‘We’re still here’: resurgent Tranmere take aim at Tottenham FA Cup upset

Rovers have been through much since their mid-90s heyday but the tie with Spurs on Friday puts them back in the spotlight

Still here. Micky Mellon uses the words repeatedly when discussing Tottenham’s visit to Tranmere and, though unlikely to excite the club’s marketing executives, they reinforce what Friday’s third-round FA Cup tie means to those who have endured and survived a torrid period at Prenton Park. Tranmere are still here, as Mauricio Pochettino et al will soon discover, but it was a close-run thing.

Showpiece occasions and stellar Premier League opponents are nothing new to the club that reached the FA Cup quarter-finals three times between 2000 and 2004, the League Cup final in 2000 and the Championship play-offs three times in the mid-1990s. Friday night games under the floodlights at Prenton were once a regular occurrence too. Then came a dramatic and almost catastrophic slide featuring consecutive relegations that cost them their Football League status. Three years in the National League followed with, at the second time of asking, promotion secured via the play-off final and one of the most compelling contests of last season.

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from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2VqWhxn
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