Alf Grey intervened. Wrexham’s Les Cartwright took a corner kick after moving the flagstick. Blyth’s keeper, Dave Clarke, caught the ball but Grey ordered a retake. Again the ball was cleared but again the flag had fallen over. From the second retake, Wrexham levelled. In the replay, when thousands were locked out of St James’ Park, 42,000-plus saw Wrexham win 2-1.

Graham Fenton, a former striker at Ewood Park, joined Spartans in 2004 and, though too young to remember the Wrexham games, he watched the DVD with his teammates as they travelled on the bus to League Two Bournemouth in November. That helped to inspire a draw at Dean Court and a 1-0 win in the replay. “Everyone is aware of the traditions of the club in this competition and we’re just trying to add our own little footnote to that history,” said Fenton. “The 3-1 victory over Shrewsbury in the first round was great for us because they are doing so well in League Two but, obviously, Blackburn Rovers will be another matter altogether, with lads here who earn between £100 and £200 a game coming up against players who are on £50,000 a week.”

Fenton became almost as notorious in the area in which he grew up as ex-Newcastle manager Allardyce is now when he scored two late goals for Blackburn in a 2-1 win over Kevin Keegan’s side in April 1996 that all but ended the Toon Army’s Premier League title challenge. Death threats arrived through his letterbox before he moved on from Ewood Park to join Martin O’Neill’s Leicester City in a £1.1m deal in 1997 that he describes as “the worst decision I ever made”. He started only 13 Premier League games in the next three years and lost his love for the game. It did not revive – after spells at Stoke, St Mirren and Blackpool – until he returned to his native northeast. “This is a world away from the Premier League but we will make it as difficult as we possibly can for Blackburn,” said Fenton, who is also assistant manager to Harry Dunn.

Blyth no longer boast a crop of ex-Football League players and Dunn has to work hard to maintain his squad. There are barmen, plumbers, personal trainers, classroom assistants and electrical engineers – with the famous Blyth spirit underpinning them all.

“When we hit financial problems a few years ago I wrote to Viz, which seemed a quirky thing to do, and the editor, Graham Dury, agreed to sponsor our shirts. They are sponsoring our shorts in this cup run,” said Phil Castiaux, the club’s media manager. “There’s a will to get things done because the club means everything to the community, especially when an FA Cup game like this comes around.”

For Blackburn’s players, tomorrow will be a culture shock and a test of character, with 4,000 fervent fans packed into Croft Park sniffing another conquest.

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