Why, what and for who is it all about ?

Why am I doing this?

Strangely enough this is something I have wanted to do since the age of 9. In September 1966 three months after England had won the World Cup at Wembley my Dad took me on the train from our then home town of Redcar to see an FA Cup 1^st Qualifying Round match between South Bank FC from near Middlesbrough and Shildon from County Durham. As a wide-eyed nine year old I was smitten by the romance of the cup. An exciting game unfolded and the home team won 4-3. On the train back I wanted to know what happened next. My Dad explained that South Bank would now play in the second qualifying round and that Shildon were knocked out: ‘ … but what happens if South Bank win in the next round also ?’: my Dad said ‘well if South Bank keep winning they will end up in the FA Cup Final next May !’ …. WOW. Right there and then I had this idea that it would be so great to go to all the games along the road to Wembley. This has never been possible until now. Having just slipped in to semi retirement I now have the time and the money to be able to afford to do this. I am conscious that this has been done before so my unique ‘road’ is going to be to give the journey a Scottish slant. Every match I attend I will be seeking to get a Scottish perspective on the event.

The other reason I am doing this is another long term ambition – to write a book. I do feel there is a book in all of us and this is mine. So, the plan is to document the journey, round by round – town by town, and at each stage report the voyage as a blog. Then next summer I intend to top and tail the text, correct all the grammatical mistakes and turn a big handle and convert the blog in to a book … and get it published.

Who is it for?

Principally I am doing this for myself, to fulfill a lifelong ambition. However, I am dedicating the project to the following three people. This book, if it gets that far, is dedicated to three of the best men I have known – all big football men and two of them no longer with us - George Willis Donkin (my Dad) and 'The Inspector' Graeme Ogilvie (my best pal and sadly missed). The book is also dedicated to my son Brian who when we lived in Boston in Lincolnshire for 17 years (1991-2008) we followed Boston United in the cup each year until they got knocked out.

The book is also for anyone who wants to read it. At the moment this is a big unknown but I hope to get a lot of people involved in the project. For example, at each staging post along the road I will be contacting the clubs whose matches I will be going to see and asking them for their Scottish connections. Hopefully also friends, family and friends from the footballing fraternity who I have not me yet will find it interesting enough to read. All feedback by email (chris@donkinitex.co.uk) twitter (@donkinitex) the facebook page (The Road to Wembley from Scotland) or by responses to this blog are welcome.

What I hope to get out of it?

As someone who has had a career in education you will not be surprised that I hope to learn something ! In the early rounds I hope to learn what makes football tick at community level. In the later rounds I hope to learn more about how the beautiful game is evolving in England. I also hope to learn more about the continuing influence of the Scots on football in England. More widely I hope to be able to see through football the contribution made to life in England by the Scots.