FA Cup superstitions live on as Buckle declines to lift cup

The cup was on show at a packed press conference yesterday as the nation’s media gathered in anticipation of another massive cup shock.

Having already upset Championship Wolves 1-0 at Kenilworth Road in the last round, Town have the chance of another giant-killing when they go to Premier League Norwich on Saturday.

But when asked to lift the famous trophy to pose for photographs, Town boss Paul Buckle declined as he posed by its side - perhaps waiting for another day to finally lift it instead.

Captain Ronnie Henry revealed he wouldn’t have any such qualms, but believes plenty of players still have their quirks.

He said: “I think a lot of footballers in general have got superstitions. So I’m sure a lot of them won’t want to touch it.

“I’m not really that fussed to be honest with you. I think I touched it last year before the FA Cup games, it doesn’t really matter to me.

“But I’m sure yeah there’s a lot of players and management staff that would want to do that.”

But he’s still unsure quite how many superstitions go on in the dressing room before a match.

He continued: “I think a lot of them probably do have things they might do, but they keep them quite quiet. I’ve only been here six months so I haven’t seen too many bits and bobs.

“But I’m sure a lot of players put their right boot on before their left, they wear the same pants, bits and bobs like that.

“I haven’t got anything on any of these players at the moment, but I’m sure I will have soon.

“Nothing on myself. I have my pre-match rituals I do sometimes but I’ve tried to get out of it because it can mess your head up a little bit. I haven’t got nothing too important to do.”

Star striker Andre Gray, meanwhile, is just trying to treat it like a normal game so he doesn’t get carried away with the hype.

He added: “Everyone’s excited, but I’m just personally trying to treat it as a normal game. I don’t want to get too nervous or too anxious and let it get ahead of me. Obviously at the moment I’m just trying to keep my cool.

“I just try and prepare normally and not focus on the game too much because me personally the more you think about the game, the more that I let it get to me.

“Obviously seeing the cups - it’s massive it’s the FA Cup isn’t it - and there’s been a lot of famous hands that have been on it. It’s a massive thing.

“There’s some massive names on there and some of the best players in the world have held it, so obviously it makes it real now.”