A prize money of £41,000 awaits the winners of the first round of the Emirates FA Cup as Accrington Stanley travel to League Two Crawley Town on Saturday.
John Coleman understands the value that a cup run can make to his club after the cup exploits in 2003 helped to turn Stanley into a full-time club and eventually regain their place in the Football League.
However he won’t underestimate Crawley who are 19th in League Two but have picked up recently, unbeaten in four league encounters.
“There is money to be made for the players and for the club, it’s a chance to progress, a chance to enhance your income stream,” said Coleman.
“However, the same applies to Crawley. This is as important as any other game we play as it’s the next one in front of us and we have to go with a determination to find a way to win.
“We wouldn’t be sitting in Coley’s now if it wasn’t for the FA Cup run we had when we famously beat Huddersfield and Bournemouth on pens.
“The ground wouldn’t be the way it is, we wouldn’t be here, we wouldn’t be full-time. It can make a massive difference.
“I love the thrill of playing in games and the FA Cup will always be special to me and Jimmy (Bell) because how much it has developed our club.
“But Crawley will be tough. They have picked up form, we have watched them, they are a useful outfit, they have a little bit of confidence about them now and they will believe they can do a number on us and we have to guard against that and play the game the way we know we can.”
Crawley, managed by caretaker boss Lewis Young, are owned by US cryptocurrency investors WAGMI United and have YouTube group The Sideman training with them, consisting of brothers Tobi, Manny and Jed Brown.
They have a following of around 130 million on YouTube and were invited to compete for a spot on the bench for the FA Cup tie.
“It’s down to them to do what they want to do, it will have no bearing on the game on Saturday,” said Coleman.
“I can understand any marketing campaign by any club to try and generate income but all I am concerned about is the 11 they put out and the 11 we put out and let’s see who comes out on top.
“You can have nine subs, you can make five, so you can have half a different team by the end of the game anyway.”
After five successive league losses, the Reds chalked up a draw at Lincoln on Tuesday to give the squad a boost ahead of the FA Cup clash.
“It’s a small step for us but an important step. It halted the decline of conceding three every game, of getting beat in the last five games, so that’s an important step.
“We have got to improve on the ball, improve on our finishing and we know we have to improve on our defending.
“You want to keep getting better, you can’t work hard one week and not the next.
“For the bulk of this season our players have ran ourselves into the ground but they did drop off on Saturday and they did something about it on Tuesday and they can’t let it happen again.”
The full pre-match interview with John Coleman is available to watch on the club's official YouTube channel, CLICK HERE to find out more!