BRIAN FLYNN had done his homework when the message was left on his mobile phone if he was free to talk about Wrexham and their love affair with the FA Cup.

The longest-serving manager in the club’s prestigious history managed Wrexham in an incredible 41 ties during his 12-year stint in the Racecourse hot-seat.

Flynn kicked off the conversation with: “We played 10 ties against Premier League teams and beat Ipswich, West Ham, Middlesbrough and, of course, Arsenal and Manchester United were the only team to beat us at the first attempt!”

That just about says it all about Wrexham’s run in the famous competition in the Nineties.

The 2-1 win against Arsenal that had The Racecourse rocking on January 4 1992 was the obvious highlight but Flynn also picks our the 3-1 win at Birmingham City five years later as one of his most memorable matches.

“Birmingham away,” said Flynn. “We had the perfect plan and the perfect performance.

“St Andrews was sold out and it was a hostile atmosphere as it always is there. I know they had a man sent off but we scored great goals and showed great quality that day.”

That win put Wrexham into the quarter-finals for the third time in their history and a Sunday lunchtime trip to second division rivals Chesterfield.

“The kick off time was scandalous,” Flynn fumed. “The 1-0 defeat that day was a massive disappointment for everyone at the club.

“It was a mistake that gifted them the goal and I know who made that mistake, but let’s leave it at that!”

That defeat obviously still hurts for Flynn but football, like life, is full of ups and downs so why not feast on one of the greatest stories the FA Cup has ever thrown up.

Wrexham had finished bottom of the Football League the season before safe in the knowledge that no clubs would face re-election.

The Reds were drawn at home to Arsenal, who had been crowned Division One champions only six months previously.

“What we tried to do for the big FA Cup games is breakaway from the normal work day procedures,” said Flynn.

“We’d go and play golf and for the Arsenal game, I asked the chairman if we could stay at Rossett Hall on the Friday night.

“The lads could relax, have a meal together, a stroll around Rossett in the morning and then get the coach into The Racecourse.

“The chairman said: ‘Great idea, Brian’ and it worked well it relaxed them and it was a special treat to drive into The Racecourse on the coach.

“It was real boost to the lads. They enjoyed it.

“Mickey Thomas even asked me if he could take a few cans up into his room. I said to him would it matter what I said because I reckon the cans were already there. But at least he asked, I suppose!”

Mickey’s pre-match night tipple worked a treat as his fabulous free kick flew past David Seaman and nestled in the top corner - much to the delight of Flynn, perched in his match seat high in the Director’s Box and his right hand men, Kevin Reeves and Joey Jones in the dugout.

“Kev and Joey had been drilling into the players all week that this was the FA Cup and something unexpected always happened in the FA Cup.”

“And that’s what happened. First we had Mickey’s free kick. He’d never taken one all season and it was so far out so to see that fly in was unbelievable.

“I’m sat in my normal seat in the Director’s Box and thinking brilliant; a replay and a full house at Highbury - that will bring us in about £250,000.

“I’m not sure if our gate receipts for the whole season would have been much above £100,000 so after the chairman had told me he’d budgeted for us getting to the third round, we needed the money.

“But then the unexpected happened again. The golden rule for defenders is that you can slip. If you slip it’s shows your not balanced and top defenders never would slip.

“But Tony Adams - one of the world’s best defenders at the time - did slip and Steve Watkin was there, in the right place, to score the winner.

“The emotions that day were all over the place.The last six minutes lasted six hours but the tension added to the atmosphere and the excitement on what was an amazing day for everyone who was there.”

Flynn described Watkin’s winner as real-life Roy of The Rovers footballing fairytale.

“We had the local lad playing Roy in Steve Watkin who scored the winning goal to beat the league champions.

“He’d scored a hat-trick against Winsford, a late winner against Telford and then the goal against Arsenal. It was real Roy of The Rovers stuff. You couldn’t write it. These were dreams coming true for Wrexham fans.”

Despite being gracious in defeat as he left The Racecourse red-faced that day, Arsenal boss George Graham was seething – even years after when Flynn saw him at a League Managers’ Association meeting.

“He said ‘I wanted to kick your bum that day for what you did to us’ and looking back I can imagine how he felt.”

Striker Alan Smith, who scored the goal to put Arsenal 1-0 up at the break, unearthed even more misery from The Gunners’ ill-fated trip to North Wales.

“George Graham was a man of very few words and especially at Wrexham that day,” said Smith. “He told us to ‘get changed and get on that coach’.

“We did get on the coach quickly but it broke down in the middle of nowhere and we spent some time on the hard shoulder waiting for the replacement coach to pick us up. I suppose that summed up our day.

“Losing at Wrexham was a sickener but you always get one major shock every year in the cup. Unfortunately that year it was us.”

As Wrexham prepare for Saturday’s fourth round clash at Blackburn Rovers, Flynn’s proud of the five times he led the Reds to the same stage during his time in charge.

He can also be proud of winning 21 and drawing eight of his 41 FA Cup record as boss while he was also unbeaten in his one and only FA Cup tie as a Reds player - a 2-2 draw at Runcorn in November 1988.

Flynn’s wins

1991: Winsford 5-2; Telford 1-0; Arsenal 2-1.

1994: Stockport 1-0; Rotherham 5-2; Ipswich 2-1.

1995: Hull 0-0 (3-1 on penalties); Chesterfield 3-2.

1996: Colwyn Bay 2-0; Scunthorpe 3-2 (aet): West Ham 1-0; Peterborough 4-2; Birmingham City 3-1.

1997: Rochdale 2-0; Chester 2-0.

1998: Peterborough 1-0; York City 2-1; Scunthorpe 4-3.

1999: Kettering 2-0; Rochdale 2-1; Middlesbrough 2-1.