The derelict site lies across the A500 from the Britannia Stadium, where Stoke and Tamworth will tangle.Mark was a bewildered toddler when dad hobbled home with a leg in plaster Now 36, he is too astute to talk of seeking revenge. Yet he concedes that victory over Stoke for his assorted electricians, plumbers, builders and students would "certainly lay a few ghosts to rest".It was not so much the fracture as how it was treated that impacted on the Cooper family. Dad eventually said: 'Go on then'."The injury occurred at the Victoria Ground, since bulldozed from the Potteries landscape. He was on crutches for the victory over Arsenal at Wembley and his comeback took two tortuous years.As Mark admits, "Dad was never quite the same". Just how good he had been can be gauged from the revelation that Juventus tried to buy him after the World Cup. "Don Revie [the Leeds manager] said, 'Why would you want to go there?' He told him he'd get him another £10 a week if he re-signed.

Dating from 1972, it shows Leeds players gathered round the stricken Terry after a challenge by Stoke's Jackie Marsh snapped his leg with the FA Cup semi-final a week away. They include one that gives the younger Cooper an additional, personal incentive for doing everything in his power to help Tamworth, second from bottom in the Nationwide Conference, to pull off an FA Cup upset at Stoke City, vying to break into the Coca-Cola Championship play-off places, in an all-Staffordshire third-round tie on Saturday. "Not that we'd ever sell them." There's the gold and green shirt worn by Carlos Alberto, Brazil's captain, and exchanged with Cooper Snr after the epic tussle during the 1970 World Cup; the white West German top swapped with Jurgen Grabowski after the holders' numbing exit; plus some of the 20 international caps won by the Leeds defender. Then there are the photos. "Worth a fortune on eBay," jests Mark Cooper as the Tamworth player-manager lists treasured mementoes from the career of his father, Terry, the classic overlapping left-back for England, whom Pele rated good enough to play in the greatest Brazil team. There is big potential in the side and it will come out in 2006."We have 33 points after 19 games and multiplied by two gives us 66 points but we want to do much better. We haven't got a lot of margin for error but nor do Liverpool or Manchester United. People are quick to draw conclusions and if we had a squad with an average age of 33 I would say we are on the way down, but we have the youngest team of the big four," he added.While United have already bought the Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic, Wenger is more interested in addressing the issue of Jens Lehmann, whose contract runs out this summer, before adding there were no developments with Thierry Henry's contract situation "We will sort that out in the summer," he said..

People want to rule us out but it is up to us to prove them wrong in May. "I want to make 2006 a great year for the football club and the team is very determined to achieve that. With Arsenal also still to play Liverpool twice in the league, Wenger sees the chance to make up ground in the race for a top-four spot."Don't rule us out of the Champions' League too quickly," he said. By the time Ashburton is paid for I think we will be one of the three or four biggest clubs in the world financially." With hopes of regaining the league title now long gone, Wenger knows that Champions' League qualification is one way of paying back the outlay on Ashburton Grove as quickly as possible.The Gunners currently lie outside the Champions' League places and are 11 points behind Ferguson's second-placed team but, due to a quirk in the fixture list, tonight's game will be the first this season between the two teams. There are 22,000 season ticket holders and 20,000 on the waiting list."It's all down to our performances. If the quality of the team is there, we will fill the new stadium. I incited the club to build the stadium because I felt this club had huge potential.

Every time we play at home, compared to Manchester United, we lose 30,000 people. However, Wenger has long complained that Arsenal's 38,000 capacity at Highbury leaves them lagging behind United's 68,000, something that will change when Arsenal take possession of the 60,000 Ashburton Grove stadium this summer.Speaking before the last visit of United to Highbury in a Premiership game, Wenger said: "I don't think we will struggle to fill Ashburton Grove because the following of the club is very big. Whether either will be around to see the difference is a moot point. As Chelsea have proved in the last two years you do not need a massive ground to become a force in English or European football. However, it is Wenger who has responded to Ferguson's assertion on Sunday that Arsenal will fail to fill their new stadium by claiming that, by contrast, the move to Ashburton Grove will make the Gunners "one of the three or four biggest clubs in the world financially". It is a new year but some things, such as the propensity for either Ars? Wenger or Alex Ferguson to wind each other up, never change. In this instance, and with Arsenal hosting Manchester United tonight, it has been the latter to make the first move. Substitutes not used: Filan (gk), Jackson.Referee: P Walton (Northamptonshire)..

Substitutes not used: Vaesen (gk), Butt.Wigan Athletic (4-4-2): Pollitt; Chimbonda, Henchoz, De Zeeuw, Wright; Bullard (Kavanagh 73), Skoko (Teale h-t), Francis, McCulloch (Connolly 71); Roberts, Camara. "Maybe that will prove to be the turning point," his assistant, Eric Black, said.Birmingham City (4-4-1-1): Maik Taylor; Melchiot (Martin Taylor, h-t), Cunningham, Upson, Lazaridis; Pennant, Johnson, Izzet (Kilkenny, 84), Gray; Jarosik (Pandiani 74); Heskey. Wigan were rarely a threat and remained vulnerable at the back. They would have conceded a third had Emile Heskey not miscued horribly when Taylor's downward header invited him to make the points safe.A sore throat prevented Bruce from delivering a verdict on this performance but whatever he said in the wake of the Manchester City defeat hit home.