Chelsea tie offers Ratcliffe a break from scavenging

When your nickname is Rats and you've been scavenging around the murky depths of the lower divisions for your living, cup runs mean cash as much as glory.

And if you can do your bit for your adopted town's tourist industry, all well and good.

But you can never accuse the Shrewsbury manager, Kevin Ratcliffe, of being anything but a realist as he prepares his squad of youngsters and old hands for their FA Cup fourth round tie with Chelsea on Sunday.

Ratcliffe – a legend at Everton with two championship successes and FA Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup medals to his name as well as 56 Wales caps – has learnt to live in a different world since the glory days of the 1970s and 80s.

He said: "The money, particularly from TV, will strengthen our financial position. We'll still have an overdraft but it will help clear some of it and give us some breathing space.

"It's not going to mean I can go out and spend money on big-wage players. We've seen what's happened to Derby, Bradford and Port Vale since the collapse of ITV Digital, and it's not going to happen here. Shrewsbury Town don't want to go anywhere near an administrator."

The Third Division Shrews produced the shock of the third round when they dumped Ratcliffe's former club Everton out of the competition with a 2-1 win at Gay Meadow.

The Shropshire market town has since gone cup crazy ahead of the visit of Chelsea and Ratcliffe believes people are seeing benefits of a fleeting acquaintance with the big time. "Local people have realised what football can do in raising the profile of the town over the last month," he said. "TV crews have been filming around the town. That exposure can only help to attract more visitors here, it is a beautiful place."

Ratcliffe, who also had a difficult spell as manager at Chester, has never had much cash to spend at either of his clubs. He said: "I have been at the top and bottom of the game and I can tell you there's just as much effort and quality of work down here.

"Some of the managers down here deserve a chance to prove themselves at a higher level. But first you have to be successful in the lower divisions. Very often it's the standing of the club where a man finishes his playing career that determines the level at which he moves into coaching or management.

"In my case it was in the Third Division at Chester. People are talking about Alan Shearer becoming the next manager of Newcastle when Sir Bobby Robson retires. So he'll start in the Premiership. It's a case of being in the right place at the right time."

At the moment Ratcliffe, who admits he probably could not "turn down the chance to manage a larger club if the opportunity ever came along", is just grateful for the cash his side's cup run has generated.

He added: "The cup run shows how the luck of the draw can have such an influence on the fortunes of a club."

Shrewsbury had failed to battle past the first round of the competition in Ratcliffe's previous two seasons at the club and did not even have a home draw either. But this time around the Shrews have been drawn at home in all four of their ties, with two Premiership sides paying a visit.

Ratcliffe said: "We've never had this luxury before and it's come at an opportune time. This is the period of the season where clubs at our level might generate some extra income by selling a player for £20,000 or £30,000. But those kind of deals just aren't being done now."

But you can bet that Ratcliffe will put aside his realist approach for a couple of hours of true cup glory on Sunday, and if they can repeat the success over Everton, those coffers will really be bulging.