“I was a bit worried about whether I’d be selected, let alone be captain.”
A 31-year-old Chris Honor knew this could be his last chance at Wembley silverware.
The stage was set for the Bristolian. Two cup finals with Bristol City as a teenager hadn’t gone entirely to plan. No on-pitch action for the first, a win against Bolton in the then-named Freight Rover Trophy, and a broken leg kept him out of the second.
“I was on the Wembley hallowed turf on crutches thinking: ‘this might be the closest I ever get to it.
“I ended up playing in the Scottish Cup final against Rangers… [I] scored the winning penalty in the semi-final against Hearts.”
The 1992 final saw Honor’s Airdrieonians walk out as underdogs and just fall to the sword at Scotland’s famous Hampden Park against the Scottish giants.
Five years later, the start of a memorable campaign began for the Englishman.
A first season in the Conference (now the National League) ended in comfortable safety for Honor’s Forest Green Rovers and culminated in a coveted Wembley appearance.
Now 54, the former Bristol City academy product doesn’t hold back in his unfeigned recollection.
“I just really wanted it to be the icing on the cake of an interesting career.
“I don’t think I ever really did myself justice or really achieved my potential,” Honor vulnerably discloses.
“I played awful… I think that was my biggest disappointment. The game passed me by and I made no impact on it, and I was one of the senior players. It was even more disappointing that I didn’t walk up those hallowed steps to collect the trophy.
“Our goalkeeper, who had been brilliant all season, dropped one from a cross and I think it was stabbed home. It wasn’t a great day.”
Rovers lost the final 1-0 to fellow newcomers to the Conference, Kingstonian; a London side who finished above FGR that season and were favourites for the trophy.
READ THE MATCH REPORT FROM THE 1999 FA TROPHY FINAL
“They were all ex-pros,” the Nailsworth side’s former skipper admits.
“Whilst our team was made up of local lads who hadn’t played professional football.”
An innate need to win separated Honor from his Rovers counterparts, hence his professional past in both England and Scotland.
“It was just a bit of an anti-climax,” the pain palpable in the former defender’s tone.
“For me, we had to win it.
“I felt almost as if I was on the pitch with a load of tourists, just lapping up the experience and enjoying every moment. And there’s nothing wrong with that, perhaps I needed to be a bit more like that myself.
“That probably sums up why I played professional football and a lot of them didn’t because… even now, if I played you in at five-a-side or in Monopoly, I always have to win.”
That desire to win produces a lot for Honor, but one feeling is prominent: regret.
The word that rung true in his memories, the common denominator.
“It’s sad that we’re not remembered as… one of the last ever winning teams at Wembley to pick up a trophy just before the famous old ground was demolished.”
But it wasn’t only the action on the field that Honor laments.
“I’ve got another regret, a personal regret; my wife wasn’t there at the time.
“I was one of the senior players and… I was one of the only players not to have a family member there which is weird.”
“It was just a real anti-climax on so many levels.
“To lose at Wembley breaks your heart.”
Honor harbours these sentiments as he drives through Gloucestershire.
He is still very much connected to the region through his student housing business, Honor Properties.
Through the fog of the pain that comes with the raising of the memories of Wembley, the positive recollections begin to rear their noble heads.
“I know I’m sounding a bit whingey and grumpy,” he admits apologetically before continuing.
“To lead out Forest Green was a huge privilege.
“We had such a great, lovely set of boys. I was very proud to walk out in front of them.
“That team in that dressing room brought my love back for the game. They were a lovely, honest, hard-working, funny, entertaining group of lads and they deserved everything they achieved.”
‘Bristol City was in the blood’ – Subs Bench speak to former Robins defender Chris Honor
“One of the lads is godfather to two of my kids.”
It’s evident that the adjectives could have continued to have roll from Honor’s tongue, the hearty tone of his words emphasising his admiration for that FGR side.
The 1-0 loss to Kingstonian proved to be one of the swansongs of the southerner’s ‘interesting’ career.
Now a landlord with a family and life outside of football, Honor’s priorities are clear.
“When you get to my age you try to take the positives out of things and looking back, how lucky am I?
“There aren’t many Bristolians who get to play in a cup final at Wembley and a cup final at Hampden.”
Malachi Obrey 