Chesterfield 1997

As we head into our traditional mid-season winter break, By Far The Greatest Team is doing things a little differently.

Instead of stepping away entirely, Graham and Jamie have put together a special run of bite-sized mini-episodes, each shining a spotlight on a truly great football team that might not normally receive the full podcast treatment.

First up in the series is one of the most extraordinary FA Cup stories of the modern era.

In 1997, Chesterfield, a third-tier English side, went on an improbable FA Cup run that carried them all the way to the semi-finals — and to within a goal-line whisker of one of the greatest upsets in English football history. What followed was chaos, controversy, and one of the competition’s most enduring images: manager John Duncan losing his glasses in utterly unspectacular fashion as the drama unfolded.

This short episode revisits the magic, the madness, and the moments that made Chesterfield 1997 a team forever etched into FA Cup folklore — proof that greatness doesn’t always come with medals, but sometimes with mud, disbelief, and broken spectacles.

🏆 Takeaways

• Why Chesterfield’s 1997 FA Cup run remains one of the competition’s most romantic stories
• How a third-tier side pushed English football history to its absolute limits
• The controversial moments that still spark debate decades later
• John Duncan, touchline chaos, and the most famous lost glasses in FA Cup history
• Why some teams don’t need trophies to earn a place in football folklore

🎧 Enjoy this winter-break special — and join us as we uncover great teams, great stories, and great moments that deserve to be remembered.

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