By Casey Watson. January 2022.

It may surprise the drinkers in the Lincolnshire Poacher on Mansfield Road, Nottingham that there is one among us who has won the FA Cup. “You must be mistaken” I hear you cry. Some of you more astute drinkers might immediately suggest Brian Kilcline, a local boy who played for Notts County and won the FA Cup in 1987 with Coventry City. No, it isn’t him although his presence in the Poacher would be most welcome as he is someone who has had an interesting life outside of football. I used to pal about with his sister Ann when I went out with her friend Cath in 1980. No, the FA Cup winner I’m referring too, won it in 1979. Again the sports fans amongst you will know that Arsenal won the cup that year and I would agree with you that we would have noticed someone of that stature should they be lurking in our watering hole. “Anyway, we thought you were a part time local music historian” I hear you cry again. That may indeed be true so let me explain.
John Otway is a regular visitor to the Lincolnshire Poacher enjoying a beer, the good company and the musical entertainment offered up on a Sunday evening. John’s musical career is long and distinguished releasing his first record in 1972 but it was in 1977 that he became known nationally with a top thirty hit with his sparring partner Wild Willy Barrett called “Really Free” and an appearance on BBC2’s “The Old Grey Whistle Test”.

I first saw him play at the Sherwood Rooms in 1978 or was it at the Sandpiper earlier in the year, later at Cambridge and most recently a few years ago in an impromptu gig at the Poacher itself. He is from Aylesbury and that is where the story of his FA Cup win starts.
For those that don’t know “Friars” in Aylesbury was a rock venue, opened in 1969, that rivalled any in the country for the acts that played there and the audience it drew. What made it more impressive was that it wasn’t in one of the large cities but the small Buckinghamshire market town with a population in the sixties of around 30,000. While other cities might share the great and the good that passed through in various clubs and halls Friars had them all in one place, including Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, Cream, Queen, Genesis, U2, David Bowie, Talking Heads, the Jam, the Ramones and particularly for us our friend John Otway. One of my best friends Russell Gill (sadly no longer with us) lived in High Wycombe in the seventies and made the pilgrimage to Friars many times. He was a Friars club member, avid music fan and recounted tales to me many times of fantastic nights and legendary performances. Such was the talk as we traded stories of the bands we had seen. By 1981 Friars reached its 50,000th club member. Astonishing really. I was lucky enough to get hold of some of the Friars newsletters produced annually which Russell had saved and they illustrate the great popularity of John Otway amongst the rock elite of the era. What makes those polls fascinating was the fact they were from the paying punters and not the music press. John is an Aylesbury boy and rose from local act to an accepted national figure but the loyal fans of Friars did not turn their back on him. Quite the contrary, the support was even greater. That was due to the energetic gigs that John and Wild Willy Barrett put on and the sheer eccentricity of their performances.

It was in that sweaty rock and roll heaven that David Stopps (club founder) decided to honour a few bands and artists who excelled with a real trophy called the Friars Aylesbury Cup (known as The F.A. Cup). It was a rarely awarded accolade and over 50 years very few have been handed out. For various reasons the honour was given to the few listed below and John is in that list. So you see John has indeed won the FA Cup.

“ee aye addio, John won the cup”.

1974 – Cockney Rebel
1976 – Sailor
1977 – The Ramones
1977 – Steve Hillage
1979 – John Otway (Awarded for the first local artist to sell out at Friars. The enfant terrible of the local scene who regularly played Friars and often with old sparring partner Wild Willy Barrett. Still going strong, Otway is as identifiable with Aylesbury as Friars and Aylesbury Ducks. Before this gig, a Friars organised free concert in Aylesbury’s Market Square drew an estimated 20,000 people in 1978. Marillion, Howard Jones and Kajagoogoo all achieved the feat subsequently but Otway was the first local act to have the sold out signs put up).

You can see the above performance on youtube

The rest of the F.A. Cup winners are as follows:
1980 – Genesis
1980 – The Jam
1981 – Stiff Little Fingers
1981 – John Phillips (Awarded for being Friars 50,000th member).
1981 – Toyah
2009 – Mike O’Connor (Website and Friars historian)

“ee aye addio, John won the cup”.