Football is a little bit funny.

That glorious game we love and rightly so. In a blink of an eye football fortunes change and so you find yourself having gone from zero to hero as I said before. You develop from strength to strength and with the right attitude you land just outside the play-offs. Who’d have thought it…

Firstly a 3-2 home victory over Norwich. Talk about a comeback on the pitch, not just against the Canaries, but as many noticed, the team silencing negative voices from the seats after they quickly went a couple of  goals down. Suddenly it was like old times, we had discovered the fighting spirit. 

Cue an online ‘reset’ to the narratives stating how terrible we were and no hope of redemption. A bit of Kone dazzle stopped those clicks in their tracks. Credit to all those who continued their chatter with ‘well we were wrong’. That’s the right comeback to give when you recognise a difference is taking place.

Prior to the game I was chatting to Cristiano (Giaretta) about training feedback, having seen gradual changes beginning to show that things were clearly starting to work.

Obviously there are habits to unlearn and as confidence grows so that happens. But what about in front of goal? Cristiano summed it up in one word: “Courage”.   

That sums it up for me perfectly. You have to make and take every opportunity, do or die literally in that box.

Somebody pointed out to me recently how many of us from those ‘golden days’ wear our battle scars and perhaps that is what a tough upbringing through the divisions leaves you with. The evidence of hard-fought courageous fights for the win.

None of that cover your face rolling about for us. So for these lads it is clear the graft was taking place but I agreed, they needed to find the grit that taking on the Championship calls for. It is the way you become mentally stronger and your team bonds, united against all adversity. It is what enables you to go up a division, maybe punching against, but you fear nothing and no one.

You only have to watch the Lionesses to see and hear how team spirit has been unbreakable and has underpinned everything they achieve.

That is all down to Sarina Wiegman: “In a team sport it all starts with teamwork. Being connected and knowing each other. Sometimes you will have one individual that can be a gamechanger, but that’s short-term. If you want to perform longer-term, it’s all about playing as a team, in possession, out of possession and in transition. People like to highlight the strikers, but if the strikers don’t get the ball how are they going to score? It all starts with teamwork.”

Those she has coached all talk about how she creates a team DNA based on really fighting for each other and how that makes them mentally very strong which brings then the confidence to win.

If you are in any doubts about this brilliant coach, watch the destruction of Scotland earlier this week by the Lionesses. Heartbreakingly beaten by Holland’s late goal, but imagine walking out from a team talk saying ‘we need at least 6’ and thinking you can do it. Without question.

That is exactly what Graham Taylor taught us.  That is why we had courage.

This week there has been a lot said about our great days with Graham and how that pair of unlikely lads at our helm, Graham and Sir Elton, turned into football’s dynamic duo and we turned to gold.

What a glorious story our Club has to tell about those many incredible years. What stories you came back from games with, of the impossible made possible, forever etched into memories. 

So it was a bit disappointing to be told some of the inaccuracies. Like saying the Rocket Men were all inherited. Bolts (Ian Bolton) would be the first to tell you he agreed with the Boss that he was his ‘best-ever signing’.

Do we remember who we played to win our first top-flight promotion? Wrexham. That victory being the one that took us to Division One for the first time in history.

It saddens me to hear of anyone believing that Graham could possibly have failed in his team talk at Wembley.

He knew exactly what football meant to the fans and as a result the expectations on us as a team carrying those hopes.

He knew how to motivate everyone to give of their all. We rose through the ranks because of those talks. In fact his notes for our famous victory over Southampton give you reassurance of it.

We were in no doubt before any game that we were there to win. Not to just enjoy the ride. This is a man who led us out to face a Southampton team full of big name internationals, we were four goals down from the first leg and he still told us we could go out and win. And win we did… Seven!

Last week Former Players Club ambassador Steve Sherwood, one of the four ‘Rocketmen’, went off to Hull for us to give us his view on the team performance:

How was your day Steve?

Steve: Cold! But I wouldn’t have missed it. We won, away, against a team that had been doing not at all bad. Not only that but I got to see our old team-mate Dennis Booth and have him rip me to pieces with banter. I call that a resounding victory of a day.

Our keeper saved a penalty, any thoughts?

Steve: Well it was taken by one of the talked-about Championship strikers, but it posed no problem for Hamer, that’s all that matters. The penalty save was the turning point as Hull were well on top, and the winning goal brought back memories of Ian Bolton’s goal at Rotherham.

Do you have a view on goalkeepers, notably being team captains?

Steve: Well firstly I have been told that goalies are a bit weird. Can’t see that myself. Apparently we mutter and pull faces, even Mary Earps. I like to think if the team is doing its job we do it to combat the loneliness. According to Luther and others I would always wait for corners with my tongue hanging out. Do I think goalies can be captains? Of course. You always have a midfielder to pass on instruction or handle a challenge. Wasn’t Gomes captain?

We have heard it said recently that you may not have had a motivational enough team talk before the 1984 FA Cup final. Do you feel you lacked something?

Steve: We lacked a correct decision on the second goal. That is what finished us! I can tell you that Graham told us as always that we were there to do a job and what an incredible occasion this was. His final words as we went to leave the dressing room were: “That’s it lads, now go out and win the bl**dy thing.” We would have done I am sure - if we had our usual line up and the right decision.