Sutton's 1989 FA Cup match-winner hopes U's can add to Arsenal misery

18 February 2017 12:54

Sutton's 1989 FA Cup match-winner Matthew Hanlan has urged the current team to seize on the uncertainty surrounding Arsene Wenger's future when they host Arsenal on Monday.

The National League club face Wenger's men in the FA Cup fifth round less than a week after the Gunners' 5-1 defeat by Bayern Munich left them on the verge of elimination from the Champions League and the manager's position in doubt.

With the FA Cup appearing to be Arsenal's best chance of winning a trophy this season, which could prove Wenger's last after he revealed he will make a decision about his future in the coming months, Sutton can expect an intense struggle.

However, Hanlan does not see it that way.

The 50-year-old scored the winning goal the day that non-league Sutton stunned top-tier Coventry in the FA Cup third round.

Like Arsenal, Coventry had won the competition less than two years before their trip to Sutton, and Hanlan believes the U's can achieve something "beyond their dreams".

"The more uncertainty there is within the Arsenal camp, the better it is for Sutton," Hanlan, 50, told Press Association Sport.

"Nobody likes playing for a team when you don't know who's going to be managing it. 'Is the manager going to be here next week? Am I safe?'.

"You've got to look at the ground, the changing room, the facilities around the club. What they're going to have to put up with on the day is a million miles away from what they're used to.

"You factor all of that in on the couple of weeks of turmoil at Arsenal, you'd like to think it could all work in Sutton's favour.

"It's just not what they're used to. The away dressing room is smaller than the home; it's cramped, it's wooden benches instead of nice seats; one coat hook to hang your clothes on.

"No warm-up area within the changing rooms, no physio area, three or four showers if you're lucky, and two of those could not be working. It's just different to what they're used to. They're worlds apart, aren't they?

"It could bury Arsenal under more turmoil, stress, worry and concern they're not playing well.

"The confidence is obviously low. It's either going to compound that, or they're going to pull their socks up, get back to winning ways and turn up at Sutton and put them to the sword."

Hanlan was part of a team that trained on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and played their fixtures on a Saturday while retaining full-time jobs.

He was a 22-year-old bricklayer at the point of his winning goal against Coventry; today he is the commercial director at building company Ri Design & Build.

For all of his fondness for what remains one of the greatest days of his life and the most important goal he has scored, he also believes victory against Arsenal on Monday would surpass his team's achievement.

From experience, he also knows the extent to which it could change lives.

"They're a far bigger club than Coventry," he said. "The history of the club, what they've achieved. Certainly when you look at the stature of Arsenal in world football, they're head and shoulders above Coventry.

"It definitely will surpass it if they can produce a win.

"(Like Arsenal, Coventry) were fourth or fifth in Division One. There's definitely comparisons. The gap between where Sutton are now and where Arsenal are is comparative to when we played.

"There's a lot more money in the game now, but you also look at Sutton's position, and where we were 28 years ago. Most of the teams in the National League are full-time. It's a lot more professional.

"The opportunity's there for any of the Sutton players, the team as a whole, to achieve something you'd never normally dream of."

Beyond what would also be one of the greatest upsets in FA Cup history, Hanlan recognises the transformative effect victory could have on his old club.

They do not pay their long-serving manager Paul Doswell, who funded the £420,000 it cost to install their 3G pitch at Gander Green Lane in 2015.

"It would give them security for the next 10 years or whatever it might be," Hanlan explains. "They'll do some improvements around the ground; they've obviously got to pay the manager back for the pitch.

"He's got a property developing company. He loaned the club the money to do it, and he took on the project, got it organised. It'd enable the club to pay him back, in a quicker timescale than they thought.

"He's been here eight years. Over the last two or three they've really moved on."

Source: PA