Tadcaster Albion director Jimmy Gore with their manager Paul Marshall (right)
The hunt for FA Vase glory is an added bonus to the continuing success story of Tadcaster Albion, according to club director Jimmy Gore.
Tadcaster are top of the Toolstation NCEL Premier Division and are into the last 32 of the Vase.
Beat Brocton tomorrow at home and Tadcaster will level their best run in the competition and will sit only four games away from a trip to Wembley.
The club are hopeful of attracting 700 people to the game which would show just how attendances have increased dramatically.
The seismic shift of a club that was attracting just 30 through the gate six years ago has been orchestrated by owners i2i Sports.
Mr Gore and his fellow directors – brother and chairman Matt and their brother-in-law Kent Mayall have ploughed huge resources into attracting local residents and it is paying off.
The club have been going into schools and a number of community organisations and even recorded a song a few months ago.
“The attendances have been fantastic this season and I think that has been testament to the league form,” Mr Gore told Non League Yorkshire.
“The lads are performing really well and most of it is really good football as well.
“I know we have scraped some results, but you need those. We have played some really good stuff at times and the atmosphere and the experience the fans get is fantastic.
“You look at Shaw Lane as an example which was 220 on the first day of the season on a red hot Saturday afternoon and then last week we had over 500 which is a massive increase.
“I don’t think the crowds are linked to the FA Vase, I think the crowds are linked to the work we are doing in the community, the social media work and the performances of the players.
“The support from the community has been brilliant and the Vase run is a bonus.”
Tadcaster appeared in the fifth round in 1978 and then bowed out of the Vase at the fourth round stage in 2011.
The competition has been an excellent sideshow attraction for the club and while there is excitement, Mr Gore says the clubs are not getting carried away with the potential dream of going to Wembley.
“I think it has helped to keep the momentum of the league,” he said.
“Our league form has been very good and to keep the momentum in the Vase has helped the league form, but it has helped everything behind the scenes.
“The fans are really behind the cup run and there’s the chance of going to Wembley.
“I don’t think anyone is really thinking about Wembley at this point or getting excited about a Wembley trip just yet, but somebody said to me recently if I would take promotion or a trip to Wembley.
“You don’t get to make that decision, but it is a difficult one.
“Speaking to a lot of people and they say you only get one chance at Wembley whereas each year you get another chance at the league.
“The Wembley dream is probably once in a lifetime when you get to this stage.
“The Vase has certainly helped keep the fans, the form and the good feeling we have at the club.
“The positively is there and the Vase run has kept that going.”
Tadcaster are five points clear at the top of the Premier Division table under Paul Marshall, a manager that Mr Gore played for during his own football career.
Mr Gore was once a semi-professional himself and a key player in Marshall’s famous Harrogate Railway team that played Bristol City in the FA Cup second round proper in 2002.
The pair have known each other a long time and Mr Gore adds that winning the league is not a must in May.
“I think Paul is doing a great job and hopefully it will result in something this season,” he said.
“He has had a lot of years in the game and he understands this level of football very well.
“But, there’s no pressure on us or Paul to win the league this year.
“We would like to win it this year, but I’m the five or six clubs who are in with a shout would as well.”