PAUL THIRLWELL almost helped his boyhood club reach the FA Cup Final – now he is desperate for one of his Harrogate Town players to secure their own fairytale.
The 45-year-old grew up following Sunderland home and away alongside his parents and brother, which included a trip to Wembley for their 1992 final defeat to Liverpool.
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Thirlwell then burst on the scene aged 20 as the Black Cats thumped Chelsea, who included stars like Marcel Desailly and Gianfranco Zola, 4-1 in the Premier League in 1999.
But it would be a midfielder he came up against that day that would help inflict FA Cup heartbreak on him four seasons later when player-manager Dennis Wise guided Millwall to a 1-0 win over Sunderland at Old Trafford in the semi.
Thirlwell told Sun Sport: “We’ll probably never get a better chance to get to the final with it being two Championship teams at the time. Unfortunately it didn’t go our way but it was a great experience. It’s just a shame we got done as we’d have faced Man United.
“I’d played against him [Wise] before on my debut but everyone knows what he was like, tenacious and knowing all the dark arts.
“But Millwall had some good players like him, Tim Cahill who scored on the day and went on to have an unbelievable career, Danny Dichio, but they also had that edge that made them so tough to play against.
“Of course you want to win, but when you look back and think that you played in a semi-final then you appreciate now that it is quite a big achievement.”
These days Thirlwell is assistant manager to Simon Weaver at League Two Harrogate Town, a club he finished his playing career at after spells with Sheffield United, Derby and Carlisle.
“I moved to Wetherby and was totally unaware that it was next to one of the club’s directors. “He maybe spoke to the gaffer and then mentioned me and after a chat we hit it off straight away.
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“I didn’t just want to go anywhere as a player as I’d dipped my foot into the coaching so I wanted a bit of both.
“I got involved with coaching the U21s here and then we went full-time and the opportunity arose to become assistant manager and wow, here we are still here nearly a decade later.”
During that time they have climbed from non-league into the EFL and enjoyed FA Trophy joy in 2020.
But as they prepare to host Hollywood-owned Wrexham, who are pushing for League One promotion, Thirlwell says that he is desperate for long-serving star Warren Burrell, 34, to get his big FA Cup moment this year.
He said: “You’d probably have to speak to some of the younger lads now but I think definitely for people of my era that the cup still has the magic.
“I keep trying to tell our lads, who are all Arsenal, United, Spurs supporters, that we have to get Warren, who is a huge Liverpool fan, to Anfield. It’s one of those places that he’ll never play at unless it comes in the cup, so just things like that make the cup massive for me.”
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And Thirlwell, who admitted the game being televised adds an “extra edge”, says the whole club from top to bottom want to put on a show against the big-spending Welsh side owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
“When you get a big club at home in the early rounds then you are hoping that it gets on the tele and as it happens we have,” Thirlwell said.
“And I do think it helps, not that anybody tries harder, but it does give you an extra edge when you know it’s on TV.
“But everyone at the club wants to get everything right on the day as you are showcasing the whole club.”
He added: “We are one of, if not the, smallest club in the Football League but we have a go on and off the pitch as best we can.
“We are realistic to the point that usually bigger clubs do win these games but we are going into it with optimism and want to cause an upset. Someone will this year so why not us?”
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