There are those who would tell you that football has lost its capacity to surprise. It has become a cliché that money has taken the soul from the game, not to mention deprived it of that most crucial element of any sport: the unexpected. And, in a world where pundits and fans alike are cock-a-hoop at the idea that Aston Villa might, just might, pip Arsenal to fourth spot in the Premier League, it's difficult to propose a more optimistic vision. Thank God, then, for Histon.
For the uninitiated Histon are probably the most over-achieving side since Pele, Bobby Moore and Michael Caine led a team of injured and malnourished PoWs to victory over a crack German XI.
In 1996, Histon FC were languishing in the Eastern Counties League Division One, six tiers below the football league. Which is fair enough because Histon is a village of 4,500 people a few miles north of historic Cambridge. But five promotions in 10 years have taken the club to the heady heights of the Blue Square Premier League, where Histon now rub shoulders with the likes of Wrexham, York City, Oxford United and local rivals Cambridge United. It's an extraordinary achievement by any standards, but what's truly impressive is that today Histon sit top of the division with a game in hand, having won seven games in a row.
With every passing week, the prospect of league football at the Glassworld Stadium becomes a more tantalising possibility. On Saturday, Histon (average attendance 800-odd) faced Oxford United (average attendance 4,000-plus) and trounced them 5-2.
This Sunday lunchtime, though, their league standing will be the last thing on the minds of their players, staff and fans. Histon have bigger fish to fry. It's the second round of the FA Cup, and The Stutes (they used to be Histon Institute) have a plum home tie against Leeds United, who were Champions League semi-finalists in Valencia in 2001 when Histon were entertaining the likes of Chatham Town in the Southern League (Eastern Division). The gap has narrowed since, but it's still a David versus Goliath match-up sufficient to tempt the ITV cameras to cover the contest live. For those looking to write off the chances of Histon's part-timers against the (albeit diminished) might of Leeds, it is worth noting that Histon overcame League One opposition, in the form of Swindon Town, in the first round.
It is a measure of the beguiling informality of non-league football that a request to interview Steve Fallon, Histon's manager, in the week of the biggest game in the club's history, is met with a cheery "Yeah, I'll get his number — tell him I gave it to you." When I call, Fallon can't talk. Typical football manager you might say, playing games with the press. Well no, he's doing his day job, teaching PE at a local school.
While Fallon combines his managerial role with a PE job and a soccer skills coaching business, his players include a tennis coach, a carpenter, a roofer and the obligatory postman. There's always a postman. "It's true," laughs Fallon when he calls back. "We've got a postie of our own."
After the Swindon victory, Fallon told The Sun that when he became manager in 1999, there used to be 50 people at Histon on matchdays, including players and staff. I congratulate him on turning the club's fortunes around, a claim he immediately disputes. "What's changed it is the organisation that [chairman] Gareth Baldwin has set up from day one, behind the scenes. Without a professional setup, you'll get nowhere. That has made it possible to do what we do on the pitch."
Fallon is too modest. Baldwin may have worked wonders at the club, but it is he who is topping the table with a side that is paid considerably less than many in the Blue Square Premier. "We're only part-time," added Fallon. "The players are on OK money for part-time, but they're not on as much as the full-time players in this league. There are the big clubs in this league, and we're nowhere near them."
With such financial constraints, was there no thought given to playing Sunday's game in a bigger ground, at the expense of home advantage? "Not at all. I don't think you can do that to your supporters. We want Leeds supporters coming to our ground. We've got our 1,000 loyal supporters who come week-in, week-out, who deserve to see us play Leeds at our own ground. And the other three thousand odd who come to the game, we want them to like the experience and come back."
There are those who suggest that Histon owe their lofty position to a muscular, route-one game (the club's coach, John Beck, once almost got Cambridge United into the Premier League playing a similar way). But Fallon rejects such assertions, and says his team can mix skilful play with a more direct approach. When asked which players ITV viewers should watch out for on Sunday, he waxes lyrical. For reasons of space, his answer can be condensed to: all of them. One who may stand out, though, is Gareth Gwillim, who had a goal disallowed against Swindon because it was direct from a throw-in. Fallon denies he is as potent a weapon as Rory Delap: "Not quite. But we'll use it. We need to try and get the ball in their box as often as possible, because Leeds will have a lot of the ball."
Not that he lacks optimism. "Everybody's excited. Obviously it's been a fantastic week, there are things going on all the time, and there are cameras at training, the whole thing. We're quietly confident. We've won our last seven league games, we beat Swindon and suddenly you start to feel that whatever you do will come off. There's that little bit of feeling about us at the moment. If we can get a good start, maybe we've got a chance." All the more so if Leeds' in-form striker Jermaine Beckford fails to recover from a hamstring injury sustained in Tuesday's 2-1 defeat at Northampton Town.
For now though, all Fallon and his players can do is wait. And dream. Cup fever has come to Histon, and the cup itself will be putting in an appearance today at Histon's stadium. The local newspaper, the Cambridge News, has joined in proceedings by asking the public to vote for the top Histon Hunk. Fallon seems to regard his chances of victory here as less favourable. "I don't know how I'm doing but whatever votes I've got, it's family. Unfortunately I don't have that big a family. I've got three children and a wife, so I think I'm on four."
When Histon take on Leeds, he'll have many more than that in his corner.
