The FA Cup is all about money and memories for lower-league clubs, according to Gillingham boss Mark Bonner.
The 38-year-old is only in his second managerial job but he’s already got a major FA Cup scalp to his name after winning at Premier League Newcastle in 2022.
“It’s great when the good stuff starts, it’s really good,” said Bonner. “If you can be at a club that gets on a run it is amazing, the emotion that’s attached.
“I always say the FA Cup is about two things for a lower-league club, money and memories, and if you can have both you’ve had a brilliant year in the competition.
“The prize money on offer is big. Obviously, the big lucrative replays are gone now, probably my favourite memory at my previous club was we played Manchester United at home, drew 0-0 and got a replay at Old Trafford, that was epic. That created unbelievable memories and huge amounts of money.
“We won at Newcastle, a full house at St James’ Park. You can have career highlights in this competition if you can get (past) a few rounds – but that’s the hard bit. You’ve got to try and get through a few rounds and hope that the luck of the draw falls your way.
“I’ve got some brilliant experiences in the competition and the lads would have done for sure. Let’s see if we can start a run on Saturday, the aim and intention will be to be in Monday’s draw.”
The romance is still there for little clubs with big dreams, just look at non-league Maidstone’s historic run to the fifth round in last season’s FA Cup.
Bonner is one man who doesn’t need to be sold on the magic of the competition in an ever-increasing football calendar.
“As a fan when you’ve been involved and seen smaller clubs be competitive and beat teams higher up, it is the best,” added the Gills boss.
“That is the magic of the cup, it’s the only competition it can really happen in with the same emotion attached to it. The history that’s attached to it is epic.
“As a coach or manager, when you’ve had those big games and fallen the right side of them, they’re the best days of your life. It’s so hard to do it, you can play the game 100 times against a top, top team and you probably don’t come out on top more than a handful, even if that much, so when it happens, it’s magic.
“You always hope that somewhere down the line you can do that, but in the first instance we’ve just got to be as competitive as we can be. The break from league football will be good for everyone, the pressure isn’t really on us in the game, the expectation isn’t really on us, the ambition is there and we want to win and progress against a good side from a higher level.
“I don’t think there’s many in this country that do need to be sold on the FA Cup. I think everyone knows how important it can be, it’s also really hard to do it.
“You need a bit of luck in cup football as well. You need the draw to pull out good numbers for you, this weekend has pulled out a really tricky game for us. At the same time, it might be one that they look at and think ‘not sure that’s the one we wanted’.”
After ending a run of five straight defeats in League 2 with a point at 10-man Swindon last weekend, Bonner is hoping his team can play without any pressures in the cup.
“Above all, I want the players to go and play a little bit with the shackles off and without the pressure of the games that they’ve had and feel a bit better for having had a week together on the grass and go into the game as free as you can,” said Bonner.
“That doesn’t mean do what you want, as we’ll have a really structured way we go about the game but hopefully they haven’t got the weight of the world on their shoulders that perhaps they played with last week which I think is obvious with where we are at the minute.
“When you play against these sides, the athleticism of the players is at another level. We’ll have to be very physical and be very good in one-on-one situations.
“We’ll have to defend really well against the ball because the way they manipulate it and create a chance is very good, and we’ll have to bring our own moments of control to the game and be ruthless in the moments that we get.
“There could be times in the game when we’re without the ball for long periods against these teams so that puts its own challenge on the game.”
