Left Stag: December 2025

That was my pre-season prediction and, as Christmas, the milestone by which we so often judge our team’s progress, approaches, it’s so far so predictable. Much about Nigel Clough’s sides is pretty predictable actually. There will always be incremental progress. The team will work very hard off the ball. Goals will come from different players. Some players who you expected to be rubbish will surprise you. Half the team will be injured by November. Lucas Aikins will always get the nod, if 50% fit or not at His Majesty’s pleasure. Also as I’ve stated before, I’m fine with all of this. I have a long memory. It includes three promotions to the third tier and the immediate relegations that proceeded them. It includes an existential crisis under ‘Cashback’ Keith Haslam. It includes relegation to the Conference for the first time in the club’s history, five years there and defeats at places like Ebbesfleet and Hayes & Yeading. Yes, I’m fine with where we are. We’re currently on a poor run of form in the league – four defeats and one draw – and we could name a ‘crocked XI’ of players currently sidelined, but occasional poor runs due to injuries and suspensions now feel as predictable as anything else we’ve seen under Nigel. We’ve been here before and I’m confident I can predict what happens next too. Stags will have a poor transfer window in the eyes of many fans. Players will recover from injuries. Form will pick up around February. Aikins will put in some hard-nosed performances without scoring many goals, but the team will pick up enough wins (some away from home at big clubs) to pull out of danger and finish about 14th .

In a season like this when younger fans or those with less patience may become restless. Atmospheres at home games have dropped somewhat, as the youthful singers of Q-Block seem to have succumbed to a lethargy that is hard to account for. The football isn’t the most exciting, but we’ve seen much worse. The level is the best many have ever known. The crowds are the biggest too. It feels like we need some kind of jolt to get Field Mill bouncing again. When Stags went up to Accrington Stanley for an FA Cup Second Round tie in the pouring rain, the prospect of a big home tie was in my sights as the boost we needed. When we unconvincingly got through extra-time and penalties to progress, I really started to think about who I’d like to see us draw. What’s a good draw? Liverpool at home, as Stags got in 2013? The buzz of taking Suarez, Sturrige, Henderson et al all the way in that game, spurred us on to win the Conference title. Maybe Man Utd away? A big money tie to pay off the stadium renovations or fund transfers? Some fans just want the lowest ranked team possible, go through with the prize money from another round and THEN draw a big boy in round four! We’ve already had Everton and Chesterfield in the League Cup, so you’d think I’d be satiated, but nope – once you’ve tasted the golden nectar of cup drama, you just want more.

Mansfield’s record in the third round draw hasn’t been great over the years. The Liverpool home tie aside, the only other ‘great draw’ we’ve had, this millennium, was in 2007 when we travelled to Newcastle. A full house saw Alan Shearer equal Jackie Milburn’s scoring record, but none of the ticket money was reinvested in the club. The next season ended with relegation to the Conference, but brought Middlesborough as fourth round visitors. Footballs, thrown by protesters, reigned down onto the pitch from behind the Bishop Street Stand, as the cameras rolled, Gareth Southgate stood puzzled and Haslam sycophant, Carlton Palmer, slated the fans from the safety of the TV studio. These games, and others, are memorable. Reaching the third round can be the catalyst for a final push to glory, or an act of defiance in a season of struggle, a welcome distraction or the cherry on the cake. This season, it’s neither. We are going to be fine in the league (I think) and we’ve already had a nice cup adventure in the League Cup, but the FA Cup is something different. It’s the one teams care about – at least once we get this far. I moaned about the apathy towards the first round, at Mansfield, but now we’re in with the big boys.

So, excitement peaked and expectation of another memorable occasion set, I tuned in for the draw. I had an eye on Arsenal, who we have only faced once in our history (in the cup in 1929) and Nottingham Forest, who we’ve only played three times (all in cup games) and set a home attendance record of 24,467 against, in 1953. Mansfield fans always have half a mind on the chance to repeat the great shock of 1969 when Stags demolished the West Ham of Hurst, Moore and Peters, 3-0, would be ideal. The draw progressed at its usual, tension-building pace, bulked by the greater number of clubs now in it, and one by one the big boys disappeared. Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Villa and Forest all went. Down to the last 10 and Mansfield remained in the hat, as did Manchester United and a cluster of Championship teams at which any lower league fan would grunt “urgh, not the one we wanted” in the unfortunate event of drawing them. Bristol City and Watford gone. Stoke and Coventry gone. Macclesfield and Palace gone. We now had a 1 in 3 chance of landing the biggest tie possible! Joe Cole reached into the bowl “Number 23, Manchester United” AT OLD TRAFFORD! “will play….number 7…Brighton and Hove Albion” Oh BOLLOCKS!! Why football? Why would you do a thing like that?! We’ve missed out, so agonisingly closely, to playing at the biggest club ground in the land, to a full house, and filling the war chest. Gutting. The next team out of the hat is Sheffield United and so, last of all, is our little Mansfield Town.

The draw isn’t bad on reflection. A local game in a big stadium that, although likely to be half empty in the home stands, will be bouncing in the away end. Stags have been allocated nearly 5000 tickets. Historically we’ve taken large numbers to South Yorkshire. I expect that over the festive period, as we visit Barnsley and Rotherham, this will continue, and I think we’ll sell these well too, at £10 per ticket. It’s a nice draw too for Nigel Clough, who worked cup wonders as Blades manager during his spell there. He reached the semi-finals of both cups with United, as a League One club. I’m sure he and former Blade, Louis Reed, will get good receptions and you never know, by January’s edition, I might be walking you through every ball of the fourth round draw. Knowing our luck, we’ll get Brighton!