The prizes, for the coach and his club, include: £5,000 worth of training equipment, a day’s training with FA Qualified Coaches, tickets to the 2005 FA Community Shield, funding towards further coaching qualifications and 45-year-old Alan will also be chief guest at this Sunday’s FA Community Shield between Arsenal and Chelsea.

Alan has been rewarded for his hard work in Stockton on Tees with the Stockton Town Football Club (Under-15s, Under-8s) and coaching girls between 9 and 11-years-old in a partnership between the council, Teesside University and Stockton Town. 

He began his coaching career ten years ago when inspired to get involved with his son’s football team. Since then he has completed his coaching accreditations and has gone on to coach three teams and champion the ‘Kick Start Scheme’ run by Teesside University, the local council and Stockton Town FC.

A Middlesbrough supporter, Alan’s best moment of coaching glory came at the end of this season when he watched his Under-15s in the regional league finals.

He said: "It's an unbelievable honour. I really can't believe I have got past all the candidates. I am not sure what I did to convince the panel I was better than the other eight candidates, or the 600 or so that I heard entered.

"Somebody from my football club entered me into the competition and I didn't really think much about it. I'm not sure what they said about me but it must have been something good. It is a result of all the work people have put in."

"I am quite lucky because I have been coaching my Under-16 side for a few years now and there is a mutual respect there. Having said that, this year the boys are starting to get a few distractions, like girls are starting to come on to the scene."

Alan also shared some of his coaching knowledge with us and added: "My three top tips for coaching success are to have patience with the kids, be able to communicate with them and most importantly encourage the kids to be receptive to learning"

"Being a coach at this level is a lot of things. I am a social worker, mother and a father to the boys - it's not just coaching. The bit out on the pitch is the part we all love, but there is a lot more to it than that. "