May 6th, 2002, the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff playing host to the Football League Play-Offs in wake of the new Wembley’s construction. One of the very last games to ever be shown on ITV Sport and one of the most famous days in Cheltenham Town history.
"I always said this is the way to go up.”
That’s what Cheltenham manager Steve Cotterill told the BBC following their victory, his favour of the play-offs on full show as he led the Robins to victory in their first ever play-off campaign. The future legend now having taken the Gloucestershire club from the Southern League to the heights of the third tier.
"Cheltenham will never have another season like this - getting to the fifth round of the FA Cup, the play-off final - and I was just pleased we managed to have the lucky dressing room."
He was mostly correct.
Duff may have brought Cheltenham’s first ever EFL title, but our manager at the turn of the century had a very different challenge to rise to, moving on from the disappointment of missing out on the top three to rise to the occasion at Wales’ national stadium. A challenge that the fans were there to help achieve, unlike in 2021.
"We dealt with missing out on promotion and we came and did what we planned to do.
"I'm overwhelmed. We've had brilliant support and they have come out in their numbers."
Martin Devaney, Julian Alsop and John Finnigan all found the net in a 3-1 win. It’s a day many still look back on as one of the best in their lives and in the history of the club, while many prefer automatic promotion (the boring option), the play-offs are something you just cannot beat, the likes of Wycombe only climbing into the four places on points per game before winning it all and going up to the Championship is an unparalleled sight in world football. A sentiment with which the Robins’ manager agreed.
Speaking to The Guardian, Cotterill said:
"Someone said we'd done it the hard way, but we've done it the best way.
"What we've achieved has been staggering and, while you do need money at times, you need as much luck with the players you bring in. We've had plenty of that."
“What happens when you don’t have a lot of money is you end up with team players rather than star individuals. If you have lots of money, you might have a lot of very good individuals, but then you don’t always get a team” Cotterill told the Longside.
It wasn’t a completely perfect day, Paul Hall scored on the 28th minute to sow seeds of doubt into red and white minds but a 49th minute strike from Julian Alsop put Cheltenham back ahead before John Finnigan sealed it with 10 minutes to go.
"The players were still in denial about the goal they had conceded"
"We had to let go of that and organise."
The opener came after the ball fell to Devaney after his good work to get the ball in the box was deflected back to him and snuck between the post and ‘keeper. A mix up between defender and goalkeeper saw the ball fall to Alsop four yards from goal. More good work from Cheltenham was rewarded with favour on their side. The Robins benefited from the luck of the north end changing rooms, the ninth team to do so, while they donned their baggy yellow kits in favour of the ‘unlucky’ orange. But, obviously, it wasn’t all luck.
“I was pleased we had the lucky dressing room, but it's not all luck.
"It's the man that goes into the arena that deserves credit, and those players did that today.
It was part of a fairytale spell for the Gloucestershire club, they’d landed a very young and very ambitious young coach with the whole world ahead of him, drawing parallels to the modern day, with a former player returning to lead us to great success as Cotterill brought promotion to the fifth, then fourth, then third tiers. This was all part of his own journey, with a target of the Premier League within his sights.
“It has been a burning ambition of mine to manage in the Premiership. I gave myself a time-scale when I was about 35, because sometimes a time-scale makes you work harder, of managing in the Premiership by the time I was 42.”
Just under 20 years later 2002 Play-Off winner Michael Duff would lead the club to the League Two title, one better than Cotterill’s promotion while taking Cheltenham to the fourth round of the FA Cup. 20 years later and the club could look back on Third Division football with third tier safety, Cotterill’s man doing enough to keep us up and above his new club.
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