Colchester United were led to the double by Roy McDonough

“The fans were absolutely unbelievable in their numbers, the noise they made,” said the former U’s player-manager, who led the club to non-league glory back in 1992.

“And we paid them back, because we’d won the league.

“When the coach went down Wembley Way, we said ‘what on earth?’

“A player-manager walking out at Wembley in front of 39 members of my family, sat in front of the Royal Box – unbelievable.”

It is hard to believe but this year marks the 30th anniversary of Colchester’s 1991-92 double-winning triumph, inspired by McDonough.

The free-scoring team which also contained the likes of Steve McGavin, Nicky Smith, Gary Bennett and a youthful Mark Kinsella was packed with both talent and desire.

It remains one of the finest campaigns in the club’s history.

The U’s clinched promotion back to the Football League as champions and beat Witton Albion to lift the FA Trophy, on their first-ever trip to Wembley.

McDonough said: “The 1991-92 season will always be the number one season of my whole career.

“The players did an unbelievable job and I think I only used about 17 or 18 players.

“We got lucky with injuries, because you need to be.

“After every game, I took all of the players into town and it cost me thousands, as I was buying them all a pint of beer!

“But it was all worthwhile, because it held everyone together.

“When we went down to the Conference with Ian Atkins, Darlington and Lincoln City both bullied their way out of it with stats and set-pieces and all that stuff.

“Ian Atkins thought we could do the same but when I got the job, I knew full well we hadn’t got the players in that squad to bully people.

“But what we could do was play them off the park and we did that in style.

“We had little Mark Kinsella and Gary Bennett – the only way to play was to pass teams to death, which is what we did.

“We scored 129 goals in every competition and we blew teams away.

“We were the Man United or the Man City of the Conference.

“Everyone raised their game and then you start to realise after six or seven games that they do raise their game.

“It was tough; only one team ever went up in those days and that was us.”

McDonough had been appointed Colchester’s player-manager in the summer of 1991, following the departure of Ian Atkins as boss.

“It was a Tuesday afternoon and I knew I was in the running for the job,” said McDonough, who returned for his second spell at Colchester when he took over as their player-boss.

“Steve Foley also had a chance and had had three opportunities as caretaker manager and turned down the job three times.

“I knew in my heart of hearts I had a great chance.

“We had a pre-season friendly at Halstead Town and I said ‘I’ll let one of you know this afternoon if I’ve got the job’.

“There’s a big 90 degree right hand turn at the bottom of Halstead main street and a big boozer on the corner.

“I’d told them I’d got the job and when I slowed down, they were all out there spraying my car with champagne!

“The next morning, I called them all in and said ‘listen, do it my way, play my way and we’ll win this league by a country mile and we’ll have the biggest beano of our lives’.

“All you need to do is get the players buying in and that season, they loved me.

“You knew what buttons to press and when you’re in the dressing room, you’re always looking for those buttons to press at the right time.

“I could energize people.

“I’ve got a passion for the game and asked them to do what I knew they were good at.

“I played a lot of games and I knew that I could do the job on the pitch and people would rely on me to do that.”

McDonough knew that there was more than just promotion back to the Football League at stake for Colchester, upon his appointment.

He said: “We had no money to spend - £742 on the double-winning team.

“My fear – I heard it in the background – was that if we didn’t go up, we were done.

“They were going to shut the gates.”

Thankfully for McDonough and Colchester, it proved to be a hugely successful season both on an individual and team level, as he led them to glory.

He said: “I scored 29 goals - and I should have got 40.

“I got two goals in a game three or four times that season, at places like Telford away and Boston away.

“With the greatest respect to the Conference, I used to say to (Steve) McGavin and Benno (Gary Bennett) and (Mark) Kinsella ‘listen, don’t take this league too serious’.

“What you do is blow these people out of the water, show what we’ve got and then we can go from there.

“I kept trying to chip the keeper; there’s me, a 6ft 1in centre-forward trying to chip goalkeepers, taking the p**s!

“I got Manager of the Year, McGavin got Player of the Year and rightfully so.

“I should have got goalscorer of the season.

“I finished one goal behind Paul Cavell and another player (Terry Robbins) on 29 and they got 30.

“In two games where I took myself off, we got penalties.

“Because I kept getting yellow cards, I couldn’t afford to get suspended too often.”

McDonough, who will be 64 this year, is still getting over the Spanish strain of bronchitis and pneumonia.

“It caught me on the hop and I thought ‘do you know what, I’ll have to start being a bit careful’” he said.

“I always thought I was invincible, I still do but I’ll be 64 this year and your body tells you to leave off a little bit.

“So I’m now down to that 85 pints of lager!”

McDonough will be back in Colchester in May, when the all-conquering league and cup double winners will be reunited.

They will meet at Colchester Town Hall for The Boys of ’92 30th anniversary, a night that will contain a three-course meal and entertainment celebrating that special season.

The event will be sponsored by Cloudfm and Green Square.

McDonough added: “Hats off to Paul Roberts, because he was going to do something on his own with the players and hats off to Stevie (Green), Jeff (Dewing) and all of the other people getting involved.

“The time of 1992 for players and fans was just immense.

“I knew the anniversary would create enough interest to recognise it for what it was and what it is – it’s history.

“It’ll be a proper, proper night for everybody.”

To book your place at the Boys of ’92 30th anniversary event, email Steve Green at steve@greensquare.me.