As Tamworth prepares to take on Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur in the third round of the FA Cup, the gulf in football lifestyles could not be more pronounced.
On one side are the international millionaires; on the other, part-time workers who combine football with day jobs such as bricklaying, selling zippers and financial advice.
However, this team of non-league workers believe they can give Spurs, whose squad is valued at a whopping £667 million, with club captain Son Heung-min earning approximately £190,000 a week, a big surprise. when they meet at noon on Sunday.
Here, Mail Sport profiles the players and the tough player, looking to cause a stir in football's oldest competition.
Andy Peaks: Tamworth headteacher/teaching assistant
For Tamworth coach Andy Peaks, balancing work and football is a way of life.
Tamworth will be the focus of the FA Cup third round when they host Tottenham on Sunday.
Manager Andy Peaks is a teaching assistant and works all hours to balance both jobs.
During the day, she supports students with learning disabilities at a Kettering college. By night he is the mastermind of Tamworth's cup heroics, which recently saw them eliminate Hartlepool United in a thrilling penalty shoot-out.
He returned home at 2:30 am that night and had little time to savor the outcome as he was back in the classroom at 8:30 am the next morning, as usual.
That said, the Tamworth boss is happy to give up on the dream if it means his team can progress in the competition and play against teams like Tottenham, and points out that the stakes are even higher for him given he has family links. with the Spurs.
His father-in-law is a Spurs football fan and is called Tottenham Dave, while his stepdaughter is also an avid supporter of the north London club.
Jasbir Singh: caretaker/building inspector
Goalkeeper Jasbir Singh, Hartlepool's penalty shootout hero, is a building surveyor.
Last season, he set a club record with nine consecutive clean sheets and says he often receives criticism from fans who think he resembles Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
“You hear all sorts of things,” Singh told Mail Sport. 'The individual voices take you by surprise. The best one was that I was the absolute spitfire of Rishi Sunak.
'I started to get that quite a bit when he was Prime Minister. I'm a little taller. And I don't have the same money.
Goalkeeper Jasbir Singh was the hero of the penalty shoot-out against Hartlepool. The building's surveyor says he is often mocked by rival fans for looking like Rishi Sunak.
Ben Milnes: Tamworth captain/financial advisor
Tamworth captain Ben Milnes, who once came through Leicester City's academy alongside Jeff Schlupp, now works as a financial advisor.
The facilities on offer at Tamworth are a far cry from those Milnes received as a youngster with the Foxes.
The home and away changing rooms at Tamworth's ground, The Lamb, have no central heating, just a small heater, while there is a serious lack of showers available.
“I guess only a few showers will work in the away locker room because only a few will work in the home locker room,” Milnes joked.
'Days like these are the rewards. We may never have an opportunity like this again. We have to make the most of it and enjoy it.”
Callum Cockerill-Mollett: Zip Defender/Seller
Cockerill-Mollett, a zipper salesman, embodies the down-to-earth spirit of this team.
talking to the sun Of his unconventional path, Cockerill-Mollett said: “In my last season at Walsall there was a massive turnover of players and everyone who was out of contract was allowed to leave.”
“I had some interest from other full-time clubs, but most of those would have involved moving to the other side of the country. When nothing concrete materialized, I decided to work part-time.
Zip salesman Callum Cockerill-Mollett and others embody the team's down-to-earth spirit.
Midfielder Tom Tonks boasts a throw-in so long it has become a running joke in Tamworth. When not playing football, he runs a sandwich company.
'So that summer I went to my dad, Neil, and started working full time in his zipper business. He had spent time at the factory while playing, so he had a rough idea of what the business was about.
'Footballers retire early and I knew I wouldn't go down the coaching route, so I always had the zipper business in the back of my mind. Now I help my father run the company.
He finished by saying: 'You can't come and buy one or two zippers from us, we deal with hundreds or thousands at a time. Jacket zippers, pocket zippers, shoe zippers, jeans zippers – you name it, we can produce it.'
Haydn Hollis: Academy defender/coach
Of the plucky Tamworth side, Hollis probably enjoyed the strongest football career as he played for a number of professional clubs, starting with Notts County before dropping down to non-league level.
During his time with County, Hollis once scored against Chelsea legend Didier Drogba during a friendly against Galatasaray. The defender will once again have to face world-class opponents who will try to break through his team's defensive line on Sunday.
While juggling training with his teammates, Hollis also trains and is currently Chesterfield's U18 coach.
Tom Tonks: midfielder/sandwich business owner
Tamworth have a few tricks up their sleeves in their effort to surprise Spurs, with midfielder Tom Tonks perhaps possessing the best weapon in the Peak's arsenal.
Tonks, a businessman who owns a sandwich company in Bilston, also has an amazing long shot that causes all kinds of problems for defenses.
The running joke among the Tamworth playing group is that the midfielder was brought in simply so that they would no longer have to deal with the powerful throw-in.
“It's a gun and we'd be stupid not to use it,” goalkeeper Singh said.
For Spurs, the draw at Tamworth will be seen as an opportunity to avoid a giant slaughter.
“Whoever is in goal, I'm not sure it's something they've had to deal with.”
“I see the goalkeepers come here and warm up, trying to emulate it, but it's not the same with the trajectory of the ball and all the bodies around you, it's really crazy.”
When she's not launching missiles at enemy crates, Tonks is up at dawn delivering sandwiches from her truck.
“Everyone will get recovery massages, massages and everything,” he told ITV News of Spurs' preparations for the tie. “And yes, I'm out here in the cold delivering food.”
Chris Wreh: Forward
There is an FA Cup story that runs through the Wreh family, with striker Chris's father Christopher scoring Arsenal's only goal in their semi-final victory over Wolves on the Gunners' route to winning the competition in 1998.
“I was almost two at the time,” Chris told Mail Sport in 2021, while playing for Banbury. “I don't remember much, but I've seen pictures of me with the players. My mum has one of David Seaman holding me up in the bus parade and another of me with the Community Shield.
“I watched a few games later in dad's career, saw the goals and people spoke to me about him, members of his family, uncles, and from time to time I meet Arsenal fans who make the connection and know about him.
“It was very important for him to come from such a small place and play football for a club like Arsenal. He came at a time when there were a lot of big names, but he tells me that he didn't care about the big names because he came to create something.” of history.'