2001 might have been the year of the Albion and Micky Adams but non league football threw up some exciting stories as well.

Jimmy Quinn, manager of Lewes FC.

I suppose the high point of the year, was reaching round one of the FA Cup. Last year they desperately wanted to get promotion and they got that and winning the Senior Cup was brilliant, but getting to the first round of the FA Cup was something nobody thought we could do.

Has this gained any additional sponsorship for the club?

I don't know if we have any more sponsors as a result but it definitely put us on the map and I know it'll be easier for the directors to sell the club now. Now the whole town has suddenly realised who we are.

What do you plan for next year?

We would like to try and win the league.

How will you spend Christmas?

I ahve to say quietish, but usually it's the time of the year when people start getting colds and flu, so you always get calls on Christmas Day saying they can't play on Boxing Day. It's going to be quiet but I'm expecting the phone to ring.

Peter Heritage, manager of Sidley United FC Winning the double was our high point, from being a so-called small club to win it was obviously very pleasing for us.

To have an unbeaten run of 20 games as well was very good, I know it's a County League record at the moment. I have a feeling Burgess Hill might beat that this year but it's nice to have that record.

To have won the league was good because there were a lot of bigger sides in the County League that tried to win the league to get out the County League and they couldn't do it even with the amount of money they paid out. For us to come along and do it on a small budget is very pleasing.

We don't pay much, we pay win bonuses to the players and that's just when they win.

This year has carried on the same, we were unbeaten until Saturday (15/12). We could win something this year. We're in the semi finals of the John O'Hara Cup which we would like to retain, that's the main thing.

After you win the League and Cup double (and I think we were the first side to have done it), you don't get many low points. Obviously losing in this season's FA Vase wasn't very good. We would have liked a good run in that and it's a bit of a disappointment.

Dickie (Dickie Day, Sidley chairman) and myself knew it was going to be a lot harder last year because we were an unknown quantity when we just came up but now everyone knows about us, it's twice as hard.

Everyone knows about us and people rate a lot of sides like Burgess Hill. They raise their game against us so it's very good for us that teams are starting to emulate our style as well.

It was nice, when we won the league, we had untold letters of congratulations from felow county league managers, it was quite touching that so many people took notice of us throughout the county.

What are your plans for 2002 We can't really go far in terms of a stadium because we share the club with the Cricket Club and to move on and go up the pyramid, there has to be a drastic change of the ground. That is out of our hands, we can't do that. We know basically how far we can go and what we can do, that's how we look at it but it doesn't mean that we lack ambition.

We're looking to get into the FA cup next year which has always been an ambition for a lot of the players.

We're trying to get local players in. We have some local players and we're trying to bring them along. We definitely got half dozen who can play for Sussex.

I'd love to see Burgess Hill and Lewes go far in the FA Vase. Lewes definitely deserve it and it's time for Sussex to have a club go a long way in the Vase, it will put Sussex football on the map.

Has your success brought the club additional sponsorship?

It is a worrying thing. We have a good sponsorship deal with MG drains, but we still need a sponsor for the away kit and several other things that we need. We bring money in through the gate and through local raffles. Any money generated by the football club is raised by the committee. It costs £25,000 a season to run our club, it's a lot of money and they do a good job.

The good thing is we're never over budget and we run a tight ship financially. If we could get a major sponsor it would take a great deal off the committee to do lots of things.

We're in between three big clubs Hastings, St. Leonards and Eastbourne Borough and if you're a sponsor then you look at the highest standard of football first.

How do you plan to spend Christmas?

We have a game at Ringmer on Boxing Day so I can't enjoy myself too much. Then on New Year's Day we're away to Peacehaven.

It's a bit of a challenge to stay in, but I'll get out and have a few beers and that's it really.

I think the traditional Christmas is lost, it's really a couple of days off from work for a lot of people.

Sammy Donnelly, chairman-manager Southwick FC I left Worthing FC a few weeks ago. It's a good football team, we were mid-table, still involved in two Cup competitions and had a lot left to play for. I was appointed manager there five years ago to the month.

When I took over, the team was 16 points adrift and had to play four more games at the bottom of the table.

Now I'm manager-chairman of Southwick and again I find myself in the unenviable position where they're fourth from bottom and haven't won a game since Sept 11. I've got to somehow keep them up in that division.

We're fourth from bottom it'll be a miracle if we stay up. My main aim is to stay in this division.

What are your plans for 2002?

My career revolves around winning things and I want to achieve something with Southwick football club. We are in no position to buy or pay extreme funds, things will be done sensibly.

How will you spend Christmas?

I am also a scout for Wolverhampton Wanderers in London and the South East and I'll be doing a fair amount of scouting in between my job.

Christmas Day is a day of rest religiously and I stick to that religiously.

I'll spend it with my family.