It's cup final time. Can the underdogs take inspiration from Bostock Stanley.

An image from fictional Bostock Stanley’s tale of unlikely FA Cup glory.

There’s a predictability to cup football these days, but arguably this season has bucked the trend. For the first time in 21 years, there will be no English, Spanish or German side featuring in the Champions League final.

It’s a stretch to say it’s the year of the underdog all round. Either PSG, French champions, or Inter Milan, finalists two years ago, will be crowned kings of Europe.

Manchester City will feature in their third consecutive FA Cup final this weekend and Barcelona defeated Real Madrid in a blockbuster Copa Del Rey final last month. Three of the big six in England will feature in the other continental finals.

The history books will show this, but the run-up to these finals has been extraordinary this year. Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest making the FA Cup semis feels very nineties. There might still be a giant killing as Palace look to cause an upset against City.

But it’s across the North Sea where the biggest shock might happen when Arminia Bielefeld meet Stuttgart in the DfB Pokal final. If you look up yo-yo club in the German football dictionary, you’ll find Arminia’s crest there.

What’s astounding about their run is the calibre of teams they’ve beaten; Union Berlin, Werder Bremen and holders, Bayer Leverkusen. All Bundesliga outfits.

It’s reminiscent of Bostock Stanley, also a third-tier side, from England, winning the FA Cup in 1974.

They beat top-tier Leicester, Chelsea, and eventually Leeds at Wembley. Both are fairytale stories, but unfortunately, only one is real.

Stanley, known as the Underfelt Men, in recognition of the club’s roots in the local carpet factory, were the team central to Bostock’s Cup that was aired back in 1999.

It’s an almost forgotten gem that can arguably be credited as the inspiration for the slapstick moments in Ted Lasso, and some of the tropes and characters in Mike Bassett.

The show is in some ways a throwback but in others a look into the crystal ball. We are taken into the world of Bostock when Mike Tonker, an upstart TV presenter, spots a chance to throw some shade onto network legend Gerry Tudor, 25 years on from the famous upset through celebrating the anniversary of Tudor’s documentary that by fluke covered one of the most famous FA Cup stories of all time.

Were thrown in to the documentary that begins with Stanley bringing in Bertie Masson, a seasoned but rudimentary lower-league manager. Whilst struggling in the league, their fortunes differ in the Cup.

First heading to Pontefract, who are known for having a notable gradient to their pitch, Stanley use the exaggerated version shown in the show to their advantage and progress to the next round.

Were they the better side or was it Bertie’s lucky cup hat?

But as Tonker researches the cup run for the gala evening where the audience will revisit the famous memory, a deeper story unfolds. With references to Deepthroat, Tonker learns that on the day Bostock climbed the famous Wembley steps, all wasn’t what it seemed.

The story explores match-fixing as well as consortiums running football clubs into the ground via a host of familiar faces from UK television. Half of the Coronation Street cast seem to make an appearance, and Tim Healy as Masson is great value. You’ll recognise Mike Bassett’s half-time rant against Mexico in Healy’s Masson for sure, along with Phil Middlemiss as his assistant serving as inspiration for Bassett’s number two, Dave Dodds.

The show is a wealth of tropes, most for better, a couple for worse. The coach driver who gets them to every game late, having the worst national geography known to man, is a fun, running joke.

Victor Lewington, on the other hand, the physio with roaming hands, can be taken two ways. It’s hard to see if Bostock’s is mocking the fact some in the game abused their positions and proximity to players’ bodies or if they are highlighting this issue and using mainstream comedy as its vehicle.

There’s more, more and more fun though, and Stanley Feet, the song the team recorded for the final, is catchy and a trip down memory lane for sure. They don’t make them like that anymore.

As we head to Cup Final season, there might be something restorative in a Palace or an Arminia upset. But if the magic of the cup can’t be found in either the English or German knockout show pieces, you’ll find it in Bostock’s Cup.