Chairman Lee Carter insists AFC Telford United have nothing to fear from Saturday’s showdown with “the Harlem Globetrotters of Conference football”.
Mega-rich Fleetwood Town will be the visitors to the New Bucks Head for one of the most eagerly anticipated Blue Square North fixtures this season.
Telford have failed to beat the Lancashire millionaires in five attempts to date, and are desperate to end that record this weekend.
Fleetwood’s ranks will include winger Steve Torpey, who joined from the Bucks in a £4,000 deal earlier this season.
Their squad also features £17,000 summer signing Steve McNulty as well as former Aston Villa full-back Alan Wright, ex-Everton man Jamie Milligan and prolific Conference hot-shot Gareth Seddon.
“It’s going to be great,” said an excited Carter.
“Fleetwood are the Harlem Globetrotters of Conference football, they seem to have bought everyone.
“They are the opposite of what we are – they are splashing money left, right and centre while we live off what we generate.
“Their chairman is rich, our chairman is a working class man. They are almost full-time and we are still very much part-time.
“They are very different to us, but we are AFC Telford and we shouldn’t be fearful of anyone coming here.”
Telford are hoping for a bumper crowd for the big match, having seen just 1,292 come through the gates for Tuesday night’s 2-0 win over Alfreton Town.
That was the seventh lowest attendance ever for a home AFC Telford league game – and the lowest in exactly four years since the Bucks beat Matlock Town 2-1 in front of 1,192 on this day in 2005.
“It’s a concern but there’s no-one to blame other than ourselves,” he said. “We haven’t performed or stood up to be counted.
“We have got our backs against the wall and we have to put a shift in over the next month to turn it around.
“But we’re working damn hard to put a team out on the field that the supporters want to pay to come to watch.”
By Chris Hudson
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