Alan Morgan is probably the person who fixed it so that our captain Michael Johnston first came across to Bangor from Tranmere Rovers. He and Johno have remained friends ever since and when Alan made the same journey he became a firm favourite with the Bangor football faithful to whom he endeared himself as an enthusiastic and motivational coach.

As assistant manager at Marine, he has forged a successful partnership with Neil Young, formerly of Colwyn Bay, and now faces his ultimate challenge, namely conquering the mighty Tottenham Hotspur in the third round of the FA Cup.

Johno arranged for Dafydd Hughes to have a Sunday lunchtime chat with Alan and this is what he had to say.

What’s the secret of your cup run so far?

The whole squad has worked hard and we’re taking each game as it comes, this is what we’ve done with all our opponents so far, Chester, Barnoldswick, Colchester, and Havant and Waterlooville and what we’ll do with Spurs. The boys never stop but it’s easy to forget that we were within 3 minutes of going out of the Cup at Barnoldswick.

Spurs will be on a hiding to nothing with everyone except Spurs fans wanting you to win, how will you stop them?

I’ve no idea! I’m always confident and even if we’ve only a 1% chance of winning, I’ll stick to that in the hope that we can do it. Jose Mourinho has said that he respects the competition and respects us as opponents. In that case one would expect him to put out a strong side using the range of players in his squad with Bale, Kane, and some of his other stars, on the bench.

You were involved with the last League Cup Final to be played at the old Wembley when Tranmere faced Leicester, how does the Tottenham match compare as a football occasion?

I was involved in the Wembley match as a player and I remember it as an amazing day but as a coach I also regard taking Llandudno to play IFK Gothenburg as a highlight. When you are about to face one of the teams vying for the leadership of the Premier League, you’ve got to regard this as a particularly special occasion.

What does it mean to Marine as a Club?

This is a Club of hard-working people who are all hoping that their efforts to stage the tie at their own ground will be successful. There is likely to be considerable media interest and live TV will enable everyone to watch but it would be great if we were to be able to allow fans into the ground. If we were able to utilise half our capacity it would allow up to 750 fans to attend which would be great for the team and, of course, the fans themselves, let alone swelling the Club’s coffers. We are making history as an 8th tier team in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup. All the lads have done well and deserve it.

Judging from TV pictures of your last match, the DIY stores in the Crosby area will be selling out of step-ladders as people buy them to watch over their garden walls?

It was great to see prople using various vantage points to see the match and sharing the magic of the Cup. There are stories around the area of Spurs fans wanting to rent out gardens backing on to the ground so that they can erect scaffolding from which they can watch the big match so there’s an opportunity for our neighbours to make a few quid too!

Diolch Alan a phob lwc.