Cox plans his dream Stags do
COX: Weekend to remember MANSFIELD manager Paul Cox will be taking part in his own special build- up to Sunday’s FA Cup tie with Liverpool. What is it? Oh yes, getting married.
Cox had his stag do with friends and colleagues from the Stags last night. He will take training this morning and is then off to West Bridgford, in Nottinghamshire, to marry Natasha Bertin, his partner of fi ve years.
Put the honeymoon on hold – Liverpool coming to muddy non- League Mansfi eld is one of the potential giantkillings of the third round – and it will also be Cox’s 41st birthday. Talk about a full diary.
“It’s going to be a hectic couple of days – but all good. It’s a fabulous time,” said Cox, who has steered Mansfi eld to ninth in the Blue Square Bet Premier, 93 places below Liverpool.
“I shall be training in the morning – football comes fi rst. Then I’ll be fl ying off to get showered, changed and shaved. Then straight to the wedding. From then on it’ll be a party in the marquee put up at the club.”
Cox made the wedding promise after Mansfi eld beat Lincoln in a second- round replay and earned this Liverpool dream tie.
“It goes back to my days at Eastwood Town when we got to the third round in 2009,” said Cox. “We beat Wycombe Wanderers, Peter Taylor was the manager and they were the only unbeaten club in the country at that stage.
“Building up to the game Natasha said: ‘ If you win tomorrow, you need to get me an outfi t’. It spiralled from there and she did it again this season. She knows I am a bit superstitious.
“The chairman came up to me after the Lincoln game and said congratulations. I said, ‘ For winning the game?’ He said, ‘ No on your forthcoming marriage’.
“It is all a bit surreal still, getting married and playing Liverpool.”
It has all fallen into place for Cox, who said: “It must be the magic of the FA Cup. I’ve been getting carried away with the razzmatazz of the football – and then she says, ‘ Yeah, but you said you’d marry me’. So I said, ‘ OK’.”
Now, how about a giantkilling of Gerrard, Suarez and Co as a wedding present?