FA Cup final 2013: I want Wigan to be taken seriously, says Roberto Martinez ahead of Chelsea meeting This certainly feels like a pivotal moment in Wigan's history. Martínez, rightly, talks about the club's stability, built around the "passionate" ownership of self-made retail millionaire Dave Whelan, who broke a leg playing for Blackburn Rovers in the 1960 FA Cup final and who brought his specially-engraved losers" medal in to show the players" last week. Then there is the development of home-grown talent, the new training ground and the progressive style of football. But there is another step-up needed: and relegation would be a severe blow. "This football club is quite a unique story, that is what I would like the football world to find out," Martínez said. Probably playing well in the FA Cup final and winning it, that could change the perceptions. Last season, we had an incredible end of the season, winning seven of our last nine games - which was top-of-the-table form. And two weeks later the pundits were tipping us for relegation. It is just winning that perception from the outside and winning the cup final would be an incredible way to do it. Martínez has already won something this season. The 39-year-old Spaniard was recently selected as the Catalan coach of the year. "It was a real surprise," he said, before adding that with City's chief executive, Ferran Soriano, and director of football Txiki Begiristain coming from Barcelona, "it is a bit of an internal Catalan derby at Wembley" next weekend. Even so, Martínez feels more than a bit of an Anglophile. You need to remember I left Spain in 1995, that is a long time ago. Martínez vividly recalls that day - the afternoon of the Wimbledon men's final - in July 1995 when he, and two other Spanish players, Jesús Seba and Isidro Díaz, were persuaded by Whelan to join a then unfashionable Division Three club. "We had a conversation, through an interpreter, about how good Pete Sampras was - I always remember that," Martínez said. And we spoke about the future plans for Wigan and it was fascinating for someone like him to have that vision at that time. "On the first day, he said to me: "In 10 years I will have the club in the Premier League, we will have a new ground." Looking back now it was an incredible, incredible moment. I believed him. Those things don't happen in football but I did believe him and so I decided to be a part of the project. Martínez joined, firstly as a player, a defensive midfielder, and, then, in 2009, after enjoying success with Swansea City, as a manager. "I take every day with a real intensity and enjoyment," explains Martínez, a charismatic figure who has attracted admiring glances from bigger clubs. It is an incredible achievement I must admit to have 150 games in the Premier League at Wigan. I was very fortunate to be given the opportunity to manage Swansea at 33, I didn't even apply for the job. So I do feel privileged. Saturday's showpiece is, therefore, one to be relished. "That is why we love the game because it is 11 v 11 and if you are very good on your day you can compete against anyone," Martínez said. That is the fantastic story of the FA Cup itself. It is the tournament where you can follow your dream. For once, given Wigan's desperate league struggles, the pressure will be off, a factor that should be in their favour. "There is a big difference as a footballer when you play with something to lose, and when you play with something to win," Martínez explains. My players deserve that. We saw it in the quarter-final at Everton [when Wigan won 3-0]. The way we play, we need to enjoy our football. We are not the type of team who can just be solid and doing our jobs, and win games that way, we rely on the talent and creativity of our players. The moment we got away from that league pressure and had something to win, we enjoyed our game and won the game quite easily. If we bring that feeling to the final, we will be competitive. Nevertheless, Wigan have not beaten City since the latter's "big investment" and the Abu Dhabi takeover back in 2008. "I do feel that there is something else we need to find if we want to win the game," Martínez suggests. I think it is more of mentality. We need to find a belief that we can achieve it. We are going there to win it - we mustn't get carried away with the belief that "it's little Wigan playing against Man City in a major final and everyone knows the outcome."" Even so Martínez has a quaint way of conceding City's status. Man City are major favourites. We don't even deserve to be David in David and Goliath. There is, though, that sling-shot chance. So what about an FA Cup triumph and Premier League survival? "For us," Martínez said, "it would be like winning a Double."