Manchester minnows Curzon Ashton are dreaming big
Curzon Ashton boss John Flanagan admits it is impossible to stop his players' minds straying to the prospect of glamour ties ahead as they prepare for Sunday's FA Cup second-round tie against AFC Wimbledon.
An avowed Manchester City fan, even Flanagan himself has had thoughts of sharing the touchline at his club's 4,000-capacity Tameside Stadium with Pep Guardiola if the National League North side can pull off an upset win.
Part-time Curzon's collection of tradesmen and school teachers booked their place in round two with a replay win over Midland League outfit Westfields, equalling their previous best performance in the competition when they lost to Kidderminster in 2009.
And Flanagan, who has led his side to two promotions in his five years in charge, told Press Association Sport: "We've all had our dreams about the third round and we've all got our own preferred figurehead, whether it's (Jose) Mourinho, Guardiola, (Jurgen) Klopp, (Arsene) Wenger or (Antonio) Conte.
"It's inevitable we should think about the third round because there's only one more game to go, but we can't dream for too long or we will just get sidetracked. It's all about trying to treat the build-up to the game in as normal a way as possible."
For Flanagan, FA Cup memories do not come much more evocative than the one fashioned by Sunday's opponents in their previous incarnation, when former hod-carrier Vinnie Jones and co stunned Liverpool to win the trophy at Wembley in 1988.
And it is in that improbable victory, and the equally remarkable story of how the Dons marched out of non-league obscurity to reach the top-flight, that Flanagan finds proof that those dreams of brushes with the big-time need not necessarily remain the stuff of fantasy.
"It was incredible that a club like Wimbledon could come out of non-league football into the Football League then win such a prestigious trophy," said Flanagan.
"Nobody gave them a cat-in-hell's chance of beating Liverpool and that's why the same thing can apply to us on Sunday - we've got to do to them what they did to Liverpool."
Curzon moved into the Tameside Stadium in 2005 and have not looked back since, achieving two successive promotions and finishing 11th in last season's National League North, the highest finishing position in the club's history.
Unlike nearby Salford City, who enjoyed their own moment of FA Cup success last season, the club is not propped up by a big-money benefactor, another reason why Flanagan cites the historic example of Wimbledon as one from which his own club can continue to learn.
Flanagan added: "Wimbledon serve as a great example and a great benchmark for clubs such as ourselves. They've built up through the leagues twice and you've got to respect the fans who said 'we're not going to Milton Keynes, we'll start again', and it's a brilliant achievement.
"We don't have a benefactor so the model we're trying to create is one built on a really firm foundation and local growth. Our first target is to get to the top level of non-league, but the Football League is where we've got to aim eventually, and if we don't we would be kidding ourselves."