Now aged 63, Mullery has been appointed as a part-time football consultant with Nationwide Conference club Crawley Town.

Q. Good luck at Crawley. How do you feel about joining the club Alan?

A. I'm quite excited. I was asked a couple of weeks ago if I would come in and give the club a hand in all departments.

They want me to assess various areas which need improving. These includes players, the commercial side and anything else I can help with.

Q. Your have a great pedigree as a player and manager at the highest level.

Is the idea to pass your experience on to everyone at Crawley Town?

A. Yes. I've had long conversations with manager Francis Vines and his coaching staff. We have been talking about the players we have here, what we need and if we can get new faces in through loan deals. It has been difficult to change anything quickly because the transfer window has shut.

But we are allowed five loan signings. We brought Andy Lindegaard in from Yeovil last week and so there are four more loans open to us plus non-contract signings. Getting players in is not as easy as it sounds, though.

Q. Crawley have come a long way in recent years. It has been an impressive rise up to the Conference hasn't it?

A. The club have performed exceptionally well. But now they have moved from part-time to full-time training and so you have to change the mentality. In the past, players might have come in and trained twice a week. Or if there was a midweek game, there would only be one training session. Now, we have to get the players and everyone else into that full-time frame of mind and that can be quite difficult in a short period of time. But I am sure everything will fall into place before long.

Q. Full-time training seems to be the way forward for Conference clubs doesn't it?

A. Yes definitely. Full-time training is so much better than part-time, especially if you are competing at a high level like the Conference. It is different for many of the players who haven't been in for training everyday before this. They are spending much longer at the training ground and in the club itself. So there are various things the players are doing now that they have never done before.

Q. You've been personally involved at the training ground and in the club offices so far haven't you?

A. Well I want to find out as much as I can about the club. I want to see the best way of trying to help Crawley Town. I believe the small things are important. If you get minor details sorted out, then the other bigger aspects fall into place. I am trying to give advice to various different parts of the club.

Q. You must have some great memories from playing football. How much did you enjoy your career?

A. Oh, I have wonderful memories. If someone said 'Would you like to go back and do it all again?' I would say 'Yes please!' Even though players nowadays at all levels are earning vast sums of money, I'd go back and do the same thing I did through the 60's and 70's if I was asked to do it. I'd go back to being a teenager, then become a footballer, travel the world for free, stay in the best hotels and meet everybody that I did. I wouldn't say no!

Q. What was the one particular highlight of your career?

A. There are too many mention. As a kid, you always want to play in The FA Cup Final and I did. You want to score the winning goal in The Cup Final and I did. You want to play for your country and I did. You want to be captain of your country and I did. You want to be Footballer of the Year and I did. It just went on and on.

Q. What about the management highlights?

I was lucky enough in my management career to win promotion twice in three years at Brighton. That was a fantastic time, taking them from the Third Division to the First in three seasons. We had a wonderful run and we brought some great players in.

Q. So finally, how much enjoyment will you get if you can help Crawley gain promotion to the Football League?

A. That would be lovely. There are a lot of nice people at the club so if we can win promotion for them then that would be great. And if any of my advice pays off for the club I will be delighted.