Gripped by cup fever!
By Ben Glass

Thursday 10th November 2005

It's a sell-out! Soccer-mad Terras supporters have snapped up 6,000 tickets for their club's FA Cup replay against Nottingham Forest.

Frantic fans queued for up to two hours yesterday to grab a slice of Weymouth's footballing history - queues stretched 500 yards from the ticket office to the bottom car park.

Chief executive Gary Calder said: "I've never seen anything like this before. We knew it was going to be busy, but didn't expect this.

"The game's really captured the imagination."

So frantic was the rush that the club ran out of tickets by 2pm and supporters had to wait until 2.30pm for more to arrive.

Mr Calder continued: "We gave 500 tickets to Nottingham and sold 2,000 in the morning. We were expecting a further 4,000 to arrive from the printers at 2pm but they were a bit late - they arrived about 2.30pm.

"All those who turned up when we didn't have tickets were given envelopes with their names on so they could pick up their tickets any time between now and the weekend.

"The supporters have been really understanding."

The FA Cup first round replay has sparked huge interest. Bus driver Nikki Barton, 25, of Sussex Road, said: "I didn't go to last weekend's game but I wouldn't miss this for the world.

I think we're going to win. They've been playing brilliantly and they're so confident. We've got it in the bag."

Staff Sgt Matt Parkinson, 37, based at Winchester with the Army Training Regiment, said: "I came down from Winchester today for this. I was 17 the last time we got into the first round and I didn't go then because I joined the army. I wasn't going to miss this."

Kirsty Woodland, 18, of Radipole, said: "I've been queuing for about half-an-hour. I'm picking up tickets for my boyfriend but haven't got a clue who's going to win."

Pensioner Desmond Kelly, 67, of Jestys Avenue, Weymouth, said: "I've been queuing for about half-an-hour. What a big game. We're going to win."

Pensioner Nancy Sweatman, 71, of Sturminster Newton, said: "Many years ago my husband Ted played for Weymouth reserves but he's playing golf today so I came to pick the tickets up for him. I'm not too sure if they're going to win but we live in hope."

Mortgage adviser Chris Howell, 38, brought his four-year-old son Joshua along. He said: "It's such a big game for Weymouth. It's not often you get Nottingham Forest coming down."

By the end of the season, after £ 10 million of transfer dealings, the Reds were back in the Premier League at the first time of asking.

Forest ended that season, in which Collymore was sold to Liverpool for £8.5 million, by reaching the last eight of the UEFA Cup.

Off the park, things turned sour as the club slid into uncontrollable debt, the total deficit reached £ 11.3 million.

With Clark now gone, and Dave Bassett in charge, Forest were relegated with just six league wins all season.

They bounced back with promotion the following campaign, before they were relegated from the Premier League for the final time in 1999.

New boss David Platt failed to earn promotion, despite plenty of transfers, and he was replaced by youth team manager Paul Hart.

Another financial crisis at the City Ground forced Hart to offload many star players but he managed to earn a mid-table Division One finish until he departed in 2004.

Supporters reached rock-bottom last season when they slumped to new lows under manager Joe Kinnear.

Megson took over too late last season to prevent relegation from the Championship and despite a flurry of transfer activity during the summer Forest lie mid-table in League One.