Wembley memories - 1995

Anyone else remember David Sullivan wearing blue Mickey Mouse ears in the Royal Box at the Auto Windscreens Shield final?

Why, or what, on earth he was doing, I haven't the foggiest.

But that was kind of Blues back then, wasn't it? A bit crazy, scattergun, chaotic, not much made sense - but everything did make sense.

Blues last Wembley final was against Carlisle United in front of 76,663 in the aforementioned competition.

It was notable for the first 'golden goal' to settle a final, and the goalscorer's spontaneous reaction to whip off his jersey and reveal that T-shirt.

More of that later.

Carlisle were on their way to the Third Division Championship, they had Derek Mountfield playing for them and Rory Delap just breaking through (imagine if he had been selected - he would have loved the old dog track).

Blues were just too strong, too clever and too balanced, although it did take until the 103rd minute for a breakthrough.

Barry Fry's side of that season was easily the best in the Second Division. It had a bit of everything, and all sorts of rows going on in the background, primarily with the board.

The team stayed at an hotel in Waltham Abbey before the big day and it was reminiscent of a jolly boys outing.

On the Friday before the Sunday kick-off, Ed Stein, David Howell and a few others had got wind of a party in the West End and decided for some R n R.

Sensible types like John Frain stayed put in the foyer and rolled their eyes as the taxis came to ferry the bon viveurs to their destination.

Here, I hasten to add, it was not a case of the whole squad going on the lash en masse.

But you just never knew what might happen next back in those rollercoaster times.

At the same time some were off out, Paul Tait and Ricky Otto were on their way in.They had played in a reserve match at St Andrew's against Bradford City to prove their fitness for the final and drove up.

Taity roomed with Steve Robinson and told him the night before that he was going to get the winner. And he hadn't been out for a tot, either. Robinson's reply? 'Yeah, right'.

Aside from selection issues, one of the biggest things that had Barry Fry fretting was the ties to go with the Wembley suits.

Karren Brady told him the club wouldn't cough up for them, so Baz got one of his mates to buy a job lot from a department store the day before.

As I mentioned, that was what it was like back then.

I recall the area semi-final, the second leg at Leyton Orient, Rui Esteves - remember him? - made his debut and took offence when after the game a nice East Ender in the foyer started to call him a foreign something or other, as is their wont.

Esteves, a mild-mannered chap, had to be dragged away otherwise there would have been another Ancona (substitute foyer for tunnel) on our hands.

Crazy days indeed.

Tait's goal, a deft flicked header from Otto's cross, clinched the trophy - well, the bloomin' big shield thingy - for Blues.

As I always say, not many teams have won a free van and then a windscreen to go with it at Wembley.

When the inscription on Tait's T-shirt became known, it set the press corps buzzing.

Photographers excitedly told their sports editors, sports editors told their reporters on the ground at Wembley.

At the post-match banquet, Tait was pursued by pressmen. He was more than a little sheepish.

Sullivan said it was a silly thing to do when asked for his opinion. He said Tait would be reprimanded and so on.

He later confided to me: 'Shame we can't have those T-shirts in the club shop really - they'd sell like hot cakes'.

Tait received an FA fine, death threats and didn't help matters by replying personally to irate Villa fans by posting a letter containing a tea bag, with the words 'here, have a drink on me'.

This Blues team, and management, were far more earthy, shall we say.

After a December FA Cup replay, won 2-1, at Scunthorpe United, Liam Daish led a dressing room chorus of that song to the tune of 'Roll out the Barrel' knowingly as the live Sky cameras barged in the dressing rooms.

Only three days after the final, Blues had an arguably more important fixture, against the Brentford of Martin Grainger and Nicky Forster in what was effectively the game that decided the title (only one team was guaranteed automatic promotion that season).

Blues won 2-0 with the same staring line-up on a night when St Andrew's was rumbustious and both Kevin Francis - who still carried on to score - and Dave Barnett both ruptured their Achilles tendons.