Connah’s Quay Nomads: John Disney’s gratitude to ex-Manchester City captain Andy Morrison

Morrison had taken charge of the Flintshire club in November 2015, when they were languishing at the wrong end of Welsh football’s top flight.

But with Morrison at the helm – backed by club owner Gary Dewhurst – the Nomads began qualifying regularly for Europe before winning league titles in 2020 and 2021.

Their European highlight came in the 2019 Europa League qualifiers, when Nomads overcame Kilmarnock.

“I was fortunate enough to be part of the group that won the league back-to-back,” said Disney, who joined Nomads as a player in 2016 and made more than 300 appearances.

“I won everything at the club from the Welsh system but my most memorable nights as a footballer were winning rounds in Europe.

“[Against] Kilmarnock, we were 1-0 up in the first leg, going into the 89th, 90th minute, and we ended up losing 2-1.

“We were down, we were really low as a group. But Andy Morrison and the staff, they’ve got to take loads of credit for how they made us believe that we could go to Kilmarnock and get a result.”

Nomads were under pressure at times in Kilmarnock, but Morrison’s team scored two second-half goals to triumph 3-2 on aggregate.

Disney remembers it is an “unbelievable” night – and hopes for more of the same during his tenure.

“Being on the pitch, you always sort of look at players you’re playing against – Scottish internationals you’re playing against, players that have ended up moving to Celtic and big football clubs, and you think this is going to be tough,” he said.

“The bus journey back was really good as well and then everyone was back in work the next day.

“You look around the training ground and there’s loads of pictures around from all of those great memories.

“My main desire now is to try and get those back and try and do that with a different group of players.”